You know what I love? (CL rant)

[terrawombat]

People that post items on Craigslist with no phone number (just the randomly generated CL e-mail address that gets forwarded to your real e-mail) that DON'T reply to ANY e-mails. You know what's even better? When these SAME people post the SAME item back on CL a couple days later with NO phone number AGAIN! If you're trying to SELL something and you don't want to be bothered with a telephone call, answer your @#&*ing e-mails. If the item has been sold or is no longer for sale for whatever reason, have some common courtesy and respond to interested parties saying it's no longer available - or remove it from CL, entirely.

 

I love CL in the sense I've gotten some pretty insane deals through it (my $400 '01 XJ, which is now my DD), but sometimes it's incredibly frustrating. One of the few things I like about e-bay is that if I bid on something and happen to get a good deal, it's a BINDING contract that the seller MUST sell me the item and if he/she does not, I can take it to court if I so please.

[Squeegy410]

i agree entirely. and the binding contract also helps becaus CL sellers always wanna sell it until they realize somone wants to buy it and then they don't know if they could let it go for that price. :headpop:

[kastein]

People that post items on Craigslist with no phone number (just the randomly generated CL e-mail address that gets forwarded to your real e-mail) that DON'T reply to ANY e-mails. You know what's even better? When these SAME people post the SAME item back on CL a couple days later with NO phone number AGAIN! If you're trying to SELL something and you don't want to be bothered with a telephone call, answer your @#&*ing e-mails. If the item has been sold or is no longer for sale for whatever reason, have some common courtesy and respond to interested parties saying it's no longer available - or remove it from CL, entirely.

 

I love CL in the sense I've gotten some pretty insane deals through it (my $400 '01 XJ, which is now my DD), but sometimes it's incredibly frustrating. One of the few things I like about e-bay is that if I bid on something and happen to get a good deal, it's a BINDING contract that the seller MUST sell me the item and if he/she does not, I can take it to court if I so please.

yeah this really pisses me off, I think it's because a lot of people who try to sell vehicles on CL are not exactly computer literate or even fully conscious.

 

But hey, I'd be driving a total rot-box blazer on 35s right now if the seller (well, attempted seller) had enabled email reply or paid his phone bill... so I guess it's not all bad. Idiot disabled email responses and then gave a phone number that went to a message saying "such and such number has been disconnected due to non payment of bills".

[whowey]

I'll put the "binding contract" part of E-bay this way. Which jurisdiction would you like that attempted enforcement in?? Your state, the supposed buyer/seller's state or California(E-Bay's Corporate HQ)?? Generally they have VERY different ideas on what constitutes a "binding" contract.

[terrawombat]

I'll put the "binding contract" part of E-bay this way. Which jurisdiction would you like that attempted enforcement in?? Your state, the supposed buyer/seller's state or California(E-Bay's Corporate HQ)?? Generally they have VERY different ideas on what constitutes a "binding" contract.

 

Legal mumbo-jumbo aside, e-bay still has wording that can, at the very least, be used to form some sort of case - if you even feel like wasting the effort/expense. You can also give negative feedback (yea, I know, big whoop), but to some (I wish it were more) people, having a good, clean record is very important - it is to me, at least. If these same defunct CL sellers were to put their stuff on e-bay, they would have such a crappy reputation that no one would purchase from them.

 

It's almost come to the point where if a seller doesn't give out his phone number on a CL ad, I'll just move on to the next. Too many people out there that just want to see if their junk is worth anything. When I've put up CL ads, I will ALWAYS respond to e-mails, even if the item is long gone. I've also responded with a blatant refusal to sell one of my 3000GT's to a kid because the e-mail he sent me made him look like an irresponsible moron and I didn't want to be partly responsible for his death when he ran my car into a tree. Hey, at least I responded...

[jpnjim]

I don't really get how this scam works,

but there are people who post ad's on Craigslist, at super low prices, for items they never intend to sell.

 

Maybe they're trying to show a low value on things for divorce settlements (crazy, I know, but nothing else fits the argument).

 

I called about a Silver 4 door Dakota last year, ATLEAST 10 times.

It was advertised as being "on the Ma/NH border", in Tewksbury Ma.

 

Truck was listed for $3995, and the same guy had a dozen, or so other random vehicles, complete with VIN's that he would re-list every single day.

 

I called, my GF called, every time there was another excuse:

call at 4pm "I just left work, and can't show it"

call in the morning "I'll be out of the office all day"

call on Friday (and say anytime this weekend would be good), nope, "I'm away for the weekend" (but he'd re-list the car on Friday/Saturday & Sunday).

 

I started to get pissed, then I realized it was defiantly a scam, and no one was going to end up with that truck.

 

 

My cousin once tried to buy a house (that was MLS listed at a very reasonable price).

after MONTHS of working with the guy and reaching a final price,

the seller backed out.

 

The seller was going through a divorce, and had to pay his wife 1/2 the home's value.

He never intended to sell (actually ran his landscaping business out of the back yard, and never even looked for an alternate location for his business).

 

The 'sale' was a sham, to show he did his due diligence to get the 'best price' he could, then settle up with the wife, so he could keep both halfs of the community property.

 

 

Maybe the 'too good to be true' craigslist ad's are there for a different reason,

but that's the only one that makes sense to me. :hmm:

[teckman02]

heck when i was loking for my MJ i found this posting

 

 

1986 JEEP COMANCHE

BEST DEAL ON CRAIGSLIST

 

RUNS GREAT

 

it has a AMC 2.5L I4 150 cu.in. engine

a standard 4 speed tranny

dana 30 front axle and a dana 35 rear axle

131,000 miles

NEW BRAKES ALL AROUND

DECENT 33X10.50 ALL TERRAIN TIRES

FOUR WHEEL DRIVE WORKS

MUST SELL!!!!!

only selling because I'm moving back to california, all offers will be considered call anytime xxx-xxx-xxxx serious buyers ONLY!!!

