Craigslist free section like internet yard sale

All I ever wanted was a pool table.  Growing up, I begged for billiards but my parents bought… All I ever wanted was a pool table.

Growing up, I begged for billiards, but my parents bought me a foosball table. Try and name one person who has ever looked cool dominating a foosball table. Did Paul Newman gain fame spinning knobs or scoring goals? No, because foosball is, and always will be, lame.

But long after I had given up the search, there it was, the object of my desire. Not in any storefront but on a page of a website, Craigslist.org, a site that permits users to post and respond to each other’s ads for goods, services and personal connections. Better yet, the posting was in the site’s free section — basically a cyber garage sale where everything comes free with only a few conditions.

The last few days I’d been scouring the site, having made it a personal mission to decorate my room with free items. I’d heard urban legends of friends who had successfully scavenged for wares, and — considering my bank account was as pitiful as my empty room — I had few other options.

But the tempting premise quicky translated into rejection and disappointment. My search proved difficult and largely unsuccessful as a widespread redecorating method. But the search wasn’t totally in vain — sharing my experience of finding a variety of niche items could help penny-pinching students navigate Craigslist’s free section and avoid my pitfalls.

The couches, tables and chairs featured in the section are reminiscent of the type sitting on South Oakland porches or burning after Backyard Brawls. This makes the free section ideal for students who do not mind slightly scratched or used furniture — particularly those who plan on inflicting their own battle scars.

A mini-fridge, 1950s bar stools and, of course, pool tables were just a few examples of items I contacted sellers about during my hunt for new home furnishings. These items were in wonderful condition from what I saw in pictures — ideal for my apartment. But I ran into one issue almost immediately — the email reply.

I was rejected by nearly all of the sellers I approached in my search. The large majority of my emails went unanswered, leaving me clueless as to the availability of the items I sought. The sellers’ lack of financial incentive provided no reason for them to provide timely or informative responses. Craigslist works as an avenue of convenience for the posters to remove clutter, and giving detailed replies to every stranger with an email address is most certainly not convenient.

Additionally, time is a commodity on the free section, and while you might think you are important, the sellers will not be holding out for the opportunity to give their junk to you. I learned this the hard way from “CD tower storage shelf” in Brookline. The seller sent me an email saying another shopper picked up the shelf on the same day it was posted. In the world of Craigslist, speed dictates a large portion of your success ratio.

And sometimes it’s up to the “buyer” to make the object valuable. The most common items I found were pianos, record players and outdated, bulky televisions. Almost any electronic or musical device required repair or modification.

Whereas other shoppers might posses the DIY spirit to repair these items, my personal technological incompetence led me to view these items much like the owners did — as junk. My friends in the engineering school found the Craigslist free section far more useful given their aptitude for electronics. A technological skill set greatly increases objects’ values.

Although the Craigslist free section contains a wealth of potential for home décor, a few items are necessary for potential buyers to take full advantage of the service. The first is physical strength or, for those of us who maintain an unfortunately low bench press max, muscular friends. The bulk of goods found on the free section require self-hauling by the purchasers, and the free price tag is often based on an owner’s lack of desire  or ability to remove an item himself. Additionally, access to my roommate’s lovably large Chevy truck widened the variety of products I could target online.

But there is a dark side to Craigslist. And it’s not murder — there was a real killer who utilized Craigslist to find women he robbed and murdered. However, I am a personal testament to the website’s large murder-free community. Nearly all parties involved in Craigslist dealings are only interested in selling or trading goods. Though you should always use caution, most need not worry over personal safety issues — that can be saved for those seeking escort services.A far more real and prevalent threat to users is spamming. As a result of my flood of emails to sellers, I have recently received more life insurance and printer-toner deals than I thought possible. One such junk-mail message is a particularly touching email from Jon C. about how I can pay off my house in 5 to 7 years. Unfortunately both Jon C. and my “house” are fictional — the products of spam email writers.

The trick these spam artists pull is posting a fake ad and then adding the email addresses of those who reply to a spam list. Many users, myself included, discover this routine firsthand. My technological incompetence blinds me from specifically knowing which faux-sellers deceived me or what traits to look for in spam ads.

But from my courageous act of email account self-sacrifice (see: stupidity), I learned an important lesson: Create an email account exclusively for Craigslist. The simple step will help you avoid both contaminating your personal email account and limiting the products you inquire about for fear of spam.

After acquiring all this knowledge and at least three missed chances to bring home my prized pool table, opportunity presented itself. I received a timely email from a seller agreeing to the time frame I listed and even a personal phone call guaranteeing ownership of the table if arrived at the stated time. I could almost caress the red felt in my hands.

But like an errant sinking of the eight ball, my promising lead turned to defeat. I overlooked the location of the table — Bellwood, Pa. I assumed it was an obscure Pittsburgh suburb when in reality the town is closer to Penn State than Pitt. With my roommate understandably unwilling to drive the multi-hour distance, I was forced to regretfully cancel the pickup. My pool-shark dreams are deferred until the next table posting.