My pet peeve with Craig's List is that people are using "Eames" and "Mid Century Modern" to get you to look at their stuff that isn't Eames or Mid Century Modern.

"chester drawers". See it ALL the time.

Yes! Let's profit from our neighbors' functional illiteracy and hope that their grandparents (who could probably spell) left them some great pieces of furniture.

As an English teacher, this makes me sad. Really, really sad.

If you live in New England and you're looking for something with drawers (a chest of drawers, flat-file, etc.) you could search for "draw" or "draws." Since that's how drawer is pronounced here (especially in Massachusetts), people also think that's how drawer is spelled. I don't know if that would help you find anything before others, since anything with drawers is likely going to have other keywords in its title, but it's still fun. For instance: http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/fud/3178038975.html

@Mary Poppins, I have no problem with it. Whatsoever. I have a full Lane Acclaim set that is in great condition and has never been refinished that I bought for $50 because the lady selling it needed cash and had no idea what she had. I've bought for cheap and resold Weller and Roseville pottery among other things. I'm under no obligation to educate the masses.

When I am selling things on craigslist, I pretty much ignore any emails from people who can't bother to put subject with verb. I live in a really diverse area, so there are a lot of people who don't speak or write English as a first language, but when it comes to craigslist, a lot of these emails can be scams, too. So as a blanket rule, I ignore the ones who can't communicate. It's for this reason why I'd never inquire about a piece of furniture from someone who couldn't communicate.

I made out like a bandit buying an extensive second-hand Le Creuset collection using this method a few years ago. Many times I was the only bidder or person inquiring.

I guess we won't even touch the "lounge" part of "shays lounge". Or maybe it WOULD work-- people may get so turned around that in trying to spell "lounge", they may misspell and actually type "longue"-- and all 3 of us who care would actually find it in the right place ;>
But yeah, "dinning table" is huge here. So is "cadenza".

KMARIE do you dare tell your secret? How were you misspelling it?

I saw "autiman" the other day. If not for the photo of an ottoman, I'm not sure if I'd have known what it was.

I've also seen "armwah" -- I kid you not.

armor = armoire
rot iron = wrought iron
automan = ottoman
coutch = couch

I could go on all day!!! LOL!

Rod iron & dinning table: all the time! Chester drawers: for real?
@Kbon-- Wouldn't it be "As an English teacher, I....." rather than "As an English teacher, this..."?

@Thatkris, I always thought "chaise longue" was the correct spelling and "chaise lounge" was incorrect. I see from Wikipedia that "chaise lounge" has persisted so strongly in the United States that it is no longer considered incorrect there, and can even be found in its dictionaries.
So, er, there.

I consider myself an educated and relativly eruidite person, and I still have to think about chest of drawers to type it correctly, and had to look up how to spell wrought iron.

You Suck at Craigslist is one of the funniest sites for this kind of thing. http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/

@hrhprincessfiona - My reasons are highlighted above. Craigslist is a business transaction, but instead of me walking into a store and exchanging goods for money, I have to deal with a person. It's just not easy to go back and forth with someone who isn't able to communicate or understand what you're trying to say. I once spoke to a general contractor who, 6 emails back and forth later, had still not answered very simple questions. I stopped talking to him after that. It wasn't worth it.

@stationeryfiend, thank you for that. I suppose next we'll be able to look up "chester draws" in our sad, sad "United States dictionaries".
Waiting for www.yousuckatUSdictionaries.com

Another thing that I have found helps me score good deals on ebay is paying attention to listings that end at weird times (like early morning or middle of the night) or holiday weekends when people are typically out shopping for deals or on vacation and not paying attention to what's happening on Ebay.

With Craigslist I honestly find that the BEST way to get great stuff on there is just being persistent. When I was looking for stuff for my apartment I would refresh the furniture page on Craigslist every 30 minutes or so just to see what was new that had been posted. I have had some amazing luck, I purchased an Adrian Pearsall glass top T coffee table and end table together for $50 because the owners had no idea what they had and I jumped on it as soon as it was posted. (Just consolidating some of Grandpa's old junk they said). There weren't any keywords like "mid century" or "eames" or anything like that, just "coffee and end table". I also found a 4 ft long C Jere sculpture for $25, same thing, no tags saying "mid century" or even "vintage" Not even "C Jere" even though it was signed and she knew it, she pointed it out to me when I when to pick it up. I feel like the real trick to Craigslist is just beating everyone else to the punch. If someone knows that what they have is something desirable even if they misspell the product tags they still know what it's worth. You might get it because it fell through the cracks but that doesn't mean it will be cheap. You have to find the things that belong to people who don't know what it is and don't have the patience to do research, the ones who just want quick cash.

Not too long ago, there was an ad for a "Cheerios cabinet."

(Curio)

My friend found her house by looking for real estate that was listed as "price reduded." I kind of love the idea of re-duding a house, perhaps after a bad breakup in which she left and took the slipcovers with her...

Oh I love these! 'Chester drawers' is brilliant. However, why that apostrophe - 'Craigslist'ers'? It's a funny post but it's still a shame that people can't be bothered to spell things correctly.

Ha ha, I clicked over just to add "chester" drawers to the list, but you guys beat me to it. I've always wondered who this Chester fellow is.

"Coffee pod" is my most recent favorite.

@SQ Wouldn't it be "As a teacher of English, I...." rather than "As an English teacher, I" unless she really is from Britian?

Well that was a good laugh. Chester draws. Who knew this was a comedy site!?!
One time I set up a fake email account and I was going to reply to these type of listings showing them the err of their ways! What an a$$ ... I never did.

Just saw this one on CL today: "georgous bench/seaty". What a cute little seaty that is!

@Caitlin F

Agreed; the best way to not miss anything is to look at everything. At one point for at least several weeks I was literally scanning every furniture-by-owner listing (not clicking, though) for the Philadelphia/CNJ/North Jersey/South Jersey/Jersey Shore regions, with Allentown/Reading/Delaware in the mix when I was feeling especially ambitious. I have managed to break the craigslist habit, thankfully, but that's probably because my apartment has just about approached a state where I'd consider it "done", at least as far as the furnishings go....