The thing that kills me every time is when someone list an item from ikea for more than ikea sells it!

i quite often say to myself (or, on occasion, out loud): "that's not vintage/retro. that's just old."

I gave up on true retro and vintage on CL exactly because of this. Your couch from the early 90s is not wanted and does not qualify!

Nashville Craigslist is the WORST. If I see one more "Abstract" painting featuring a wolf howling at the moon through the wispy hair of a Native American maiden, I will lose it.

Does anyone have any tips for finding quality goods? "Mid-Century Modern" gets me no results, and "Vintage" gets me Harley Davidson paraphernalia.

"Eames" or "Mid century" are poisoned search terms. There's lots of others. That and the fact that CL seems to allow people to stuff their post with white-text-on-white hidden "keywords" makes it close to impossible.

lol, i'm with you, jose! those people are weasels.

but what i hate more are the keyword spammers. if they have to resort to screwing up cl searches to get a bite it's a sure bet the stuff they're peddling is garbage.

Jose A: I know exactly what you mean about the overpriced Ikea stuff! LOL!

I think too many people overuse the terms Retro, Vintage and Mid-Century Modern...thinking that it will get more people looking at their ads...but I understand the frustration when you are looking for something specific, and most of the ads you get from a search do not fit the bill.

I still cringe at the walking closets and grossly over-estimated square footages in the housing section.

Buy pets? :-(
I always do gawk at the people selling a LACK side table for $15. Hello!
And everything seems to be both vintage AND modern!

Two words: "Dinning Room."

A modern search for me always brings up cheep particleboard/metal desks from Office Depot.

Now, on my local Craigslist, that same couch would be listed incorrectly and then they would want $300 for it! I've seen hideous, butt-ugly, 10 year old couches that people want 80%+ of what they originally purchased it for. Seriously?

I've also actually called out (via Craigslist) people trying to resell IKEA for more than it's worth.

I definitely feel your pain. I try to keep most of my Craigslist complaining to myself, but the boyfriend is often subject to it.

When did everyone start spelling it "dinning?"

Is there some unwritten Craigslist rule that says "if you don't know the style, call it Art Deco?"

Does the addition of a dishwasher in a windowless, laminate counter-topped kitchen warrant the term "gourmet?" What the hell is a gourmet kitchen anyway?

Also, if I see the word "Tuscan" again, I may scream.

I guess I take solace in believing that if they don't know what they're talking about, their price can probably be negotiated.

try.....stainless steal table!
or anything painted silver = aluminum
any phase with gorgeous = Ewwww!!!

Ha! I see dinning room just about everyday on Craigslist!

While I was searching for a home to rent in midtown (a high-demand place to live in my city), people were listing their houses and condos "in the heart of midtown" that were at least a mile away from midtown and on the most dangerous streets in the city! It drove me nuts.

There's the guy in LA who sells macrame plant baskets 'OMG! Owls!!!' with a herman miller tag. 'OMG Annoying.'

Chester Drawer.

I spite-flag the poor spellers and the liars.

I recently read this amusing flowchart titled '
How to describe your used furniture on Craigslist [flowchart]'. It was too funny and so relevant to this post. Here is the link : http://laughingsquid.com/how-to-describe-your-used-furniture-on-craigslist/

You have it easy. On my city's Craigslist, there are two languages to mangle.

Don't forget Chester Drawers

Yes, "dinning"! What is it about that word?

Search is useless on CL. Browsing—frequently—is the only way to find anything.

A lot of people say "Selling on Ebay for $1,200!" Well, no. It's listed on Ebay for $1,200 and there's no way that person is going to get that much for it. The thrift stores are getting to be just as bad. Their model has shifted from selling to people in need to selling in order to run programs for people in need. I guess that's not all bad, but it sure leaves out people who may not be needy but still need to find a bargain. Like me.

Ha! People do the same thing with the word antique. I usually do a search of that and it is new replica crap. I also agree with Jose A on the used Ikea junk being sold for more than at the store!

HALLELUJAH!

Then there are the folks who post items with "WOW" in the title...
...I can't remember the last time I searched for some "WOW"

Love this post, it and all of the comments express so much of my shared frustration. (I am especially irked by the Ikea for more than Ikea stuff).

I got so tired of searching for mid-century coffee table, and getting a million useless results, that I installed a Firefox add-on that basically shows all the pictures that come with the listings on the search results page. Now, I just search for "coffee table", and it takes very little time to weed out the irrelevant hits.

Chester Draws. ALL CAPS. !!!!!!!Superfluous exclamations marks!!!!!!!! Bleargh.

