Craigslist Peek extension – image preview

Craigslist Peek is a Google Chrome and Firefox Extension for Craigslist, kijiji (US), eBay Classifieds, 58 同城 and Facebook Marketplace listings page. Craigslist Peek shows Post and Image Preview.

Download:

1. Google Chrome Extension / Web Store https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/craigslist-peek/knpehhedikdgkbmhgagpcpcbclaidlmf (new features and issue-fixes first come here in Chrome and then in Firefox after month or so)
2. Firefox Addon : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/craigslist-peek
3. Safari Extension version coming soon. Both Firefox and Google Chrome versions works in Mac, use them for the time being.

I created this from my other Craigslist extension for cars section. And hence Suggestions feature in the cars and motorcycle section.

Features:

• Short description under listing
• Images under listing
• Multiple Cities listing. Widens your search area to include neighboring cities.
• Photo gallery
• Suggestions in cars & motorcycle section
• Minimum model Year filter cars & motorcycle section
• Auto refresh. Shows new posts on top. New post counter.
• Expands messages in craigslist Discussion forums (beta)
• Filter craigslist search results (beta)
• Split listing to Multiple Columns (chrome)
• Fold / expand listing. Quick toggle fold posts. (chrome only)
• User can customize looks of it to their taste

I removed some features to keep it simple and practical. Later on I might add some features for particular categories of Craigslist.

Seems new changes in Facebook Marketplace are identical to how I was changing Facebook Marketplace with this extension, so now disabled other stuff and only doing image preview in this.

It looks like some sites (Google News : http://news.google.com and others) have now adopted similar concept to what I been doing in Craigslist Peek and Forum Preview. In these when a person clicks on a Post, it opens in a new-browser-tab. This saves you from clicking Back and re-loading the listing after viewing Post.

Usage Tips:

• Enable / disable multiple cities or auto-refresh in Settings according to your need.

Requirement:
Fast computer with fast internet connection.

Screenshots:

showing preview in gallery and list mode

showing list mode with ad excerpts, thumbnails and suggestions

craigslist peek extension - multiple cities listing selection

showing list mode with ad excerpts, thumbnails and suggestions

showing list mode with ad excerpts and thumbnails in real estate section

showing ad excerpt in listing

showing ad excerpt in listing

showing craigslist ad excerpt, thumbnail and suggestions.

showing image preview in gallery mode

showing preview in gallery and list mode

Settings – craigslist peek extension

craigslist peek extension showing preview on Kijiji listing

craigslist peek cars and motorcycle ad suggestion

Settings of craigslist-peek extension. Lets you configure preview image and text.

Settings of craigslist-peek extension. Lets you configure preview image and text.

craigslist peek multiple cities listing

craigslist peek multiple cities listing

craigslist peek multiple cities and new posts indicator

craigslist filter exclude search keywords

58 同城 Image Preview with Craigslist Peek Extension

Facebook-Marketplace Image Preview with Craigslist Peek Extension

Craigslist Peek Extension Car Minimum model Year Filter

Craigslist Peek app listed in Chrome Web Store Editor’s Pick

Updates:
[date 2010-04-09] Version 0.329
* New posts counter on top.
* Improved adding multiple cities for listing
* Support for eBay’s Kijiji to eBayClassifieds change.

[date 2010-04-04] Version 0.305
* Restructured code a bit.
* Now it allows to show multiple cities listing.
* Added auto refresh of listing every few minutes.
* few new options in Settings screen.

[date 2010-03-01] Version 0.165
* Restructured code a bit.
* Fixed one odd case where it wasn’t working.

[date 2010-02-14] Version 0.150
* Added Suggestions (for Cars/motorcycle section only) feature to Gallery mode also. It adds red border around images of ad that the buyer might want to be extra careful about.
* Fixed couple of bugs regarding default settings and image spacing in gallery mode.
* Just checked some similar ff extensions and found that there Settings screen is almost similar to mine.

[date 2010-02-09] Version 0.140
* Fixed couple of bugs regarding click in gallery mode.

[date 2010-02-06] Version 0.135
* Now image preview works on Kijiji listings also.

[date 2010-01-04] Version 0.105

© 2010 tech4computer

Used car shopping research extension for Craigslist, eBay, AutoTrader and Yahoo Autos

Craigslist car research extension is now available as a Firefox Addon, Greasemonkey userscript and Google Chrome extension. Pretty useful for anyone looking for a car.

Articles about it

• CNET news : Make car shopping on Craigslist less cumbersome .. read
• Lifehacker : Craigslist Car Research Extension Makes Used-Car Shopping Easier .. read

Sites this extension works on: craigslist, ebay, kijiji, autotrader, cars.com, vehix, aol and yahoo autos

Used car listings supported by this extension:

• craigslist
• eBay motors
• eBayClassifieds
• kijiji
• yahoo autos
• AutoTrader
• AOL Autos
• vehix
• pickuptrucks
• freebo
• cars.com

The Google Chrome version of Craigslist Car extension was one of the top 50 featured extension on the launch of Google Chrome Extension Gallery.

Download

• 1. Craigslist Car – Google Web Store (new features and issue-fixes first come here in Chrome and then in Firefox after month or so) + 2. Craigslist Peek
  
• 1. Craigslist Car – Firefox Extension + 2. Craigslist Peek
• Craigslist car greasemonkey (old) script

Other extension that works well with this one:
- Craigslist car listing filter

Also created a related userscript that gives estimated cost of Importing US car or motorcycle to Canada.

