How to mitigate Craigslist flakiness and other assorted headaches

In my previous post, I spoke about undergoing a Life Reboot. To accomplish this, I've relied almost entirely on Craigslist to make the sales, outside of what I've donated or gifted. Over the past month or two, I've sold 40 items for a total of almost $14k (includes a car). There is still a lot to sell, but we are making steady progress.


This post is about how to mitigate common headaches and annoyances of using Craigslist. If you're a normal user, you probably sell a few items a year. Given that I've been posting at a much higher velocity (currently 26 live ads), I've had the opportunity to run into a few folks that I'd like to highlight, with strategies on how to deal with them.

Disappearing Ghosts: These people say they're interested and possibly undergo a long email exchange with you asking a bunch of questions. When it finally comes time to meet up, some of them will actually agree on a time & place. And then they just disappear. They stop responding to emails, texts, phone calls, voicemails, etc. It's like they never existed. These people are highly annoying because of the time wasted in dealing with them.

Solution: Meet them immediately if at all possible. And get them on the phone. I find that promises delivered over the phone are more likely to be kept than email promises. Follow up the day of, again on the phone. If they aren't picking up, text & email, saying that you will go to said meeting place only if they confirm.

On-the-spot negotiators: I find this sort popping up a lot lately. Everything will be coordinated, and then the person will come and offer half of what you asked for. Since these are one-off transactions and these people don't anticipate ever running into you again, they're happy to lowball you in person.

Solution: Make sure you reiterate the price upfront and get them to accept it explicitly before meeting.

Passers-by: These folks are just shopping around, and don't have any real intention of purchasing your item. They may even say they'll get back to you after checking out the item, but usually they'll forget to.

Solution: Close the sale when they're there. Get them to give you a "I'll take it at this price" offer, and work from there. If you can't make the sale, chances are they can't be salvaged and you move on.

Hopefully these tips can help you deal with flakiness and other assorted headaches!