Reproductions and 80s kitsch in the "Antiques" section.

And the new trend (at least on my local CL) of listing the price as $1 in the heading, then $250 (or whatever) in the actual listing. I wonder if I could say "I accept your $1 price!" and hold them to that. (Need to dig up my old Contract Law textbook...)

LOL!

Oh no, it's not just you. My friends know me as "The Craigslist Queen" and joke that I find the oddest things. It's true. I do. And I then post in on my personal Facebook account gleefully. I can't help it. I'm vicious.

Spelling mistakes. Grammatical hilarity. Horrible ideas that are touted as great things (um, a Mossy Oak recliner as fashionable? Oh, dear.) I've seen--and made fun of--it all. "Great Steals" that I wouldn't even ... um ... steal.

So I guess that makes two of us. :)

And I just had my own spelling error in that last comment. Oops. ;-)

On my area's Craigslist
modern = black laquered-look 80s furniture
solid oak hutch = oversized 1992 nightmare
solid maple table = Ikea Lack table
elegant = grandma's floral crap

@Sarah - it's not "rot" or "rod" iron, it's "wrought" iron.

I love Boston CL for the neverending stream of "chest of draws" posts. Really the best way to find stuff is to check out what was just posted, which really isn't practical if you work all day. And for IKEA stuff, things are worth exactly what someone on CL will pay for them... plus there is some value in actually putting the furniture together. Some people don't have the patience for it, and prefer to pay a large chunk of the original sale price just to buy it already assembled.

I have written to CL posters to correct them when a listing is inaccurate.

It's the misuse of the word "antique" that bothers me the most. It's not antique if it's only 20 years old! Ahhh!

@Sarah, whoops, I see that you were pointing them both out as being wrong. my bad..

Let's not leave out "heirloom".

I love the variety of things that are on the NoVa Craigslist listings, but I am SO HAPPY that someone else shares my irrational hatred for misspellings, crappy (or absent) photos, and complete lack of acceptable price points!

I once saw a listing in the classified ads for home decor.... Our town's too small to have a craigslist. What was the style of the decor? "Shabby Sheik." I almost died.

I love when things are described as "custom" and then priced as though that's a benefit. Custom only means something if you're the one it's customized for!

I've been searching for a buffet/china cabinet for ages and come across "dinning" all the time. Glad I'm not the only one driven nuts by that! ("Midcentury" too!)

A quick peek at my local Kijiji shows me:

-"Mint condition" furniture that is obviously 15+ years old
-a pair of ottomens
-a wood dismountable bookshelf
-a mahogany and cast iron table set
-several dinning tables, of course

My other peeve is when people list "armwas" for sale (sound it out).

Ha! Wry laughter. I thought I was the only person that was driven bonkers about this kind of thing.

I have another one to add, the use of mirrored to mean a dresser with a corrdinating mirror.

OMG this is me! I often tell my husband that I want to become the Craigslist troll who writes to everyone and tells them that they've misspelled their listings and are pricing things too high.

Since when is 1970 'antique'?

My main peeve is a post with no photos. No matter your powers of description, I'm not going to waste my time contacting you or going to see it unless I already know what it looks like.

Also, people who leave their posts up even though they've already sold the item.

Or people who list anything in poor shape as "shabby chic! ready for you to refinish!" Puh-leeze.

I was looking for a house to rent and got a total fake. This guy pretended to be renting a place and requested a ton of information. Needless to say, I got suspicious. Luckily the address was listed and I drove by. The then tennants were mowing the lawn and didn't look like they were packing to move. I talked to them and they said they weren't moving. I looked up the owner of the house (I know, I just had to get to the bottom of it!) and called him. Luckily he and his brother were real estate agents and I found a number pretty easily. Called him up and nope, he wasn't renting any of his properties. UGH!!! This moron wasted my time and tried to play me for a fool. He used the ol' "I'm out of the country" line on me and that was my first red flag on his 2nd email.

I have bought most of the furnishings for our new house on CL and found my job, friends, apts, etc. So I definitely relate. Everyone teases me about being a craigslist addict until they want something and then who do they ask to help!! I really wish there was a way to hide ads we've already seen 50 times because their "vintage" 1992 coffee won't sell for $300. And know we have several "vintage" ie junk stores that list their stuff crap in the for sale by owner section of furniture. It's flooded!!

This post has made my day. I heartily agree with everything the previous commenters have said, and will add this:

Art Deco did not happen in the 80s, and antiques are items over 100 years old. Grr!

I also hate when people put $1 in the cost so it comes up for searches with a max of $50 or $100 for example, then in the listing it mentions they want $350 for it. I would never trust someone who did that. And the antique thing kills me. 70s/80s items are not antiques ...

