Why are Craigslist sellers so flaky?

[CrazyHorse]

Is it too much to ask to answer your damn email within 48 hours or pick up your f$%king phone or even set up your voicemail so I can leave a goddamn message?

And can you take down your f$%king ad after your vehicle has sold so that I'm not wasting my time wading through sold goods?

For crying out loud, is that too much to ask?

Sorry, had to vent!

 

[T4R2014]

It's free and easy to use I guess. I've been lucky to have dealt with a few normal people with a lot of good purchases, but a fair bit are some shady freaks.

 

[hearno]

It's free and easy to use I guess.

First things that came to my mind also.

 

[LittleCaesar]

I bought my 3rd gen 4runner out of the local paper. It was free to advertise in for 30 days for an auto classified, and unlike CL it was able to keep the thugs, idiots and morons in check from placing an ad since it required some degree of verbal lucidity.

CL, while it has its merits, is an avenue for the inept to try and enter into the real world.

 

[Bigshankhank]

You think car chopping on cl is bad? Try searching for rental property on there. Honestly 3 of 4 ads we replied to turned out to be scams, and the same scam "We wont give out the property address because we did that and it got broken in to so please click this weblink and input your credit information so we will know you are a serious renter. Yup, just give us your credit info on the website we link you to, sure.

**** them all.

 

[LandCruiser]

Offer up some imitation crabmeat next time...

 

[Unner]

Recently I've been selling stuff on Craigslist from my wheeling and dealing to get my new wheels and tires. I had a good experience with the guy I bought my tires from, they were brand new and on new Jeep wheels. He sold them to me for crazy cheap, I gave him his asking price, and he held them for while I drove the 4 hours the next day to pick them up. The next day he called me asking if there was anyway he could get his TPMS sensors back because he forgot to pull them. I said yeah and mailed them back to him since he was a good guy and I stole the wheels and tires from him. It was a good experience.

On the other hand, selling those Jeep wheels I have had one guy low ball me, one text me for his son only to say he didn't have any money, one tell me his jeep broke down and he spent a bunch in the shop getting it fixed (most believable), one tell me he just had his radio stolen and couldn't afford them, and my favorite was the guy I drove out of my way to meet only for him to realize my wheels were 17's (clearly stated in my ad) and they wouldn't fit his 18" tires. I turned down a decent offer the day before to hold them for this loser...

The tires on the 4Runner wheels I bought I sold on craigslist as well. The guy I sold them to agreed to $350 on the phone, only for him to offer me $200 in the parking lot... I told him no, $350 is a great deal (brand new tires). Then as he started to hand me the money he told me "You're taking all my money!" My response was "you're taking all my tires!"

Craigslist seems to attract a certain type of people. Not trying to be mean or anything like that but it seems that a lot of people on craigslist looking to buy are rather cheap... Not all, but a large majority.

 

[Bigshankhank]

As a follow up, we had a garage sale this past weekend and my best friend, my wife and myself were having a related discussion about garage sale shoppers. Except the crucial difference is, you should expect to see something at a garage sale and haggle the price down. To me that's the point of it, nothing there was worth advertising, nor was it worth it for me to have to push it back into my garage or backyard, so if I asked for $20 and the person offered me 5, I was taking it all day long. Oh yeah, and nothing in a garage sale should be priced over $50. I always laugh when I see someone trying to garage sale their lawnmower for $250, or an expensive piece of furniture or stuff like that. Dude, take out an ad if you want that kind of money.
Flip side, if I offer it on craigslist, I offer it for the price i am willing to take. I might do some horsetrading, but if the buyer is offering me cash, he better be offering me the number in the ad.

 

[GLP]

I bought 2 used cars this year, did a lot of looking on CL, and bought one of them from there. I couldn't believe how many people still owed money on there vehicles that were 10 years old and nearly 100k miles. No one could pay there loan off before selling the car, they were expecting me to give them the money so they could pay it off, then they would send my the title later. I can see why dealers get more $ for used cars.

 

[RedRunner_87]

Is it too much to ask to answer your damn email within 48 hours or pick up your f$%king phone or even set up your voicemail so I can leave a goddamn message?

And can you take down your f$%king ad after your vehicle has sold so that I'm not wasting my time wading through sold goods?

For crying out loud, is that too much to ask?

Sorry, had to vent!

When I moved and was looking for a room to rent, it was impossible to get a hold of a lot of people. I got like 2 responses back out of the dozens of emails I sent out to people. Oh well found a good place to live but it was really frustrating.

 

[LittleCaesar]

A real good one for used cars is the mechanic's special, where the car needs a new transmission or head gasket, but the owner wants $4000 for a car worth $500.

 

[HerT4R]

As a follow up, we had a garage sale this past weekend and my best friend, my wife and myself were having a related discussion about garage sale shoppers. Except the crucial difference is, you should expect to see something at a garage sale and haggle the price down. To me that's the point of it, nothing there was worth advertising, nor was it worth it for me to have to push it back into my garage or backyard, so if I asked for $20 and the person offered me 5, I was taking it all day long. Oh yeah, and nothing in a garage sale should be priced over $50. I always laugh when I see someone trying to garage sale their lawnmower for $250, or an expensive piece of furniture or stuff like that. Dude, take out an ad if you want that kind of money.
Flip side, if I offer it on craigslist, I offer it for the price i am willing to take. I might do some horsetrading, but if the buyer is offering me cash, he better be offering me the number in the ad.

i personally think that craigslist is one of the last good haggle spots, and you posted it for sale so unless you say "price is firm" im going to try to get a little something off. I post my ads with the thought of haggle in mine as well, hence why i use "OBO" to indicate that its negotiable.

also, i dont frequent garage sales, but maybe i should... im in the market for a couple of bicycles for my gf and i, and craigslist has been good in houston but stuff is selling fast, guess i should rethink my strategy...

i will continue my search but i hate paying what is asked unless its really a steal...