August 6, 2006

How I Got Kicked Off of Craigs List

I got kicked off of craigslist.

The only thing I did wrong was to want to sell some stuff fast - so I put a low price on the gear.

Trouble is that some internet NIMBY's felt that by asking for a low price I must be some sort of scammer.

The details are this - My grandfather was both a perfectionist and an audiophile - so what do you thin was the label on his gear: McIntosh.  So when my grandparents died, I ended up with a stack of vacuum tube McIntosh components.

Now, this stuff had been running, constantly, for 30 to 40 years.  The insulation on the power cords had gotten soft, the chassis had corroded, and the pots were scratchy (yeah, I know that it's easy to temporarily clean a scratch pot - some contact cleaner spray and a couple of dozen turns of the knob - remember I come from a family of radio and TV repairmen.)  Basically it was this - I don't really need any old vacuum tubes in my life.

So I posted it with a price tag of $250 for the lot - yeah, I knew that that was far under market value.  I just wanted it to move fast.

Fast wasn't the word for it - within 20 minutes I had several dozen bids from people who would close the deal that day, come pick up the gear, and pay me several times my asking price - exactly what I had hoped for.

Within one hour the NIMBY's got to work, reported me as a scammer, and I was kicked off of craigslist.  Fortunately my transaction was already completed.

It's a sad day indeed when internet NIMBY's prevent others from getting a good deal.

Posted by karl at August 6, 2006 1:03 AM