Continuing off my theme from yesterday's post,I mostly check the video games section on craigslist but this also applies to a lot of things on there like cars or books or furniture. I'll start off with buyers first as they seem to be the most prevelant
Opening something then using it is not NEW, it is USED or lightly used but it is certainly not new. Likewise using a game as a coaster for years then posting a picture of it's scratched backside and rubbed off labels is not NEW. Neither is a used game with the missing manual and case or a system that's missing accessories such as a stylus or power adapter
If something is new then why are the zipties and sealed baggies missing and replaced with sandwhich bags. Something that is used once or twice is not new which brings me to another point. Sellers that lie about how many times a product is used
It doesn't mater if it was used once or 1000 times as long as you took care of it. I can buy super mario 3D land and play it once then use it as a coaster and have a dog and a cat use it as a chew toy then accidentally leave it in my clothes that get washed but it was only played once so it's "new"
Now onto smaller more common things. "I know what these are worth" uhhh... no you don't which is why I see the same posting for months onto a year. "These are going for __ on ebay and/or amazon" this one chaps my bones(Idk where I was going there) the most, so much so that I am going to use a whole paragraph to talk about it
Newsflash bozo, what you looked up was the asking price(most likely the highest one) not for what it is selling for then you thought it was worth gold. No they don't go for __ further more anyone can list anything on ebay or amazon for absurd prices, that doesn't mean that's what it's worth. I can poop in a bag and list it on ebay for a buy it now for $1000. That doesn't mean my poop is worth one grand nor is it going for one grand
Also those that are going for big money are usually truly brand new and sealed or complete with the case and manual, not a scratched up "new" disc". Sellers try the supermarket market technique by selling there's for $50 less then the highest price. No things don't work that way since the internet is a lot smarter then what you give it credit for especially buyers on CL
I love emailing sellers that say "It goes for $400 on ebay so I'm asking $330" a link to some store where they can find what they are selling for a lot cheaper say like $100 or less. If a seller says it is going for __ on ebay or amazon, well guess what? the buyer is going to check it out and see it's much cheaper there and buy it so the seller is screwing themselves out of a sale.People will try to get around this by saying ebay sellers sell junk that
doesn't work and it's just for a scratched up disc totally missing the
point that with ebay you can get your money back. Buyers on CL like to see if it's lower priced elsewhere, you would have to be dumb to think that a buyer only checks CL, this isn't real life where you spend time and gas and money driving around shopping for the best price
Sellers that try to be blatant about ripping you off then get mad when you ask simple questions are the worst. I don't go to ralph's(kroger for the west coast) and blindfold myself then throw random things into a shopping cart and pay whatever my total comes up to at the cashier. I like knowing what I'm buying and if it's edible or works or not. I seen ads where people try to sell a box of mystery games or just mystery things for $50 and you may get rare things. I also seen people selling video game systems with all the cables but you can't test it out and it's $500. For $500 you bet your ass your going to test it in front of me
To continue the mystery theme, there are sellers that list say a super nintendo and 5 or 8 games and they are asking $200 firm. Well guess what? I like knowing what I'm buying so I'll contact them and ask for a picture of the games too or a list of them and I'll go from there if it's a rip off or a good deal. 10 times out 10 the person will get mad and say it's for serious buyers only which seems to be suckers who randomly buy things blindfolded
Getting mad at someone asking you simple questions is not the way to sell something and I would love to blindfold these people at a supermarket and watch them throw things into a cart and they would have to pay the total. Moving on, "I got offered $100 can you do better?" I didn't realize this was ebay and I was bidding on something. Sellers use this as a way to artificially bring up the price because the fake bidder has an unrealistic "bid" that the seller would have jumped on if they actually got that offer
These ads stay for a long time(why don't they take the highest bid oh because it doesn't exist) so it's funny to see these people. I can almost picture them thinking out the plan "I'll say there's someone that wants more money but that person doesn't exist" It's almost as bad as the goes for __ on ebay person
Things devalue over time, with some exceptions, the thing you paid $400 in 2003 is not worth $300 anymore or even $100 so saying you paid$500 for something doesn't mean it barely dropped value and that's what it's worth. No it says your a sucker who wants to make most of their money back and has no idea what things are worth
That about covers it for the sellers (don't know how much it's worth, delusional, try to rip you off, describe it horribly) so now it's onto the buyers themselves which can be just as bad
No matter how low you list something or how good of a deal it is there will be someone that will offer you pennies on the dollar or literally pennies for something or want to trade something broken even though you said no trades. Sometimes not even money and they expect it for free and they'll get mad at you for not selling it really cheap/giving it to them. It's also funny the way the buyer tries to convince themselves why they should pay a lot less. I listed some simpsons seasons boxsets on CL before. A buyer offered me $2 for each 4 to 6 disc set because he already had most of them. Another buyer wanted to trade a broken phone and $5 for one of my 3ds. Another person wanted to trade a 1993 jetta and $500 for my truck. Yet one more person thought $2 and they'll pick it up today is a fair offer for a super rare video game in great condition(which I will greatly expand upon in another blog post) which I just laughed at. Broken things aren't worth much so it's great to lol at someone that think's it's worth oh so much
Saying something is rare or hard to find at stores is just a huge crock among with the "these will go up in value" uhhh no they went down in value. Old does not equal valuable either as CL seems to think an atari is 2600 or a nes with a controller and common games is worth $600 because these aren't made anymore. Sports games lose value extremely quickly so asking $30 or $15 for madden 2010 is a lollable offense
I think I covered the basis of CL but I feel like there's more so I'll post another article eventually and I should shame overpriced CL ads especially when the seller is rude about it
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