To each his / her own...
I agree with Amy. To pay just to contact the seller is not attractive to me. As a buyer I will just check other free sites.
I'm certainly not waving the RedWeek flag here, but personally I will
gladly pay (what, all of $12 per year?) to ensure that any and parties responding to an ad are likely sincere and perhaps genuinely interested.
On the other hand, I can "save" that $12 and place a free ad on Craigslist --- and as soon as its "up" I suddenly win the UK Lottery, hear about private business and investment opportunities in distant lands, receive offers of imported brides, etc., etc. I'll happily pay one dollar per month
forever to completely avoid receiving any of that crap.
To each his / her own, I guess...