You would think that the reduced anonymity might count for anything, but apparently it doesn't. I bought a small wagon from a seller who apparently orders them in bulk from China for resale here in the States. It was still taped in its box, so I couldn't preview it before buying it; she wouldn't let me, and my round-trip drive for this thing had totaled to a bit over an hour (despite seeing some nice scenes, sure), so I didn't want to drive back empty-handed. Yet I only found out after I got home, opened it, and assembled it that the handle is loose.
This was a damaged-box product which is why it sold on a fire discount of just $15, but even so I told her about the handle and she basically said that I knew what I was getting into when I bought it at such a price. After I said that while I suspect that the handle may fall off in half a year, she didn't need to be so defensive, either, she suddenly blocked me out of the blue. The listing disappeared from my view and I have no idea of how to reach this person apart from possibly trying to have a friend who she hasn't blocked to review-bomb her on my behalf. I have not done that yet because I don't want to expose my friend to unknown inconveniences.
Ironically, she had at least 4.6★ that I can recall. I think this is how mass FBM sellers of new products (as opposed to one-time used ones) keep their ratings high: by blocking anyone showing the slightest sign of critique so that they literally cannot leave a negative review. I had no idea that FBM functioned like this. I thought that despite blocking, at least the listing would still be available.
I almost thought about planning a visit some time to egg her house (since that's where I met her for it), but I'll be a better human than that and not do something so lowly. I'm now wondering if maybe this person's sales can be reported for tax evasion, come to think of it...
Craigslist has always been better than FBM in my opinion.
I need to return there more, yeah! It sure had a bunch of scammers, though, when a friend of mine was seeking housing, with impostors masquerading as landlords...
Oh yeah, scams galore! I took a job off their once and the job was refurbishing computers and installing baseline software, seemed pretty normal. Then they FedEx-ed me a check written to me but it was from some Pan Am flight school, instead of cashing it I contacted the company the check was from and they confirmed it was one of their checks, but they didn't issue it. I'm a bit overly cautious and it took a while to actually get transferred to the right department, but it was worth not accidentally being part of some check scam.
Edit: Just to add, I've still got that check, just because it seemed like a cool story.
Wow, you could take such a check to the news and broadcast warnings about scams like this. It does also act like a bit of a trophy showcasing your prudence.
I thought about going to the local news but I really really needed a job. I was just glad to be not part of some fraud scam and moved on to actually find a job (a shitty one but it paid the bills) on Craigslist.