The flipside of sellers who charge too much for IKEA furniture is the buyers who assume you're selling real furniture at IKEA prices. I once offered a Billy for a nominal price (barely enough to make selling it worthwhile), and my prospective buyers were very disappointed that it wasn't real wood. I guess the prevalence of particle board has made everyone forget how much the real stuff costs.

*ugg now not know.. Spell check!! Side note: Why is there no edit comment function or delete comment function on AT? Or if there is why can't I find it?!

Thank you for validating me! Everything of indeterminate style in the DC area seems to be "Mission", including those ghastly folding bookcases everyone had in college.

How about furniture postings without dimensions? Tape measures are free at Home Goods, folks. Oh, and if something is "easy to fix"-- FIX IT!

The worst ones I've seen are "antique" (aka some crappy broken thing from the 70s), "teak" (aka ANY medium-brown wood or MDF)... oh and one time while searching for cars: 1992 Sunfire that a tree fell on top of, crushing the roof and breaking all the windows... "but other than that it runs really well!" WHAT?!

Bahahaha! "Shabby Sheik!"

You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this.

As the Craigslist Decorator, I've seen it ALL. The thing that kills me is the "shabby chic" tag on items. Your 1990's worn, faded floral couch is NOT worth $400. I live in a big city with a high cost of living and I can't even tell you the CRAP that people try to sell for hundreds of dollars. The worst part about it is that it appears over and over because no one wants to buy it!

Or how about those people who list things WITHOUT measurements?! People who are willing to pay your astronomical prices are probably going to be very serious about the purchase and will need specific numbers. Spare me a thread of e-mails, don't respond with, "Oh I don't know, about three feet wide???" and get out your measuring tape!

SERENITY NOW!

Nothing worse than spending an hour searching through pages and pages of junk on Craigslist or Ebay wrongly listed as "mid-century" or "danish modern" in an effort to grab attention & mislead potential buyers. I wish these sites would do a better job of policing their listings and making sure things are properly listed & labeled. Guess that means I'm suffering from "Craigslist Elitist Syndrome" myself but I personally refer to it as "Craigslist & Ebay Fatigue."

This flowchart sums up SF Craigslist:

http://holykaw.alltop.com/how-to-describe-your-used-furniture-on-craigs

It's like you are all poking around in my thoughts! I cannot believe the things that people will try to sell, but even worse are the free items! Here, take my stained sofa that has a broken leg because I'm too lazy to get rid of it on my own.

yes. i am with you on this. when i'm looking for an apartment, i become obsessed & i watch craigslist update in real time. my favorite is when people write "WALL TO WALL CARPETING!!!!" in all caps, in the title, as if that were a selling point.

i also love when people list the same apartment six times a day, with the only difference being the puns or cutesy taglines. it's like, yes, clearly your enthusiasm is the questionable part of this ad. i need more exclamation points or i'm just not convinced i should rent this crappy apartment. i was thinking about renting something with hardwood floors & big windows, but now that i've seen your exclamation point army, i am sold on this top quality hovel.

Oh, and who can pass up a "mirrow." What the hell is a mirrow?

In Kansas City we also get a lot of "For Sell" listings. Sometimes, I just need to walk away from the machine.

You're obviously not alone on this! I can't count the number of times I yell out "$2800! What are you thinking!" or "Dear god someone had that in their house!". But I have to say the misspellings and frightening grammar are my pet peeves. I really can't stand the nasty posts people put up though, I really don't understand who has so much extra time in their life that they can start little wars over the items for sale. I think the pets section is the worst! I have never seen so many self righteous asses in my life. But still I go back everyday : )

Yep. "Dinning" is classic here too.

I also really hate it when people mention that it's a "sacrafice" sale (yes, always misspelled).

Also, no one in NM can spell "interested", it's always "intrested."

Thank you for this post--excellent! I don't really respond to rants, but this is a good one.

Where I'm from CL is pretty dead, but Kijiji fills the void. I've used it for everything, from furniture, buying both my dogs, and even to rent out my apartments. Sooo many things drive me nuts, my poor husband wonders why I let them bother me. Glad to know I'm not alone.

One of my current personal favorites is finding multiple ads listed from obviously the same person with only one or two works to state what the items are and no price or further description.
Really?
You really think your 'Sofa... contact for more details' is going to get that piece of furniture sold?|

I finally got a image preview plug-in for Firefox so I can avoid clicking on every ad that has a picture. It displays a thumbnail image right next to the post. It does spoil the element of surprise, but I'm ok with that :)

Worse even than the people who price things higher than the original cost (i.e., IKEA stuff) are the people who insist "I bought this brand-new at $350 five years ago and am letting it go for $325, firm!" As if!

