Quote Originally Posted by wolfy-hound View Post
I myself have listed things on craigslist before, and said something like "Please list your experience" or "No cage included" and gotten 100 replies with just a "I want it" or "Does it come with a cage?" type replies, and I just ended up deleting them. If they followed the VERY simple instructions, then I would reply, even if it was just "It's already sold, thank you for your interest!" But if they couldn't send simple information or follow the simple instruction, or request something that I state outright on the ad(can you deliver a single rat to my home 200 miles away for free? No really, I had almost a dozen emails ask this on an ad that stated exactly that I would meet ONLY within one town in a PUBLIC place, NO HOME DELIVERY!).

If it's a ad like on here, then I try to answer each one. I might delay answering emails if I'm talking to someone who is in the process of buying... in case they DO buy it or DON'T buy it, then I can continue to answer emails accurately.

Ohhh yeah, no, I'm not talking about "those" inquiries, ha ha. I have the same thing on my website for chinchillas -- please list your experience, living situation, and location. Oh, and the words "NO MAMMAL SHIPPING" in giant red letters. So I agree -- I don't always reply to "I want 2 by ur chinchilla can it live with a parakeet in the same cage i really want one plx calll me." (Okay, I made up the parakeet part ...) I've actually found that for those, NOT replying is the best option because if I try to reply I just end up offending and/or pissing them off.

I think that what I'm more querying is whether y'all think it's better to be a hair more persistent (especially with bigger companies that handle a large volume of emails and, therefore, also may get a large volume of SPAM) or whether that persistence is kind of rude. I appreciate all your replies -- and Annarose, I think maybe you're right -- much as I hate it, might be time to pick up the phone for a few inquiries.