The trust factor is the difference: you can't fake cool, and you can't fake integrity. Whereas eBay (these days, anyway) lets scammers "blow-up" auctions in its pursuit of listing fees (http://www.nickchandler.com/blog/ebay/nigerians-provide-free-shill-bidding-on-ebay.html), Craigslist cares about people abusing its listings -- check out Craig Newmark himself replying to a blogger's complaint about the apartment listings (http://www.mandellonline.com/?p=81#comments).

With Craiglist (San Diego) I've managed to find two apartments, two jobs, and a plethora of unnecessary information that titillates my mind. All I got from eBay was a Lord of the Rings replica sword for my boyfriend, and I had to pay for it. Hands down, Craiglist rocks...although my girlfriend would agrue in favor of eBay as she is an aficionado of coach handbags and can find them for cheap.

I don't know about the US, but in my country (The Netherlands) nobody has ever heard of Craigslist but a lot of people DO know eBay. I'm pretty sure this is in the same in many other countries and perhaps in the US too.

Sure, Craigslist may earn more with their fees.. but eBay can (easily) change their system to reflect Craigslist's. Also, eBay could change their fees to reflect Craigslist's if they want.

eBay could change their fees to reflect Craigslist's? you mean eBay could make 90% of their site free to use?

hmm i'm not sure how well that would go down with their shareholders!

craig is amazing at replying emails - whenever i've emailed something about the site i've always had a reply on the same day. im usually lucky if i get an automated reply in the same week from ebay.