lactose

So you just posted an ad on CL and you get like 5 emails 10min later asking if the item is still available....SCAMMER.

So after posting things on CL for sometime i have come to learn what separates the real interest from the bots and broken down the detection methods by sections of the email. I haven't listed the basic stuff that CL puts in every email about WesternUnion... but please don't ignore that:

Body
1. If the email says "is this item still available" it's a scam, why, well because, it doesn't mention the item, the cost, and it's the most common phrase in the scammer software out there.
2. If the body makes no indication as to what the item is...
3. If the body indicates an offer to pay more than the listed price, don't be greedy

Subject
1. If the email includes the exact copy of a detailed description, it was probably copied by a bot so a subject like "D80 10MP, 17-55mm f/2.8, 70-210mm f/4" is pretty much non human typed, You may think that people copy the item name and paste it into the subject, but they don't they copy the email address to paste into their email client and sadly we have only one clipboard.

Name
1. This is a more intuitive thing, but if the name looks too random, it probably is. Remember, parent pick out names, nobody names their kid "dickey frank", and most people don't enter their name into an email app in all lower case. If you are unsure then do a white pages search, easy as that, if the person doesn't exist in your city or state, then it's a scammer.

Timing
1. if it comes in the first 5 min of posting the ad...
2. If you have multiple listings and get an email for each of them at the same time, it' not an overeager customer, it's a spammer.

Most of this stuff is common sense an you would only get sucked into it if you were (a) Really busy and not paying attention. (b)So greedy that you think that you can take advantage of your customers. If you are that busy, hire someone to sell stuff for you, and iff you are greedy, well it's time to learn your lesson, simple supply(of scammers) and demand(greed).

-peace

ps: (i'm a bit greedy(i'ts human), but i've avoided the scammers so far)