Craigslist Rant...

Topic: Craigslist Rant... (Read 1310 times) previous topic - next topic

Craigslist Rant...

September 02, 2009, 05:56:07 PM

So about a week ago I put the Audi up for sale on craigslist. I actually spend the time to type out a pretty nice ad if I do say to myself, instead of the typical one-line description. To my dismay a couple days pass without one single phone call or email.

Curious, I do a search for the ad (partly to see if I can pick it out of the bunch, and to check out the competition) and I can't find it after several attempts. Now there aren't that many Avants for sale in the area (mine was the first I came across - ever) so I thought maybe I accidentally posted it in the wrong section. I pull up the email craigslist sends you (I didn't have an account yet) when you make a post to edit/delete your ad. It's in the right location alright, so what the hell is going on???

I delete the ad, sign up (thinking that will somehow verify me) and post it again. Look for it a few hours later and no dice. WTF??? I delete it again and this time I get the anti-spamming warning. They tell me if I confirm deletion of the ad I will have to wait a few days to repost, otherwise it will be automatically removed from this point forward. No problem since I can't find the ad anyway. I hit delete and wait. Meanwhile I search the forums as to why my ad isn't showing up. Turns out it is my photobucket images. Apparently you are not allowed to hotlink images into the ad anymore. New to me, I always use photobucket on craiglist. Now you have to use those py four little images within craigs. Nice!

Annoyed at first, because I took time out of my busy schedule to take some nice pics, but these are apparently the rules now so I comply. I repost the ad after the time limit expires and I stupidly think everything is a-ok. Let a couple days pass before looking for my ad again as my phone/email inbox are eerily quiet and sure enough it is gone. Fawk! But this time I get a message that it was flagged for removal.

http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/cto/1350794214.html

Aha! Someone (or something) is flagging my ads!!! Problem is, I have no idea why and no explanation is given either. What a great setup! A quick google search reveals that some people flag the ads of competitors, while others have nothing better to do but to nitpick discrepancies of ads ad flag them. How f'n lame is that? Wrong location, spamming, commerical sales, multiple ads in different cities... you know the biggies I get all that. I don't like that either. But spamming other peoples ads to help your own is just downright douchebaggery to say the least if that is the case. And it turns out there is really nothing you can do about it other than reposting your ad every single time it's flagged, as though I really have time for that.

And I thought eBay was bad... looks like no more craigslist for me.

/Semi-Rant

(apologies for any typos, it's been a long day....)

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #1 – September 02, 2009, 06:06:11 PM

Yeah we don't get that around here but I have heard about that, its ridiculous. Try autotrader, and the like. See locally we have the "John Deere swap sheet" basically a printed smaller version of craigslist (Not affiliated in any way), thats how we usually sell our cars. I wish you luck man :)

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #2 – September 02, 2009, 06:24:23 PM

there is a local site out here called kslcars.com. They don't do anything outside of utah, but I love the way it is set up.

I had someone saying they had a toploader for $500 just rebuilt. I wasn't very interested, but wanted to see if he would go down on his price. I watched him list it about 30 times and figured he was getting sick of it. Well he contacted me back and said if I paid $500 he would throw in a bunch of stuff for free, including fox mounting stuff for the setup. I seriously considered it, but decided to get the tag number before considering it.

I'm really glad I did, because it was an SROD w/ overdrive. He was selling it as an "utra" high performance top-loader. After I told him it wasn't a toploader, he told me that it is a toploader, with an aftermarket overdrive using very expensive parts. He also told me I was a moron for calling it a SROD, and that he had it behind a 800+ hp BBF. He also told me it had a 500CFM motorcraft carb. I flagged it till he gave up on relisting it.

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #3 – September 03, 2009, 12:33:05 AM

I'm tired of getting tons of e-mails regarding my item that are always fake, and they are just fishing for my e-mail addy.

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #4 – September 03, 2009, 02:06:18 AM

I listed the '89 Cougar a few weeks ago, had 2 calls, both from females who apparently didn't know sic 'em from come here about cars AND are unable to read.

I posted EVERYTHING I know about the cougar, such as 3.8 V6, AOD, needs driver side door panel reinstalled, needs headlight lenses, grille, etc....

Yet, both times, the caller asked what exactly was wrong with it...
Geeze, read anything besides the title folks?

