So it’s been a while since I’ve posted (quel cliché), but as is well known at this point I’m about to haul myself up to Michigan. I’ve been Craigslisting like mad for the last several weeks, and thus this Austin360 Digital Savant blog caught my eye today.
In it, Omar Gallaga (Austin-American Statesman writer and NPR Tech Report contributor) writes, “If you are the kind of person who spent your late 20s and early 30s weeding out people in your life who mainline on drama and who always have a complicated backstory for every defeat, Craigslist is a good way to reconnect to that missing part of your life.” He goes on to admit that it can be useful in “cleaning out your garage”, but he mostly used his one experience to dismiss Craigslist in general and frighten folks from giving it a try. Since Craigslist thrives on quality users, I felt the need to jump in with my own experience to provide some balance.
Sorry, Omar, but I’m afraid you’re exhibiting a bit of a newbie’s understanding of how to use Craigslist. (Perhaps intentionally?) No offense meant, truly, but I think you’re scaring folks away needlessly or cautioning them too much about the wrong things. It IS, of course, common sense never to pay ahead of time or deliver your goods until payment is received, but there are lots of other commonly known strategies that are employed by Craigslisters and make for successful interactions.
I’ve been buying and selling on Craigslist in Austin for about 10 years (age 23 – 33), and helping my folks list items in El Paso for the last 2. I take a lot of items to Goodwill too – or make garage sale piles – but for items that I feel have considerable resale value, I post to Craigslist. That’s maybe the first place you made a mistake in your Craigslist adventure.
Your used laptop with the non-charging battery is an item I would have sent to Goodwill or sold at a garage sale for $25. (And have.) I know it’s painful to think of that at such a discount, but any tech that’s not fully functional invites spam/scam or general disappointment with low-end offers. (There are degrees of functionality, but I would say that a laptop that has to be plugged in – regardless of how much of a deal it is and how easy it might be to replace the battery – doesn’t really function as a laptop.) Another thing to consider – tech is cheaper now. A $150 used laptop isn’t far from the $300 netbook specials you can pick up at Wal-Mart. (Evil though they may be.) You might have better luck if you replace the battery yourself and then up the price by the cost of that battery. I’d bet you could attract some more serious buyers for it then.
About serious offers: I consider it par for the course that some transactions will fall through – I’ve actually been the one to ‘back out’ of an arrangement twice – and for the most part people will politely email to say they’ve changed their mind. Sometimes they just stop responding – if I go more than 24 hours without a response, I send a warning email: “If I don’t hear from you by 9 tomorrow, I’ll keep looking for another buyer.” It’s always helpful to line up multiple buyers, letting each know that others are interested, but that you’ll contact them if the deal falls through.
One of the other basic rules I follow – both as a seller and buyer – is to try to meet at a general 3rd party, public location if the item allows. That’s a safety tactic. I only ever give out my address if the item is too bulky or inconvenient for me to deliver, and then I always try to have other people home – or alert my neighbors that someone is coming over for a Craigslist item and I will call them within a certain time frame to let them know all is well. [If the buyer needs to know how far they'll have to go, I set up a Google map link to a point near my house - not an actual address of anyone else's - that will give them an approximate route. I also only give my cell phone number (or, even better, my Google voice number) out on the day of delivery when I'm fairly certain we've sealed the deal.] Additionally, if I’m picking up from someone’s house, I either bring a friend who waits in the car or hangs back, or I’m careful to have someone on the phone with me, covertly, while I’m in the home. Sounds paranoid, but I’m selling to strangers face-to-face and I’d rather be overly cautious than sorry. I’ve never been sorry. To that end, I don’t think the car lot pick-up arrangement was all that unusual. I don’t think the logistical details are what made it any more or less likely to fall through.
Regarding scam/spam – sometimes that initial response email is obviously spam: “Sell your furniture online somewhere better than Craigslist! Click here!” And sometimes not: “Hello – I’m interested. Can you send more info?” At that point I take a careful look at email addresses – I look for real names in the address and in signatures – and sometimes I Google domain names that seem a bit obscure. If the inquiry seems authentic I’ll reply, but if the next response is in any way sketchy – or even has the slightest hint of drama – I simply don’t respond again. That usually ends that thread. If not, I add the address to my spam filter and that’s that.
As for the offer to barter for your laptop? Commonplace and relatively acceptable, though admittedly poor etiquette on the part of that responder. There is a ‘barter’ category in the For Sale section of Craigslist where sellers who ARE willing to barter post their items. Generally speaking, items listed elsewhere don’t have ‘barter’ offers made on them. I’ve only had 2 barter offers in all my years on Craigslist.
Here are some of the more substantial items I’ve bought or sold on Craigslist (or helped my parents or neighbors sell): bought a desk, sold 2 desks, sold 2 sofa sets, bought 1 desk chair, sold 1 desk chair, sold a bedroom furniture set, sold a wrought-iron wine rack, sold a stationary bike exercise machine, a treadmill (bought and then sold a year later), bought and sold moving boxes, bought 1 bookcase, sold another, bought a GIANT framed mirror, sold a Roomba vacuum, and bought 3 whole pallets of bricks for use in a patio. (Technically, I didn’t buy the bricks. This was a ‘free to the taker’ offer, so I paid someone else to go pick them up. Also found that person on Craigslist.)
So you see, for me, Craigslist really is less ‘unnecessary drama’ and more ‘useful tool’. No one taught me how to go about this, I just sort of figured out what worked after a few tries and went from there. Here’s hoping my experience can benefit you and others, too.
(P.S. I’m looking forward to seeing how my Austin culture and strategies translate to the Detroit metro area. I’ll be sure to update if my Craigslist world view is turned upside-down.)
