Craigslist is dying

[rang-a-stang]

I posted a few items on craigslist for sale for pretty darn cheap. I don't like dealing with flakes so often times I list stuff significantly cheaper than it is worth so I "know" when someone says they are coming to get it, they are really coming.

4 ads posted and I have not gotten a single bite. The wife asks me if I would like her to post them on Facebook marketplace. 3 items sold (with the EXACT same price, pictures, and description) in less than 24 hours, multiple bites on all 3 items (meaning, if someone does flake, i can immediately move on to the second person). In the meantime, still not a single bite on any craigslist ads even though they have been up for a week.

I am sad. I love(d) craigslist. Free, easy to use (both selling and buying), and I don't need a social media account to use it. Anyone else see this going down?

[Kaiserjeeps]

Yes. I posted both J trucks, the 53 willys, and a 64 CJ-5, all smoking good deals. The willys got calls as far away as Georgia, Cali etc. I sold it locally for 2750.00 with a brand new color correct cloth wire harness, NOS gauges in a super rare font, etc. Nothing on the J trucks, nothing on the CJ. Both J trucks were 2800 together with brand new zero mile mud 33's, fresh restored turbine wheels etc. I thought it was priced to move. This is a very poor area I was told for selling even cheap cars. I guess so.

So No I don't want to sell the J trucks anymore. I wanted to keep them and get the 71 running.

Have you tried a search on ebay lately? Absolutley unusable now. I searched wagoneer tailgate and got hundreds of ads for tailgate parts for fords, chevys, dodge, IH, you name it. Way to much to wade through. Tried changing my search terms. No change. It ruined it. NOS searches are plugged with china garbage that some how makes in the search results.
It's no fun anymore.

I am considering taking up something different. Say..... Vinyl siding collecting... JK...

And with all the subversive uses of facebook, I just cannot bring myself to get on board with that. I don't even have a smart phone.

[SOLSAKS]

kaiserjeeps,....

no smartphone ?, me neither !!!, no social media account ?, me neither !!!

I knew you were my kinda guy.

I think we are the last two humans without a smartphone.

I know they are a necessary evil for some folks

and I know both social media and the smartphones have some good points.

but I refuse.

the selfies, the social media drama I hear about, and the never ending

sight of folks with their heads down looking at a damn phone constantly.

it gripes my arse !!!!

dave in NC

[UnkleMunky]

I am considering taking up something different. Say..... Vinyl siding collecting... JK...

And with all the subversive uses of facebook, I just cannot bring myself to get on board with that.

So, we'll be hearing about you at the Vinyl Siding Collectors Anonymous meetings before long, eh!

I don't use facebook, but know a number of people who do and they talk about either finding things for sale or listing things there. I still see CL as usable, but I think there is a shrinking usage of it, both for selling and buying. I agree that it's great to be able to use it without needing a freakin' social media account to login and so on. FB is just all kinds of evil and ugly in my opinion.

I think what people like with FB...even for selling/buying stuff is the instant results.....same with how a lot of forums have shrunk in activity in the past 10 years. Too bad....but seems to be a trend.

[KaiserMan]

I very rarely buy or sell anything on craiglist anymore. Ebay sucks for searching, but you can sell for more than any other site. And once in a while get a good deal. I just scored two NOS 69 chrome Wagoneer/Gladiator reflector bases and two NOS 69 Gladiator red reflectors with gaskets.


Facebook is a complete mix of flakes, decent people, and people that want you to meet them half way (when they live out of state) for a $25 item.

[FleetFox]

things are definitely changing, and moving towards the Facepork mktplace, especially higher dollar stuff. I am not on it either, and really don''t want to be. Plus I really don't want to ask mrs., as she sometimes views my hobbies as ...distractions...

As for Ebay, to me it's just become amazon with a clearer pricing strategy. I loathe the search now as well. it's not fun or even interesting. I miss the day when you could dink around and find a set of used battleship gun barrels sitting in the arizona for bid with no reserve...

Fleet Fox

[deckside]

I thought this was going to be a thread griping about them getting rid of the M seeking M ads....my bad.

[rang-a-stang]

I thought this was going to be a thread griping about them getting rid of the M seeking M ads....my bad.

BBBBWWWAAAAHHHAAAHHHAAAHHHAAAHAA!!!!!!

[Kaiserjeeps]

I thought this was going to be a thread griping about them getting rid of the M seeking M ads....my bad.

OMG... Someone has a sense of humor. That was funny!!

[Kaiserjeeps]

And then there is amazon. That site is now flooded with fakes and products that resemble originals down to fake labels and packaging. Bezo's knows it and amazon absolutely does not care. The also remove negative reviews. I bought a baileigh bead roller that was so broken when I got it, calls and requested photo's sent to baileigh suddenly were not being responded to. I posted factual and detailed feedback with no emotion displayed, and it vanished three times before I gave up reposting it. I am no longer shopping there as I can't trust that they are sending genuine health supplements we used to order regularly.

And this summer I am visiting Bill and his family (owner of my build) and we are sitting in his living room catching up, I said something and amazon alexa repeated the entire sentence outloud from his kitchen counter 20 feet way. That was the creepiest thing ever. I convinced him to get rid of it. I simply do not get how people can be comfortable or complacent about something that listens in and monitors you all day and night. In your own home.
It is a changing world we live in. It is going to only get better.

[Jetscuh]

Ah, but I miss the Craigslist "Missed Connections" section and other odd dark corners of the site.