I love you people! It gives me comfort there are many of us snickering over dinning sets and chester drawers. However: that means there's more than one person in the world who calls it "chester drawers". That's disturbing.

My all time favorite? Somebody selling a Vango. Sound it out.

There is someone in Austin who puts a listing on nearly every day for a different "antic" item. It took me a few days to figure out that he means "antique."

When I want a good laugh, I use the search term "beautiful." The results always have me rolling.

I love this!!!!!
Things I hate: People who post that they have "Ashley" furniture. If it's not Heywood Wakefield we don't care. Like Robb, I spit when people claim that Ray and Charles Eames designed their crappy possession. As if. Lastly, I hate it when people list 2-3 times daily, hoping that clogging up the search will make you suddenly want to buy their ugly dresser.

This cracked me up. My Craigslist rule is that everything described as "beautiful" is so ugly it's painful, and that goes double if they write BEAUTIFUL.

Of course I'm jumping for joy that's it's not just me. So now that we've established that there's a ton of CL items that are drastically overpriced junk, the thing that really gnaws at me is - where's all the really cool stuff that shows up repeatedly on AT amazing house tours?? And did the AT house tour folks just break down and pay jacked up prices when they found these pieces? The fleeting hope that I too could score, say, an ACTUAL vintage iron & leather chair on CL and be able to casually say "I picked it up on CL" a la AT House Tour folks is the one thing that enables me to trudge through those listings anymore.

This is hilarious, and all so true (I will still be laughing hours from now at "Shabby Sheik"). I gave up on Craigslist eons ago; the only thing I've ever gotten of value on it was a guy who could repair my out of warranty MacBook.
Thanks to all of you for giving me the best entertainment I've had all day!

ps - these ridiculous, misleading, overpriced CL listings have pushed me over the edge recently - to Freecycle. I just began perusing and I gotta say, not too shabee (had to get one final CL spelling error joke in there.)

Since you are all so smart, you should know it's eBay (not Ebay) and craigslist (not Craigslist).

Some of you don't even use standard capitalization in the sentences you posted here.

Oh yes! Dianne. The "for sell' gets me every time! arrgh!

This falls into that category in life called "discovering you are not the only one". Ah, togetherness...

Whoa-- haven't you heard of "CraigsEasy"????? Makes it all goood!

OMG! so i'm not the only one and it IS normal, lol! my pet peeve is the obvious used furniture stores in my city that list their stuff as "owner." Makes my blood boil.

i always like to see the posts listed as "unique." without fail, the item is ALWAYS something not just ugly, but HIDEOUSLY ugly! i'm always shocked that anyone could have had that thing in their house and then even more surprised to see that they are asking for a sizable amount of money for said atrocious item!

of course the spelling mistakes, WOW's, and overuse of exclamation marks drive me crazy too. "chester drawers" annoys the heck out of me almost as much as not listing a photo or outrageously over-priced stuff.

it's a shame really because i'm a little fed up with it and don't have the patience anymore to deal with CL on a daily basis.

I hate people who give a whole sob story with their listing. Like I give a damn! And yeah, it's impossible to find a post with "mid century" or "modern" that's properly labeled anymore. People think if it's not traditional, it must be modern. Thankfully, we inherited a bunch of authentic MCM furniture last year from a relative, and after unloaded most of our old stuff that it replaced, I no longer need to peruse CL seriously anymore.

The use of "beautiful" or "gorgeous" is how I know which listings to avoid!

And don't forget "very unique!"

Thanks for the laff, folks. (sound it out)

*wipin' tears here* (or is that wippin?)

In a MUCH better mood here after reading this post. Sad, eh?

But when paying extra for Ikea crap aren't you paying for the labor it takes to put that stuff together. The husband and I once spend several hours putting together an Epedit bookshelf. I don't think I would have minded paying extra for one that was already assembled (correctly) and in decent shape.

Craigslist Image Prefetcher - for firefox.

Only way to look for furniture on CL and not go insane.

So y'all are saying I'm going to have to redo my search in CL for a 'dinning room table' to find more options?!? No wonder I haven't been able to find a thing.

Also, true story, I have a friend who just learned in the past year that they aren't 'Chester's Drawers'. :) We like to poke fun at him every chance we get.

Craigslist is sometimes not much more than ignorance on parade. oy!

Amen, sister!

I can relate to all of these comments.

I'm also annoyed by posts for "danish" furniture that looks like it came from my college dorm room in 1998.

