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Why do people respond to classified ads like in newspapers or Craig's List, then never show up?

I find this extremely annoying after I wait all day for people to say they are coming and never arrive. What's going on with their mentality?

Public Comments

1. beware the world is full of weirdos and freaks and they all shop craigslist
2. I feel your pain! This happened to us too. We were sellling a car and people would call us and say they were interested and they would be by at certain time but never showed. Hang in there! It took us 2 months but we eventually found someone that actually came and bought the car.
3. It's the new way to make prank phone calls. Because of caller ID and answering machines, people just can't call and hang up or make threats because you will know who it is. People can now pose as an interested buyer by email and make you jump through all kinds of hoops when they have no intention of ever buying anything and there's not a darn thing you can do about it. It's just that some disturbed people get a kick by inconveniencing others.
4. it's not just people from CL, it's also gardeners, contractors, plumbers, friends, strangers. good luck with depending on others!
5. I don't understand it either but it happens all the time with this type of stuff. The best bet is to narrow the window to a couple of hours for them to come over. Plan on doing something, reading, watching TV, etc. that will keep you busy but that you can drop in a minute during that time. Then time will go by faster, if they have not arrived or contacted you during that time, assume that are not interested and move on with your day.
6. I went through the same thing. Now when I post an ad on CL, I add this addendum: Respond only if you are a serious buyer and to make sure you are, please respond with your ISP provided email account, not a generic email service address like gmail or yahoo. Also provide both your home and cell phone (if you have one) numbers. Inquiries that do not provide this information will not be answered. All information provided will be kept private and not shared with anyone else. It's surprising on how this has cut down on bogus responses.