Craigslist BS rant!!

[Cussin hacker]

Mild rant here. I put two dirt bikes my boys have outgrown on Craigslist 3 days ago and have gotten nothing but spam and idiot people contact me. I've never had this many BS problems from any other form of advertising. Free isn't worth the pain in the arse! Just removed the ad before this post. Anyone else have problems listing on CL?

[joshiemac25]

I have had success on Craigslist in selling,,, but continue to get spammed non-stop since. I had created an email account just for it, as the people who spam you will keep the address forever. Some of them use a believable email for first contact so you will reply with your real email address rather than the fake Craigslist email. Even though I haven't had anything listed since December, I get 10-20 spam messages from them a day, from needing to bail people out with millions of dollars that I will make upon cashing a check to donations needed to rescue someone who was robbed in another country...

[taterlrsn]

i used to sell a lot of cars on craigslist and recently stopped because of all the spam. i can put the ad on another site that puts the ad on craigslist and i dont have to deal with the spam! I think the spam is out of control, and i heard on the radio that hlf of the things that are sold on craigslist and ebay are stolen. this actually concerns me because i have bought many sets of clubs on craigslist and now i wonder if some poor guy got his clubs stolen and sold to me via craigslist!

[zeg]

I'm sure there's a lot of stolen stuff on there, but there probably is on just about any open sales forum. A friend of mine actually found her stolen bike offered for sale on craigslist a few weeks ago. I know the police took an active interest in her case, but I haven't talked to her to find out how it turned out...

[Cussin hacker]

Out of 8 replies in 3 days 6 were spam and 2 were idiots that shot me unrealistic low ball offers without having ever seen the bikes. Like I said I pulled the ad and will never again make that mistake!!

[zeg]

I've only posted once and, while I didnt get much spam, it wasn't effective. I was trying to sell a camera lens I'd bought as part of a kit to get a rebate. Wound up selling it through Amazon in about a day after waiting for craigslist for a week. That's probably not a great option for dirt bikes, though... and even for small stuff, Amazon makes you promise to jump through some hoops for a difficult buyer that could be a headache (eg, you must accept returns, and an obnoxious buyer could really give you a hard time).

[boston blackie]

Craigs list is one of the wonders of the WWW. If you want to pay the outrageous prices for classified ads that the local papers charge then have at it. Myself, I just sold a pair of life vests on CL in one day for my asking price. I never get spam from CL, and if I did I would consider it harmless and worth the price. Also avoids the hassle of shipping since most sales are local and get picked up.

[Cussin hacker]

Not worth it to me...I'll gladly pay 20$ for a 3 week photo ad in my local weekly trader paper.

[Greg]

lve never bought anything from craigslist yet, was looking for a set of used tires for my old 4x4 f250 but finally just gave up, every time i found a set that was a decent price, they were already sold, the ones i have on it are good enough for a long time no more than i drive it anyway. Its that way with a lot of things on there, if its a great price it sells very quickly but its still listed. I've had trouble contacting people through email on there unless they actually list their email address, its much better when they just simply give a phone number for you to either call or text them. I still check every once in a while just for fun and if i had something to sell i would use it.

[JT SCRATCH]

My wife and I both use craigslist to sell old items (furniture, sports equiptment, etc) and have not really had any problems outside of the minimal spam emails, and the inconsiderate people who say they are going to show up, but never do. I think if you keep a close eye on your postings and request detailed responses, it helps to eliminate the spam. also put down a phone number as serious people would call. you cant beat the free postings, and the local responses that make it easy to pick up, deliver items. we have also bought a few items through craigslist and have not had any problems, and most people will take 25% less than asking price. you can def get some great deals. just my opinion on the subject.

[kpaulhus]

I posted my 2007 Mustang on Craigslist for 22k and sold it for 21.5 a week later. Some kid in Macon, GA just had 21.5k burning a hole in his pocket. I emailed him a video of the car and that was it. Done deal.

[zeg]

I'm sure there's a lot of stolen stuff on there, but there probably is on just about any open sales forum. A friend of mine actually found her stolen bike offered for sale on craigslist a few weeks ago. I know the police took an active interest in her case, but I haven't talked to her to find out how it turned out...

Just found out how this little story turned out. The police actually sent an undercover detective to verify the serial number of the bike and wound up arresting the thief. He was apparently a "serial bike thief" and is going to be prosecuted for quite a few thefts. Gotta say I'm a bit surprised, but quite happy with that outcome, plus she got her bike back. Unclear whether she'll get any compensation for the lock, basket, and other accessories.

[Jameshooper]

I had a great experience....I sold my boat in one day. I guess it was good timing, because the day I listed it, was the same day the guy who bought was told by his marina that his boat sank that night.

[clearwaterms]

I am an IT consultant by trade and one of my responsabilities is email which includes Spam protection. People don't realize it (but are never alarmed to hear it) that something like 90% of all email traffic is spam. Think about your home mail box, how many valid pieces of mail do you get (compared to how many pieces of mail that you didn't request or care to read) and think that Mail actually costs something to send, email is free.

The biggest problem is that people don't have very good spam protection in place. Google does a better job than Hotmail / Yahoo, but even google can only catch about 80% of the junk.

[Cussin hacker]

A bit surprised by all the positive posts. I may give it another try, but my first try was mostly spam. Glad some of you all had better luck!

[senorchipotle]

i used to sell a lot of cars on craigslist and recently stopped because of all the spam. i can put the ad on another site that puts the ad on craigslist and i dont have to deal with the spam! I think the spam is out of control, and i heard on the radio that hlf of the things that are sold on craigslist and ebay are stolen. this actually concerns me because i have bought many sets of clubs on craigslist and now i wonder if some poor guy got his clubs stolen and sold to me via craigslist!

i always ask for a receipt when buying expensive things second hand on the internet.

[clearwaterms]

i always ask for a receipt when buying expensive things second hand on the internet.

would you take a photograph of a reciept. I have been making it a habit as of late to use my camera phone to take a photograph of every reciept that I need as soon as I can. I actually had to return something to bestbuy yesterday and had lost the reciept but was able to return it without any problems because I had the photograph.

Food for thought.

[shades9323]

Just ignore the spam and lowball offers. Hitting the delete button is easy.