Www.Craigslist.Com Horror Stories: Before You Sell

Last year I decided to stop my full time hobby of selling antiques on ebay, and take up another hobby. After thinking things through I decided that I would sell part time via craigslist.com. Needless to say, I quickly became a craig's list addict. Craig's list offered a way to sell things I didn't need without paying a fee or worrying about shipping, and buy things I wanted at a reasonable price. Having two children of my own, Craig's list also offered a way to get rid of clothes, and toys the kids no longer used, and make a little cash at the same time. It seemed perfect at first.

However, everything comes with a price, and Craig's list was no different. I started noticing bickering between users almost immediately. I just never thought I'd get involved. That was until I tried to re-home a few pets on Craig's list. My ad was simple, "Free Kittens". A mommy kitty had kittens in my backyard. We decided to take her in, but we had no room for the three kittens. I posted the ad, then went on about my day. That night I checked my emails to see if I had any replies. To my surprise I had over twenty, which seemed wonderful until I started reading them. The first reply was from a man who claimed he wanted the kitten for his daughter. I jotted down his number, and went to the next reply. About four replies in I had a response telling me how horrible, and irresponsible I was for not having my cat fixed. Keep in mind this was not my cat, and no one in the neighborhood would claim her. I finally got to the bottom of the replies where I received an email telling me that my ad was flagged.

Not knowing why my ad was flagged I went to www.craigslist.com to view the pet section. From time to time users will post why they flagged an ad, or open responses to your ad. Of course someone had, and it had gained the attention of a few users. In short I was flagged for one of two reasons. The first being that I was not asking a re-homing fee or adoption fee like some of the other uses was. The other reason was because I was still being flagged as the irresponsible pet owner. I did the mature thing, and avoided the bickering, after all I had six phone numbers for people wanting kittens. As this nightmare played out, five of them had serious metal issues. The one person who seemed normal, picked up a free kitten, the re-posted it on Craigs list an hour later with an "adoption fee". It took me a month but I was finally able to find homes for the remaining two using another site www.petfinder.org. By the way we kept momma kitty, got her UTD on her shots, and had her fixed. To this day no one knows where she came from.

Then there's the story of my plants. I had 12 small two foot trees growing in pots. You see I planted seeds, and most of them did well, but I didn't have room for all the trees. So I kept putting them in larger pots, until I decided to let them go. I did some research online and found that local plant nursery's was selling the same tree, the same size for $45.00. I decided to list mine for $2.00 each or all 12 for $25.00. I know it was a big reduction, but the trees needed to be planted in larger pots or the ground really soon. I thought that the $25.00 would at least cover my cost that I had spent growing them. Again I had several replies, but one person stood out. His name was Tim, and he had a story of how him and his wife wanted to plant a few in his yard, and give a few to his mother-in-law to plant. I gave him my address, and moved the plants to the front porch. Tim arrived at my house an hour early, and I was just getting out of the shower. I seen the truck pull into the drive, which on the side read "Tim's plant and tree nursery". I thought to myself "what a liar" as I rushed to throw some clothes on. I was in my room for less the five minutes, dressed and waiting for the doorbell to ring. I didn't want to seem to anxious, so I walked into the living area, but still no knock. Finally, I peeked out, and the truck was gone. It didn't take but a second to realize my little trees was also gone. I tried calling him, but there was no answer. Finally I looked up the address to the nursery, and the next day I stopped in. There my trees were, on special for $25.00 each. I walked up to the man I had seen out my window, and said "excuse me but I think you took these off my porch yesterday", his reply was "my wife grew them, and if you have no proof otherwise get the hell off my property".

I'm not saying that everyone on Craigs list is bad, but I will say that there is more then a handful on there. I still look at the ads ever so often, and I might sell on Craigs list again someday. However, I have learned a lesson. Do not trust anyone you find online.