Quote Originally Posted by slartibartfast
I had a horrific experience with it last week; I placed an ad for kittens I rescued, and asked an $80 adoption fee, which includes FeLV/FIV testing, deworming, -all- vax, -and- the spay/neuter.

A guy replied to it with a sob story about how his daughter had lost her cat, his wife was hospitalized*, he couldn't afford the adoption fee, etc, etc.
I replied politely explaining that veterinary care can be expensive and that I was concerned that he would be unable to provide veterinary care should the kitten become ill or injured, but that I would consider it if he had a really good vet reference (This was at 1am on Christmas).

He replied with another more emotionally manipulative message, including a scan of his daughter's letter to Santa regarding her lost cat, followed that 15 minutes later with a message asking why I hadn't replied yet (at 2am! On Christmas!) and then at 2:30am he replied with some of the most awful obscenity and graphicly sexual hatred that I've ever read, and I'm no shrinking violet.

He followed that up by posting ads on Craigslist telling people not to buy (sic) from me because I was a scamming b***h and just in it for the money, etc, etc. He also flagged my ads for deletion and had a friend e-mail me pretending to ask for a kitten but in fact fishing for information. When I stupidly told them which vet I work for, so they could come look at the kittens, they told me I need to stop flaming the guy or they'd tell him where I worked so he and I could "work it out in person", which close enough to a threat.

It's been a total nightmare...I had a minor nervous breakdown over it and had to call in sick to work that night. Here I am with these kittens I rescued from certain death (as in, "If somebody doesn't take these, I'm euthanizing them right now")...I paid for all of their stuff myself, have housed them for the last several months, and the adoption fee I'm asking is waaaay below what I've put into them, and instead of finding homes for them I get stalked, threatened, and flagged off of the pet section.

Soooo....I guess, use at your own risk?

*I understand that people have hard times, and if he'd had a good vet reference I would have certainly considered it. In this case however, I think his tribulations were either fictitious or convenient to his goals.
I'm sorry to hear this. Last person to pull something like this on me I gladly told them my number and where I lived, and that was the end of it. Probably a stupid idea but if they really wanted to do something to me that bad, it was fine by me.
Its amazing how easy it is to act like a tough guy behind a monitor. Now acting like a tough guy and having a monitor lizard to back it up is a whole new thing