Last night I received an email from someone saying that fixing up bikes and then reselling them for a profit made me a business, and people were getting tired of businesses spamming craigslist so my posts would be deleted shortly.

I replied saying that I was simply trying to sell some vintage bikes to make room for new projects.

They replied saying that selling "excess inventory" also made me a business, and that since I was doing both of those things he was going to report me and everyone like me for abusing CL.

I blew it off at this point, but when I log on this morning all of my CL posts, not just my bikes, had been flagged and removed. Not only I, but several other people that I know that buy things like furniture and electronics, restore them, and then resell them as a hobby had all of their listings removed.

I relisted several bikes before I left for work, but when I returned they were once again removed.

I don't know if this is an isolated case, but after a bit of time on the CL forums everyone seems to agree that what we were doing was very bad for CL and we deserved to be flagged.

Just throwing this out as a warning that if this spreads you might want to change the wording, frequency, and number of posts you put on CL. Then again, this could just be a jerk with a laptop changing his IP which is unfortunate for this area, but will have no effect on anyone else.

Internet bad guys for life! Start worrying when someone actually crosses the smugness/righteousness threshold and starts f-in with your bike flipping in person

Yeah I'm really not too concerned about hurting my sales. My workshop is located right on the only major bike trail in the town, so I'll have plenty of walk in customers in the spring. But I'm still pissed that I can't reach the 300,000+ people that live 50 miles from here....

Can you report this guy to CL? I don't see what it is about your posts that would violate the CL terms of use. Maybe I'm missing some distinction between a hobby and a business... but I think if your other posts were flagged and deleted that might as well constitute harassment, which isn't permitted by the CL terms of use either. I'd report the guy for that and tell him to go **** himself.

the flagging system has always seemed a little strange. There are people that flag collectible bikes just because the person is asking reasonable prices.

I don't get it... there are several businesses advertising on CL, both offering services and selling things all the time...

I just got off the phone with one of the other people that had posts deleted, and he said the same guy emailed him shortly before everything got removed. After putting 2 and 2 together we're guessing we know who it was and we'll be reporting him to CL as well as confronting him in person. So I guess it was a false alarm, CL is safe again, at least until the next jerk comes along.

People with too much time on their hands and not enough real issues to worry about....

Sounds like another village idiot thinking they are the "CL Police". Some folks just don't have a life so they try to steal yours.

Just curious.How can one person flag an add?Doesnt there have to be many{hundreds} of complaints? I didnt think one person could flag an add and it would be removed.

+1

Sounds like jealousy to me. You must be doing something right.

-Shin

I'm glad this has a good explanation... I'd love to hear how this all pans out.

We've had this in the Richmond Craigslist on and off. There's a couple of regular flippers who border on being bike shops who have been flagging each other's posts. Not really sure why, but for a while I was getting caught up in it.

Officially, Craigslist runs on the old hippie ethic that "capitalism is bad", and anyone who verges on actually making a profit with their ads must be banned from the premises. Yeah, I've never figured that one out either - it was a bogus idea back in the late '60's. Yet, if you go into the automobile section, their's "buy here, pay here" used car dealers advertising openly. Auto's seems to be an exception to the rule. Either that or anti-capitalist hippies hang out in the bicycle sales, but don't go near the car sales.

Does anyone know how many complaints it takes to get someone's ad pulled? I would assume more than one . . . .

^I'm thinking its 2

I'd heard it was 4.

I know that I've said this before...I'm in favor of flagging ads by people who break the rules (people who top post their bikes daily and more). The only ads that deserve the "re" comments are ones that misrepresent what they're selling or are dangerous...things like bent forks. The rules on Craigslist are 48 hours between posts, and that seems like a fair and reasonable guideline.

I thought it only took two or three flaggings to get something pulled. Sounds like the OP ran into an overly self-righteous, busybody vigilante. If talking with him doesn't help, you could always sign up to receive information from a bunch of internet businesses using his e-mail address. Not nice, but seems about equal in the grief quotient to what he's inflicting on you.

Craig's list states that it takes more than one flag but doesn't say how many. There is an on again/ off agin flag war on the Los Angeles bike CL. People get pissed off at the high volume flippers and post childish junk to get readers to flag them.

There were some hate posts directed at me once because I got a Peugeot PH 501 for $50. Put $40 into it and 4 hours of time, it was a mess. Listed it at $250 and the whiners that missed it came out to cry. Also a couple of posts to tell the whiners to STFU. I ignored them.

It takes ONE flag to have your listing removed from Craig's List. Craig's List is a joke, NO accountability, some 10 yr old kid can go there and flag everything s/he sees since you DON'T have to be signed in to flag. I had 15 listings removed within 3 minutes of posting in different categories. Also, businesses are allowed to lit on Craig's List in all areas that do not have a business/private party specific posting like cars and furniture.

Try Kijiji they don't flag and it's free.

I once read an article about a fellow that was regularly getting his posts flagged on CL. Turned out to be a direct competitor, and it turns out that it is a fairly common occurance for that to happen.

How many bikes did you have posted at the same time?

Actually, the prevailing ethic on the RVA craigslist for a long time seemed to be "Your capitalism is bad, while mine, on the other hand, is excellent." One dealer in particular was flagging anyone and everyone's posts, no matter how they were selling. It started as soon as he began dealing on CL, and largely ended when his posts started get flagged. Go figure.

I believe CL has a formula based on traffic; at the start of the RVA CL it only took 2-3 flags, according to people I've talked to. Now it is considerably more, which has also stopped the flag-o-rama.

You can't be serious...I flag stuff all the time and it doesn't disappear after my one flag. And Kijiji is useless - you can't possibly be serious about that...

Around here the stuff that gets flagged, and the stuff that annoys the crap out of me and I flag, is the idiots who post their bikes day after day after day...the same damn bikes...every day...same price...every day...pages of them...

If you abuse CL, you get flagged. Sounds fine to me. Oh, sure, I've had few things flagged unfairly, but it hardly ever happens. I just repost. It's a lot better system than eBay, where you have pages and pages and pages of spam to wade thru. But then, I am not on CL to run a business, just to get rid of crap and raise money to buy different crap. Oh, wait, maybe that's what CL is designed for!?!?!

If the hardcore sellers/dealers weren't so annoying, people wouldn't flag them. They probably wouldn't even notice them.

Around here, Most flippers get along. But there are a couple that hate competition and flag others peoples post. There are flagging programs out that they use. The only guy I flag is someone that was asking for "bike Donations" then turns around and sells them.

That sound like fraud to me.

I started doing the same thing when one guy kept reposting the same 15 bikes every day. At one point, he would post the same bikes two times in one day. Luckily, he has stopped, but it may just be the winter.

One local seller just posts a link to a photobucket site with pictures of his 20+ bikes and prices. I wish others would do this.