Craigslist
My cousin-in-law Jeff is a Craigslist fanatic. I haven’t used it nearly as much as he, but it has been extremely useful for selling things I would otherwise have no way of getting rid of, short of giving them away. The Buenos Aires version of Craigslist is thriving due to the large population of foreigners and the tourism boom taking place in Argentina. I’ve been able to get rid of items in order to make my load lighter for traveling to the U.S. So far I have sold a DVD player, set of cordless phones, bag of whey protein, voltage converter, plastic containers, and measuring cups. I also had my apartment listed and received several inquiries, but ended up finding a better client in one of my friends. I’ve had my cell phone listed on there for a couple weeks, but have yet to get any serious lookers. What has been interesting is the number of con artists who email me within hours of posting the ad. They always have some story about why the item needs to be shipped to Africa or some distant land and how they’re willing to pay me something like $200-500 for shipping. A couple years ago I shipped a computer monitor to an unconfirmed address in the Ukraine for an eBay sale I had made, only to have the customer claim they never received it. I couldn’t prove anything and ended up having to pay them over $600 and they probably got a free monitor out of it too. They were a lot smoother and that took more work, but lesson learned. These jokers are lacking polish and their messages are often poorly written with bad punctuation and/or capitalization. C’mon, work on your scamming! At first I thought it was interesting, but then the pattern became obvious. Now I respond to their emails with something sarcastic like, “I don’t ship to con artists. No exceptions.” Here are a few of the emails I received.
Thanks for the message, but i want to bring this to your notice that i cannot pick up the item or pay by cash simply because i am old and disable,and i also want you to know that i am sending this to my son schooling abroad,and i am adding $200 for the shipping cost, i will be glad if you can get back to me with your paypal email account because i have a confirmed paypal account and i will like to make the payment through paypal, so kindly get back to me with your paypal account for fast payment.Thanks
God Bless
hello seller
did you stll want to sell the item if so get me the
total amount of your item
and the shipping cost to international .and am going to pay you
via paypal.pls get back to me with your paypal id for the instant
payment thanks.
Hi, i am Ephraim Atwal, i am very interested in purchasing this item for a friend of mine working with the Argentinian embassy in Nigeria, and if it’s in good condition,i am willing to pay you the sum of $550 (which will include the shipping cost) by Paypal or through my Bank.If interested, please reply as soon as possible because this item is urgently needed.Thanks
Hello There,
This is Mikel Morgan,I am interested in the immidiate purchase of your item for my husband Abroad,i will pay you 900US$ for the cost of the item and the shipment abroad through EMS SPEEDPOST and i will be paying you through paypal so pls kindly reply me with your name and paypal e-mail for prompt payment…i am online everytime so pls reply reply me asap for prompt payment,pls act fast and get back to me asap…thanks
Mikel Morgan.My response: I don’t sell to scam artists. No exceptions.
His response: Hello There,
How would you feel like that,and is he everybody shipping to Nigeria is a scammer,if you feel like transacting with me send me your paypal email for payment..okay
Do you still have this item? And can it be great for a new year present for for my son?
My response: Yes, I still have it. I think it would be an excellent present for your son. Let me know if you have any questions or want to arrange a time to see the phone.
His response: Sure if that would server as a great present for my son,And i shall be paying via paypal or bank wire transfer… Please note that i would want the item shipped to my son in west africa.. his my only son and his birthday is in few days from now and i will want the shipment via the EXPRESS MAIL SERVICE (EMS). for for that let me know how much you will be selling in all for me. Thank you and i hope to hear from you soonest.. Happy new year.
