I’m selling an item on Craigslist, and got an email response asking for the final price that included a phone number but said “I can only receive text.” I’m wondering if this is something shady.
It strikes me as odd that he could send an email but can’t recieve one, and that his phone will receive text but not actual calls. It’s an out-of-state area code which adds further doubt but of course doesn’t prove he isn’t local.
Is this a red flag or a legitimate situation?
I guess it’s possible that they could send you an email, but only receive text on their phone. However they should be able to answer a phone call.
When it comes to Craigslist, I go with my gut feeling if something doesn’t ‘seem’ right.
Some people may not be able to take calls because they’re at work or school, but they can text without drawing too much attention. There are still some phones that don’t do e-mail.
That said, my opinion of Craig’s List nowadays is to start by assuming it’s a scam then look for evidence that it’s not.
It just registered with me it said “sent from my iPad.” I guess that would explain not receiving calls. Not sure what that means concerning email. Presumably the phone number is related to the iPad’s internet service. Any chance he would be local but getting internet through a non-local number?
Does he perhaps mean that he has his emails set to text-only? Some people do this for security reasons.
most of the time if it smells like a scam, it probably is - if they get your number, could start hounding you with scam texts, etc
Could be too that he only wants to receive texts, and doesn’t want to give you his phone number or email address. He’s figured out the best way to stay anonymous is via the text app on his iPad.
On craigslist, buyers (you) can be as scary as sellers 
I would be suspicious of any email that asks for your “final price.” That’s usually terminology I see on all scam emails.
Maybe they’re a cheapskate.
For a while I had a Cricket prepaid phone. Receiving text was free. Receiving a phone call was not. So I could text people via my compute email and receive text on my phone and it never cost me anything on my phone.
But it still smells like a scam to me.
The Messages app on an iPad is capable of sending a text to an email address. So, it is at least possible to be able to send an email, but not be able to receive one. And if you set up cellular data service on an iPad, it does get a phone number that can’t be used for voice calls. But then why anyone would have an iPad but not set it up with an email account is beyond me.
Could be someone whose hearing makes phone use difficult/impossible without going through TTY?
I have a friend with one of those (Cricket phone) and this is true.
Like pkbites has stated, it doesn’t quite pass the ‘smell test’ with me, either. :dubious:
And IME, LEOs have always seemed to have a pretty good ‘nose’ for BS. At least, the ones I know do. YMMV
That was my first thought: that the buyer is unable to use the phone. But personally, I always explain myself, ie “Could you please text rather than call. I can’t speak on the phone due to social anxiety.” I imagine that a deaf person would do likewise.
I tried Craigslist once – posted four antiques and got deluged with emails asking for the price. Every single email had a subject line that included the price! I responded to a few of them (all scams) and gave up. As far as I know I never got one single “real” response.
Definitely a scam. He wants the “final price” (which doesn’t sound like something used in American English in this context anyways) because he’s sending out responses en masse and doesn’t want to waste a bunch of time and SMS messages trying to haggle with someone before he sends out the “I’ll send a (fake) cashier’s check for…” or whatever his particular angle is.
As for the text issue, in most of the world SMS messages are significantly cheaper and they have become the backbone of telecommunication in the third world. The scammer probably sends out the e-mails from an internet cafe and would have to pay for computer time to respond by e-mail. He likely has a US VOIP phone number that can forward SMS messages to his handset and vice versa, so that’s his preferred contact method.
I have used Craigslist successfully, to sell something. The ‘something’ was a used P/U and it sold in a surprisingly short amount of time.
I think the key to using Craigslist is to first read the guidelines posted there when doing business on that site. To put it simply…
Local only, cash only. 
Please save all of the snarky ‘But that is Loco!’ remarks. 