Notes on Craigslist
Are you a Craigslist kinda person?
For anyone who doesn't know, Craigslist is a giant want-ads-on-the-Internet web application. Users register, then search for things by city. Jobs, dates, conversation, items for sale. They can also offer these same items.
While I have little experience with Craigslist as a mechanism for finding a job or a friend, I have attempted to buy things using it, and it can be a frustrating experience.
First of all, there are scams. Lots of scams. It's definitely a caveat emptor situation, so proceed with caution.
During a recent search for a product for sale, I contacted one seller with what looked like a very good deal. Too good a deal, as it turns out. While the product was advertised as local, the seller was in the UK. She writes, "I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the (product) in less than 3 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by a worldwide delivery company TNT, and they will provide assistance in hadling the payment and delivery of the (product)." Uh-huh.
One tip off: if the language seems a bit strange, or the seller seems to be selling something other than the advertised product, better to back off.
There have also been scams which were more like seriously dangerous felonies. Sellers are contacted by a buyer but the buyer turns out to be looking for a vulnerable person to rob. It's always a good idea, especially for a single woman, to refer to "us," and to never meet a buyer or seller alone.
Another problem with Craigslist is that the good deals go really fast. As with eBay, there are some people out there with nothing better to do than monitor online sales, ready to grab up anything that seems remotely bargain-like.
I recently checked out a little app ($10 from http://www.adnotifier.com/) called Ad Notifier. It's a simple little Visual Basic looking program that lets you specify a keyword and a city, and it will notify you (via popup window on the computer on which the app is running) as well as email and/or SMS when an ad matching your search criteria is posted. It searches and notifies every 1-x minutes, depending on your settings.
The downside: you can only specify ONE keyword, even though the application suggests you can search on multiple keywords; so if you are looking for a birdcage, for example, you can't specify other terms. You can, however, search by headlines only, which does refine the search somewhat.
I would also suggest NOT getting your notifications via SMS. You'll pay for each text, and you will get inundated by messages!
Other than that, it is a helpful little app that will give you a bit of an edge on the better deals.
Happy shopping!
For anyone who doesn't know, Craigslist is a giant want-ads-on-the-Internet web application. Users register, then search for things by city. Jobs, dates, conversation, items for sale. They can also offer these same items.
While I have little experience with Craigslist as a mechanism for finding a job or a friend, I have attempted to buy things using it, and it can be a frustrating experience.
First of all, there are scams. Lots of scams. It's definitely a caveat emptor situation, so proceed with caution.
During a recent search for a product for sale, I contacted one seller with what looked like a very good deal. Too good a deal, as it turns out. While the product was advertised as local, the seller was in the UK. She writes, "I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the (product) in less than 3 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by a worldwide delivery company TNT, and they will provide assistance in hadling the payment and delivery of the (product)." Uh-huh.
One tip off: if the language seems a bit strange, or the seller seems to be selling something other than the advertised product, better to back off.
There have also been scams which were more like seriously dangerous felonies. Sellers are contacted by a buyer but the buyer turns out to be looking for a vulnerable person to rob. It's always a good idea, especially for a single woman, to refer to "us," and to never meet a buyer or seller alone.
Another problem with Craigslist is that the good deals go really fast. As with eBay, there are some people out there with nothing better to do than monitor online sales, ready to grab up anything that seems remotely bargain-like.
I recently checked out a little app ($10 from http://www.adnotifier.com/) called Ad Notifier. It's a simple little Visual Basic looking program that lets you specify a keyword and a city, and it will notify you (via popup window on the computer on which the app is running) as well as email and/or SMS when an ad matching your search criteria is posted. It searches and notifies every 1-x minutes, depending on your settings.
The downside: you can only specify ONE keyword, even though the application suggests you can search on multiple keywords; so if you are looking for a birdcage, for example, you can't specify other terms. You can, however, search by headlines only, which does refine the search somewhat.
I would also suggest NOT getting your notifications via SMS. You'll pay for each text, and you will get inundated by messages!
Other than that, it is a helpful little app that will give you a bit of an edge on the better deals.
Happy shopping!
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