Idiotic Craigslist ads

[Busker]

Some of these "sellers" on CL really tick me off.

1. I see a lot of this one. They list an instrument and don't give a brand name, as if a brand name isn't important at all. I feel in most cases, its deliberate omission because its a cheap piece of crap, and if they actually gave the brand name, they'd get no responses. Usually, these ads have photos that tell you nothing.

2. They'll list an instrument as "great condition" but when you open the ad, the neck pickup doesn't work and it has a dent on the back. But hey, it had a list price of $900 and I'm only asking $899.

3. I see quite a few Gibsons and Epiphones with broken/repaired headstocks. But hey, its good as new now. So it ought to be worth as much as an undamaged one is right? Wrong, Oh Idiotic One.

But generally, these people don't seem to realize the market is flooded with used, cheap, made in the Orient stuff. Or they are hoping for that one sucker to come along.

[playinpearls]

yeah, these ads really suck.

i especially like the drum set ads that say:

symbals

comes with seat

comes with balancing kit

made by pearl,dw, whoever - when its some cheap piece of tj precussion crap

or the way its set up in the picture is so stupid that you know exactly why they are selling it...

[casualmadness]

I saw a primo piece of gear once on my local CL that I was interested in. I contacted the guy and told him I would like to come check it out. He replies with a price that was about $100 or so cheaper than his asking price on CL and said that was his lowest price (even though I hadn't even asked about price). He went on to say that if I wanted to buy it, he would ship it to me after receipt of payment. I asked in a follow up email where the item would ship from. He replied that he would ship it from "The Washington DC region." I replied again explaining that I lived in said region and could save him the hassle of shipping the item by picking it up. He declined and insisted that I should send the money and then if I were not satisfied, I could simply return the item to him and he would refund my money...including shipping!



Yanno folks, I may have been born at night but it wasn't last night!

[playinpearls]

are you sure he wasn't a prince from somalia?

[LiquidMidnight]

Not Craig's List, but my father recently bought a used Jazz Bass. The strings that were on it weren't the greatest so he went to a local music store to pick up a set.

They wanted $50 for a standard set of Fender nickles.

Needless to say, he didn't purchase the strings there. I'd like to go back to that store in 25 years and blow off the 6 inches of dust that will be sitting on top of that pack of strings.

[MJ5150]

I see those ads all the time on my local CL as well, and I actually get a kick out of reading them. Reading those ads is like looking in a mirror for me. Back before TalkBass, I was pretty clueless about bass gear. The problem was I didn't realize it then. I thought I was Mr. Big Time with my Crate BXH-220 amp, generic 115 cab, and Epiphone bass. I finally found this site, and started educating myself. Now I'm Mr. Small Time, but I do have a clue.

I usually take a minute to e-mail the person and encourage them to come browse around TB and learn a little bit about their instrument/gear before they try and sell it.

-Mike

[EricF]

My favorites are the bands looking for musicians where it's more about gear and image than musical skill.

[Masher88]

Originally Posted by EricF

My favorites are the bands looking for musicians where it's more about gear and image than musical skill.

My new favorite site on the web...after TB