I get it. Texts are easy.
But the ad said "call" or "email". It didn't give anyone permission to text.
It's annoying when people can't follow directions.
Plus, the area codes are far away, and the messages all say the same thing, "Do you still have (the item) for sale?", with no decent question.
So, is this a method of phishing that I should avoid responding to? Or should I just suck it up and accept that the world is full of rude and annoying people and respond to get my stuff sold?
Yes it is phishing normally. I just ignore them. Actually I mostly put my office phone in the ad in the beginning so they can't text and then add my cell phone a week later.
And yes, "the world is full of rude and annoying people"
Is it really that difficult to respond “yes" to a “do you still have x?" text? I've occasionally gotten the follow up “I'll send you a check for twice the amount just return the extra" and nipped it in the bud with “sorry, cash only"
I understand your frustration with people not grasping the concept of “call or email", but get in the 21st Century, man. If you're willing to accept email instead of postal mail, what's so terrible about a text message? 
RealMiniDriver wrote: If you're willing to accept email instead of postal mail, what's so terrible about a text message?
Because I can respond to an email with a keyboard, and a text I have to type on a berkeleying phone, which sucks.
I typically never put my number in an ad, but will send it to someone if I get a legit email.
OTOH, I only text someone if they have their number AND say to txt/call/email AND it's just a quick question.
In reply to RealMiniDriver:
I didn't say it was difficult.
I asked if it was phishing.
Why is that a problem?
SVreX wrote: In reply to RealMiniDriver: I didn't say it was difficult. I asked if it was phishing. Why is that a problem?
Yes, it could be phishing. That said, it's all about thinking things through. If Guy A texts you (or emails you) and you reply, "Sorry, I don't text, please call to discuss the car" what additional information have you exposed? Why would this put you at risk?
Now, if he then starts talking about Nigerian princes and western union then you know to shut things down.
DILYSI Dave wrote:RealMiniDriver wrote: If you're willing to accept email instead of postal mail, what's so terrible about a text message?Because I can respond to an email with a keyboard, and a text I have to type on a berkeleying phone, which sucks.
You can always return a text with a call, right? Call the guy, tell him you don't do texting.
Also, not a canoe, but: http://mightytext.net/ is a helpful app if you (like me) really hate pecking out longer messages on the phone. It lets you send texts, through your phone, from your computer.
A word to you guys: 99% of the time if I get an email or text and all it says is "do you still have x?" It's a phishing scam, so I no longer respond to those messages, and I know many others who sell regularly on Craigslist do the same.
A little humanity goes a long way with online interactions.
I have the reverse complaint. I hate CL ads that say "text only". When I find something I'm interested in, I really don't want to have to engage in a 50 text conversation just to find out the details. I always text the person, asking them to email me details, along with my email address. Rarely does that happen. 
bastomatic wrote: A word to you guys: 99% of the time if I get an email or text and all it says is "do you still have x?" It's a phishing scam, so I no longer respond to those messages, and I know many others who sell regularly on Craigslist do the same. A little humanity goes a long way with online interactions.
How about that. 99% of the time, I'll send a text saying "do you still have x?" and I'm not phishing. I always get a response. In fact, just yesterday, I purchased something from a guy, off of CL, and ALL the communication was done by text.
Sure, there have been times - only three - I've gotten a phish text, but it only took about ten seconds of my time, when I had the available free time instead of stopping what I was doing to take a call, to reply with "Sorry, cash only" to end the phishing. 
Datsun1500 wrote: If it mentions what you are selling, it's usually legit. If it actually uses the word item, as in "do you still have the item for sale?" It's not legit.
This generally tracks my experience as well.
Beyond that, lately it seems that the only way to get a picture is from someone's phone, so I almost always send a "do you still have it and could I get a picture of..." text.
Also, most of the time I am on Craigslist it's after my personal 10pm cutoff for calling people. Tossing a text their direction means that I can continue surfing without putting mindshare into remembering to try and call later.
I have a google voice number that I use for my CL stuff, can use my computer to txt them but can get back to them as soon as I get a txt... I honestly prefer to deal with txt or email over phone calls for just field the basic info... once I know they are serious I don't mind talking
SVreX wrote: I get it. Texts are easy. But the ad said "call" or "email". It didn't give anyone permission to text. It's annoying when people can't follow directions. Plus, the area codes are far away, and the messages all say the same thing, "Do you still have (the item) for sale?", with no decent question. So, is this a method of phishing that I should avoid responding to? Or should I just suck it up and accept that the world is full of rude and annoying people and respond to get my stuff sold?
