I Am Very Tall

Craigslist is great and all, but in some ways, it's just a real pain in the ass. Here's my story and the lessons I've learned. I'm trying to sell a bunch of furniture, so I posted it on craigslist last Sunday. Since then, I've had somewhere on the order of 15 people write me e-mails saying that they're interested and would like to schedule a time to come and see the merchandise. As of yet, I have not sold anything.

Here's what I've learned:

First, a lot of people just suck at writing. Any of you who've keyed into the lol-kitteh (or my personal favorite, the lolrus) speak would instantly recognize the constructions that these people are using. Except, the lol-kitteh people are being ironic. The people that have been sending me inquiries are just incoherent.

Second and more importantly, people treat sellers like crap. For a little over half of these people, I responded within half an hour of receiving the e-mail; the rest got something within a few hours. The follow-up rate has actually been ridiculously low. About 80% of these people never bother to respond, even if I follow-up again by calling them or sending them another message. Of the 20% that do respond, 0% have ever set up a real time to actually come by or just buy the damn thing.

I get that everyone wants to have the freedom to pick and choose the things that they want to buy. I've been on craigslist, I know the deal. But really - you can't take 30 seconds to respond to an e-mail and just say, "Sorry, not interested anymore?"

Truth be told, this isn't all that vexing. I'd really like to get rid of my furniture for more than $0, but if worst comes to worst, I'll figure something out. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot going on in my life. So there you guys go. Next up might be a post on financial markets or something.

[Thanks to phonelesscord for lolcats]