Is it wrong to screw with people on Craigslist/similar?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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In Canada, we use Cragslist as well as a very similar service called “Kijiji” for those unfamiliar.

Recently, I came across a user on Kijiji with literally dozens of ads up for the most mundane, silly household items for sale at prices ranging from $0.50 to $8.00. Things like The Land Before Time part 7 1/2 VHS $2, 3 plastic bowls from the dollar store $2, half a dozen mismatched pieces of cutlery $1, a spatula, wheel from a kid’s bike, 4 guitar strings, and on and on like this. Just everyday household garbage. The ads have been up for weeks, and as far as I can tell, nothing has actually sold.

I wondered why on earth anyone would go to the required effort to photograph these items individually, list them, and wait what would undoubtedly take years to make the total $50 selling these boring items, IF they sold at all. Further to the point, who, even among the most frugal penny pinching weirdos out there would spend more than 2 seconds or a walk to their neighbour’s yard sale to buy junk like this?

I decided to send a few responses to these ads just to kind of mess with this person, making offers of $0.37 on $0.50 items and arranging pickup times like 3:00am on a bike etc., both for a laugh and more importantly because I want to prove the point that it would be simpler and more beneficial to any and all parties if things like these were just donated to a charity service for people in need or given away on your front yard. I’m kind of curious to see how far someone would go to make two quarters for a household item from an internet classified ad. Depending on whether or not this thread gets any response, I may post some of the exchanges. So far the seller does not seem to realize I’m screwing with them.

I would post the page of articles for sale but the ads show the seller’s address in each listing and I wouldn’t feel right posting that for some reason, even though it’s open information accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

The reason I’m posting all of this, is to solicit the opinions of this message board as to whether or not I’m being “mean” by screwing around with this seller just to prove the point that these ads are ridiculous. If the person is already silly enough to waste hours of their time posting $0.50 ads for plastic Santa Claus plates from Target, maybe the point will be lost; on the other hand, maybe they’ll suddenly be stricken with the realization that this kind of junk wasn’t worth buying in the first place and nobody is going to pay a nickel for the entire lot.

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Sorry, just realized this might be more appropriate in the “IMHO” section.

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I don’t see the point of screwing with someone just because you think the items they have for sale are not worthy of the forum. As someone who has placed many ads for all manner of items at all sorts of prices, including free, I would be annoyed at someone who decided to play games with me. It’s bad enough when someone says “I’d like to come by tomorrow to see the <whatever> you’re selling” and you never hear from them again. In the grand scheme of things, what difference does it make if a stranger wants to try to sell random items at random prices?

Seems to me you need another hobby…

4

Yes, you are being a horrible person.

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It’s entirely possible the seller is doing what he’s doing to fuck with you. Now he’s sitting back, compiling your replies, laughing about what kind of moron wastes his time responding to his work. Getting meta.

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Yes, wrong. The seller isn’t violating the terms of service, and people (and companies) everywhere sell stupid or overpriced products anyway. Always have. I use craigslist for buying, selling and giving away free items. One does have to deal with a fairly high volume of jerks and inconsiderate people (ahem, melvin) but that doesn’t diminish the value of the service.

You seem weirdly preoccupied with this seller. Just leave him be. If he gets little no response to his ads, will stop posting them. If you really think he’d be better off “donating to charity” (which could be said of just about anything someone sells), then send him a nice note suggesting that. Why be dishonest?

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Is it wrong to screw with people? Yes. Yes it is. Get a hobby.

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Yes.

I’ve known people who got a kick out of screwing around with people.
Until they did it to the wrong one.

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If Seller accepts offers like $.37 and agrees to 3:00 am pick up… are you going through with your side of agreement? If so, nothing wrong. If you are then going to renege on offer, then yes that is wrong.

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Someone may, for whatever sentimental or practical reason, LOVE the chance to get those particular plastic bowls, or that land of Time DVD.

For instance, I inherited my grandma’s glass pudding bowls. There used to be six of them, now only two. They’re worth nothing, but I would kiss the person who would take the time to make an picture and put up an ad so that someone would be able to find them.
Why? Because I have so many great memories of getting dessert from those bowls when I stayed over at grandma’s when I was a kid. And because those bowls have an edge of glass beads that is such a sensual delight and that I have never ever seen on any glass bowl since.

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[QUOTE=melvin Munster]
The reason I’m posting all of this, is to solicit the opinions of this message board as to whether or not I’m being “mean” by screwing around with this seller just to prove the point that these ads are ridiculous.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, you are being mean. A jerk, even.

This person is doing nothing wrong and you’re leading him on and wasting his time. If you really cared to understand why he’s doing this, you should just ask. If you wanted to offer the lesson that this is a waste of his time, you would just say so.

And why would you think it’s okay to screw with anyone, regardless of this particular example?

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I think the seller is a beautiful woman, and although you think she is a little weird now, you will end up meeting her after getting sucked into this little fun game you’re playing. The movie version will star Seth Rogan and Linsay Lohan, it will be a romantic comedy.

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Yes, OP, you are being mean. It’s wrong to screw with people in the way that you’re doing it.

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If you are willing to buy the item for $0.37 and pick it up on bike at the prescribed time if he takes you up on your offer, then have fun.

Otherwise you seem to be doing the equivalent on Craig’s list of what in message board world might be called trolling, so if that is your intention I would suggest a long period of introspective soul searching to root out why you would do such a thing.

IMHO

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Well in the right hands it can be funny - Emails from an Asshole

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I think this is kind what I was accidentally trying to do.

I concede with the above; I’m being a dipshit. I vow to stop.

Thanks all.

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The only thing I’ve ever done like that on CraigsList was make an intentionally vague series of “Missed Connections” postings over the course of a few weeks, with similar content, but did it was a “m4f”, then “f4m”, then “m4m” and then “f4f.” It was part of a discussion to see which ad would get the most amount of responses. The ad was basically as follows:

The ad made no mention of what the poster looked like, what time of day (outside of morning) or what Starbucks location it was (and given where I live, I’d say that there are over 100 in the area where I posted.

Then, I learned what type of people respond to vague Missed Connections postings.

Never again.

That being said, I’d never contact someone about goods or services they were offering. By wasting their time, they may decline other offers or take time out of their day to attempt to meet with you.

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Is it wrong to be a jerk?

Yes. Yes it is. Go and ask your mother if you don’t believe me. She’ll probably whack you on the side of your head.

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There is always a small chance that person is really poverty stricken or …

they come from a different country / culture where it is considered OK to advertise items for $0.50.

Why not just tell them you feel it is ridiculous to run those ads?

There are several good reasons why that might be better than trying to screw with them.

For instance, when they read your offers, they may not understand your intent.

Also, if you are a believer in Karma or any other kind of faith, you may find that one day, it’s just better to be honest with them.

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The OP feels bad about what he’s been doing and he’s asking for advice. Why not …