Craigslist rant

[C Body Bob]

There are some numbskulls advertising cool stuff that is apparently unobtainable on Craigslist. I have given up on the folowing 3 Its drives me crazy when someone puts something on there that I am interested in & they give a very vague discription & poor pictures. Dont list a contact # & apparently dont reply to e-mails.
#1 about 2 years ago poped up a 71 Satellite 2 door 318. Said it ran good. had all parts removed in trunk. $2000.00 OBO so no phone # so I clicked the link & did the e-mail thing. Heard nothing for a week. Sent another e-mail. Still nothing. Couple of more weeks & nothing. So sent a 3rd Finally he replyed. So we went back & forth for a few days before I just said man can I have a # so I can call. He sent me his number. I called & he said yea I have been getting your e-mails but I have been busy. So I told him I would like to come look at the car saturday. He said no I work on saturday..Ok how about Sunday. No I work Sunday too. How about saturday nights after work. No I have to baby sit the kids cant do it then. Ok what time then. Well I work 2 jobs so i dont really know when I will have time off any. So I just gave him my # told him to call when he had some free time. Been two years now. Nothing. Car is no longer on there.
#2 guy had a 6-71 blower with a smallblock Mopar intake. No phone # During the past year I sent several e-mails. Sent another about a month ago saying Hey do you still have this. I am interested. I have cash. Can come saturday. I got a reply....it was Yep... thats it. Have sent 2 more since. Heard nothing. Its still listed as of yesterday.
#3 Guy has a set of 4.56 gears with yoke for close to a year. Very good price. I'm interested. Several e-mails cause the phone # listed is no good. Finally got a reply a few weeks ago. it was yes I still have them. Replyed with the same spill. Have cash can come anytime. Let me know. Not heard a word. Gears are still listed as of yesterday.
These are all items I dont need just thought that for the price they where asking I would add it to my empire of stuff. But I cant so i move on to the next numbskull. #4 you're up

 

[67Monaco]

You supplying phone number in your emails?

 

[thrashingcows]

Craigslist attracts flakes like flies to $hit....both sellers and buyers.

 

[commando1]

CL
You get what you pay for.

Posted via Topify on Android

 

[C Body Bob]

I guess one thing that gets me is the guy with the Satellite said he was working two jobs 7 days a week & had kids to care for. Looks to me like he could have used the 2K.

 

[NWMoparguy]

A guy in Salem, Oregon had a 73 Fury four door for $600. Runner driver in decent shape. Seemed like a good deal. Same thing as above, no contact info except the link to email him through CL. I sent at least four different emails, with two different accounts. Never did hear back from him. Car was relisted several times during the duration of my attempts to contact him. Apparently he didn't want to sell it too badly! lol

 

[65 500]

You're only up to number 4 ?!

 

[65 500]

CL
You get what you pay for.

And that in a nutshell is the problem.

 

[C Body Bob]

Oh I've gotten quite a few good deals on Craigslist. I list a lot of stuff on there myself. I have had people call me wanting to unload something Mopar related or an old car because they've seen all my adds. I"ll let you guys in on a secret. Ever been to a Chevy swap meet to buy Mopar stuff? It works they just want to get rid of the stuff. I always wear a Dodge hat & shirt & walk through slowly & try to start a conversation. Before long he's telling me about some Mopar stuff he or his buddy has & just wants to get rid of it.

 

[tallhair]

I've had the same experiences with CL people on both sides. As a seller and buyer.

As a seller I put in the ad that they send me an email through the CL site and tell me their email and phone number, with instructions on how to do that for the challenged people. I never put my number or email directly in the ad. They just reply to the ad with no phone and don't tell me their email. The replies through the site come from a random CL email address so no way to really differentiate who's emailing you .. and they keep using it to reply with no contact info or give short questions or answers like "still have this?" without contact info or ask if I can text photo's to their phone. When I tell them I can't text pics and ask for email to send pics they're done. They don't want to talk they just want to text ! Won't answer the phone, if they provide it.

As buyer same thing if they answer .. all short responses w/o answering questions and won't give phone or send pictures etc to the email I provide to them. I provide phone and they don't call.

That's mainly with car part people. I have talked to a few about some vintage lawn tractor I was selling and some were advertising pool tables for instance.

