Thursday, September 04, 2008

Is Craigslist really worth the hassle?

I love purses. Anyone who knows me will confirm this fact. I have several Coach purses just sitting in my closet that I haven't used in a while, and I probably won't, seeing as how I'm going to be switching to my AWESOME diaper bag here in a few months. I thought, hey, maybe I'll just sell them on Craigslist and make a little extra money from them.

Holy crap there are some losers on Craigslist.

First, there are the bargainers. The folks who see you listed your item for $75, so they decide to offer you $30. Um, no. I'm not taking $30 for a purse that I paid over $200. I'll keep it in the closet at that point! So, I put FIRM on the price when I relisted.

Then, there are the barterers. Now this is partly my fault, because I put in the listing that the reason why I was selling them was because I didn't need them due to the baby coming, won't use them, yada yada. No, I don't want to trade for your used baby clothes/stroller/carseat. Yes, I know a carseat costs more than $75. No, I don't think that my purse PLUS $150 is a great deal for that fugly travel system. So, I put "not interested in trades" on the next reslisting.

Then there are the "experts." Like I said before, I love purses. I also love fake purses, not to carry, but to play "Spot the Inconsistencies". Seriously, I had the BEST time on Canal Street in Chinatown in New York. I'm pretty damn good at telling you why things are fake, and can spot most of them in photos on Ebay/Craigslist. I'm weird, what can I say?

Anyway, when I listed, I made sure to state that not only are the purses authentic, I have the original price tags, care cards, and dust bags. I believe in taking care of my crap, LOL! Still, I got emails that are like, ARE YOU SURE IT"S REAL? or $75 is too much for a replica, you should let me have it for $30.

Um, you're right. $75 IS too much for a replica, and if I were selling replicas, I'd take your advice into consideration. So, I put "AUTHENTIC - yes, that means it's real!" on the third relisting.

Oh, then there are the people who are doing you a favor. Some of the barterers/bargainers fall into this category. I got one that was like, Well, I think that's a cute bag, so I SUPPOSE I can give you the full amount that you're asking for ONLY if you ship it to me. Sure, no problem, I'd be happy to do that IF you pay by bank/post office money order, and also pay for said shipping including insurance and tracking. What am I, a sucker? Yeah, haven't heard back from that one!

Finally, there are the people who will swear they want to buy the bag, BEG you to hold it for them, email you back and forth, and then - nothing. They drop off the face of the Earth. BLAH!

This one though... this email exchange made me laugh.

hi i am really interested in your purse. i know you wrote you will not trade but i am willing to make you a dealing i have lots of baby cloths and a car seat with matching stroller.just let me know if you are interested.thank you

So, just like all of the other offers for trades, I wrote back:

No thank you. I'm not interested in a trade, that's why I wrote that on the ad.

Succinct. Polite. To the point. Usually they don't reply anymore at this point, but apparently me not wanting her "baby cloths" and used car seat (seriously, I thought EVERYONE knew that you're not supposed to get a used car seat) was offensive, because I just checked my email and found this:

f*ck you then bitch keep your fake purses

(edited by me, of course)

Ah, another expert. On purses, on spelling, on grammar... who knows? Sour grapes anyone?

So... does anyone know of any good consignment stores in this area?

Labels:

8 Comments:

Blogger Lily said...

rofl... i know I shouldn't laugh at your pain but I can so relate! Sometimes it's really just not worth it

5:02 PM  
Blogger kingsqueen said...

Yeah, that doesn't even sound worth it to me. Good luck finding someone that actually wants to purchase your purses for what you are asking. Sounds like you are in for a real treat trying. lol

5:17 PM  
Blogger Mrs Anne said...

Girl you are cracking me up!!

I've sold my Dooney on CL and am about to post my Coach..

there are ALL types on there... a heck of alot of flakes, and then there's the real normal, sweet ones (like us).

:) watch out for the weirdo's!

5:33 PM  
Blogger Suzy said...

try My Sister's Closet at Alma School and Germann. Not sure if you would get what you should w consigning, but they do a lot of label business.

7:01 PM  
Blogger Benita said...

I can definitely relate! You should really try ebay to sell them.....Coach purses seem to get more on ebay. Good luck.

9:38 PM  
Blogger Melanie & Co. said...

Ha! This is sooo common! I recently sold one of my VERY used (kind of beat up a little) Coach Shoulder Totes on Ebay. I used this as a diaper bag for 18 mos so you can imagine the hell it went through. I paid $358 for it at coach.com and got a whopping $90 plus shipping on ebay. However I also sold it WITH the dust bag, original tags AND the gift box that it came in.

Try ebay. Yes, it sucks that you have to pay for the listing, but I have had WAY better luck with ebay. :)

8:23 AM  
Blogger Noelia said...

LOL! What an interesting read. Good luck selling your purses. Have you decided on a diaper bag yet? I see so many cute ones out there that I wish I knew about when I had my son 4 years ago.

11:11 AM  
Blogger Kim Kwan said...

craigslist is CRAP in PHX.
I usually use My Sister's Closet for my consignment...they are picky, have great clientele and good stuff you can get with their credits!

5:10 PM  

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