NEW YORK (AP)— Popular community Web site craigslist has begun to charge a $25 fee to post employment advertisements on its New York and Los Angeles sites to cover the costs of its planned expansion.
The New York area accounts for about 30,000 of the more than 100,000 total new job listings the Web site operator gets each month. The Los Angeles area submits another 25,000 listings per month.
Such postings had been free. The latest decision to charge for job ads in New York and Los Angeles represents the companys first new revenue stream since it began charging $25 for job postings on its San Francisco-area site six years ago. The San Francisco ads now go for $75.
By next year, the closely-held company could begin to charge for job postings in Boston, its next largest employment market, and for New York apartment listings, according to Jim Buckmaster, the companys chief executive.
The Web site operator, which has a cult following of users who tap its regional sites for everything from jobs to dates, said it plans to add more cities and to offer new services, such as a Spanish foreign-language site, in the next year.
Craigslist began in 1995 as a way to help San Franciscans find “everyday stuff” and cool local events. It now includes nearly 50 sites covering different regions of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Although the privately held company doesnt disclose financial information, it does claim to have been profitable since 1999.