More craigslist BS

Joined
Jun 14, 2010
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New York
Don't you just love it when you respond to an ad, only to find out it has turned into an impromptu auction at the smell of $$$. So I found a Ms. Pac listed for $150, shot off an email thinking I might be lucky enough to be first, and got an interesting reply. "...several interested buyers are in the process of submitting their highest bid...The interest on this machine has been overwhelming in the short time it has been posted on Craigslist, so we decided on the highest bid process because we had no idea what the value actually is"

Nice. If you're going to put something for sale for a given price, the right thing to do would be to sell to the first person to respond at the price you asked. Fair is fair, if I offer something for a fixed price and get a sense that it is worth more after a few responses you bet your ass I'm going to honor my price instead of this BS, even if I incur a loss.
 
I have run into this quite a few times now on C/L, my typical response is:

If you have an offer of "X" then I guess you should sell it to that party then, if the sale falls through give me a call and I'll take it for what you had it originally listed.

I have gotten a couple things for the original price but I'm sure most people who do this are trying to leverage you against a ficticious buyer, I just never go down the road with them.
 
"...several interested buyers are in the process of submitting their highest bid...The interest on this machine has been overwhelming in the short time it has been posted on Craigslist, so we decided on the highest bid process because we had no idea what the value actually is"

My reply:

"Craigslist is not for auctions. I hope you've removed your listing; otherwise, I'll be happy to help make that happen."
 
Unfortunately this is sad reality of CL. It's not just about who responds first all the time but who can pay more or be the first one to get there with cash in hand. I certainly understand the frustration for a buyer since it turns a potentially smokin' deal into a bidding war, but I can't totally blame the seller for not wanting to give something away either. Whether or not they'd be giving something away obviously depends on the situation. I'd more blame other interested people who offer more or make sure to tell the seller that it's worth more than they are asking. I have to admit I have my RSS reader checking out CL when I'm home, but even then the competition is just plain brutal sometimes to where you have to reply the minute it's posted to have a chance. Then you have to hope the seller doesn't back out of the deal to chase the dollar signs.
 
I dunno, to me, the seller is free to do whatever they want, as is the buyer. There's no guarantee of fairness in business.
 
yep- free country

You only want it because it's cheap.

The funny thing is that somebody probably alerted them to the low price just because they were too far from it.

Now THAT'S evil...
 
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