Craigslist SCs

[Sparky]

I've about given up on Freecycle after the number of times I sat for an hour in a parking lot waiting for someone who never showed -- to get the thing I was trying to give them for FREE.

Never had the nerve to try Craigslist. I've bought stuff from it though.

[Mango]

When I posted earlier, I completely forgot about the time I used Craigslist to try and get a date. This was quite some time ago, and I have since met and married Mrs. Mango, who I did not meet online.

I never actually met up with someone from Craigslist, but it was entertaining enough that I ended up with enough material for the following letter which I posted there as "Open letter to everyone who's sent me an email"

If you were the one who told me, in all seriousness, that you liked words ending in the letter 's' followed by 'not':
You really were older than me? You're sure?

If you were the one who wrote that you were "looking for a man who was more than 5'11" in height"
Dammit. I'm 5'11" in width. So close.

If you were the one who actually sent me a picture:
That picture was of Hilary Duff. I'm sure you're very pretty, but I highly doubt that Hilary Duff would have to resort to the Vancouver Craigslist Personals to get a date.

If you emailed me from the Philippines:
Now, I'm ready to hop on the Skytrain for a bit as much as the next guy. But unfortunately, the Philippines is a touch far to go JUST for a date. I'm sure you're a very very nice girl though. Good luck.

If you emailed me looking for a guy who "didn't just have one or two tattoos, but was into tattoos as a way of life":
I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm not really into tattoos as a way of life.

If your entire post involved only the words "looking for a man":
Okay, you're in the right place. Now, could you be a TOUCH more specific?

If you posted "Cute model is looking for prince", and then, exactly 84 minutes later, posted "Cute model is NOT looking for prince anymore":
I wasn't one of the people that emailed you, but your second ad made me curious. I know Craigslist works fast, but 84 minutes? That's damn impressive.

If you were the one who wrote me from your boyfriend's email account:
I replied. Sorry.

If you're one of the six dozen girls who wrote "I'm 36, but I just wanted to write and let you know I laughed out loud at your ad.":
Why the heck does my humor only appeal to people 15 years older than me?!

If your ENTIRE ad was "PICTURES ONLY!! MUST HAVE HIGH SEX DRIVE!!!":
You're scary.

[CaroPhoenix]

Mango - that open letter was pretty funny!

I met Mr. Rum on Yahoo! Personals. (He answered my ad. )

I love Freecycle! I usually just leave the stuff out on my front porch & give them directions to my house. Mr. Rum thinks it's odd, but I don't mind it. Lots less junk in my house.

[depechemodefan]

Locally though, garbage day is the best time to put that sort of crap out. There's an older, green Chevy van...which cruises the entire neighborhood looking for crap to "salvage."

Oh, that reminds me, my dad use to do that, but just once in a while. We stopped in someone's yard once and got some weights, and some books. One was called The Choir Boys, a fiction book about LA cops. I was at least 12 grade reading level at grad 6, but some books little kids shouldn't read when they are young.

Recently, me and mom were just driving down the boulevard that connects a main street to another street that leads us home. We go down that blvd frequently. One day we were passing by this house in April and saw a huge Christmas wreath. So I go back, and we pull up in the driveway and see bunch of stuff, like broken potter, a rug, a replica of a sword, boxes and wooden hangers. So I go to the door and ring the bell just to ask if we can take some stuff. No one comes to the door, so we just started to load up my mom's Volvo. Two weeks ago I had someone help me change out the dinner room carpet with the carpet I picked-up. It has some stain on the underside, and a small rust stain on a corner, but it didn't look used.

[GingerBiscuit]

we got a load of nice glasses cause the indian restaurant near us was getting rid of them.

The morning we walked past it said 'free glasses, take one' and there were a dozen orso boxes of glasses. We took a box, dropped it back in the house, wandered around for a few hours. When we got home- one, solitary, mournful looking pint glass was left. Three hours. And it's not even an overly busy part of the city... so just putting 'free stuff' on a sign does work.

I've not done stuff on craigslist, and some of these stories are really putting me off...

[depechemodefan]

One thing that ticks me off about Craigslist is people listing something, let's say, "Oak cabinet with glass top, $1" and you know it can't be a $ unless the person really wants to get rid of it. But you look and it's really $500. Why do people say "$1?" I'll look just to chuckle at the real price, but what will the poster gain? A person will ignore it now, even if they did want it.

Also, a lot of people ask the librarians help for the personal ads. Like how to put up an ad. And what the patron wants to say is in no way reality. That's why I'm afraid to put up any personal ad, just in case some scummy library patron sees it.

