How to Post and Delete Ads on Craigslist - Free tutorials from TechBoomers

If you're going to sell anything over Craigslist, then you'll need to post an advertisement or two in order to draw people's attention to it. Most advertisements can be posted on Craigslist for free, but a few types — such as job postings — require you to input your billing information and pay money.

By default, all Craigslist posts will expire after a certain amount of time, requiring you to re-post them. However, you can delete your posts early if you wish; for example, you no longer want to sell an item, or you've already sold it. We'll cover that in the last section of this article.

You don't need an account on Craigslist to post an advertisement, but having an account makes your advertisements easier to keep track of, especially if you post in multiple cities or areas. For the purposes of this tutorial, we're going to assume that you have a Craigslist account. If you don't, see our How to Make a Craigslist Account tutorial to learn how to create one.

How to post an ad on Craigslist

Go to www.craigslist.org in your web browser (which should take you to the Craigslist sub-site for your local city or area). Then click My Account.
Under "Log Into Your Craigslist Account", click in the box labelled "Email / Handle" and type in the email address that you used to sign up for Craigslist (you probably won't have a "Handle", or user name for Craigslist, yet). Then click in the box labelled "Password" and type in the password that you used to secure your Craigslist account. Then click Log In.
Once you reach your account page, click the drop-down menu next to "New Posting In:" and select the city or area in which you wish to post an advertisement (they are arranged in alphabetical order, by the way). Then click Go.
On the next screen, you will have to select what category of advertisement you want to post. Are you offering a job? Looking for a job? Selling something? Wanting to buy something? Looking for love?

Click the button beside the most appropriate choice for what you want to do. You should be taken to the next screen automatically; if you aren't, click Continue.
Your options from here on out may be different, depending on which option you chose. In this case, we chose to post an advertisement for the private sale of an item.

Once again, click the button beside the category that best describes what type of item you wish to sell. If you aren't immediately taken to the next screen, click Continue at the bottom of the screen.
Now it's time to create your actual advertisement. There's quite a bit to do here, so we'll split it into several parts. First up is your contact info.

In the top-right corner of this box, you can choose to use Craigslist's "email relay" function. This will anonymize the email addresses of both you and potential buyers in communication with each other (though it won't alter any other information that you provide), which helps to keep people from sending unsolicited emails or attempting scams.

Or, you can also choose to not allow Craigslist users to email you about an advertisement. In that case, you should probably provide some other form of contact information.

In the bottom-left corner, you can choose whether you want to allow Craigslist users interested in your advertisement to contact you by phone or by text message. If you select one or both of these options, be sure to click in the box labelled "Phone Number" and type in a number at which potential buyers can contact you. You can also click in the box labelled "Contact Name" and type in a name that potential buyers should ask for if they have an inquiry.
Next up is some general information about your post.

Click in each of the highlighted sections in the screenshot above and type in:

— A title for your post
— Your asking price for the item that you're selling (optional)
— The specific location of the item (optional; you may want to use this to declare where you want to meet potential buyers)
— Your postal code
— A brief description of the item that you're selling
Next, you can provide more detailed information about the item that you're selling. All of this is optional, so you can skip it if you'd like.

Click in each of the boxes highlighted in the screenshot above and type in or select:

— The brand or manufacturer of the item
— The model name or number of the item
— The dimensions of the item
— The condition that the item is in

You can also click the check box beside "Include 'More Ads by This User' Link" if you want to show people who view this advertisement some other ones that have been posted by you. If you're only selling one type of item, this may help them find other items that are like the one you posted, if it's just not right for them.
Next, you have the option of providing a map and address information to help prospective buyers know where the item is (or where you want to meet to deal). This will allow potential buyers to find your item more easily by using extra options to search.

If you want to provide map information with your advertisement, click the check box beside "Show On Maps". (If you don't, skip this step.)

Now, you can click in the boxes highlighted in the screenshot above and provide up to two street addresses (if you want to specify a place where the two intersect). At the very least, you must specify a city and state/province/territory.
At the bottom of the screen, you can click the check box highlighted here if you want to display a message that people can contact you for other inquiries besides your specific advertisement. We'd advise against doing so, as it opens you up to receiving unsolicited communication.

When you've entered all of your information, click Continue.
On the next screen, you can add pictures of your item (up to 24 of them) to show it off to potential buyers, with the first one being the main one used when they browse or search for it. Simply click Add Images and use the explorer window that appears to find a picture of the item on your computer. Then click it to select it, and click Open. Click the "X" in the top-right corner of a picture to remove it from your post. Click Done With Images when you're done adding pictures to your post.
You will now be able to review your advertisement before you post it.

In the top-left corner, Craigslist will tell you how long your advertisement will stay posted on the website before you need to renew it. You can also click the Edit Text, Edit Map, or Edit Pictures buttons to make changes to those facets of your post (see steps 7, 9, and 11, respectively).

Click Publish when you're ready to post your advertisement.
Craigslist will notify you that they have sent you an email that will allow you to confirm that you want to post an advertisement. Go to your email client, log in, and open the email from Craigslist entitled "POST/EDIT/DELETE: [your ad title and category]". Click the first blue hyperlink there (blurred out in the screenshot due to privacy reasons).
A window will appear telling you that your post is up, and you will also receive a confirmation email to that effect. You can click the first blue hyperlink here to view your post on Craigslist. Congratulations on posting your advertisement!

How to delete a Craigslist post

Go to www.craigslist.com in your web browser (assuming that you aren't there already) and log in (assuming that you aren't already). Simply follow steps 1 and 2 in the above section to do so.
When you reach your account page, you should see what advertisements you currently have posted. Click Delete beside the one that you want to get rid of.
On the next page, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to delete the selected post. Click Delete if you're sure that's what you want to do.
You will receive a message from Craigslist that your post has been deleted. If it has been less than two days since you posted the advertisement, you can click Undelete This Posting to cancel deleting the post and put it back up on Craigslist.