By far, this is the BEST AT comments section I've seen yet! haha

p.s. this has been one of the most amusing posts on AT that i've seen. thank you for such a wonderful and hearty laugh!

I hear you. One of my favorite websites is http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/
It's great.

OK:
This just like going to a yard sale or "antique" shop, you need to view these offerings w/ an educated eye. Buyer beware...Misrepresentation and ignorance abound. It is up the buyer to educate themselves. Don't invest in a "mid-century" collection if you are not familiar w/ the Bauhaus. There is plenty of info available.

I have never laughed so hard at a post. I feel your pain. Modern is a box store ugly computer desk that has plastic stainless steel on it. Retro is exactly as you described. I just found an ikea dresser (that is brand new 149 dollars) being sold for 150 and stated that they paid 350. What? The malm dresser has never been that much. Be honest and don't sell your 3 year old dresser for more than if you could buy it new.

@lukeyloo & deebasc
(... but it's not really a flowchart....)

Sometimes it's helpful when I want specific items; for the things I'm looking for, I'm pretty sure the listers would put the actual search terms I'm using (and "cb2" is hard to screw up! Though sometimes I worry someone is writing it "cb 2" instead just to thwart me....)

I think more than false advertising, I'm annoyed by ppl who don't post pictures or links to pictures. And like someone mentioned before, do they really think their generic description (since it's usually lacking) is going to sell the item for them???

I love this post! Hilarious - as are the comments. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the "Pottery Barn Style [fill in here with crappy coffee table, end table, chair, etc]"

or "Anthropologie style [add in junky distressed blue table here]"

or "...just like you'd find at Restoration Hardware"

or simply just a paragraph at the end with every single chain furniture store so their ugly item comes up in all store search terms.

I often go to the trouble of writing "this is nothing like something from Anthropologie."

@wyffe
Oh, I guess we have people like you to thank for the stealth keywords. >.>

Why wouldn't ppl want to know? Even if it's a boring item from a generic store, you can still get an idea for the quality or even look for reviews. More (if accurate) information is always better than less.

I had to have a laugh, so went and typed in "Eames" and found this!

http://images.craigslist.org/3ne3oa3l65O15T55Z5ach84abe9b32e91131d.jpg

I wonder if it's dannish?

I feel like I have found "my people" from reading all of these comments!! So nice to know I am not alone with my laughter and rage from CL listings! I found my apartment, car, job, cat and purse on CL! Lifer.

You are all shallow and disgusting people. Picking on Craigslist posters? Damn. What sad and empty lives you all must have.

my pet peeve is when people list how much they originally paid for it. no one cares what the original price was; it's only worth as much as someone's willing to pay for it

Finally! People (a lot of people, actually) who share my sentiments! Since there are 100 or more comments I didn't have time to read through all of them, so I may be saying something that has already been said...

but I just felt it was necessary to mention those posters who include every hit word they can think of in the bottom of their posting in order to show up on every single search someone does... They preface this slew of catch phrases (for example: vintage, eames, antique, and so on) with something like, "This would go well with..." or "similar to...".

This annoys me beyond words and I usually give up my search early. I'm sure this happens outside of the LA/Inland Empire area. So annoying!

you think CL is bad, you should check out asiaxpat classifieds which is where I look for things since I moved to HK. Good God! Everything is "designer" or "antique"

Yup. We got us some slay beds in Boston, must be the rot iron.

Nothing shallow or disgusting about venting frustration that we all obviously share. I don't know how much time I have had wasted responding to ads ranging from cars, electronics, furniture. Things that were advertised a certain way only to be revealed as outright fraudulent after I took time off from work and driving miles to purchase. I don't know how many times there have been scam attempts. Aggressive ones at that.

To be perfectly fair, I've had good luck with some items, too. AND, I've also helped a friend post an ad for a sublet, and received some very weird replies, and again, scammers. The coin flips both ways.

So I think I've paid my dues in having a laugh about this.

Surprised I haven't seen anyone mention that obvious trickery phrase "Eames Era" -- the Craigslist equivalent of the real estate fake-out like "Soho Vicinity."

"Fabric Automin - $10"

Awesome post! So happy google chroome shows the thumbnails or the pictures; finally I enjoy searching CL. And yes, one more 'beaver puke' computer table listed as 'modern desk'; I'll go mad.

I agree with dangermike that it is nasty to make fun of people who aren't as fortunate as you all are. Not everyone understands design or knows the correct terms for things. And in this world (including here on AT more times than I can count!) many MANY people can't spell. Most of these comments aren't aimed at fraud, btoddster, they are aimed at those in lower economic brackets (design is for the upper middle class and onward) just trying to get by in the world and sell some of their stuff. craigslist isn't a design competition or a spelling test.

