I'll Buy That For A Dollar! Craigslist Price Liars: Saints Or Slimeballs?

Murilee Martin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EDT

We had quite the spirited discussion over Craigslist keyword spammers yesterday, and several commenters mentioned the all-too-common car-seller practice of listing a super-deal price in the title and a far higher one buried in the fine print. This is particularly troublesome for, say, someone searching for Project Car Hell entrants or- even more maddening- for potential 24 Hours Of LeMons cars. You'll see plenty of $1 vehicles on Craigslist, but it's pretty easy to avoid them by specifying a $50 or $100 minimum in your search. The real hassle comes when your search results get clogged up with sellers who price their $4,000 cars at $400, or list their cars at the monthly cost of taking over the lease payments. But hey, maybe Craigslist Price Liars are doing us a service, by freeing us from the stifling constraints of self-imposed cheapskate budgets. What do you think?

And remember, folks, including the URLs of particularly annoying Craigslist Price Liar listings in your comments is a surefire way to have them flagged into oblivion by like-minded Craigslist vigilantes… and those of you who want to go the extra mile can simply do a search in your local CL Cars For Sale category for all $1 ads and flag 'em all!

Craigslist Keyword Spammers: Really Helping You?

Murilee Martin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Anyone who searches Craigslist for cars or (even worse) for car parts knows about keyword spam. The seller is trying to unload a beater 1985 Corolla, and he throws in the name of every car manufacturer he can think of, plus every year between 1960 and 2008, plus magic words like "turbo" and "gas saver" in the description. This means that you'll find that '85 Corolla ad when you search for a '64 Alfa Romeo or a 2006 BMW. Oh sure, you could specify a "Title Only" search, but many unclear-on-concept Craigslist sellers put something like "$$$$$CAR 4 SALE!!!!!!!!" in the title and include the make/model/year only in the description, and you'll miss their ads. Sometimes the keywords are put right out in the open, and sometimes they're hidden using text the same color as the background. I emailed some of these sellers, asking why they used keyword spam, and most responded with threats of violence… but one seller responded "I include those keywords to make it easier for buyers to find what they're looking for." I hadn't thought of that- what if I don't even know I really want a '91 Achieva instead of the Toyota pickup I thought I wanted? Make the jump and weigh in on this pressing issue!

OK, let us know how you feel. Bonus points for commenting with links to the most egregious CL keyword spammers you can find- we'll form up a posse to flag 'em out of existence!

Jalopnik: tragedy of the craigslist commons

I'll Buy That For A Dollar! Craigslist Price Liars: Saints Or Slimeballs?

Craigslist Keyword Spammers: Really Helping You?