eBay and CL going to %^&*

[macjay]

I'm currently shopping for a Macbook Pro, and regularly check eBay and CL for deals. It seems that I am now getting scam replies around 50% of the time. This has gotten completely out of control. It seems as if eBay and CL are losing their utility as they become overrun by scam artists. Anybody else notice this?

Here's an example of a local ad on CL.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/sys/310704875.html

The person sounds sincere and AFAIC there's no indication from the ad that it's a scam (well, except for the great price, but isn't that the point of Craigslist?). I replied and received a scam response! This is disheartening, and I'm becoming seriously disillusioned with eBay and CL. It's no longer obvious which listings are the scams (especially with hijacked eBay accounts), and at that point these services completely lose their utility.

(vent over)

 

[adk]

Craigslist and eBay aren't going to go away, it's completely your decision whether or not to use the sites. At least you're smart enough to recognize a scam when you see one. I live in a city much smaller than LA and it seems that there are far fewer scammers on my local craigslist.


caveat emptor, I guess

 

[mcarnes]

If you're looking to buy a MBP on ebay, well, you have other problems my friend.

 

[macjay]

If you're looking to buy a MBP on ebay, well, you have other problems my friend.

Really? I bought my current machine absolutely factory sealed off eBay in 2003 and it has served me well since. Ah, the good old days...

 

[steamboat26]

Its usually pretty hard (for me at least, but I don't check that often) to find a good deal on a mac on craigslist or ebay. It seems like everybody thinks that their used apple is worth a lot more than its actual value. Theres this one guy on my local craigslist who keeps trying to sell a G3 iMac for like $150, even though its probably only worth $50-$75.