Craigslist is a funny thing. Funny in that it can be really so great or really so awful. Conceptually (I love concepts, right?), it should be like an online swap meet. I have something I want to sell. You have something you want to buy. We can find each other here and make a deal if we want to. Love it.
I have sold more than I have bought on Craigslist. There are some things I don’t like to buy used. Or maybe I have a thing for the brand-new-right-from-the-factory smell, kind of like a new car. I tend to not like anything that is fabric. I harbor some kind of belief that you can’t get cooties out of fabric. It feels too much to me like wearing other people’s shoes. I did buy a chair at Goodwill this summer that I loved, though I don’t really want to sit in it until I have it reupholstered.
You can however get them off of wood with a good scrubbing or wiping down, which is why I am completely fine picking up $10 MCM pieces like the one we got at Habitat for Humanity this summer. Brett is working on this as an entertainment center for our now-improving family room. I will share that project soon.
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But it’s also the people from Craigslist that are funny. They can show up, make a good deal and leave. Or they can not show up at all, which happens more than common courtesy should allow. Or they show up, look at the piece you are selling (for a significant discount off what you paid for it) and then complain that it’s not in ‘new’ condition. Well, duh. If it were in new condition, it wouldn’t be in my house priced at 25% of what I paid for it retail.
This is all a long way of saying the tables turned on me last night. I became one of those people. One of the pieces we had listed on Craigslist was an Oriental-style rug from Pottery Barn. These rugs run anywhere from $700-900. I listed it at 9×12 for $250, knowing I’d probably negotiate down. A few people emailed about it, but one woman seemed really interested.
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When we removed and sold the sofa, I saw that one edge was slightly misshapen from the sofa legs, a fact I had forgotten and felt badly about. I emailed her and told her about it, so she wouldn’t waste the trip and be disappointed. I told her if she was still interested, I’d knock it down to $150.
She and her husband came over last night to see it. The rug was the only thing in the middle of the living room and it was dwarfed by the room. I remember thinking that it looked small in there and the woman commented that it didn’t look 9×12. Brett got out a measuring tape and it was actually 8×10. Ooops.
I knocked it down again to $100. While we are discussing this, her husband is playing with our dog Baker. Baker is a dog we rescued less than a year ago. He is handsome and sweet and lovely. His one disposition issue is that he gets very skittish around men. When we brought him home, he wouldn’t go near Brett until he realized Brett was the one that fed him. Then they were fast friends.
Baker wasn’t warming up to this man though. He started prancing around and barking. Going up to him only to back off and bark more. Then, all of the sudden, he squats down and pees on the rug. Yes, that’s right. The rug we are standing around trying to sell. Pees on it. Right then and there.
(To read the rest of this post and find out what happens to the transaction, visit www.midcenturymodernlove.com)