Sometimes you just have to recognize that people suck. I come to this realization every time I use Craigslist.
In Chicago I was a Craigslist pro — I occasionally had the deadbeat that wouldn’t show up or rescinded on an offer, but most of the time the person showed up, handed me a wad of cash, and took away my couch/vacuum/TV or whatever without any questions or problems. Craigslist was the greatest thing ever!
…until I tried to use it in Cincinnati. Stephen gave me one of his laptops to sell for him while I’m in the states. I created a nice ad with photos and was excited when I got an email about it minutes after posting it. And then I read the email.
“Hi,” the email started, friendly enough, “would you be willing to trade it for this?” And then there was a link. I thought it might be a different computer. This is what it was:
A $40 waterproof camera. For a $400 laptop computer. In what universe would that be an even trade?! This is not Monopoly or Oregon Trail — I clearly stated in my ad “cash only.” I figured this woman was some type of spambot so I didn’t bother to reply. Instead I pulled up my ad and added “No trades.” In all my years of Chicago Craigslist I have never been offered a trade. Cincinnati Craigslist was not off to a good start.
Several hours later I received another email from an interested buyer. This one sounded more promising — he merely said he was interested and asked about the condition of the computer and why I was selling it. I wrote back and then waited for his reply, thinking it would be something along the lines of “Great! Let’s meet in the parking lot of Izzy’s off the highway since you said in your ad you wanted to meet in a public place.” Instead, this was his response:
Hi,I am very keen,I really appreciate your response to my earlier mail.I will like to buy it so please do withdraw the advert from Craigslist. I will also like you to know that i will be paying by check due to the fact that i will not be able to meet up with the cash due to my disability in nature.I will have to make an arrangement with the freight agent to come for the pickup as soon as the check is cleared and cashed..I will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.I want your honesty in return to my faithfulness to you during this transaction.P.S Few more photos will be appreciated as well.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address a residential or office address
3.Your phone number.Hope to hear back from you asap.
…What? What part of “Cash only and meet in a public place” did this guy not understand? The whole point of Craigslist is to avoid waiting for checks to arrive and clear. I so badly wanted to give the guy a snarky response, but decided to be the “bigger man.” He’s probably a scammer, so I politely replied that I was only interested if he could meet in person and supply cash. Waiting for a check to clear makes no sense to me — if you have money in your checking account, just go to an ATM or bank and withdraw it as cash and meet me somewhere. If you’re disabled, give the cash to a friend or family member and tell them to meet me. It shouldn’t be that complicated!
In short, I am not having a great experience with Cincinnati Craigslist so far. People (particularly scammers) suck.
Reneedezvous 
We in Cincinnati are ” a little bit country.. a little bit rock n roll ” also a little bit slow. Have you heard? You want to be in Cincinnati when the end of the world comes because you will get 3 extra months. Some are good, honest folk
Please don’t give up on Cincinnati Craigslist too soon. Much to my dismay, my husband frequently shops on CL. We have met some really nice people and bought some really nice items. We haven’t tried selling yet but hopefully we will meet nice people too.
I eventually had some luck and was able to sell the computer to a nice guy. I just hate wading through all the scammers, but you get that in any city with Craigslist.
I’ve recently been trying to find a house for rent on Craiglist Cincinnati. I have to agree with you. So far the only responses I’ve received were all from the same scammer with the same bogus story. At tis point I’m starting to believe that NONE of the listings are real, that they are all just people trying to run scams.
To add to the story of my experience with Craigslist Cincinnati…at this point I have received 10 replies from 5 different scammers when making inquiries about houses advertised for rent. Several were from a guy claiming to be a preacher. One came from someone impersonating a US Marine Corps officer. The real kicker, though, was from a bogus rental company that actually links you to a bogus credit monitoring company called Profinity that issues you a bogus credit report even. How do I know it’s fake? Because I actually contacted Experian directly (via the US Postal Service) a few months prior to this and received a completely different credit report. What a great scam that is! The company that is supposedly protecting your credit is the one stealing your information & identity. And, of course, they’ll happily charge you to “repair” any damages caused by the identity theft. You are absolutely right: Craigslist Cincinnati & the scammers who seem to be the only ones posting ads there DO SUCK!!!
So sorry to hear of your negativity in Cincinnati, There are bums everywhere. While I never sold anything on C/L I bought quite a few things with no problems. Just today I bought a truck from a gentleman over on the right side of the river and the transaction went smoothly.Beware of anything that indicates an indifference or non-reading of your post. If you clearly stated cash only and any other offer is made, obviously it’s a scam. There is always someone looking to take advantage of the unsuspecting, and so vigilance is a priority. Trust must be earned- caution is key.
So you had 2 spambots contact you. That can happen with any city. Neither of these are real people (google the word spambot). Chicago is a bigger city, which is why you probably saw less of this, but this doesn’t have shit to do with the people there. Quit your bitching and get a life. It’s Craigslist, not the end of the world.
I have had terrible experiences looking for a job on Craigs’ list. All the healthcare, interesting ones are scammers who want to send you a check to be cashed and after you take out your pay the rest goes to some unnamed person. I am sure the checks are bad and if you cash them you end up owing your bank. So sad that people are using the unemployed this way.
Tryn Fulton look out email samcro007@live.com tried to scam me with a car sale wanted to wire money good job I had a dummy account set up to protect me These people are scum bags and should be locked up. Wasted my time and cost me time in the sale of a great car. Never do business with live or g mail accounts they are always scammers if they cannot afford a real email.