I’m selling an old iBook. No big deal, happy to negotiate on price, cash only, purchaser must be local.
I get two responses, one rapidly devolves into:
Bzzt. Wrong.
Second one, in addition to an email address that changes with every communication, ignores the cash only, local pickup and replies:
Spelling and odd word usage aside (you’re sending a mover for a 12" laptop?) You lost me at multiple email addresses.
So, do you guys get a lot of this on Craigslist, or is it that I’m selling electronics?
I wonder at the life lessons I’ll have to teach my children…I never had to worry about the Legal Counsel to the Departed Nigerian Minister’s wife when I was a kid.
Almost every time I list something for sale on craigslist I get at least one of this type of reply.
Often the tipoff is when they write to the effect that “…your item…” and then the goofy pirtch. As you note, it is pretty easy to spot these. I don’t think, however, I ever got more than two for any one item I had listed. Just the cost-of-doing-business there.
I get Nigerian replies to apartment-to-rent ads that I run. As KlondikeGeoff says, you learn to spot them instantly. I often think that if they ever learned to write like ordinary Americans, we’d all be in trouble.
Funny you should mention it. I re-listed two cars for my sister today. I got three inquiries.
One started an email conversation with “wow that’s a low price! Are you sure you want to sell it for that?” :dubious: Dude, the car’s been wrecked. I’m selling it for parts. That person continued with “I checked the price at <dubious internet address> and you’re crazy for selling it for that!” Uh, no, brah, you’re crazy if you think I’m clicking that link.
The next one wanted to help me: “I fear that you are in financial trouble, I can help you with that”. I bet. Help me all the way to the poorhouse, I reckon.
The last one wanted to know if the car was driveable at all. I replied with “Well, it can climb onto a trailer”. This was the response “That’s good because I will be having it shipped to Africa”. Um, not just no but HELL no you ain’t gonna be having it shipped to Africa.
I never had this happen until I tried to sell a piano for $1000. They seem to search for listings above a certain price point. Now I’m wary of replying to any email I get that doesn’t demonstrate that the person knows what they’re emailing me about. If someone asks about “the item” or something like that, I’ll probably not reply anymore. I risk losing a legit buyer though.
There’s no harm in replying to the initial email, though. If something’s not quite right – i.e., the language is totally stilted, or they’re proposing to send a check for more than the item is worth – you’ll find out soon enough.
If craigslist would just put the word “mover” into their response spam traps, we’d get a whole lot less of this junk.
We had an old bowling ball listed on CL. Sure enough, some joker wants to send a “certified” check and have their mover pick it up.
Someone else has no idea about art - a framed print by an American artist living in Colorado triggers a scammer who was “putting together a collection of Australian artists” and sure enough, they’d be more than happy to have their mover come 'round to fetch the painting.
They’re teeming about. Yes, easy to spot: poor use of english, non-specific inquiry, bizarre anglican sounding names like “Bob Jone”, and “Foster Mike”. One of them tipped his/her hand by starting out “Good Morning”, when the email was from the evening (at least in my time zone…)
I was getting pretty fed up with them, and then today I sold my item, for full asking price
