How to Reply to a Post on Craigslist

Craigslist is an online classifed ad site which offers its users many different opportunities to post and answer ads. You can find a car, an apartment, a date or a job using this online system. Once you find an ad that interests you, all you need to do is reply to the post.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with Internet access

Instructions

Reply to a Posting on Craigslist

1. Check out the Craigslist homepage to see all of the different items and services being offered to you (see Resources below). You will quickly find that there are events, creative gigs, jobs, apartments, friends and more all advertised on Craigslist.

2. Note that the Craigslist homepage is set by default to the page for the San Francisco Bay Area. Select your city or a city near you if what you are seeking needs to be in your immediate area. If you are relocating and looking for a job, apartment or friends, choose the city which is closest to the new city you will be calling home.

3. Peruse the ads on Craigslist to find items, services and opportunities of interest to you. Note that some sections are similar, so check out all that apply to your situation. For example, if you are seeking a job in the writing field of a certain city, you can look through the 'Job Openings' section as well as the 'Writing Gigs' section.

4. Click on the ads to which you want to respond. You will see a 'Reply To:' line which is usually followed by an email address. This may be a personal or business email address. It also may be an anonymous address which is set up through the Craigslist system.

5. Click on the email address of the 'Reply To:' line. This should open a new window on your computer screen via your preferred email program, and the appropriate email address should already be inserted into the 'To' field of the new message. It will also load the subject of the email as the title of the post. You can change the subject in your email if you so choose.

6. Consider using a different email address than the one you normally use. Choosing an email address that does not contain any part of your name is sometimes wise when responding to strangers on the Internet. If you choose to do this, you can simply copy the 'Reply To' address of the posting and paste it into the new email message.

7. Check out the helpful information on the Craigslist 'Help Desk Forum' page if you have any problems when you reply to a posting (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Some of the posts on Craigslist are scams. If a post sounds too good to be true, you should probably assume that it is and proceed with caution, if you proceed at all.

• When you reply to a Craigslist post, you should use an email account that does not include your personal information and is not linked to accounts (such as MySpace) which may include your information.