Lisa from Montreal, LOL! I was about to say basically the same thing. If you think it's bad in English, you should see the French! If I see "A qui la chance" (loosely, "who's lucky enough to get this great deal?!"), I may just loose my inhibitions enough to call them out on it!

Well, phooey on me for hitting Submit too quickly. That should of course read: If I see (stated comment) _one more time_, I may just lose my inhibitions... goodness me. Guess I shouldn't list anything on Craigslist anytime soon.

LOLROFL!!! Best post ever. Thank you. I'm admittedly addicted to craigslist for "furnatur" and "anteek" bargains but yes, sometimes it amazes me that peepul can be so stoopid with the muthur tung. LOL! thanks again!

As Walter Cronkite would say, "That's the way the cookie crumbles," and although that holds true in this situation, I still haven't learned how to deal.

I think you mean what Jim Carrey's Bruce Almighty character would say. (Yes, he does an imitation in the movie.) Walter Cronkite said, "And that's the way it is."

It's true that some people are willing to pay a premium for assembled IKEA furniture -- the problem is, those people usually don't own or have access to a vehicle large enough to get it home in.

Then there are the people who take their IKEA furniture apart to sell it, insisting they're doing you a favor by making it easier to transport. Fact: nothing good has ever come of disassembling and reassembling particleboard furniture that's put together with wooden dowels...

As for spelling errors on craigslist: the people trying to rent 'hugh' apartments always make me want to scream!

These are killing me...they're so true! The Shabby Sheik thing had me cackling. I will have to say, I did get pretty lucky once when I came across a "dinning room" set that was from the 60s and swiped it for $250 (six chairs, table with leaves). Honestly I don't know who designed it (nor do I really care) but it definitely has that Mid-Century feel to it. I think living in a smaller Midwestern city has helped because not everyone has caught on to the Mid-Century modern decorative trend so when those great pieces do come up every once in awhile, there's not quite as much of a scramble to obtain them.

LOL! Such fun post!

CL is pretty boring where I live. My favourites are definitely the posts selling a "dinning set" or an "amoire".

Saw a listing for "XXX-Bedroom Set-XXX". Might it mean what it sounds like? Yuck.

Also, re: before 1990, I thought one (loose) "definition" of "vintage" (not the same one as used when referring to wines) was 20+ years. Well, it is 2011, so they're not even playing foul.

(... you are getting oooooooooooooold.... :p )

I'm always stunned by the prices for USED furniture. No way am I interested in paying 80% of retail for someone's used furniture just because they bought the hype from the retailer and think it's really 'special'. I've gotten a few great things on CL but for the most part I don't have the patience to sort through the cr*p looking for treasure - I have better resources than that!

Shabby Sheik. HA!!!

LOL! Yay, craigslist! Glad to hear there are many of us.

http://s1ren.livejournal.com/1351818.html <-- my $0.02 from last year

ponjeng - Ha! Thanks for the catch, I saw it once the post published, but since no one had mentioned it, I just let it go. It just goes to show how much influence movies really have!

LOL oh my... This post is "HEEE-LARIOUS"! I chuckled quite a bit because I can relate. I was on CL last night looking for furniture and saw quite a few of the blunders 'n falsities mentioned here... Too funny!

I think my favorite CL items were an automan and a rykliner. There seems to be a surplus of "teak" wood furniture and vintage couches from the late 80s and early 90s. I have have also seen dressers (and chesser draws) with nonworking draws. Not drawers, draws. I live in Texas, and some of us have drawls, but yikes.

Heh. I once took out my CL furniture frustrations by writing an illustrated guide for sellers. It got flagged down in under an hour, but I ended up with an overflowing inbox all the same.

Very funny thread (almost tops the Ligne Roset house tour thread!).

I want to know though when did an armchair become a 'single seat sofa' ...which is what it gets called out here in the classifieds.

haha! i find this very funny. i don't know if if i've hit craigslist elitist status yet but i'm certainly a craigslist addict!

@mtlyorel. i'm happy that craigslist searching/sifting brings you pleasure. but for the more serious craigslist (treasure) hunter/shopper it can be annoyingly annoying.

say for instance... you go to get your haircut... and you ask for a shag... but they give you a bowl. i'm sure you would be quite bothered by the miscommunication...non?

or if you drove 3 hours to view an open house (3+2 w/pool)... but instead it was maybe an apartment building with 3 units + 2 parking spaces with a neighboring pool??

any-who... tit-for-tat.

i LOVE LOVE LOVE the C-list... but get super annoyed by the lack of understanding/clear communication of what IS the truth.

