Most people have heard of and/or used Craigslist to buy or sell things. Craigslist is a website where you can place free classified ads. One of the sections covers people selling things that you can buy, which of course you can also post things you want to sell and have interested parties contact you to buy.
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Seems simple enough, right? Wrong. When you add the general public to the mix, it opens the possibility of things going wrong, getting confused, being weird or just not happening. We asked our Facebook fans to tell us their pet peeves in regards to buying and selling on Craigslist. It’s our hope that bringing this to light might make others think twice before making the same mistake(s).
Top 5 Craigslist Pet Peeves
- SCAMS! There are links on Craigslist warning you about specific scams (people respond to your for sale ad offering money, which ends up being a (bad) check or (fraudulent) money order. The alleged buyer may even offer more than your asking price, but you’ll get nothing (and it may end up costing money in bank fees) when you find out the funds are not legit. Craigslist buyers can also be victimized by fake for sale ads. Always deal locally and use caution and common sense.
- READ THOROUGHLY (buyers)! Sales ads that include all important information about the item should be read thoroughly by potential buyers before they start asking questions. Take a few minutes to read before responding. It’ll show you’re genuinely interested and respect their time taken to include the info, as well as not wasting their time asking something they already said.
- INCLUDE ALL PERTINENT INFO (sellers)! Conversely, if you’re posting an ad it only makes sense to include as much info as possible. People want to know about an item before they’ll buy it. You should also try to take very good pictures which not only make the item look good, but show any imperfections when possible. It will help you sell your item. I promise!
- TAKE IT DOWN! When you’ve sold your item (or given it away, if in free section; or found it, if in wanted section), delete your ad! It will save others time, and they’ll stop emailing, calling and texting you!
In the same vein, if someone just stops writing to you after seeming to be interested, you might try writing a whole new email (even from a different email account) with no craigslist stuff in the email (no links at bottom or any remnants from previous emails). Your spam filter, or their spam filter, may be snagging your email and not delivering it! I’ve had that happen a LOT in my Yahoo email. I made a new gmail account solely for answering CL ads. It works 100% better than my regular email, which never gets delivered through the Craigslist email system in most of my attempts! - AGREE TO DISAGREE! If you’re looking at an ad to buy and you’ve exchanged emails or phone calls, promising to pay the listed price, it’s rude to try to negotiate a different price in person. However, if you have NOT agreed to a price then it’s wise for both parties to realize that bartering is the name of the game with second-hand sales. Don’t be offended if they offer you a lower price. Do your homework (both buyers and sellers) and see what similar items are going for locally so you’re prepared and don’t mistakenly make a “low ball” (shockingly low) offer. Our poll got “pet peeves” on both sides of this one – from those who said sellers ask way too much for their used stuff, to those who said buyers want to get stuff for way too little money. So, if you want to play the game, you’ll avoid a lot of frustration knowing that anything goes.
- PREPARE FOR WEIRDNESS! Yes, I know the title says “Top 5” and this is #6. Speaking of anything goes, check out our winner who got a phone call from an angry girlfriend of a guy she bought a dud sewing machine from. The girlfriend was going through his phone bill, checking to see why he’d called random ladies. Looks like selling busted sewing machines wasn’t the only bad thing this guy does. Whatever you do, please be careful! Be vigilant! Don’t go to someone’s house alone. Don’t meet in strange places, like motel rooms! Stay safe!!
The whole point of most of these really boils down to respecting each other’s time. Remember, you’re dealing with strangers and being polite and courteous is always the best deal.
We’d like to thank all our readers who shared their Craigslist Pet Peeves on Facebook!!
Winners from our Craigslist Pet Peeves Contest:
Erin Pickett No pertinent info-for example: Automobiles with no mileage listed, phones that leave out storage space (16, 32, 64 or 128).Oiying Malcolm They don’t read the whole ad and ask you questions that are answered in the postingMegan BakerMy pet peeve is when you are selling and someone agrees on price but then they show up and they want to trade. As a seller I need the money not to trade junk.Ashley Lozano When the sellers girlfriend calls you several months later asking about your relationship with him because you exchanged two phone calls over a sewing machine (she was reading his phone bill). And the dang machine didn’t workDanielle Lee Payne People who don’t take down there ads when the thing you want isn’t available anymore. Why waste my time if I can’t have what I am wanting on there. Seriously people keep an eye on your stuff!!!
Rules: We chose FIVE WINNERs of $10 each at 9 p.m. Central on 10/26/14. Winners will have 48 hours to claim their prize (click Contact tab at very top of this website). Winners were chosen randomly from valid answers posted below. Answers were chosen by our staff to be used in our Craigslist Etiquette article above. In the event of multiple entries with the same answer, winner was chosen randomly from all similar answers. In the event that no suitable answers are given, prize(s) will be forfeited. Sponsored by GimmieFreebies and is in no way sponsored or administered by Facebook.