[Lyger]

I'm unemployed right now. So I used Craigslist to look for a job, all day. It was where I got one delightful woman telling me that I'm not qualified to work at her bakery because I didn't look up her website that I didn't even know she had.

And also... dozens of interviews, no job. Making me a little more jaded towards it.

[Mango]

I've not done stuff on craigslist, and some of these stories are really putting me off...

I've actually never had a bad experience with Craigslist. (Entertaining, yes, but not bad..sorry if my posts gave an impression otherwise.) You just have to be reasonable about how you conduct your transaction. For example, when I'm selling or giving away stuff, I give the item to whoever fits my schedule best. I'm going to be home anyway between certain hours, and if you can come between those hours, great! If the item is electronic, I'll have it set up and ready to go so you can see that it works. I may or may not offer a warranty.

If I'm advertising for a job, I make it very clear that I pay after the job is complete to my satisfaction, and only with invoice. And if you show up and you don't have the required equipment that (a) I specified in the post and (b) we talked about, I will send you home without pay. I found an awesome camera operator on Craigslist. Too bad he moved to Toronto

Don't like my terms? Sorry, but I'm doing you a favour, giving you an item at at least half off retail, or even free, and it has to at least be convenient for me. I'll just call the next person in the list of a dozen or two people that emailed me. I never have to go very far down.

If I'm buying something from you, I will come to you, and I know I better be ready to jump in my car now, because you probably got the same dozen emails I do whenever I advertise something. I won't ask you to hold the item because I know you're probably pretty anxious to get rid of it, and I won't negotiate unless you've got a few items and I'm after a package deal. If I do, I'll do all the negotiation before I see you. I'll have exact change in cash, and if it's electronics, I'll need to see it run before I go.

If I'm after a date...heck, well, if I'm after a date, I'll go in the next room and ask Mrs. Mango if she wants to go out. But if I were single, I had better be a girl (I'm not) because the ratio of m4w to w4m posts on there is, at least back when I was looking, 53:3. And if I'm a guy, I had better be hot enough to not need Craigslist to pick up girls.

Well, that should cover everything you need to know. Good luck

[Megg]

Despite some of the horror stories, I actually listed my Jeep for sale on Craigslist today. Hopefully I can sell it, we love old Betsy, but we need the money right now.

Wish me luck, I realize I will probably need it!

[AccountingDrone]

http://freecycle.org

It's GREAT! It's Yahoo group so you have to register but it's a wonderful resource. It's international, over 18,000 local groups and 5.5 million members (make sure you cruise the other countries' groups- the last time I checked the one in Ecuador had two members, the one in Haiti had 12)

I adore freecycle - our roommate is the moderator for our area freecycle. We have gotten rid of more stuff in the past couple of years! Well, to admit we also got some good stuff out of the deal, but we have gotten rid of way more than we have gotten. To date, something like 5oo or 600 assorted books and cds [we bought them or got them as presents and read them or listened to them and decided we didnt like them usually=) ] some furniture that was in good condition but we replaced with new and matching items, kitchenware that we replaced with better quality stuff. We got a hot tub [it only needed a gasket to repair] and assorted books or cds, a bookshelf ...

As long as you are polite, and obey the very simple rules - and put stuff up and not just take stuff it is great. Although I should get her to join CS as she has some serious sucky people on freecycle stories!

[DevilBoy]

Oh, craigslist... how I love it and hate it at the same time.

Good CL
+ found the apt. I am living in
+ helped me to furnished about 50% of the aforementioned apt.
+ found the job I now work at

Now, for the bad... the majority of CL sellers. Not all of them are idiots, but the vast majority are. I will use an actual CL post of mine to explain:

Date: 2008-08-18, 9:44AM EDT
Trust me, you're not the only one who wonders about some of the crap people sell here on craigslist.

Let’s be honest, what you’re selling you’re selling for 2 reasons:
1. What you’re selling is crap, and you know it, and want desperately to get rid of it.
2. You need the money.

Both are fine, but there are too many people going about it wrong.

Here are some helpful hints for craigslist sellers:

+ To all the people who state that they can "send a pic upon request".
Who the hell wants to take the time to email you to ask for a picture? You can’t tell people you have a pic and not put it up. Take the extra 30 seconds to upload it, this is craigslist, not eBay. You don't have to pay to post a pic. If you do post a picture of your item (and not some stock photo from the manufacturer's site, post a picture of YOUR item), you’ll likely get many more responses.
Plus, make sure that people can email you. Wanna leave your phone #, too?… fine, go ahead. But not everyone in the world is going to be able to call you ‘between the hours of xxxx’. This is the 21st century. You took the time and effort to post something online, let people respond to your ad online. And take the time to reply back when they do.

