For those of you who know our friends the Farmers, you know "The Farmers never pay full price!" Well, being that Dan and I both come from Dutch families that has been our motto for generations. Which is why we LOVE Cr@ig's list. One of these days I will blog about all the things we have bought (and gotten rid of) off Cr@ig's list. However, with Cr@ig's list there are major drawbacks.
1) You have to search everyday for one thing that you are desiring hoping it's from a pet-free non-smoking human home.
2) Once you find this one thing you have to rely on a picture that looks like it was taken at the turn of the last century and are left to wonder if that dresser is truly white or maybe is it yellow? Meanwhile, you are distracted by the stuff that is surrounding said item and instead of focusing on a dresser you wonder when the last time the seller vacuumed.
3) You have to try to contact a complete stranger that may or may not be checking their email or voicemail. Even though if they list something on the Internet, you would think they would have access to the Internet.
4) Once that person checks his or her preferred way of contact you try and figure out a time to meet to see if that dresser truly is as white as you would like it to be and to make sure their definition of "lightly scratched" doesn't mean only 1 of their 4 cats used it as a scratching post.
5) Then comes the negotiating. Which I detest! I would rather speak in public in my underwear 4 weeks postpartum than negotiate. Besides the fact that I am very poor at it. My husband on the other hand...
6) Once the negotiating is done, you (or in my case, my husband) are the heavy-lifters, movers, deliveryman, and installation guy.
Hopefully, once all the above is complete, you can sit back and think about how much money you saved. You mean they actually paid full price for this?!
Or, you can be like me who blew it today over 10 bucks (see #5). $10!!! I really hope their neighbors are enjoying their "new" barstools!
Now it's back to #1. Bleh.
You forgot #4.5: Where you set up a time to meet, then they don't show, so you set up another time and then they don't respond to the email, then you sell it to someone else and then they contact you wanting to meet. Annoying!!! So far, I have bought or sold on craigslist: 5 vehicles (yes, 5), 2 cell phones, 2 TV's, used carpet, a dog . . . and there's more. I LOVE craigslist.
ReplyDeleteIt's 1130pm at night. Big S and I are sitting here dying laughing at this post. SO TRUE. Or have you had your Hubs come home with something he swears is the deal of the century and you are going to LOVE IT?!? And you HATE IT?!?!? The classic is my termite story. Have you heard THAT One? Right now we are checking every hour for a double BOB revolution. They are gone within minutes. I got my BOB single Stroller Strides stroller that was 3mo old off Craigslist, and that was CRAZY. And the worst is when this is all happening when very pregnant...termite story was all about pregnancy #2. But HELLO PTL that you did not have to get your playground set in So CA because you have to reply to those postings within 15 minutes or you are out of the running. LITERALLY. I am all about #5 in the post above. I hate meeting Craigslist people. I do not deal with Craigslist people unless it is a forced choice (like I am promised all of the profit.) Big S loves him some Craigslist. WEIRD. And then you see people at Wal-Mart and they ask you if they know you from some where...oh yeah...didn't I buy something off of you from Craigslist...has happened a couple of times to us! Aye yay yay....next time you are here I promise I will tell the termite story and I will have you rolling on the floor laughing, grabbing your sides. But I must say, in this economy, all of our good labor has come from Craigslist. CA contractors are dying for work and will work for pennies on the dollar. PENNIES I said.
ReplyDeleteLOL at #5. That's some pretty severe hatred for negotiating... :-) Craig's List isn't as useful here in the backwoods as it was in DC. But the yard saling, oh the yard sales! Heaven!
ReplyDeleteTry this: http://notify.me/
ReplyDeleteIt searches any rss feed (which includes Craigslist) for you. It's awesome ... I buy/sell/search on Craigslist all the time and this little feature helps cut down the search time.
hahahahaha!!!! hilarious and completely true!! i don't about #5 there reb, haaa, maybe sometimes pretty close, haha!!! you crack me up!!
ReplyDeleteReb - I would do ANYTHING to avoide "speaking in public in my underwear 4 weeks postpartum". I might suck at negotiating but nothing would be worse than subjecting people to that site of me! Guess we know who God blessed with good potpartum genes! :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't really gotten into the Craigslist revolution, but I am definitely a sale shopper. I got a pair of $130 Lucky Brand jeans for $39 at Macy's the other day! Also a $60 top for $25. My receipt said I saved $129!! Amen to never paying full price!
ReplyDeletei am with rachel on this one... i'll search for good prices in the sale racks for new items but not so nuts about craigslist, even though i have seen some of your great finds!
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh Craigslist...a Dutch funland :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you forgot the inevitable Craigslist no show, fall through or the "I just gave it away to someone else" scenarios.
Happy shopping :)