I suspect part of the problem is the CL emails go to their spam folders automatically and they are not looking in their spam folders

 

[C Body Bob]

Could be. I put my number on my adds. Mainly because I want to sell. I also describe my item well with lots of pics. With today's technology I can usually tell what kind of phone call I am getting. And can block the 888 877 numbers. Or if the ID doesn't show a city. As for e mailing with my number. I think that's called fishing. If you do that the scammers then have your e mail & phone. Also watch out for the ones that ask for a best time to call you.

I don't have a lot of free time so if a seller proveed difficult for me to work with I usually see his item relisted over & over again. It's just frustrating. I really would like that blower. Even sent an e mail saying I would pay his asking price. Oh well

 

[patrick66]

This is why when I place a CL ad, I have a short paragraph that reads something like this:

"I do NOT text, so if you text me, I will ignore you. NO holds and NO promises. Sale is AS IS, WHERE IS with absolutely NO warranties or guarantees; either expressed, implied, written or oral. NO delivery! Buyer responsible for all shipping costs. And NO, I do not need "help" to sell this item. If you see the item in the CL ad, that means it's still for sale. Reply to the phone number listed."

I write out the numbers in my phone number, so that it can't be copied/pasted, or makes it far more inconvenient to do so. I also make it so that the buyer can NOT email me about the item through CL or any other means. This prevents the "Do you still have this item?" nonsense that allows them to get both your email and number. I normally post enough pics so that I don't get the "Can I have more pics?" type of goofy crap going on. There are enough there to make a determination as to whether the buyer wants to pursue the deal further by actually coming out to SEE the item in person.

 

[C Body Bob]

I guess I'm too darn old school for the times. I have always listed s number. Been doing this since 1979. Long before Al Gore invented the Internet. Sure I get a few weido's. Always figured it was the price to do business. Maybe I should retire. Buy that vintage Garcia fishing reel & move to the beach.

 

[polara71]

I have no problem with the way CL does it but the seller has an obligation to follow through, sold or not

 

[Big_John]

People are strange to deal with. I've emailed and never gotten responses from Craigs List sellers and never gotten a response... I've tried to buy stuff on forums and never gotten returned PM's. Then I've had to hold the hands of people on how to ship, give them my address two or three times etc.

I responded to a post on another forum once, offering the part he was looking for... For free.... I could toss it in an envelope so I didn't even want postage. I pm'd the assclown and offered it.. no strings attached... as I do a lot of stuff.... and he wanted pictures. Yea.... pictures to be sure if he wanted a free part from me... that he said he really, really needed. He didn't get the part.

I no longer will put car in my front yard with a "for sale" sign on it either. ****.... I had one guy decide to take a Dart on an extended test drive... I found that car in front of his house after a couple days of looking for it. I didn't call the cops because I knew the guy (friend of a friend) ... I should have, he got a ticket while he had the car too. He later tried to use me as a reference if you can believe that.

Another guy took a NYB and left it at the wrong house. The same car had a low life stop and make a low ball offer. He stopped back when I wasn't there and when my wife (now ex) came out, he started just walking towards her without saying a word... My dog earned his keep that day.

Then the topper was when I first tried to sell my Corvette. My son had it in front of his house and the guy around the corner stopped and was hot for it. He wanted his mechanic to look at the car and that was OK... The mechanic managed to short one of the fuel injectors though and the guy called me and said that he stopped on his way home and the car wouldn't start. I went down and picked him up... Got in the car to try it and there was his drink in the cup holder and the bottle in a bag on the seat... yea.. his drink... He was driving my car while drinking. I decided the car was no longer for sale and drove for another year before I sold it. A couple months later, I saw the same guy pass a stopped school bus, so I'm even glad I didn't sell it to him.

 

[C Body Bob]

Big_John. If you are ever in Raleigh look me up. Gonna buy you a beer

 

[Big_John]

Bob, I get down that way once in a while.... I'll take you up on that.

 

[C Body Bob]

It will be a pleasure John !

 

[tallhair]

If I'm selling I post good pictures and exactly what it is, with part numbers etc and how I want to be contacted and it's worked OK .. it's the idiots that keep wanting to uses CL instead of real communication that are frustrating. It's worked a lot but there are a lot of numskulls out there but I expect it after doing it for a while last year. Haven't bothered trying to sell much of anything lately but I'll probably ramp up soon to clear some more stuff.

This is good thread and I've seen a lot of good discussion C Body Bob

 

[C Body Bob]

Tallhair. You're alright too. Look forward to buying you a beer too