So much spam on the other end of it as well.
People by an insane and stupid amount of new stuff. There's no reason that I need too as well, especially when I can find exactly what I want at a fraction of the price. Just last night I picked up a $150 guitar amp for $30.
The TV I bought was $50 and it's the same one my dad bought new ~10 years ago for $2,000.
I recently graduated and moved to a larger city than my college town and I've found that Craigslist is actually worse in the larger city. Less people who respond overall and there's always someone who responds 45 minutes across the city.
It is what you make of it. It's barebones and there is a crappy signal-to-noise ratio that you need to work around, but 1) it works, and 2) I got the prices I wanted, in cash.
For a simple, basic site that's not bad. I can only imagine how some full featured app, e.g. "Amazon Community (Powered by AWS)" will data mine me and demand a 2% cut.
I've had great experiences buying light industrial/commercial equipment, hobby gear, and even furniture and appliances. Those aren't great items for any sort of scam, and the the sellers tend to be legit.
Clothes, electronics, or anything trendy is a much bigger gamble. You have scams, sure, but consider the type of seller; it's a lot more people hard on cash with little experience in the used market.
The key, I think, is to be quite picky. If a listing looks off, don't bother with it. Same for buyers; if they aren't straightforward, don't bother. And avoid putting yourself in a position for someone to waste your time. Buyer picks up with cash, 100%.
It's like putting your hand into a pool full of alligators.
Semi obfuscating my phone number helped a ton with spam