So for those who have multiple references at their disposal, this generally isn't a problem. My goal is to address all those people who need to use craigslist to find vendors, or do a google search as you mentioned. The feedback I've received from all these people is that it really isn't feasible to find good vendors in this manner. Craigslist doesn't offer reviews - it's really a shot in the dark, and performing google searches is a long and tedious process. The desire was to have one site from which to find vendors, see/leave reviews, and interact with the vendors through the site, in realtime.

All that being said, advertising/marketing is certainly not easy and is an area which may require a bit more cash flow in order to get widespread attention.

Not a killjoy at all - I appreciate the feedback