Craigslist

Thanks,
;)

great tips ya'll! now if I was selling an item and get an email reply like this:

Boy I sure would ignore that response if I were you. I think when I decide to sell something on Craigslist it will be for cash, no haggling and to meet me at a public place for delivery....that is if the item is small enough for me to transport a little ways. I have done this with quite a few things I bought. "Can you meet me at the Trader Joe's parking lot between 10 and 10:30 on Thurs?" That has worked really well for me. I have the cash for them, they have the item for me. I have no idea where they live and don't want to. 'Course there could be the bogus offer and they'd never show too, but I still wouldn't want those kind of people having my address and phone number. And I'm not particularly a paranoid person either, I just like to screen the people who will come into my space.

I haven't heard back from the pot guy, it's possible they're already given away. I liked them too, but you really can't tell how large they are, can you? Could be these itty bitty things that would be worthless. Well, not worthless, I can find a plant for any size pot, but you know what I mean.

lol stella about the pots. :)

Never thought about the concern of people coming over...course I only allow it when DH is home. We've done ads that only had a phone number, you tend to get people who are more seriously interested in buying.

We sold a vehicle on Craigs, it was sold in 2 days to the first inquirer, but due to listing our phone we had a solicitor calling (called twice) to tell us he matches buyers and sellers of used cars and thinks a lot of people would be interested in our vehicle. ANNOYING. I especially wondered how he got my number because the ad was deleted on a Friday and he called on a Monday and then again a week later. We never answered. Why would I pay to post an ad when Craig's is free? Duh.

Possibly working stove, anyone? Anyone?

http://houston.craigslist.org/hsh/361247710.html

:) Only $450!

Tir_Na_Nog-
You might enjoy this website. It's a group of people who respond to those messages as hobby. They get them to do odd things and then the post the results on the site.

http://thescambaiter.com

Actually that stove is worth quite a bit, working or not. If you want a restored one they're in the thousands. Just the parts are worth a bunch to a restorer.

I had a similar thing happen a few years ago when renting out an apartment. Telemarketers called constantly offering to rent the place out for a fee.

And I don't hold things for people either. My experience with people who ask you to hold things is that they are really continuing to shop around and don't know if they want your item yet, but don't want someone else to get it.

I don't even respond to the people who ask if they can come over to see it. Or to the people who email asking you to take photos of a minor item. I would understand if it were a major item, but people don't seem to understand that tons of people are willing to race out to get things sight unseen.

You may not hear back about the pots because they are gone. Free items generate tons of responses within minutes.

What's really strange with the free stuff is the people who come from miles away to get an item they could buy for a few dollars at any store.

This message was edited Jun 27, 2007 1:29 PM

stella, thanks for enlightening me. :)

andid, funny site! thanks!

oh my gosh soooo true, people will come for miles. I was trying to sell some shower rings for weeks, 2 bucks, no replies. put it in the free pile and WOW i got tons of replies and someone picked it up same day! LOL!

curious, you don't want to let people come over to view the item? i always say i am coming to buy....but must admit, after seeing condition sometimes don't want to buy, but i'm a person of my word so i will still buy, without haggling price.

yep, i'm a no-holder now to. now i post in my ads: must be willing to pick up same day you email inquiry. i'm leery of doing a meeting to in case they don't show up, plus the gas and time it takes eats up more of my day for an item they will still only pay the price asked.

The reason I don't let people come over to see the item is that every time it's come up I have had other takers. And asking to come over to see it is just the same as asking me to hold it. I have taken photos for people of the large items like furniture and that's been enough. I try to emphasize all flaws in the description.

Oh yes, makes sense!

I usually post a photo, even of small stuff otherwise it seems a hassle with people asking for pics. Unless in the free column, then I don't bother.

The sob story people should also be avoided. Don't even respond. No need for it in a business transaction, even if the item is free. They never want to come right away, so it's just another way of seeking a hold on the item.

Well said! I no longer do respond to them. You know you are very wise on the business of Craig's! I wish I had been so when I first started, would have saved some hassles. :)

I only take cash now. Not that I've gotten a bad check, I just find it inconvenient to go to the bank to cash things. And I don't make change. At least I tell people this before they come out. One time I drove clear across a city for something small and I had a 20 and I think the items were like 15, they lady had no change and I asked if she would take a check. She said no. But directed me to a place with atm. What a bummer.

Sometimes for a free item I offer it by email to someone, give address, leave it on the doorstep that way we don't have to wait around, etc.

An interesting CL sales area that has developed - standing in lines.


http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=200001204

http://houston.craigslist.org/bab/364524315.html

Is this "NEVER USED" per the title or "barely used" per the posting when you open it? LOL.