Now this mashup is heavy but adding the enable/disable feature buttons is handy to manage the clutter and speedup browser load.

If the listing is in correct format then it will get that car’s model’s information from sites like MSN Autos, Edmunds.com, Automotive.com, motortrend.com, etc.

Features:

• Gives estimated price from multiple sources. Also provides links for further research.
• Factory car recalls for the car model.
• Consumer reviews, this is the real gem.
• Car reliability information. It shows the msn autos page focused at reliability section. This shows what kinda engine problems occur in that particular car. Other info is also there but reliability info is most useful on that page. Takes like 2 sec to get idea of how reliable that car model is.
• Scans the posting and shows a highlighted message on top informing about:- accident car, rebuilt car, moving sale, one owner, suggests buyer to ask if the car was involved in an accident.
• Lists similar (year/make/model) ads from craigslist on top. This gives the idea of going price and the supply/demand.
• Aggregates car listing.
• Shows thumbnails from Flickr (Gives idea of what the vehicle looks like and the appeal factor)
• Recently viewed Ads.
• Add your Notes to the ads using Recently Viewed list.
• If there is a phone number in the post then it makes it easy to do a search of the phone number on Craigslist to find out if the ad poster has posted any other ads. This sometimes help in determining if its moving sale or a ad by a reseller etc.

Browser extensions by me

• Firefox Addons:
• Car research
• Motorcycle reviews
• Craigslist Car listing filter
• Car reviews (old)
• Forum Preview
• Craigslist Peek

• Google Chrome Extension:
• Car research
• Motorcycle shopping
• craigslist phone search
• Forum Preview
• Craigslist Peek

• Greasemonkey userscript:
• Car research
• Craigslist Car listing filter
• craigslist-phone-search

suggestions on craigslist car post

craigslist car price estimate from various sources

Disabled / collapsed state of features in Craigslist Car Research

craigslist car research showing consumer car reviews

Craigslist Car Research showing relevant discussion from Edmunds

car reliablility, KBB Kelly Blue Book value, msn autos

craigslist car extension works on Kijiji too

(my old site).

Updates

Version : 0.945
Jan 20, 2009

• Now the extension also works on Cars.com, AOL autos, Vehix, freebo.com and pickuptrucks.com.

Version : 0.935
Jan 15, 2009

• Now the extension works on eBay motors (US) and Yahoo Autos also.
• Makes it easy to do search on VIN number.

Version : 0.925
Jan 10, 2009

• Now it works on Kijiji (US) too beside Craigslist.
• Lists similar matches from Yahoo Autos, Oodle. This gives idea of pricing and availability.
• Now it lets user specify ‘Year’ or ‘Model’ if either one is missing or is not recognized from the listing title.
• Flickr thumbnail gallery.
• Improved feature collapse/expand functionality.

Version : 0.910
Dec 05, 2009

• Fixed ‘turn car-research On’ link.
• Added reviews from ReviewCentre?. This is experimental for now as sometimes it returns wrong results.
• Added Epinion reviews. This is also experimental feature as it sometimes fail to work in Google Chrome.
• Added AboutAutomobile? TSB (Technical Service Bulletin).
• Added Google Videos of relevant car.

Version : 0.909
Nov 24, 2009

• Similar car ads listing is now sorted by price
• Clicking on main category blocks (Price, Reviews, Reliability) toggles subcategory blocks.
• Added icon to suggestion box at top, to indicate that its part of extension and not from craigslist.
• Minor changes to color scheme.

Version : 0.905
Nov 12, 2009

• totally changed layout
• created main category blocks Price, Reviews, Reliability.
• moved some of the features from top of page to bottom so that the screen looks more clean and less busy.
• added +/x buttons to enable/disable features. Removed old enable/disable buttons from top.
• added background to indicate this is separate content then the original craigslist post.
• now using safe `JSON` method to parse data instead of `eval` or `return new Function`
• changed the search engine for finding Similar car ads on craigslist. Now it returns more recent listings.
• re-enabled MSN Autos frame.
• web annotations links (twitter, facebook,..) feature is removed for now.
• re-designed the car-research on/off button and functionality.
• now ‘Home of this utility (feedback)’ is minimized at first run.

Version: 0.501

• Added Edmunds TMV price.
• Fixed Enable/Disable buttons. They were not working properly in Firefox 3.6b1pre and Minefield 3.7a1pre.
• Fixed code. Now Edmunds (discussion/reviews), Motortrend pricing, etc are working in Firefox 3.6b1pre and Minefield 3.7a1pre also.
• Cosmetic change to the bottom block (‘Home of this utility’ block).
• Added my icon

Version: 0.312

• Added a feature that makes it easier to search all craigslist for other ads posted by the poster. Basically searches craigslist for matching phone number listed in the ad.

Car reviews etc

Added a new firefox extension “Car reviews etc“. Its a port of the above extension and works on any webpage not just craigslist. Its a strip down version of above extension and works by selecting text (in format “year model”, e.g. “2007 civic” or “2006 toyota camry”) on webpage and right-click to get context-menu. From context-menu select “car reviews etc”. This will show reviews, pricing, recall info etc.

firefox context-menu with car reviews etc extension

© 2009, 2010 tech4computer