love/hate craigslist

this is a rant: craigslist can be awesome so much of the time. every so often i am browsing and stumble upon amazing deals, and i dont even have to feel guilty like im taking advantage of someone because the seller says in the ad "need quick sale". perfect example: vintage schwinn stingray, $40. bmw 320i w/ bad paint, $700. ford ranger blown head gasket, $300. 944 grinds in first, $500. i love these examples, BUT THE SCUMBAGS MAKE ME SO FURIOUS. 64 classic beetle no motor $5000. cherry ford probe $6000 (it was definately not cherry). chevy suburban with a loud knock coming from engine, but its "not effecting drivability" $7000. i read these things and want to slap them with a wet hand. i guess all one can do is breathe and laugh about it. share your horror stories. make me laugh

this is a post. holy sh1t where is your shift key. I feel like I just read a post by Helen Keller. I SUGGEST USING THE CAPS LOCK TO GET YOUR POINT ACROSS!

I neglected the shift key because i was lazy, and it obviously wasn't all that necessary; you did understand the message! Why ya gotta break balls, man?

I take the "ridiculous" ads with a grain of salt, but what really ticks me about CL is the folks who say "don't e-mail me, I won't answer"....and when you call them on the 'phone, THEY STILL WON'T ANSWER.

If these folks don't like or can't stand to deal with "the public" they shouldn't waste "our" time with an ad they have no intention of selling with.....sorry for the bad grammar.

I've responded to the stupid ads every now and then. I usually will ask them, for instance, how is ANY probe with 6K? or how can a car "run great" even though they say later in the ad that it doesnt start or it runs great except the miss or stalling problem.

I search for the same car every time, and week after week see decent examples under $1k not selling. It makes me wonder what happens to the ones I sometimes see advertised for $3-$4k for only a week or two.

CL ad said: Always wished you would have bought a Miata new in 1990. This one has 985 orig. miles, Red and has always been maintained and kept in a climate controlled environment, and still smells new. All orig. documentation and title. Bought new in California and still sports it's orig. title. This was a 90210 zip code car. (Beverly Hills) $11,000.00 cash or interesting trade

Tell me, how can a 20 year old car still smell new?

When I see cars advertised for $1K and for $3K-$4K....I assume the ad for the $1K is missing "something".

Example? Last night I did a search in my area for ads for an El Camino. Lots of ads, but the ones UNDER $3K were either "rollers" of had paint jobs that look like they came from a spray can.

I'm always leery of car ads where the picture(s) is(are) only of one side of the vehicle....and NOT the side the ad says is "slightly damaged".

RealMiniDriver wrote:

CL ad said: Always wished you would have bought a Miata new in 1990. This one has 985 orig. miles, Red and has always been maintained and kept in a climate controlled environment, and still smells new. All orig. documentation and title. Bought new in California and still sports it's orig. title. This was a 90210 zip code car. (Beverly Hills) $11,000.00 cash or interesting trade

Tell me, how can a 20 year old car still smell new?

If it's got 1000 miles and has been stored inside since new, it's probably never seen more than a few days worth of sunlight. I could believe that the interior materials haven't degraded enough to lost their smell yet. I mean, when you open up NOS seals or something that have been sitting in a baggie in a warehouse for 10 years, they can still smell like new rubber when you open them up.

This actually sounds like a deal to me. I know it's not quite accurate to do this, but if you consider it a new car it's a great deal. If Mazda sold a fantastic handling, rwd, 110hp, 2200lb roadster brand new for $11000 today, we'd all be on the waiting list for one, right? It might be a bit of a shame to actually drive a car in this condition, but that's really not a lot of money after all.

integraguy wrote: When I see cars advertised for $1K and for $3K-$4K....I assume the ad for the $1K is missing "something". Example? Last night I did a search in my area for ads for an El Camino. Lots of ads, but the ones UNDER $3K were either "rollers" of had paint jobs that look like they came from a spray can.

No, the cars i like are only worth $1k, but some people don't realize it. I wonder where they go, because they're a tough sell at the proper price.

You know what's really frusatrating, is when you see a car for sale that's only worth $400-$500, and they're asking $1k. You offer them what it's worth (or even a little more becaue you really want it) and they turn it down. Then you find out they scrapped it a few weeks later, because nobody wanted it, and got $100 That's happened to me a bunch of times.

^that is frustrating

Do you sell canoes there?

Duke wrote: Do you sell canoes there?

that is damn funny. you made me laugh out loud

about the "don't email" or "no spam" sentiments some people put in their ads. It alternately cracks me up and makes me angry.

I understand that most of the folks that post this don't post ads regularly so they don't realize that...
A) spammers don't actually READ the ads (though if they did, I'm sure they'd decide not to respond to ones who so clearly indicated that they did not want scam/spam responses).

and

B) They're only acting confrontational to the folks who are ACTUALLY possibly interested in their wares.

On the other side of the coin, I regularly get responses to my CL ads that are possibly sent by a party that is genuinely interested, but doesn't know about what it's like to sell on CL to realize that their message looks completly like phishing scam bait. "Do you still have this?" (which is most cases IS scam bait) or the like.

In the end, it just works out better for me. I know how to compose and ad (or at least I try) that will get responses...and I know how to respond to ads so that they will be pretty sure I'm not a spambot.

Though I still wonder how often my emails go straight to someone's AOL junkmail box or something.

Clem

The big issue with people saying not to email them is... When posting an ad, there is a box you can check that will hide the email link.

How effing hard is it to check a box and remove the option completely?