I guess when you post something that's open for the general public to respond to, you don't always get responses the way you want. It's not Burger King where they do it "your way"lol. Kind of egotistical to think you are " giving permission" for people to respond to a Craigslist ad that you post. CL is full of flakes, scams, etc so be ready to deal with it.
As for not liking texting CL responses' etc, isn't posting on this site pretty much like texting, albeit on a computer keyboard for some???
SVreX wrote: Plus, the area codes are far away, and the messages all say the same thing, "Do you still have (the item) for sale?", with no decent question. So, is this a method of phishing that I should avoid responding to? Or should I just suck it up and accept that the world is full of rude and annoying people and respond to get my stuff sold?
That's (usually) a scam - the next one that you'll get will tell you that they will send you the payment by Paypal. The last one I had - who took a while to figure out I was on to him - even texted me instructions to set up a Paypal account when I told him that I meant it when I said "cash in person only".
I wonder what would have happened if I told him my Paypal addy was effbeeeye@paypal 
Revelation: I don't text. When an ad says reply by text, no sale. Sorry, dude.
SVreX wrote: So, is this a method of phishing that I should avoid responding to? Or should I just suck it up and accept that the world is full of rude and annoying people and respond to get my stuff sold?
I don't think its necessarily phishing, although stupid people are possibly likely. But, since its your stuff and you can chose who to sell it to, you can just ignore it too.
On the other hand, if I was interested in buying something I could see saying the same thing, and I would mean something like " I saw you have an item for sale I possibly want to purchase and I would like to discuss it with you, but before I waste too much time trying to contact you, I would like to see if you still have it and will respond to my attempt to contact you".
Or, you could make ignoring the texts even easier by saying something like "This is a land line so please only call between 8am and 9pm or e-mail if you are interested".
Personally I prefer to email for both buying and selling. I work a lot of graveyard shifts, with email I don't have to wake up at some ungodly hour to call someone or be awaken by the phone beeping because I forgot to put it on silent. I can email someone at 2 in the morning without worrying I am doing the same to someone else. I also don't have to worry about phishing this way. Phisihing attempts all say call me or text me, real people don't tend to do this without some other conversation.
I always ask is this still for sale, there is hardly anyone i come across that actually closes there ad in a timely manner. I also use the search not just look for stuff that is reposted daily, old ads for stuff that has been sold come up often this way.
Personally, I find texting too informal for such business, especially when dealing with things like whole cars.
you can learn much about someone from a simple text - like:
"dis car haves no rust u wil luv it it clean run great no junk"
means " this car has rot holes the size of your fist, but because i am in inner city cleveland i don't know that 20 year old cars exist without gaping rot holes, so this must not be rust, and the interior smells like a crackhouse"
I never put a phone number in ads. I'd much rather filter through the chaff with an email or 2 first.
Sure it probably costs me a customer or 2 who are phone call only type of people but so be it.
I see no problem if asking if the item is still for sale, but if that's the only question then most of the time its just a phishing scam.
I'll usually send an email along the lines of "I'm interested in {insert item here} if it is still available. Could you please tell me more about {whatever it is you want to know}" It's pretty simple to send that message and much less likely to be ignored right away.
I won't respond to those long distance 'item' texts either. If I get a local text which sounds sorta legit I will call them, that's because we can handle more business in 30 seconds of intelligent talk than 5 hours of text stupidity. If they don't want to talk then the hell with them, it's not worth it to mess with them.
JThw8 wrote: I never put a phone number in ads. I'd much rather filter through the chaff with an email or 2 first.
Very much this. I usually just rely on the anonymized emails that CL will generate for a listing and have usually had that work out fine. My reasoning is thus: if you're reading a Craigslist ad, you don't really have any business NOT having an email address, so it's the most convenient way to reply. Browsing on your phone? Find me a phone with web access that does not have email built-in too (ironically I actually used to have a phone that was like that, but it was a decade ago...).
If you prefer to do busines over the phone, that's fine- Just send me an email that you're interested and include a phone number to call you at. That's how the majority of what I've sold has been transacted.
I also always put a note that anyone responding needs to at least mention whatever it is that is for sale and warning that I'm most likely to not respond to emails that just ask, "Is this still availalbe?" or "Is the item still for sale?" after getting a number of phishing emails along those lines. It does take some careful consideration though- several things I've actually sold have started off with very nondescript emails that I almost discounted as being phishing scams.
I told AT&T to stop all incoming texts to my phone. BAM, issue solved.
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