Creating the clone is fairly easy. For every type of service that Craigslist provides there have probably been 1-5 clones over the past few years.
Currently both buyers as well as sellers have been trained that the place to go is Craigslist. Give that it would be impossible for a new service to have anywhere near the number of buyers and sellers as Craigslist, no rational individual is going to choose an alternative.
The problem becomes even tricker since Craigslist is for the most part free. They currently use the revenue gained by job postings to subsidize the other listings on their site. This makes it harder for a niche service to start up as they are competing with free.
For some reason, Kijiji is dominant in most of Canada. Craigslist is almost never used here. I'm honestly glad, because I occasionally check Craigslist and it's never a rewarding experience. Without the network-effects monopoly, it's a truly awful site.
Currently both buyers as well as sellers have been trained that the place to go is Craigslist. Give that it would be impossible for a new service to have anywhere near the number of buyers and sellers as Craigslist, no rational individual is going to choose an alternative.
The problem becomes even tricker since Craigslist is for the most part free. They currently use the revenue gained by job postings to subsidize the other listings on their site. This makes it harder for a niche service to start up as they are competing with free.