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[Debbie Dunkley]

Craigslist.

I have been buying and selling on Craigslist since the website became available back when I lived in CA. It used to be so cool - nice and easy to post ads as seller, easy photo upload, a great 'all in one' place to find many used items nicely categorized for convenience, and a great way to meet new people too. All free of charge for non traders.

It has improved over the years - able to post many more photos at higher res  and upload is quick. Ad goes live now almost immediately  among other things..

BUT the whole TROLL  thing is out of control!!

So I noticed a couple of years ago a few posts cropping up basically bashing other folks ads. Claiming items are way overpriced, poor quality and even fake. These people can be quite insulting in their attack. Obviously they have nothing better to do than bash other peoples attempts to make a few bucks and sell on something to someone who can use it. Whether the asking price is too high or not is irrelevant. If you think an item is too expensive then don't buy it!

In the past year this has started to happen to me too. These people always hide behind fake stupid email address names too.
It has become so bad that others including myself now have started to add verbiage at the bottom of the ad asking 'TROLLS' not to bother responding. It is bad enough with the scammers - now we have to deal with these idiots.

So I had some mics on CL yesterday. Within 2 hours I had an idiot contacted me starting out by saying, "Call me a Troll if you must"......telling me that 3 of my 4 items were way overpriced and 2 of the 4 nobody will ever want. Then at the end of the ad he made me a low ball offer for one of the mics.
I price my gear reasonably and sometimes too low - I am not a gouger by any means.
I did not respond.

Less than an hour later, I had a nice guy call me who wanted to buy 3 of the 4 mics at full pice. We had to leave for a show and made an arrangement to meet him on the way. We took the mics with us, pulled over into a parking lot, he took the mics and paid cash asking price.
I immediately went onto CL on my phone and it gave me the greatest pleasure to place the word SOLD against the 3 mics assuming the TROLL would check back at some point.
BTW - the mics I sold were the 2 the troll said no-one would ever want and the one he made an offer on - HAH!

[Justice C. Bigler]

Soo....what were the mics you were selling?

[Debbie Dunkley]

Soo....what were the mics you were selling?

I sold an EV ND767, and a couple of cheapies - a Pyle SM57 clone and an Audio Technica 4000.
I admit the cheapies aren't great mics but good enough to throw on a drum or guitar cab in a pinch. Also good as ambient mics for iem use. My prices reflected this.
The EV was one of 5 that I have and I am trying to slowly move stuff that isn't getting used.
The 4th mic that I removed from CL and will advertise later is a Sennheiser E838.
Right now I have a bass and inexpensive iem system on CL too - no trolls yet though!!

[Jeff Lelko]

I can understand your frustration Debbie!  I'm usually on the other side of the equation as a buyer, but it can be an equally infuriating experience! 

As a collector of vintage lighting equipment I've dealt with my fair share of sketchy and scammy sellers from ebay, craigslist, reverb, offer up, and more.  You'd think for such a niche market that most sellers would be legitimate, but nope!  It makes you really appreciate the honest sellers and communities of professionals such as the one here.

I've had even worse luck from actual authorized dealers too, though I won't derail your thread with the deals...and there are many.  Best of luck with your sales!

[Riley Casey]

A get what you pay for moment?

...

BUT the whole TROLL  thing is out of control!!
...

[Debbie Dunkley]

A get what you pay for moment?

Good point Riley but still a darn shame. ebay fees are high but more importantly when you want to sell  something inexpensive and avoid shipping, it just doesn't make sense to go that route.  I would willingly pay for the ad in CL to keep things local if it kept the scammers and trolls at bay but I don't think it would make any difference the way it is set up.
I still get sales on there and I still make purchases too so for the most part I do OK.
This recent troll thing though is so frustrating. I mean these people get really nasty and say things that they have no reason to say.
I never realized there were so many angry bitter people around who simply enjoy trying to humiliate others. I thought there was some kind of code among musicians - there used to be.

[Debbie Dunkley]

I can understand your frustration Debbie!  I'm usually on the other side of the equation as a buyer, but it can be an equally infuriating experience! 

As a collector of vintage lighting equipment I've dealt with my fair share of sketchy and scammy sellers from ebay, craigslist, reverb, offer up, and more.  You'd think for such a niche market that most sellers would be legitimate, but nope!  It makes you really appreciate the honest sellers and communities of professionals such as the one here.

I've had even worse luck from actual authorized dealers too, though I won't derail your thread with the deals...and there are many.  Best of luck with your sales!

I do come across many good folks too and it certainly helps me to stay sane. You just never know.....

Go ahead and derail.....get it off your chest! -LOL

[Corey Scogin]

I recently posted some equipment (heavy shop machinery) on both Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. I received almost zero hits on Craigslist but hundreds on Facebook. I despise Facebook and wish there were another second hand market with better liquidity. LetGo may be it but signing up for their service threw a few red flags security/spam wise.

[Tim Hite]

Is this item still available?

[Debbie Dunkley]

 

Is this item still available?

 

[ProSoundWeb Community]