Craigslist rival Gumtree just got a lot easier to use

Classified ads service Gumtree has today unveiled some new features on the beta version of its site that should make it easier to use and navigate.

The new design, honing the beta design launched two months ago, allows users to browse listing not only by city, but by individual areas of the city.

In London, you can now look for ads specific to individual areas like Shoreditch or Dalston rather than having the scan through a listings for the whole city. This makes certain uses for the site, searching for a flat to rent for example, much easier.

Freetext search has been added to the site, meaning you can now type in a postcode, rather than having to rely on Gumtree’s pre-defined city areas.

Rather unbelieveably, prices for items didn’t used to be visible without clicking into an ad itself. Gumtree has now fixed that with a price column in search results and listings. Organisation of categories has been improved and the new version of the site is quicker to load.

While the new features haven’t rolled out to the main site yet, you can try them in the opt-in beta area of the site. The ‘sub-areas for cities’ featuire is only available for London right now but will be rolled out to other areas soon.

Based in the UK, ten year-old Gumtree now covers 60 cities across 6 countries: the UK, Ireland, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.