Potential legal risks running a classifieds website?

[Absolutely]

I've got the idea to set up a website dealing with people selling cars, furniture, whatever. Seems like a fairly lawsuit risk-free endeavor, but anyone can sue of course these days.

Can anyone give me tips on what or what not to do when running a site like this so I can avoid risks ahead of time?

tia

[bartainer]

Hi;

I would probably start with a disclaimer. Look at other sites (similar) and see what is listed. Talk with your lawyer about what to inlude with the disclaimer.

Pretty basic advice, but I do hope this helped.

[Nick Jachelson]

A private domain registration (e.g. DomainsByProxy) is a must for a site that might attract lawsuits.

Nobody probably will ever actually sue you, but you will get a ton of jokers who will threaten too. Sending actual letters to your home address threatening legal action is not above them.

[zulu_dude]

You may find this recent thread interesting:
Craiglist sued over housing ad bias [webmasterworld.com]

[microcars]

one thing you should NOT do is crawl another classified's site to harvest stuff for YOUR site and then stick Google ads in between the postings.