OT - Craigslist Vent - What Happened To Being Polite?

[DerbyDad03]

I have an item listed on Craigslist. It requires a van, truck or trailer to move, so I included local delivery in the posting. I included a detailed description and enough pictures for anyone to understand exactly what I was selling.

A lady calls me, says she is very interested, so we arrange for me to deliver it on Saturday. I call her before I leave the house, she says she is out at the moment but will be home before I get there. I get to her house...no one home. I call her and she says she will be home in

10 minutes. 20 minutes later I call her again and get no answer. I went home and never heard from her again.

A couple of days later a guy sends me an email asking if the item is still available. I say "Yes" and he responds with "How low are you willing to go?" I reply "I'm sure we can come to an agreeable price, please give me a call." Crickets. No response, no phone call, no more emails.

Next, a guy calls me and asked if it's still available. When I tell him it is, he says "OK, I just saw your ad, let me show it to my wife and I'll get back to you later. I don't hear from him so I call him back the next day at 10AM and he says "My wife is still thinking about it. I'll call you by 1PM. In the meantime, somebody else called and I told him that he is next on the list, I was just waiting to hear back from someone else. I was trying to be fair. He was very polite, said he was very interested and to let him know if the other guy backs out.

Well, 1PM comes and goes, I haven't heard back from the other guy, so I text the latest person and tell him that it's his if he still wants it. Every other text to him was answered within minutes. This time, hours go by with no response. Earlier this morning I texted him again and once again, crickets. Nothing.

What is it with some people? If you change your mind, fine. I get that. I've looked at items that thought I was interested in and then decided I didn't want it, but I always let the seller know. I've now got 4 people - one of which stood me up at her house! - who just simply stopped responding or never called back to let me know that they changed their minds. How hard is it to call/text/email with a simple "I'm no longer interested" especially after *they* asked to be kept updated and/or promised to call?

If any of these people contact me again I'll tell them to go pound sand and that I'm donating the item. The money isn't significant enough for me to put up with such rudeness.

[Mayayana]

"DerbyDad03" wrote

.......

Indeed, what happened to being polite? Did you somehow miss the irony here, that your post is entirely inappropriate, inconsiderate and impolite?

[Meanie]

Are you serious? How does he fit any of those? To whom is he being inappropriate, inconsiderate and impolite towards?

[Meanie]

Been there done that OFTEN.

I'm no longer taken aback at the ill-mannered acts of most people on Craigslist and in fact, I expect it. You were more generous with 2nd or

3rd attempts. I give one shot and no more. If people cannot be considerate enough to honor a meeting time or call if they can't, that's the only chance they get with me.

[Frank]

Unfortunately, its normal behavior. One reason I prefer to give old stuff to Goodwill rather than try to sell it myself.

[rbowman]

I tend to collect stuff not because I'm a collector or hoarder but I can't stand the bullshit involved with selling stuff.

The worst move is to sell it to someone you know. I sold a bike to a guy at work to get it out of the yard. The terms were $50 now and the rest whenever, with me expecting whenever to never come but I didn't care. Then I got to listen to the litany of defects; it needs a new chain, it will need a rear tire soon, and so forth.

[DerbyDad03]

Mayayana, obviously. ;-)

[Nil]

On 02 Oct 2016, DerbyDad03 wrote in alt.home.repair:

I've gone through this a lot on Craigslist, both as a seller and as a buyer. I can't really explain it, but I think it has to do with the fact that there's really no commitment on either side compared to eBay. On eBay the seller has to pay a fee, which makes them more serious about the sale. The buyer is committed to pay when they click the Bid or Buy It Now button, so they have to treat the transaction seriously. On Craigslist, people can contact you on a whim and it has little meaning to them. It's all just idle tire-kicking to them.

[Mayayana]

"Meanie" wrote

| > Indeed, what happened to being polite? Did you | > somehow miss the irony here, that your post is | > entirely inappropriate, inconsiderate and impolite? | > | Are you serious? How does he fit any of those? To whom is he being | inappropriate, inconsiderate and impolite towards?

You're in a newsgroup. There's a topic. People come for discussion of that topic. I shouldn't need to explain that. Being "a regular" doesn't confer special status to post unrelated chit-chat. The group is public.

(Maybe those people on Craiglist who didn't call him back viewed themselves as CL regulars and didn't think they needed to be considerate of a "newbie". :)

[Meanie]

One shouldn't expect anything less from someone with a Buddhist name.

[Meanie]

I think it clearly displays the overall inconsideration in today's society. Fees will not resolve the "me" mentality.

[Frank]

Guess it takes an aptitude that a lot of us do not possess. Having to retire early over 23 years ago I tried real estate sales for a year. I was lousy at it. I thought if I understood the business, I could be a good salesman. I could not put up with the people. Even nice people could screw you over. Salesman could put up with it, I couldn't. I met a lot of successful salesman that were dumber than dirt but had the aptitude for sales and were good at it.

[dadiOH]

Welcome to the real world.

BTW, it isn't only buyers, many sellers are guilty too. Even those in business/

[bob_villa]

I run into this giving stuff away! If you are delivering, they need to come see it and pay for it...anything else makes *you* naive!

[DerbyDad03]

alt: The item is an alternative style of Bunk Bed that I built years ago home: It belongs in a home repair: I had to repair it before I offered it for sale

alt.home.repair

You have no clue as my status on CL. Your assumption of "newbie" is far from accurate, both as a buyer and a seller.

Oh, wait...why are you even discussing this? Isn't your comment nothing more than "unrelated chit-chat"?

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks, but I've been here for quite some time. ;-)

Not me. I guess I'm just respectful of other people's time and expect others to be too. I'll vent about it, not really expecting anything to change, but I won't join the inconsiderate crowd.

[Taxed and Spent]

wow, sounds like you have been dealing with a bunch of contractors!

But why did you say "you are next on the list"? First come, first served.

[DerbyDad03]

Because I'm nice.

[Meanie]

There is a topic....it's an "OT" topic which DD considerately and appropriately indicated. During the discussion of this topic he was not impolite to anyone. Therefore, pull your panties out of your ass and shove them over your head.

Nobody made you the newsgroup moderator nor did they ask you to participate. You have the option of ignore but you choose to be a self-righteous holier than thou blowhard participant who's real problem is not really the topic but obviously triggered by your envious of DD. Get over it already.

[Taxed and Spent]

isn't you post off - off topic?