We got "automan" on San Diego craigslist :)

Shabby Sheik made my day !

I'm French, so no craigslist, but we got a good equivalent (leboncoin.fr) with exactly the same problems.

I couldn't care less about the spelling if only I could find what I want. I'm on the market for a dresser, and I got much more results when I typed "comode" instead of "commode". Am I supposed to research every possible spelling error to get my dresser ?

Anyway, everybody put prices higher than what then think the item is worth, so the deals are bad for common items, but once in a while, you can score a deal where the buyer is thinking he stole from you, and you think you stole from him (stealing is not the correct word, but I can't remember the correct English term, sorry).

Antique tv cabinet. I mean, yes, sometimes it is an antique cabinet that can fit/support a tv. But if it has drawers designed to take dvds and cds exactly.. it probably was made after tv was invented and is therefore not antique.

Chester drawers. Wow, really? I see it every week.

I'm with some above - it is sickening to look on Craigslist and see someone offering a piece of furniture asking for more than I'd pay in a store. People aren't getting USED furniture (unless it's considered antique) doesn't NOT sell for more than the price you paid. I've even tried to offer the same price I'd pay in a store to a couple people before and they've demanded full price. These people are constantly putting the same things up for sale over and over.

This diagram explains listing furniture on Craigslist; it's hilarious:

http://www.whorange.net/whorange/2011/01/pimp-my-furniture.html

Didn't read through all of these, so forgive me if I am repeating, but I HATE it when someone lists what they paid for the item new as a justification for a high asking price. I don't CARE that you paid 1500 bucks for that 80s formica console when you bought it new 30 years ago! It's now a USED item.

I also hate the overuse of the term "beautiful". As if.

If i see one more dinning table, I'm going to scream. Having said that, I've gotten a couple of great items on craigslist and sometimes it is hysterical to read. One man was selling homemade coffins - not bad.

I have been a craigslist spelling snob for quite a while. We have so many spellings of armoire (armere, armur, armer, armire), ottoman (automan, otterman, auman), dining (dinning), wrought (rod, rot), window (winder), mirror (mirro, mirrer, mirrow), chest of drawers (chester, draws), for sale (for sell), the list goes on and on....
All caps bothers me too.
Also:
The sheer amazement that someone had this gosh awful stuff in his/her house.
Ikea for more than it cost at the store is ludicrous also.
What a person paid for an item means nothing to me.
Comparative prices on ebay are unneeded.
My favorite is people who increase their prices when it doesn't sell. WTF?
Differing prices in the header and in the body of the ad infuriates me, and not just $1 in the header and more in the ad, but $125 in the header and $150 in the ad, for example.
No location in the city is annoying.
And for some reason in Indy we have a war going on between mattress sellers (dealers) and others...they post to each other back and forth often. It is so bizarre.
But I still love craigslist, am addicted to it, and will continue to read the ads out loud to whomever will listen. It's a guilty pleasure.
And once in a while I will buy something tres cool.
Thanks for this AT, I love that I am not the only one! And the comments are a hoot!

143 seething comments in 18 hours.
I love you guys.

oh oh oh PS: http://pudslist.com/

Save yourself the time (and often the pain) of trying to sift through based on the titles.

And here I thought that I was the only one. Obviously, I was wrong. As wrong as 'rot' and 'chester drawer' and 'sheik', etc. I'm so glad to know that I'm not alone in my disdain for design and period idiots.

If suffering from Craigslist Elitist Syndrome is wrong, I don't want to be right!

I nearly burst out laughing at my desk from this.

I can't recall the number of CL posts I've forwarded to one of my friends where we bonded over our mutual C.L.E.S.

And, really, oblivious CL posters, I don't want to put my clothes in a "burrow," thanks.

its not furniture, but if you ever want to rage on something pretty hard, check out the 'pets' section. i found my pug on craigslist (spare me your rant about adopting), and every single person it seems who asks a "rehoming fee" is just a shady ass breeder. rehoming fees are like, $50. not $400.

As a librarian, I just accept craigslist as the reflection of my patrons that it is. I'm used to having to interpret what people actually mean and how they are likely to say or write it. It's a sad commentary on our educational system and populace, though.

Here's a thought for you: these people can VOTE!

I can't believe nobody posted a link to a blog about this very thing. I've been reading it (and submitting to it) since last year, and it'll make you laugh and cry!

http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/

I agree with all of you and just have to add my two cents. Read the pet section. Not only is the spelling bad but did you know that Datsuns can be potty trained??!!

