A modest proposal concerning Craigslist

Inspired by Craigslist ads that run -- "power tools $50 obo leave phone number on awnser macheen if you want to sea some but dont call again if I don't call you back stupid" -- I'd love to see Craigslist adopt a set of conditions something along the following lines:

A for-sale ad must feature the brand name of the item and the full model name or number, failure to provide both costs ten points unless both are clearly visible in your photo.

If multiple items are on offer, using the phrase "Too many to list" or "E-mail or phone to find out what I have" indicates you should have had a garage sale instead, minus ten points.

Failure to provide an in-focus, properly-lit photo costs ten points, but multiple photos from different angles or appropriate close-ups adds ten points. Not having a photo and offering to e-mail one to anyone interested costs an additional ten points. Referring in your text to a photo (or web link, or phone number) you have failed to include, minus ten points.

Use of a manufacturer's photo while failing to mention the one you have for sale was used to prop up the axle of an old pickup truck for ten years and has been 10% converted to rust, minus ten points towards your next ad when would-be purchasers report that.

Use of the phrase "skill saw" (lower case or capitalized) in reference to any product including those made by Skilsaw Inc., minus ten points. Compounding that by combining "skill saw" with another brand name, e.g. "Black and Decker Skillsaw" deducts another ten points.

Placing an entirely inappropriate ad such as pool cleaning in the tools for sale section, minus ten points.

Failure to indicate whether the original accessories and instruction manual come with the item costs ten points. Throwing in extra items not originally included like a spare blade or shop-vac attachment adds ten points.

Use of OBO (or best offer) if you don't really mean you'll take the best offer you get, bad karma but otherwise hard to enforce.

Putting at least three useful pieces of info in the listing title--e.g. item description (drill press or table saw), brand & model, location--ten bonus points.

Offering to haul the item to a more convenient location for a possible purchaser's viewing, plus ten points.

Including the reason for selling the product adds ten points only if it provides useful info. "I need the money" tells us nothing. "I'm selling this benchtop model only because I got the bigger fixed-base model from the same company," is reassuring as to your satisfaction with the product. Additional info like informing us you want to sell it before your ex-wife's lawyer finds out you have it and sells it for you, while entertaining, offers no bonus points.

Accurately describing the amount of wear on the item adds ten points. "Still works" does not qualify.

Use of terms like "vintage," "classic," or "antique" when you really mean worn-out, rusty and nasty costs ten points.

Failure to observe the selling price of identical items and instead asking for an unrealistically high price and then making grudging reductions in the price over a period of weeks when everybody knew what they go for used all along, minus ten points.

Failure to describe any significant problem costs five hundred points (requires reporting by purchaser once he's out of the hospital).

Thirty or more negative points and CL pulls the ad. Leftover negative points apply to your next ad just to make sure you learned your lesson. Positive points don't accumulate because there is no excuse for a badly-written ad, this ain't rocket science.

In regard to garage/yard/estate sales:

If you list a strict starting time but sell all the good stuff to early-birds anyway, I hope it starts raining, hard, immediately after I return to my car. If you list a strict starting time and then don't open the door until half an hour later while a dozen of us bake in the sun watching you sip coffee through the window, I hope somebody calls in a bomb threat. If your estate sale ad specifies "complete woodworking shop with many tools" and you *really* mean the family grabbed all the good stuff and left a scattering of rusty old junk that the sale agents are asking silly amounts of money for, I hope you get audited for back taxes on the estate. And to the goofs who ran the estate sale with big displays outside last weekend and forgot to turn off the automatic lawn sprinklers, your tardy opening and highball pricing earned you that.

Reply to
DGDevin
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The ad's are free allowing some people to waste their time.

Reply to
Pat

After reading the OP, apparently for sellers and buyers.

I guess you just don't get the same value for FREE you used to.

Wait... maybe you do...

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

An additional 30 point deduction for Listing a Harbor Freight tool for 20 % more than you could buy the item at HF. Bill in Plano

Reply to
Bill Hall

Damn, yeah I missed that one. For that matter selling anything used for pretty much the same price as the local big-box store is bogus, but caveat emptor. I'm amazed at how many people think they can recover 80% of what they paid for something when they sell it used, or who think because they still have the original box that somehow makes the tool worth more. This ain't Antiques Roadshow folks, we're not interested in the box.

Reply to
DGDevin

But sometimes the box is worth more than the crap item they are trying to sell.

I've pretty much given up on used tools. Our local shopper paper has ads for free. They often list "ban saw" for sale. Another time or two they had "arm saw".

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

My favorite was the "radio alarm saw".

Reply to
Doug Miller

After a chuckle, I don't get too hung up on such. It may be a widow, or kids, trying to unload the old man's stuff.

Reply to
keithw86

Often that kind of "mis-listing" can be laid off on totally clueless people on the phone taking the listing. That's probably where the classic "Radio Alarm Saw" listing came from.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

Boy you hit the nail right on the head with this post. After daily reading the tool ads for the last several months I can't tell you how many times I have laughed out load at the titles/descriptions.

"DGDevin" wrote in news:G-6dnTuCNrYNmHDUnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

Reply to
Hammer Hands

SNIP

I use Craig list and wonder how many people find things. I listed 2 items (expensive items) in a Colorado listing. Both sold to people in Canada. Also watch out for this type of reply. I will send full price plus extra money for shipping. I will have my shipper pick item up. This has been received on expensive items only. If you recall the"Nigerian scam" this is the style used. WW

Reply to
WW

Absolutely. I once saw an ad in the paper for a horse, that said "nose is stuffed". After spending several minutes in complete perplexity, I finally realized that the ad must have been phoned in: "Knows his stuff".

I'm sure that's the explanation for an ad I saw a few years ago for a "medal lath" (metal lathe).

Reply to
Doug Miller

Now that one brought a chuckle. You sure the horse didn't have hay fever?

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

Doesn't really have to be that expensive. I had one of those responses to a listing for a couple of 100# propane bottles that I was asking $125 for the pair. And he wanted me to ship to England!!

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

Heh, that's a good one. Recently in used furniture I saw someone selling "High boy dresses," although of course I don't judge people's personal lifestyles. My old favorite for-sale ad was for a "Three tear wedding cake," there must have been a sad story there.

Reply to
DGDevin

Once saw one that did... some sort of upper respiratory problem, anyway. Just like a little kid with a runny nose -- except that with no sleeve to wipe his nose on, he tried for the leg of my jeans. And of course there's a *lot* more of it...

Reply to
Doug Miller

You'd be surprised at the market in boxes!

Thieves gather them - with the stuffings - and put stolen 42" LCD TVs in them to sell as "new but would not fit my room."

Reply to
HeyBub

I had one and I've never even had a listing. I replied and asked if he wanted the dresser or the refrigerator so he said "both". He wanted to send a check, but I insisted on a $100 cash deposit. Never heard back.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Couldn't you consider "hooker" ads to be "Job Applications"?

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

Or is it the other way around. ;-)

Reply to
keithw86

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