When posting on craigslist- remember that they optimize their searches through Google so if you put your phone number in the ad, Google will still pull up the ad up to a year later.

CL has a good free solution now http://www.craigsnumber.com or http://www.numbr.com and basically it assigns a number to you that forwards calls to whatever phone you want and you can screen the calls and send it to a voicemail system that will allow you to hear the voicemail through your email. At the end of the day you get a log of all callers for your records and you can set the forwarding calls to expire in 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week or 1 month.

I use this a lot when I sell stuff.

This will give you a little view into the wacky world at Craigs: http://www.craigslist.org/about/teambios.html

daisey,

wow----thank you for the education! That is wonderful stuff there. And I had no idea you could annoyomize your phone number to!

daisey,

I set up a fake phone number but it never asked me to sign into my account, so when I make a new ad how will this work?

You just put that fake phone number in your listing and now all of the calls will get forwarded to your real phone.

It will ring with the caller ID of the person calling but when you answer, they will have had to leave a brief message stating their purpose (they are on hold at this point). You will have the option to either accept the call or send it to the voicemail. That is it!

If you send it to voicemail and you have given your email address, you will just get an email in your inbox with a soundfile message.

Does that make sense?

oh that sounds neat! thank you for the explanation. :)

Saw some books for sale on Craig's. Said "brand new-never read." Sure glad to know those pages haven't been been "read" lol.

'virgin pages"!

HA!

My biggest peeve is those who go on and on describing where they live but never give an actual address. After the second try at getting an address and time I give up.

?

You mean in their ads?

I get people who want me to go in depth on the directions instead of looking up a map. I just look up a map when someone gives me an address.

I've found that some people just email "send your address" without any consideration of whether the item is still available.

I try not to give an address until I've had some contact with the person in order to be sure only one person is coming for each item. Some people claim to be coming for many items in the listings and then choose which to pick up at the end of the day. I never give an address until the person writes back to confirm time and place.

and, same here. i get emails, "i want it! call me!" and even when I call they then act surprised????

yesterday had person email from the ad (????) but then claimed not to know if there were pics (yes there were) or price (guess didn't read the ad???) and ended up not being as "serious" as the email implied.

good grief!

Anyone know a link where a NEW for sale category can be added to Craigs? IF they'd even do that. I know they let you suggest a new city.

The "household" section is so overrun it's hard to scroll through and see everything. If they had an "appliance" section that might remove half the ads there.

A good humored ad:

http://houston.craigslist.org/hsh/374134546.html

FUNNY!

Gotta love when you post an ad and say "Price is FIRM" in any way you want to type it, caps, repeating it, etc and you still get emails asking if you'll take $xxx less. Cracks me up every time. :)

I got responses to free items asking how much I wanted for the item.

Tir_Na_Nog....people do that on rentals too. The rent on a detached loft covers taxes and insurance on our place. Got an email yesterday..."What's the least you'll take?"....uh...huh . . . I'm going to live next door to this person as long as they want to live here, I'm fine with them doing whatever they want inside a place I'm paying the mortage on . .. . nah . . . think I'll pass on this one.

Can't blame people for asking though. However those who do it on apt rentals will find one of two things:

A landlord who overpriced the rental and probably isn't a good landlord to have.

A landlord who isn't going to be their landlord for any price

Here is the page to offer suggestions to Craigs.

http://www.craigslist.org/cgi-bin/emailForm.cgi

So glad I found it. :)

Here's an ad:

This ad was a hoot---I nominated it for best of!

http://houston.craigslist.org/for/384486781.html

In case of expiration:

tir....if you need something to fill your time you are welcome to come to my house.....i have plenty of sodas...and maybe we can talk(grin)

LOL, thanks I think.

daiseyavenue,

I used the annoymous phone number listing and called it myself this morning and realized that if we don't pick up the home line the automated phone system through Craigs says, "I'm sorry they are unavailable right now. Please try again later" rather than letting it ring through to my answering machine.

Guess I'll just have to make sure I leave an email as well just in case.

I see that they have added new options that have to be chosen manually.

When you click "Get Your Free Number" and it generates your special phone number, there is a red button now that says "More call control options" with a little red arrow. When you click that there are options to add:


›› Don't accept calls from blocked Caller IDs

›› Don't accept calls from suspected telemarketers

›› Turn off call screening

›› Email my incoming call history

›› Do not disturb from 9PM to 8AM

›› Activate voicemail for missed calls
- We record and email your voicemails to you as email attachments
›› Email address

›› Your email address - Enter your email address if you'd like to receive Voicemails and Call History as well as numbr updates.

I guess these are improvements but they sure don't make it too clear when you are signing up!

daisey, well shoot I saw that button but didn't think about needing to edit my options! thanks again! you are helpful, as always!