 

 

 

•Location: Huntington

 

 

i called this guy talked to him for a few asked him to email somemore pics and not a thing back i called and called but no call back .... if you sold the jeep pick up and say something but i just looked up the listing and it is still for sale and he has droped his asking ..... i was willing to drive 3 4 hours to buy this thing

[dasbulliwagen]

Ive called for CL parts before, and got a guy who acted like he didnt know what I was talking about, so I tried to ask again, and he realized, but then told me that the part (a toyota truck bed) wasnt where he was at, and it would be a week before it was ready to sell and that he needed to move it.... yada yada yada. JUST STUPID!

[terrawombat]

I forgot to mention that literally three minutes after I made this rant, I got a reply back from someone on CL about an MJ.

 

Coincidence? I think not!

[JACKED88]

CL ads ........... :needpics:

 

I don't waste my time lookin at ads if they don't have pix. There's no excuse for not including pix in a free ad. Especially since just about everybody either has a digital camera or a phone that has one built in it.

 

 

Can't tell ya how many CL ads I've e-mailed about some good to be true priced vehicles and receive back some devastating sob story on why they need to sell a vehicle that happens to be located clear across tha country from tha city its listed in. They tell you they wanna do the deal through ebay for your protection and they'll have it shipped to your location as soon as you give them all your info and the ebay deal is confirmed.

 

:huh???: Are these people frickin nuts or what??? Who tha hell in their right mind falls for that sh-t???

 

I was told one time that they were selling their sons car who had been killed by a drunk driver while driving his girlfriends car to his little brothers 5th birthday party. That they wanted it sold quickly because it brought back to many memories of him and thats why they were selling it so cheap. Thats just tha short version of tha b/s story I was told.

 

Why do these scammers think we wanna hear some b/s devastating story? All we wanna hear about is tha damn car. Not how their husband ran off and left um penny-less with 3 kids and all tha bills. (thats another one I got)

[jeepcoma]

I had some electronic items for sale on CL, got a call from some guy who wanted to check it out and pick some things up. Gave him the address, arranged a time, wait around and he's a no-show. I called him back and he says "what electronic stuff? I never called you". Right buddy, like I don't have caller ID and didn't just speak to you a few hours ago...

[Rymanrph]

I always thought the good deals without phone numbers was just a scam to get your email address to put on some mailing list :dunno:

[kastein]

I'll put the "binding contract" part of E-bay this way. Which jurisdiction would you like that attempted enforcement in?? Your state, the supposed buyer/seller's state or California(E-Bay's Corporate HQ)?? Generally they have VERY different ideas on what constitutes a "binding" contract.

 

Legal mumbo-jumbo aside, e-bay still has wording that can, at the very least, be used to form some sort of case - if you even feel like wasting the effort/expense. You can also give negative feedback (yea, I know, big whoop), but to some (I wish it were more) people, having a good, clean record is very important - it is to me, at least. If these same defunct CL sellers were to put their stuff on e-bay, they would have such a crappy reputation that no one would purchase from them.

 

It's almost come to the point where if a seller doesn't give out his phone number on a CL ad, I'll just move on to the next. Too many people out there that just want to see if their junk is worth anything. When I've put up CL ads, I will ALWAYS respond to e-mails, even if the item is long gone. I've also responded with a blatant refusal to sell one of my 3000GT's to a kid because the e-mail he sent me made him look like an irresponsible moron and I didn't want to be partly responsible for his death when he ran my car into a tree. Hey, at least I responded...

Ebay/paypal are next to worthless with dispute resolution. I got completely screwed on something a while ago, fortunately only 50 bucks. A friend of mine got completely screwed out of a thousand dollars on a spectrum analyzer he sold, the guy didn't want shipping insurance so he packed it up and shipped it, of course UPS "reconfigured" it, guy took pics of it all smashed up and sent em to ebay, ebay refunded his money without even asking my friend (whose checking account was badly overdrawn as a result), they "resolved" the dispute by requiring that the buyer ship the busted thing back, he never did and my friend told them as much and they never did a damn thing to the buyer for it.

 

I mostly have people bail out 15 minutes before they're supposed to meet up and buy stuff, or just plain never show or call at all.

 

I always reply to emails (that aren't blatant scams) up till I take the ad down, and I take the ad down as soon as it's sold.

[Justin_k]

Emailed a guy on CL about a comanche about 2 weeks ago. Got a reply saying someone was looking at it that night, Told him to email me back if it sold or not as I was very interested. Still no email and was looking again the other night and he still has the truck for sale, but $100 cheaper. WTF :mad:

[87Warrior]

I prefer to use CL over eBay. Heck, I have not used eBay for at least 8 years.

 

Sure, there are plenty of idiots posting/replying ads on CL. However, I have purchased many quality parts from folks on CL. An MJ D44, 2 97+ XJ clips, 97+XJ interior, my 92 MJ, a 99 XJ, and a 242. You just have to weed through the jokes. Even sold my Miata using CL.

 

I have had the most success by communicating via e-mail to get the dirt on the part. After some rough discussion about the part I like to then talk on the phone to establish a time to meet-n-buy. Its also easier to get the price down when personally analyzing the part.

[terrawombat]

MY qualms with CL have nothing to do with the scams. Those are incredibly easy to spot. Often times the scammer will list an e-mail address to contact. Just put that in addy in google and if you get multiple hits from CL in different regions of the world - scam. Plus if it's too good to be true, it's most likely a scam.

 

The people that refuse to answer me is what aggravates me. I guess I should just consider the items being sold by the mutes not really for sale at all...