Tag Archives: Craigslist

Craigslist

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In one of those, wow life sure has changed for me moments. Coupled with, oh, I’m not the biggest loser in the room moments.
It’s Saturday night at 7:30pm. Almost bed time. The kids are enjoying watching “Spice World” for the second time. Secretly I am glad as I hope they will inherit my love for all things British and ‘90’s.
I’d been feeling blah today with the overcast weather, but fortunately I had the presence of mind to write a to do list this morning. Top of the list, finish selling off my vintage furniture. I collected Mid Century, Heywood Wakefield furniture for years. But, now I want to rid myself of most of it. I don’t have the room and moving 5 times in 6 years makes me be less attached to objects.
Now, in my pre married days I would think, Will I seem like a big loser posting something on Craigslist on a Saturday night? But, in my present life I think, A lot of people are home on a Saturday night perhaps searching Craigslist for my vintage dresser and vanity and this is the perfect time.
Now there is a tad bit of vulnerability when you post. Besides the obvious, I hope a would be buyer doesn’t come and murder me. But, also, will people think who wants your crap? I certainly judge some listings. $700 for that wicker chair? I don’t think so.

So, I post, I put pictures, and I don’t ask for much.

I’m cleaning up the kitchen when I hear a “ping”. Oh, could I already have an interested buyer? Will be my garage be roomy?
Yes, it is from craigslist, but it’s not the kind I usually get “can I come by tomorrow.” Or “what are the measurements?” No, it says

Zzzzzzzzzz

Seriously. Here is the email from “Barbara”

Screen Shot 2012-03-31 at 8.18.07 PM

I’ve just been told I’m boring on Craigslist on a Saturday night. I was briefly offended, till I realized, wait, someone is home on a Saturday night Critiquing Craigslist postings!

Now, I need to change my son’s poopy diaper. Still a better Saturday night than Babs is having.

More Craigslist Drama

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No, I wasn’t killed. But you know how I wanted to sell our old bed?  Well, I posted it on craigslist, and I used my husband’s work as the “meet up” place if asked. Well, I get a couple of emails from a guy who wants to buy it. He then says he can’t get there himself, so he will send me a cashier’s check with the amount I’m asking for the bed-$400-plus what it would cost to ship. Thought it seemed a bit weird. Who spends money without making sure the bed is OK?

But OK.

So at my husband’s work he gets a UPS envelope addressed to me with an unfamiliar return address that does NOT match the name on the email of the person who wrote to me. Inside is a cashier’s check for $3,200!  But the return address is not Turkey; it’s in California. And there is NO note. All very weird. I email the guy and ask him for clarification, and I get nothing.

I smell weirdness.

My guess is if I go to cash this check, it will be full of beans, and I would have shipped of my bed for free. Has anyone heard of this scam? I held the check up, and there is no visible watermark.

Meanwhile, I told a lady I had sold the bed when she asked. Harumph.  Gotta try to sell it to the psychos again.

How Do You Sell Stuff When You Don’t Want to Be Murdered?

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As part of my downsizing, I wanted to sell some furniture, a bed and a bedside table . I didn’t want it, but it wasn’t junk. I didn’t want to leave it on the sidewalk to be ferreted away in the night by bedless strangers. No, I thought it could garner a bit of cash. But how to sell?

Garage sale?  They are a lot of work; you have to wake up early, and my husband was cringing at the suggestion. Plus, it’s a bunch of strangers who can see your house, that you might be moving, etc. Charity drop? Well, I did just take a bunch of clothes and a bookcase to Goodwill, but again, I wanted a bit of cash for the bedroom stuff.

Which leaves Craigslist. I’ve bought and sold and given away for free on the site, but that was before two recent murders where it’s said that the victims met the people on Craigslist.  One of the people who were killed was George Weber in his apartment in Brooklyn. I used to work with George back in San Francisco at KGO radio.  He was a great guy. Very good to me. He was a night time talk host, and I was a lowly traffic reporter, but he involved me in bits. Once, he interviewed my mom on the radio because he couldn’t believe she really hated Mother’s Day as I had told him. Another time, my cousin asked if I could get his young daughter singing a Christmas song to be played on KGO. (She was in pageants at the time.) I thought , oh, yeah, right, it’s a news station and big one. But George did it. He played little Velvet’s song.

Craigslist is supposed to be a bulletin board for stuff. But a stranger comes to you, or you come to them. A security guy that I work with who use to be a county sheriff said he thinks “Craigslist is creepy.” Furthermore, he has his mail go to a PO box; he doesn’t ever give out his real address. Maybe that’s not so strange.

I’m sorry George came to such a terrible end that we live in a world where you question if you should sell a side table.