THEN...last week, about 12-15 times during a 3 or 4 day period, some computer-generated message called my number and wanted to advertise the car on "bigger national car sales listing"...for a small fee, of course...heh.

what does it say at the bottom of the page:

"it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests"

duh! :flame:

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #5 – September 03, 2009, 05:31:26 AM

I've found craigslist to be the most popular scene for some of the dumbest people to ever learn how to use a computer. When I'm sniffing around for project cars, I also get some low level of entertainment out of seeing some of the crazy shiznit posted there (see thread "PSA: Don't Do Drugs").

With that said, I think craigslist may be suffering the same fate as eBay/Paypal - it's getting too large and collapsing.
eBay used to be awesome 10 years ago. No stupid rules, different payment options, and a MUCH wider selection of cool stuff at truly reasonable prices. They didn't even have the Buy it Now nonsense. Now, the sellers cannot leave negative feedback and are forced to accept only Paypal. It's greed at its best - pure and uncut.

While craigslist has always been extremely basic (a good thing) and serves as an excellent tool with no clutter, it's now large enough that it's attracting all of the morons and buttholes. Just because there's nothing interesting on daytime television, they feel the need to serve their duty by flagging anything at the drop of a hat.

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #6 – September 03, 2009, 05:51:15 PM

i flag nonlegit ads on craigslist constantly since i check it every day wether im looking or something or not and very few ever get removed. tons of daily reposted dealer spam and non car related ones are the worst offenders as i see it.
its a shame im not a mod there id clean that mess up in a few hours.
on flagging competitors ads to get your car sold thats pretty lousy but its been going on for awhile

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #7 – September 03, 2009, 09:16:14 PM

I link to images stored on Comcast's server all the time with no problems. I've had like 20 images in a single posting. I don't really believe that claim as I see linked images in the auto section all the time (not often enough really!).

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #8 – September 04, 2009, 10:53:21 AM

Quote from: Seek;289800

I link to images stored on Comcast's server all the time with no problems. I've had like 20 images in a single posting. I don't really believe that claim as I see linked images in the auto section all the time (not often enough really!).

I didn't think it was an issue either until I started combing the discussion forums. Seems like their number one pet peeve is linking to images outside of craigslist (personally I think that is a good thing - cuts down on craigslist sever use). Even a hyperlink to a photoalbum or just HTML in general is objectionable to some of these people.

There are threads about people flagging ads because the car is dirty or because it is a high-end car or because the ad is too descriptive or because the price is too high/low or because someone put "no trades" in the ad because he kept getting emails about trades (they told him to suck it up - trades aren't allowed in the for sale area) or they just don't like the car period.

Nevermind the fact that none of those things violate craigslist's own ToU (AFAIK)... there's even help on how to do hyperlinking and HTML in the craigslist FAQs. Bottom line, if they don't like it, they will flag it. Whack.

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #9 – September 04, 2009, 02:23:14 PM

Quote from: Ether947;289866

Bottom line, if they don't like it, they will flag it. Whack.

And that's the problem with a setup like that; with everyone having the ability to flag ads, instead of moderators or such, it's pr0ne to this thing.

Sucks..but what can a fella do?

Craigslist Rant...

Reply #10 – September 07, 2009, 02:59:17 AM

Quote

I pull up the email craigslist sends you (I didn't have an account yet) when you make a post to edit/delete your ad.

Did you click the link in the first e-mail to verify the ad, and get it published? (It's not automatic if you're unregistered).

Quote

I delete the ad, sign up (thinking that will somehow verify me) and post it again.

Now you should have an "account" page... https://accounts.craigslist.org/
Is your ad still listed there in green?

Quote

Look for it a few hours later and no dice. WTF??? I delete it again and this time I get the anti-spamming warning.

Occasionally there's server problems, where some ads don't show up in the listings.

Quote

Aha! Someone (or something) is flagging my ads!!! Problem is, I have no idea why and no explanation is given either.

Did you come visit us in the Flag Help forum, as the e-mail instructed?
http://detroit.craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=3

Quote

What a great setup! A quick google search reveals that some people flag the ads of competitors, while others have nothing better to do but to nitpick discrepancies of ads ad flag them. How f'n lame is that?

As FHelp would have told you, it takes MANY flags to bring an ad down, not just a couple of disgruntled weenies.