A Better Alternative to Craigslist

I used to love Craig's List. There was no easier way to sell something to people in my area. However, over the years Craig's List has gone downhill. There are so many scammers with bots that automatically respond to ads on Craig's List that I'm now immediately suspicious of anyone who responds to my ad. I find myself thinking of Obi Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars movie when he said:

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.

I list something and almost everyone who calls is out of town at the moment, is willing to pay me twice what I'm offering if I will ship it somewhere, usually out of state.

Today I got a new one. Minutes after posting an ad, I received a text from "Julia" who urgently wanted to buy the thing I was selling. She was having trouble with her phone but said that I could call her on her Google phone. This seemed more legit. After all, the scammers never want to take the time to actually talk to you. They are usually just bots that are completely text-driven. Julia then sent me a Google verification code . She said that if I gave her that code, I could call her. Initially I didn't think anything of it. However I sensed something not right about this. I then gave her my typical "you're a scammer" response:

I'm not comfortable with this. I'm sure you are an honest person but there are some real scumbags out there that will steal the food from a baby's mouth of given the chance. I'm sure you are totally legit but I can't take any chances. So borrow a phone and call me. You have my number.

It will not surprise you that she never responded.

My spidy-sense told me that she was running a different kind of scam altogether. What she was really doing was trying to get into my google account. I have two-factor authentication turned on and that code she sent me was likely generated by her (or him) trying to get into my google account.

I'm reaching the point where Craig's List is just no longer worth the trouble. Luckily, there's a better alternative. I've started listing things on the Facebook Marketplace and having good success there. It's great because the people are all local, you can see who they are on Facebook to see if they at least appear to be legit, etc. It's a much better alternative to Craig's List. My days of using Craig's List to sell stuff may be over.

Despite the recent troubles Facebook has had with privacy concerns (that might make the news for a week but is of no interest at all to the majority of Facebook users), their Marketplace is far superior to Craig's List on multiple levels. Next time you have something to sell, give it a whirl.