I've tried to browse CL recently, even though I am overseas, because sometimes I can persuade someone to ship what they have for sale, but it kind of seemed like a dead zone in some areas. Or just not as plentiful as I remember about 6-7 years ago.

I was also searching for a tailgate and decided to check out eBay, and likewise, everything but a tailgate came up...even things seemingly unrelated. So that's frustrating. We do have a local eBay site...kind of like Craigslist that is still fairly active. I am on FB, but I keep my friend list short and don't experience any drama or weirdness, and it allows me to easily keep in touch with family and friends that are still in the USA or scattered about Europe. I do like some of the FSJ groups on there because they are so active. You can make a post and have many replies within the hour or even minute in some cases. I've bought things off of FB no problem, but I've experienced flakes when selling - even when I'm selling cheap.

[Kaiserjeeps]

I do think there are a few positives. Our road has a facebook page. When something significant happens it goes to everyone who particpates up and down the road including neighboring roads in our valley. We had a fire recently and the owner was in Oregon. My wife spotted it while we were driving by and we were the first ones on the scene. We responded with a fire truck and got it pretty much out by the time the fire dept from down in town 16 miles away and dept of natural resources arrived. I could not figure out how or why all the neighbors from miles around showed up at once. Till later that day when I was told about the facebook group. My wife and talked about joining and decided not to. So despite my rantings on how bad FB is, I have seen some positive sides to it.

And I came back here to post a notice I received from ebay tonight. These market places we used to appreciate are getting ruined.
And ebay, and paypal to only mention two entities, are now tied to the Feds. Your money habits are now under more scrutiny than ever before.

Their letter.

As you may be aware, 11 new states have adopted Internet Sales Tax policies as of October 1, bringing the total to 34 states that now require the collection of sales tax. As the impact of this tax law becomes more apparent, PayPal and eBay are making changes that will make Internet Sales Tax collection less complex for buyers and for you.

Starting in November 2019, the way taxable transactions are processed and how taxes are collected for remittance will change, as follows:
In states where eBay is required to collect Internet Sales Tax from buyers, order totals sent for processing will reflect the gross order amount inclusive of tax.
Once settled, the tax amount will be automatically deducted for remittance to the applicable taxing authority.
A record of the sales tax portion of the order will be available on the Seller Hub Order details page and through our Download order report.
Please note the applicable tax will continue to be paid by the buyer and you do not need to take any action.

We understand that the holiday selling season is nearly upon us and we are working to make this transition as smooth as possible.

Learn more about Internet Sales Tax in the eBay Seller Center. If you have questions about how Internet Sales Tax may affect you, we recommend consulting with your tax advisor, or our partners Avalara and TaxJar.


As always, thank you for selling on eBay.

[SOLSAKS]

kaiserman

Alexa is not the only one listening,...( in my opinion.)

I think smart phones can enable someone to listen when you dont know it
(who's listening, I dont know.....)

also, new cars, dont think they are not capable of monitoring private conversations too,.....

(another reason to drive old stuff)

to heck with all this tech that you speak to, to turn something on or off
or to order something, damn, are folks that lazy and boring ? guess so.

wish I was born a few decades earlier.

dave in NC

[UnkleMunky]

It isn't just *listening*....lots of these devices can be *watching* and even *recording...both audio and video* constantly. First thing I do with a new laptop is tape off the cam and make sure any settings related to it are not enabled.

I do see valuable uses to some of these things though. For instance, older folks living alone, who may *fall* and have a hard time getting up, being able to say *alexa, call my daughter* or something like that can be helpful, and maybe even life saving. But it all comes down to what can also be a useful/valuable tool can also be used as a weapon or in a nefarious manner by those with less than good morals.

I agree with the crappy search aspects of ebay these days. I mainly only buy things that are just cheaper and easier to get there than elsewhere. Like a set of lugs nuts for the van I got recently. I like the search at car-parts.com though....that is quite handy....if only the best parts weren't 2000 miles away.

I remember when looking for a Jeep meant looking in the *trucks* section of the paper....even if it was a Cherokee/Wagoneer. There was no SUV section back then...let alone all this other junk....and papers were really the best source back then for finding/selling used stuff. There are so many options these days it's mind boggling. We just have to do our best to keep up with what we can, and care to....but also use our common sense along the way. I also like what's left of my sanity.....even if it can only be seen under an electron microscope.

[Crankyolman]

I agree that Craigslist is falling by the wayside. A lot of people were starting to use offerup because it's easier to use from your smart phone but even that seems to be doing less and less. I think most of these changes are driven by smart phone use but people's listings using their phone tend to be bad and lazy. A picture or two, almost no description, just lazy.

Facebook marketplace seems to really be gaining in popularity but it is a limited audience. I'm banned from Facebook so I can't use it but I work with people who do and fortunately they keep an eye out for things for me. When someone was parting out an old Gladiator one of the guys came up to me with his phone showing me the truck. He was able to negotiate a reasonable price on the tailgate which I then went and bought. That said i saw mention of people wanting you to meet them halfway in another state. The people selling the tailgate said someone tried to get them to sell it for only $100 then pack it up and ship it to them in another state. Fortunately for me they said no.

I'm also one of those who don't like so called smart technology but a while back I won a smart speaker, which I personally have no use for so i gave it to my son. He has some sort of as yet unidentified neurological disorder and failing eyesight. It's very convenient for him to get it to do things using voice commands and and when he fell and couldn't get up the speaker was able to call his girlfriend to come help him. So even though I think for the most part smart technology is leading to the downfall of humanity I see a few good things from it.