I have been posting items for sale on Craigslist for about three years now. Most of the sales come from phone calls, but I like to keep the email option open for those that don’t feel comfortable calling a stranger from the internet.
Leaving Your Email on Craigslist
However, leaving the email option open also leaves the option open for very dumb emails.
Whether it is grammatical mistakes, ignorant questions, sentence fragments, or emails that make absolutely no sense, Craigslist buyers that send emails never cease to amaze me.
I am usually pretty nice in my responses to these people since their emails make me laugh, but sometimes I like to be an ass and repeat the info that is in the Craigslist ad to help reinforce the art of fully reading and understanding an ad before contacting a seller on Craigslist.
Funny Emails
So, in this blog post I will try to find some good emails that will hopefully make you laugh along with my commentary afterwards.
I will browse through a fraction of my saved Craigslist emails (OVER 9000!) and try to find some good ones to share. I will also edit out the buyer’s email info if necessary.
Email #1
The email above is a great example of the Craigslist buyer that doesn’t actually read and understand the ad before they make contact.
The ad that I posted for this bike had the height measurements clearly posted.
The ad also stated that it was a bike for a man.
Yet, the email asks about the bike’s height AND if the bike is for a man. This person could just read the title of the email to figure out the questions they asked! It says “Men’s” and “19 inch” in the subject line!
Email #2
So, the above email is a great example of how casual people are on Craigslist and it also shows how poor their grammar can be.
This potential buyer left the subject line blank. He didn’t bother to capitalize a single word. He doesn’t use any punctuation to separate his sentences besides using a couple of ellipses (the triple periods, “…”).
“Bro”
He starts the email with, “bro”. (I didn’t know we were cool like that, since we have never met!) He apparently doesn’t know what an apostrophe is because he said “ill give” instead of “I’ll give”.
Typing the letters “y” and “o” before the letter “u” must take too much time since he just used the letter “u” twice. He doesn’t know the difference between “there” and “they’re”.
I also wonder why he spelled out “bucks” instead of using the money symbol. Certainly the ‘ol Shift+4 would have been much faster than spelling out “bucks”.
Oh well, I am not a psychologist and apparently his English teacher failed.
I can’t believe I wrote that much about an email with a single line of poorly written text, but it is so common to receive emails like that from potential Craigslist buyers that it makes me cringe.
Email #3:
This example isn’t specific to buyers that choose to use email. It is just something that I don’t understand about Craigslist buyers in general.
Buyers That Are Far Away Offer Less Money
The item this person was responding to was posted to sell on craigslist for $120. Since they are far away and need to drive 80 miles, they expect me to take more than half off of my asking price? Why don’t they look for something in their area?
And the money they would be spending to drive 160 miles round-trip could probably be used to buy the item brand new at a store in their area. Why do they think I would even consider taking the offer?
If it is too far away, move on and don’t make the low-ball offer! It is insulting and wouldn’t make any sense for the seller because they could just wait for someone in their area to buy it for closer to their asking price.
Also, does that person load up a shopping cart at their grocery store, and when it’s time to check out, do they ask the cashier if they can lower the cost since they had to use gas money to get to the store?
Probably not.
Email #4:
Here is another example of someone that didn’t read and fully understand the ad that I posted. Every ad I post on Craigslist, I include the phrase “no trading” because there are a lot of people that browse Craigslist looking to trade.
Craigslist Traders
I don’t trade and I make it clear in the ads I post that I am not looking to trade items.
So, the guy that sent this email probably saw my Craigslist ad, looked around his place for things he is willing to trade, typed out the list (probably thinking I would be impressed about the laser pen and breathalyzer) and hit the “Send” button.
Unfortunately for him, the only response he got from me was, “As stated in the ad, no trading.” I won’t even get into his multiple grammar, capitalization, and punctuation mistakes.
Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on the English language. I am sure I have probably made some punctuation or other mistakes in this post.
However, I do make an effort to capitalize words that need to be capitalized, spell words correctly (especially with the convenience of spell-check), break up sentences with periods, etc.
If you are a Craigslist buyer contacting a seller via email, take a few seconds to re-read your email before you send it. It can be a turn-off to sellers if the buyer’s spelling and grammar skills match the skills of a 7 year old kid!
With that said…
b shure 2 chek owt my guy’d two sell on craigslist…
Or, learn how to sell on eBay.
Other Resources
Websites similar to Craigslist
How to get more passive income
How to Price Garage Sale Items
These are just a few of the many dumb emails that people have sent to me from Craigslist. While it’s amusing to laugh at other people’s mistakes, it’s also important to remember that everyone makes mistakes sometimes. So, the next time you send an email, make sure you proofread it before you hit send.
Nick is a seasoned professional with over a decade of experience in successfully selling products online across various platforms. With his extensive knowledge and expertise, he has honed his skills and has become an expert in the field of online sales.