I know that flaking out and ignoring messages is ‘commonplace’ on such sites like Craigslist and Freecycle, where there’s no way to police people’s behavior and to deter bad manners.

At the same time though, it’s extremely frustrating to me, when I’m just trying to get things done and then I have to deal with person on the other side of the transaction who isn’t willing to do the same.

Some tips that I’ve found helpful:
1) When replying to an ad, provide as much information as possible. Let the original poster know that you’re interested, but also provide times when you’re available to meet and close the deal. If you’re feeling especially brave, provide your phone number or other contact information as well.
2) Reply promptly once you receive confirmation.
3) Actually show up. Other people have lives too and it’s such poor taste to stand somebody up, whether they be friend or stranger.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 10:50 am and is filed under Cranky. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.