Craiglist to end free car listings

, the free classified-ad website that effectively decimated local newspapers by wiping out their classified-ad sales, has slowly begun charging users to post listings is some categories. The latest Craigslist category to drop the freebie model is “Cars and Trucks” for sale by owner.

As reported by Reddit

, the website will begin charging $5 as of April 15.

Craigslist already had been charging $5 for vehicles listed by

dealers

, which of course meant that many dealers were masquerading as private owners, listing their cars in the “By Owner” section in order to avoid the fee. This change might cut down on that deception. It also might reduce the frequency of people clogging the site with multiple postings of the same car.

Unfortunately, it’s not likely to stem the tide of scam buyers that plagues Craigslist. That problem has led to the rise of alternatives, most notably Facebook Marketplace, as well as peer-to-peer sales sites such as

Letgo

and

OfferUp

. Meanwhile,

eBay

currently does not charge private individuals a fee to list a car for sale, but if the vehicle sells eBay does collect a fee of $60 or $125, depending on the selling price. And at the collector-car website Bring a Trailer, the fee to list a vehicle for sale is $99.