Ever sell anything on Craigslist? This is our first time. We're trying to sell a dishwasher. Response has been amazing: five prospects in the first 36 hours. But we still haven't sold it.
A woman called to ask whether it had a black face plate. Yes, I said. "Too bad," she said. "That won't match my decor."
Last night A guy who lives 40 miles away asked for a photo of the dishwasher. In my laziness, I never did post one in the Craigslist ad. So I took a couple last night, in our dark garage. They came out crappy. I e-mailed them to the prospect. He never wrote back.
This morning a guy named Jasper e-mailed to ask what the model number was. By mistake I sent him a serial number. Jasper never wrote back.
At lunchtime an older guy named Henry came over today to look at it. He hemmed and hawed. "In my research," Henry said, "I discovered that 37 percent of people with this model had complaints about it."
"What do you for a living, Henry?" I asked.
"Insurance broker," he said. Henry understands risk. I offered to drop the price $25. He said he the price is already fair. He just was afraid to buy because it might break later. He said he was going to go home and talk it over with his wife. Henry hasn't called back.
Tonight a guy called and asked whether the dishwasher had a child-lock on it. "I don't think so," I said. He asked to come over and see it. I said it was getting late and that he should try getting here within an hour.
"Oh, I'll be over before 6, no problem," he promised. Ten minutes later he called back.
"Um, I can't make it there by six. Will you be there tomorrow?"
"All day."
"OK, well, um... I'll talk it over with my wife and if we're interested I'll give you a call."
"OK," I said.
Craigslist can deliver the prospects. Only the seller can deliver the sale.