Craigslist

I (mostly) like craigslist. Nick and I have filled our home with amazing things from CL that would have cost an arm and a leg  had we purchased them new.

Those Natuzzi leather couches (over 4k new), 400 on CL
The microsuede chair and couch (who knows new), 400 on CL
Selling the clawfoot tub, sink and toilet from the guest bath!

But Craigslist has a not so fun side. Coordinating schedules, getting stood up when someone says they are going to come and look at something you are selling, not wanting people in my house or knowing where I live because you have no idea who is responding, etc.

Today, I had a new one. I feel like CL has kind of a code of ethics of its own. You contact a seller, they accept your offer (in the case of my story, full list price), they get other offers which they turn down because you have a time and place set out to meet and you have mutually agreed on a price. Yesterday, that code was broken - here's the story.

I didn't really want a rocker for the baby - but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I did. So, I went to the Goodnight room, a local baby store here in Portland. At GNR, you find the rocker you want, you pick out the material you want and they special order your rocker. I went in on Monday to buy one and found out that the lead time to get one is 8-10 weeks. Yikes! I don't have that! Even if I went 2 weeks over, I would be rocker free for more than 5 weeks which is a long time when you have an infant.

So, I checked CL. There was one that just so happened to come from the GNR in a blue. Not what I would have chosen since we are going to put it in our living room, but you know what? It was going to work! I call the guy, ask if he still has it, yes he does! It is listed at $375. I want it so I don't haggle over the price, $375 it is. We agree to meet at his house at 9am Wednesday (today). I go to the bank, pick up the dough and happily await the next day when I can go get the rocker.

11:30pm rolls around (11:30!!! Hello?? people sleep?) and my phone dings. It's an email from Steve, the chair guy. He is sorry but he received an offer for $400 for the chair and feels like he needs to consider it and would I be willing to match this new price?

Um. OK, call me stubborn or stupid or whatever - it's only $25 - but there is a freakin' code of ethics to CL in my mind. We had an agreement, we had a time set, we were good to go - and then he tells some caller that he has it sold and the person says, $400! And he says yes...not cool.

So I write back "Sell it to the other guy. I am willing to pay list price but not willing to engage in a price war over the rocker." And if you can't tell, I'm annoyed over the whole thing. I mean seriously - you had the rocker sold, then you sell it to someone else and ask me if I would pay more for the rocker when we had an agreed upon price and time to pick up.

So that's my craigslist story for the day. And I am still without a rocker.