Elitist? Yes. (Though you seem to not be alone.)

Today I spotted the rare MCM listing that resembles MCM, and I would jump on it if I preferred darker wood. It reminds me of that in "A Single Man," but I'm sure that was much nicer. The $299 bedroom "suit." Ahem. http://bit.ly/fgFnEN

My favorite is how the word "beautiful" is literally only ever used in a CL furniture posting to describe items from the 1970's or so that used to be called "Early American" style.

Trish1980, I looked up the plug-in : it's called prefetcher https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clip-craigslist-image-prefetch/

I have a full time job! I work out 2 hours a night. I also go to school part time. I do not have the time to make my searches for stuff on CL (which I have to do because I can't afford regular prices) a 2nd full time job!!!!
This Sarah lady like entered my dream last night and took everything I was thinking and cursing after my yet another unsuccessful night of searching and wrote this up.

Everyone else - ditto!!!!! WTF is WOW!?!?!? I never ever looked for a WOW. I think I'll try that tonight just for fun! :)

P.S. I just lost about 10 pounds tonight laughing at some of these posts...just surreal!!

Used automan for sale, anyone?

I have to admit my guilty pleasure is the ads listed after the poor guy/girl's breakup. "We just divorced. My loss, your gain!" There are a lot of those here in Denver for some reason. My favorite was "Moved in with her, she was crazy. Everything must go."

craigslist pet peeve: dealers who post in 'by owner,' whether it's a brick & mortar store, a small business/craftsperson, or anyone else who buys crap at garage sales & resells it for income. defies the spririt of the site.

and i hope all you eagle eyes are flagging, too. (not because you don't like something, but for those posts that obviously violate the site policies of double posting, spam, etc.)

ditto

I don't have anything new to add to this post but if there's a fan club I'd like to join it!

All the time, my husband rolls his eyes as I mutter to myself about all the misspellings and incorrect classifications.

My favorite is finding so many listings for an armoire when I do a search for dresser and more than a few of those are listed as an "armware."

Oh man oh man oh man. I'm a grad student, so I've spent SO MUCH TIME in the last four years on Craigslist dealing with apartments and furniture.

My biggest pet peeve people who post New Jersey apartments under Manhattan. I don't care if it's "only ten minutes from Penn Station (Newark), twenty to midtown!", if I wanted to live in Hoboken, I would've searched for Hoboken, not Lower East Side. There will always be a dozen identical postings in a row too, so I WILL go out of my way to flag them.

I also hate when people advertise Ikea furniture as "already assembled for you!" as though it's a good thing. I'm a broke-ass student and all I want to know is whether the pieces will fit in a big blue Ikea bag so I can get it home on the subway.

My favorite Craigslist finds so far have been a Slay Bed, a Missionary Style Coffee Table, and Ben-Wa Balls (eeewww).

Today I saw a listing for an "amwar".

It was obviously written by someone who doesn't speak English (or French, I guess), but it didn't annoy me, it made me smile.

Spot-on, Sarah!! I get really irritated by CL photographs that don't show anything: blurry, dark, bad angles, etc.. The effort is there, but what the hell am I looking at??

Bit late, but wanted to mention that craigslist itself has a "view images" function now, as an FYI for those of you who don't like using firefox or feel like using one of the other intermediary sites....

Sorry but to those complaining about price its craigslist, not commylist. If someone is dumb enough to pay 80% to full price for something used its their own fault.

You don't run craigslist, you don't moderate it so if you don't like a post, move on to the next. Your opinion is REAALLLYY not that important to the person who posted the ad.

Let me throw one back at you from an ad posters prospective.

Your selling a dining table and you mention at least 3X in the post:

Only the table is for sale

***Chairs in the picture are not included***

-NOTE: THE CHAIRS ARE NOT INCLUDED

and some moonbat still contacts you and asks when they can pick up your table and chairs that you have for sale.

I like that couch.

vintage items are usually considered "twenty to thirty years and older". you cannot complain about what is considered vintage, considering the differences in age. what is considered vintage because it is 2011, is different than what is considered vintage to you because of when you grew up, how old you are today, or simply due to your perception. etsy.com is a site where any vintage items posted must be at least twenty years old, but a lot of items are much older. try it out.

i had to sit and think to try to figure out what "rot iron" was even trying to mean for quite a bit, until i finally said it out loud, aha !

No-one ever admits that what they have is crap. Or bad taste. Add "inspired by" to the list. That means reproduction. And with zero value.

Wheel barrel! That will help me haul my rocks and dirt around my yard.