Is there anything left of Craigslist?

Or just hit the easy button.

The last line of every ad I post is "PUT YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL IN THE SUBJECT LINE OR I WILL ASSUME YOU ARE A SPAM ROBOT"

Have you tried Offer-Up?

In reply to Duke:

64 used, 50 gal luke warm tranny hookers with bad blow off valves and leaky pans?

Sounds like a really bad day.

You WILL get 64 different types of VD.

I thought this was going to be more akin to my recent minor rant regarding lack of interesting cars for sale.

On the topic at hand, I managed to sell two bicycles on CL last summer even though 2/3 of the responses were either scams or flakes.

SVreX wrote: 53 I am in a smaller rural market. I wonder if that makes it worse- are smaller markets easier targets for these jerks?

It could be that somebody's (or some botnet's) pattern is "Send X spam emails per day to craigslist location Y" and with a rural Craigslist market having both a smaller number of ads and a smaller number of buyers, their numbers were tuned for a big city market don't work like they should. The result is the botnet runs through the whole set of postings multiple times and there is also a greater spam to real message ratio because there's fewer real messages.

I think there is some sort of "report abuse" link in the emails that go through Craigslist; I'd probably click it in every last one of the spam-mails.

I bought the TooFiddy off Columbus GA CL back around Christmas with no drama, but I haven't tried to sell anything in a while. I will be soon.

It sounds to me like CL doesn't have enough built-in protection from bots accessing your email info. What you're getting is obviously an automated process. It seems like CL could program in something a little better. You are using the CL email links and not putting your email IN the ad, right?

When ever I post on Craigslist specifically vehicles I get offers at the 1/4 of my asking price, or what I end up selling it for. The rest are pretty much scams, especially emails, I have been using texts and that has weeded out most scammers. Recently I sold some kart parts surprisingly not a scam and I shipped them.

I have a rusty '03 Impala to put up this week.
First car in a couple years.
We'll see...

works for me. Both as a buyer and seller.

Recently sold my oddball VR6 Passat with the roof cut off after a road trip to Miami and had 3-4 people fighting over who could get there first with cash, and it sold exactly when and where it needed to.

I don't know any other format that would've resulted in moving something of that nature that succesfully.

In reply to ultraclyde:

Yes, I am using CL's email links.

In reply to MadScientistMatt:

Yeah, I reported every one of them to CL. They didn't stop.

Then Google to the rescue. I reported all 73 of them as spam (with only 1 click, as opposed to CL's system where I had to open each and every one of them, follow a link to their site, and report it individually). The spam stopped immediately.

I thought it might have just filtered everything from CL, so I made a couple of test responses to my own ads signed in as someone else. My tests came through. The spam has stopped.

Pretty impressive what Google can do, even if they are our Overlord Masters. CL however, not so much.

Its just bots. Im guessing since your in a small town you get all the responses. I usually get 1-2 of them the first day the add is up, then no more after that.

In reply to java230:

Yeah, I just didn't have any way of knowing if there was a difference in smaller markets. Your theory is reasonable.

It does, however, make CL pretty useless in smaller markets. And it makes no sense for me to list this stuff in bigger markets, because it's not shipable, and I have no interest in driving it 3 hours.

What personal information did you put in your ad? Location, email, phone... Or just the cl relay system through email?

I have usually have dozen listings currently and have for at least the last 6 months. I get a lot of responses from real people around the weekends and the end of the month (paydays and days off work) And have only had a few phishing scam emails.

Pricing a little less than everyone else on cl helps with a lot of good photos. Bumping the ad every friday and sunday morning makes a difference too. But some stuff just doesn't sell well or takes a while to move.

I've had my car on there for over a month. I've gotten maybe two serious inquiries the rest have been spam.

In reply to jere:

Just the CL email relay system.

I listed my truck sunday. Ive gotten 13 messages asking whats the least ill take. I hate craigslist.

dropstep wrote: I listed my truck sunday. Ive gotten 13 messages asking whats the least ill take. I hate craigslist.

The answer to that is, "what is the most you will pay"?

spitfirebill wrote:

dropstep wrote: I listed my truck sunday. Ive gotten 13 messages asking whats the least ill take. I hate craigslist.

The answer to that is, "what is the most you will pay"?

Not really.

That's the way Southerners negotiate. It drives me crazy. But I have learned if you don't answer the question, the conversation is over.

Best answer is a non-committal one like, "I'm selling it for what I've got in it, but if you are serious I'll help you out. Come take a look."

I berking hate cl, but I'm pretty sure the problem is that it's infested with humans.

I've had good luck using Craigslist, but I do get some obviously automated responses, too.

Using a filter (Put PANTS in the subject) or only taking phone calls as a response can cut them down.

the good cars get snapped up quick. i grabbed the se-r within an hour of the posting.

How does this Google spam report work?

SVreX wrote:

spitfirebill wrote:

dropstep wrote: I listed my truck sunday. Ive gotten 13 messages asking whats the least ill take. I hate craigslist.

The answer to that is, "what is the most you will pay"?

Not really. That's the way Southerners negotiate. It drives me crazy. But I have learned if you don't answer the question, the conversation is over. Best answer is a non-committal one like, "I'm selling it for what I've got in it, but if you are serious I'll help you out. Come take a look."

yeah i told them its listed at a price and is obo, stop over and drive it. they normally just shut up