Why Craigslist should F'n die!!!

Mr_Wizard · 06-22-2009, 06:58 AM

So I am begining to pack up the family to move to SC because of my new job in Charleston and there are a few things I would rather not take. I vehemently hate craigslist. Mostly scammers and worthless crap in my experience. Plus it looks like a baby shat some HTML and viola Craigslist. SWMBO wanted me to put it on there and against my better judgement I did. Lo and behold I get the offer willing to give me 5x the asking price if I am willing to accept a third party purchase "check" (items are listed for local pickup) and other BS questions such as "Do you need halp payyingg your billssss?" F'n ass hats!!

Thankfully I setup a separate email address just for this.

legion · 06-22-2009, 07:05 AM

Tell him yes, and you would be glad to meet him in person.

Give him the address of the local police station, tell him you work the front desk.

billwagnon · 06-22-2009, 07:06 AM

dude you're channeling Charles Kieffner

rammstein · 06-22-2009, 07:06 AM

Just think how hillarious it would be if you put some things on there for free, and then somebody called you and said they were coming to pick it up... and then they never showed. Twice. THAT'S humor!

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

I've sold/bought on Craigslist for years with mostly good results. Maybe it's the NC crowd...

Jim Richards · 06-22-2009, 07:09 AM

It's worked well enough the few times I've used it.

legion · 07:24 AM

Listing my car on Craigslist was nothing more of a gift of my e-mail address to spammers.

Listing my car on Autotrader resulted in me getting automated calls from a company in Nevada claiming that they would buy my car.

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

huh... i've had a lot of luck buying and selling on CL. Sure, there's the occasional spam or ill-legit email or response, but those are pretty easy to recogonize. i only do business face to face and never had a problem. i delete all the "i'll pay 2x to have it shipped to XYZ" emails.

berettafan · 06-22-2009, 07:18 AM

i like the potential for underpricing of collectibles on CL. in fact i cruise CL when looking for bargain beemers and porsches (only found 1 so far) and ebay is a distant afterthought.

berettafan · 06-22-2009, 07:19 AM

in fact just sold a boat and bought another via CL. did my job researching the seller (verify name/address) before traveling with cash of course.

jyl · jyl's Garage

I'm getting tired of "free" services and the behaviour that they attract.

Suppose it cost $0.25 to contact a CL advertiser.

The $0.25 would stop spam, the economics of spam don't work with even a few cents cost per spam mail.

Not sure this would be enough to influence the flakes who infest CL, but it's a start.

berettafan · 06-22-2009, 07:23 AM

wait a minute....you're talking about charging postage for emails..........

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I've had great luck with Craigslist and even with their personal ads

. I sold both my last two motorcycles on CL, most recently in April to a guy who called about it in the morning and bought the bike that evening. Free listings attract the wackos and jerks (On-ramp). Make it cost something and that weeds out a lot of folks.

dad911 · 06-22-2009, 07:51 AM

I've had good luck also. Sold a boat, Quad, and go-kart this year.

It's easier to weed out the emails of non-serious buyers than deal with dead-beat bidders on eBay.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

No different than ebay. They both suck these days. The stupidity of society-at-large has (unfortunately) caught up with technology. Used to be that the Internet was a refuge of individuals who were (mostly) educated, intelligent and a couple of cuts above the average goober out there. No longer. It has become mainstream and as such, tainted with the idiocy of the mainstream.

You wouldn't believe the idiot questions I've gotten for "for sale" stuff on both venues. Now I just let the auctions run out and whatever the end price is, it is. I don't even bother reading or responding to the questions, even if it could potentially land me a few more bucks. Not worth it.

The thing that pisses me off the most about CL is the people that say, "yeah I'll be over at such-and-such time", then never show, forcing me to waste MY time sitting around with my thumb up my ass. EXTREMELY inconsiderate.

legion · 06-22-2009, 08:01 AM

I had an incident last fall selling some stuff on eBay. In all caps and bold, at the top of my auction, I had a disclaimer that I would not ship internationally and that I would not accept bids from buyers outside of the U.S. without them contacting me prior to bidding.

Sure enough, I have a guy from Romania put in a bid on one of my items. I cancel his bid and send him a note advising of my policy. He puts in another bid. I cancel his bid and bar him from bidding on any of my auctions. Then he sends me an angry "question" about my auction--on all five of my auctions. I again reply with my policy. I never hear from the guy again.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-22-2009, 08:03 AM

love CL

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bik/1233574591.html

island911 · 06-22-2009, 08:05 AM

freaking telephones are the same way. ...telemarketers and all. people just suck ass. why does anyone invent these stoopid device that let people communicate, anyway?

Zeke · 06-22-2009, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmoolenaar

I've sold/bought on Craigslist for years with mostly good results. Maybe it's the NC crowd...

Recently I have been doing some business on CL. I sold a washer and dryer and picked up some pedestals for the new units for a 1/3 the price of new. In both cases I dealt with 20 something females and it went quite well.

It may not be perfect, but it's better than fleabay.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I've listed about six things for sale on eBay and ADVrider.com in the last week, all of which were priced to include free shipping to CONUS or lower 48. On every single one of them I got emails from people in Canada asking if I'd ship there. I'll do it for the extra cost. But sheesh. Is there really such a shortage of BMW bike and Porsche stuff up there?