Craigslist seller doesn't respond - Mystery solved!

[Muse]

I don't know much about Craigslist. I sold one item a few years ago, don't remember buying anything. I've gone there quite a bit, but somehow it's never really clicked with me.

The other day I did a search on an item I'm looking for and found it used ~15 miles from me at a decent price. Craigslist provides an email address, looks to be a routing kind of thing: They get the email and forward it to the seller. I sent the seller an email Saturday evening, and another last night. I have gotten no response. The item was posted a week ago now. Is there anything I can do? Is there any way to find out if the item is sold or a way for me to ask Craigslist and Craigslist to ask the seller if the item is sold yet?

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Edit Update 9/2/2010:

Finally figured out what was happening:

On Saturday, when I first saw the CL listing, I clicked the CL seller email address to send a message to the seller, and Windows Mail opened. I don't normally use WM. WM errored, i.e. the message never went to the seller. Having seen that there was an error, I resent the message using my usual email client. However, I didn't close WM. WM's default is to download email every 30 minutes and delete the messages from the server. So, I never saw the seller's response from Saturday. Just today I noticed that I had ~20 messages in WM Inbox. I tried to forward from there but still got errors and I called my provider (ATT/SBC/Yahoo DSL). After around a 30-45 minute call, the CSR was able to finally determine the settings necessary in WM to enable sending messages. It was fine downloading, but sending required a different batch of settings than those used by my Forte Agent email program. Mystery solved!

 

[Ika]

sucks for you, he probably got so many responses that he doesn't respond to the others after the first one. that's basically what happened to me when I subletted my apartment (apparently for very cheap).

 

[Muse]

sucks for you, he probably got so many responses that he doesn't respond to the others after the first one. that's basically what happened to me when I subletted my apartment (apparently for very cheap).

Isn't there some way the seller can rescind the ad? There must be.

 

[Leros]

Isn't there some way the seller can rescind the ad? There must be.

There is, but people are lazy and/or stupid.

 

[GoSharks]

If you don't get a relatively quick response, assume that it is sold and move on. SOP for my craigslist transactions, which are mostly for event tickets.

 

[Muse]

There is, but people are lazy and/or stupid.

I just did the search again and it didn't turn up. I guess the seller removed the ad but didn't bother to email me.

 

[Soundmanred]

Yup, no response means consider it sold or they really don't want to sell.
I remove ads right after I've sold the item, but alot of people don't care enough to.
All they care about is that it's sold.

 

[Muse]

If you don't get a relatively quick response, assume that it is sold and move on. SOP for my craigslist transactions, which are mostly for event tickets.

Well, this was for a $369 camera lens. I've seen some posts for those lasting for months, so I thought my odds good for scoring it. I'll just have to keep looking. It's a discontinued item, so used is my only option. Besides, new it would be too expensive.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

You can post wanted ads on Craigslist.

 

[gorcorps]

Depending on the item people can get flooded with responses, and it'd be a PITA to respond to the 20 people that didn't get it... so why bother?

 

[AndroidVageta]

You can post wanted ads on Craigslist.

This. If I can't find it on CL then it never hurts to ask!

 

[Squisher]

Don't expect any level of tech savvy-ness out of Craigslist sellers even down to the level of being able to rotate their pictures or delete their ads.

 

[Muse]

You can post wanted ads on Craigslist.

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

Don't expect any level of tech savvy-ness out of Craigslist sellers even down to the level of being able to rotate their pictures or delete their ads.

That was exactly my impression with this post. Given that it was a piece of pretty high level camera equipment the 4 included photos were terrible and the blurb was snatched from Amazon.com verbatim. They appeared to know nothing about what they were selling. :whiste:

 

[bignateyk]

Most people don't delete their ads from craigslist after they sell the item, and then just ignore any subsequent requests.

I try to delete my items after they sell. Usually I forget until someone else emails me about the item though.

 

[cherrytwist]

Thanks. I'll give that a try.


That was exactly my impression with this post. Given that it was a piece of pretty high level camera equipment the 4 included photos were terrible and the blurb was snatched from Amazon.com verbatim. They appeared to know nothing about what they were selling. :whiste:

Sounds like it fell off a truck.

 

[geno]

I just did the search again and it didn't turn up. I guess the seller removed the ad but didn't bother to email me.

Don't take it personally, it happens a lot

 

[Vette73]

I don't respond to lowballers. But I do delate my ad as soon as I sell it.

 

[dfuze]

I think sometimes those mails also go to their spam folders, I often mail a 2nd time before they respond and it's not sold yet

 

[Bl0cks]

I don't respond to lowballers. But I do delate my ad as soon as I sell it.

Exactly, you didn't lowball him right? I never respond to those.

 

[rudder]

The item was posted a week ago now. Is there anything I can do?

basically all you can do is move on with your life.

 

[bignateyk]

You should hire a private investigator to track the bastard down. Then beat him up and take the item from him to teach him a lesson.

 

[RKS]

I tried to buy a Harmony remote from a local CL ad. I simply asked when the seller could meet to complete the transaction since I thought the price was fair. The seller responded that she wouldn't to lower the price but nothing further. The item is still listed.

 

[PricklyPete]

It's likely been sold. The seller has to remember to go to their original email from craigslist and delist it.

 

[Vette73]

It's likely been sold. The seller has to remember to go to their original email from craigslist and delist it.

In that case just keep emailing them every couple minutes till A they respond or B take the ad down.


Unless you are a lowballer then move on and stop wasting time.

 

[Muse]

Sounds like it fell off a truck.

That's funny. One day I was riding my bike in the hills and found an industrial scanner in the middle of the road. It's a gismo that reads UPCs on cartons, that kind of thing. I made some calls and I was supposed to be contacted so it could go back to the rightful owner. I never got a call. One day after more than a year I decided to get rid of it and posted on eBay and it sold for around $35, something like that. New they are many hundreds, IIRC. It was of no use to me.