damn_registrars's Journal: Craigslist ...

I had a few items laying around the house that are in very good condition, and perfectly useable. I figured selling them on craigslist would keep them out of the waste stream, and maybe make me a few dollars as well. Of course by previous experience I should have known better, but I thought I'd try it anyways since you can post your crap there for free.

Apparently, what I actually wanted was to be contacted by large hordes of flaky people, because that was the result. I posted 6 different items 2 weeks ago, and have so far sold exactly zero of them.

One item received its first response less than 48 hours after being posted. I replied to that response and the person never got back to me. I gave them another 24 hours and then said that there were more people interested in the same item and I would offer it to the next person if they did not get back to me. No further response ever came from that first person.

Same item, next person. I have now passed over a dozen email messages back and forth with this second potential buyer. Yesterday he finally gave me his phone number so I could call him (I had already given him mine and he never called me). I called him and he said he would call back ... still waiting for that call back.

And those aren't even the first two flakes attracted by that one item. I had listed this item before, only to receive a single interested buyer who asked about it IN ALL CAPS. I tried to deal with that person but they wanted me to deliver this twelve dollar item to them - and gave me bad directions to where they wanted to meet. Then when I asked for clarification on the directions the following day (they wouldn't give a phone number where they could be reached) they said (AGAIN IN ALL CAPS) that they were no longer interested.

I have other items listed that included pictures, and people then expect that items not in the pictures will be included with the items.

Well, I guess I'm glad now to know where I can go to find large hordes of atrociously flaky people. If only I knew where to go to sell these items. Their value isn't enough to justify ebay; I guess I'll just try to find someplace to donate them so they don't have to go to the trash.

How Many Roses Were You Expecting?

[Real World Stuff]

Cause...ya know...

Re:

[damn_registrars]

Very true, I got what I paid for. It just frustrates me that ads on craigslist bring all the flakes out of the woodwork.

Re:

[Real World Stuff]

AAAAAAAAAmen :D

How about

[nizo]

Craigslist ad: "The following items are being donated to the Goodwill at XXXX on MM/DD/YYYY. If you want em, keep checking there!" :-)

Re:

[damn_registrars]

Not a bad idea, since that is what I'm doing with these items (similar to goodwill but more appropriate for these items). A couple problems, though

• The flakes don't read more than half the ad anyways
• Other people of the craigslist "community" would rabidly flag it until the ad is torn down and nobody sees it anyways.

Meatspace vs cyberspace

[mcgrew]

Sometimes meatspace beats cyberspace. There are garage sales here almost every weekend the weather's not too bad, and people flock to them. And you got six nibbles and no bites out of teh six billion humans in syberspace?

Seller's market

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Now you know to do the following:

1) Give it away if it's worth very little. When people pay money, they think they have a say. It it's free, you can tell them "it's free, if you don't like it go buy it somewhere else".

2) Put in the ad that THEY pick the item up. First response and first pickup gets it. If they are 5 minutes late for the appt, they go to the back of the line. They pick up the item at your house, no meetings.

3) Payment in cash is expected. No checks.

4) No refunds. All sales final. If it needs