+ Nobody cares if you bought it, didn’t use it for 5 years and left it in the original packaging all that time. It’s still old and certainly not worth what you paid for it 5 years ago. Lower it to a decent price and take the hit. You’ve gone 5 years without using it, it isn’t like you can recoup your losses this late in the game.

+ Don’t try to inflate the price by giving some long diatribe about how you researched the history of the manufacturer and found that it may be “collectible” or an “investment”. Antiques Roadshow is a fine program, but just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s worth a ton of money. Most of the “treasures” in your basement/attic/shed/storage are simply old crap.

+ Nobody is going to believe you when you post some crap like “it’s hardly been used”, “I only used it twice”, “it’s virtually brand new”… etc., so don’t bother. If you used it for even 5 minutes it is still used and ain’t worth anywhere close to the original cost any longer. You simply cannot command close to 75% - 90% of the retail cost just because you feel that you haven’t used it much.

+ If there are any imperfections or blemishes on the item, then say so. Better yet, take a picture of them close up and post it along with your listing. Nobody wants to waste their time coming to see your “lightly discolored” beige couch only to find out that there is a 2-square foot, dark as night dog piss stain on the middle cushion. Be honest and up front about it.

+ Along the same as the last tip, if it's really busted up, broken, missing pieces or just plain doesn't work... then that means that your item is more or less trash and should be listed in the free section if you want to part with it so badly. There should be no sale at all.

In short, you don’t want the stuff anymore, so let it go. Stop being a tight ass. Just try to price your items more reasonably. Put up pictures of what you’re selling. Leave an email address for people to reply to.
You’re not getting top dollar for your crap unless it is plated with solid gold. You’re not getting 2 grand for your bedroom set. You’re not getting $500 for a cheap ugly-ass entertainment center that can be bought new at a store for cheaper.
Try using prices that someone may actually pay and you might actually sell it.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

As a matter of fact I DO happen to have a story of Craigslist stupidity. A fresh one.

Ya'll know I'm in the SCA. For those that don't know what that is, it's a large society of medieval enthusiasts. Among other things, we have guys that fight in armor.

A set of plate mail and the various weapons that ago with it take up a lot of room. Many of the "heavy fighters" as we call them haul their kits around on trailers. These trailers get stolen from time to time.

We Scadians are extremely well connected and look out for each other. Something gets stolen in, oh let's say PASADENA, Scadians in freaking Bangor know about it by noon and are on high alert. Any given SCA member has a large contingent of other SCA members who know what their gear looks like.

I'm sure you see where this is going.

Now, if you suddenly found yourself the proud owner of a pile of medieval armor and wanted to fence it, who are just about the only people out there who might be interested in purchasing it? This is not pretty armor you stand up in the hallway of your manor, this is basically sports equipment for weirdos. It's sports equipment for people WHO KNOCK THE CRAP OUT OF EACH OTHER FOR FUN. Its dinged up, often a little rusty, and always smells really funky.

Dumbass puts stuff on Craigslist (or Ebay). Which, conveniently, is where all the Scadians are looking for their buddy's missing armor.

One shitbird even modeled some for us in the photos. He was wearing the elbows on his shoulders like pauldrons, much to our amusement.

One guy said he had "gauntlets (gloves), legs, arms, and a helmet" What he showed was legs, arms, elbows, and a great helm." First off, Scadians only use the word "helmet" if they are using it like "I just rode in on my harley and have a bug smushed on the front of my helmet." Secondly, they know what gauntlets are. Thirdly, they don't describe their stuff by going "items appear to be handmade" (no shit, Dick Tracey, did you think we bought our gear from Walmart?), and fourth...we tend to know how to spell "Renaissance".

Red flags go up, ad gets posted on every Scadian forum imaginable, ad comes down within hours.

This last one, I don't know how it ended. I just know the ad came down and it was said to have been "handled." Not sure what that means, but for the seller's sake, I hope it meant the police were involved.

Unbelievable dumbasses.

[Lil Bunny]

LOL oh Recovering, I think that's the best um...vengeance story I've heard!

A good lesson for life, never piss off someone in the SCA. There are too many people who have their backs.

[AriRashkae]

LOL oh Recovering, I think that's the best um...vengeance story I've heard!

A good lesson for life, never piss off someone in the SCA. There are too many people who have their backs.

And can put an arrow in yours.

[Chromatix]

Or a crossbow bolt. It's not massively difficult to make or effectively use a decent crossbow.