What sets the GoGoStand apart from other stands is that you can fold it up and keep it in your wallet. Check out the video here. The GoGoStand really is the size of a credit card and easily folds up flat to fit in your wallet. After using the stand for a while, I have to say that I really enjoy it! It would be nice to have one in the office and one for travel. I also recently flew on a plane and was constantly trying to figure out where to hold my iPhone so that I could watch a video. The GoGoStand would definitely have made the holiday flight easier. If you want to see more reviews, check out the Facebook Fan Page.

A few last points about the GoGoStand 1. It comes in multiple colors 2. It costs $4.99 ( this includes shipping!) 3. There is a 1 year warranty and 4. Watch the video before you put it together. I was very exited to get one and I put it together and then I was sitting there wondering why it didn’t work holding the phone vertically. Duh! I had it put together backwards. It is definitely not hard to figure out, but it works better when you have it put together the right way!

Dean Liou, the creator of the GoGoStand, was gracious enough to answer some questions for us. (Thanks for your time Dean!) Here’s the interview:

Q: How did you come up with the idea of the GoGoStand?
A: Sometime back in September 2008, I came up with the idea for the iPhone Paper Clip Stand (youtube it!). It was created out of necessity. What made it so great was that it was FREE (love that word). What made it NOT so great was that you couldn’t really take it with you in a pocket or purse without a) messing it up b) it messing you up or c) both. So a few weeks later, I came up with a prototype design of the GoGoStand. Lots of grocery store club cards and expired credit cards were cut up and sacrificed in the pursuit of the perfect design. I believe that the GoGoStand is the best and simplest use given the constraints I set for myself. (must be plastic, must be size of credit card).

Q: Are there any variations in the works – different material or models?
A: Yes! In the very near future, a Christmas print designed GoGoStand will be available. I’m also searching for a cheaper, thinner material for GoGoStands so they can be sold in bulk for use as business cards and tradeshow giveaways.

Q: What do you consider the best feature of the GoGoStand?
A: The GoGoStand’s best feature is what I worked hardest on: Making it simple and sturdy (ok, that’s 2 features). In the process of designing the GoGoStand, I came up with LOTS of designs. Some required origami skills, others required house-of-cards-balancing acts. GoGoStand in its final form today is SIMPLE and that’s what I think makes it so great. Once someone sees the GoGoStand set up, they just “get it.” Some criticize that the $4.99 price tag is too steep. I’ve seen people commenting online, “$5 for that piece of plastic? I can cut that out myself with an xacto knife.” That’s totally true; you COULD cut that out yourself. However, it’s important to realize that the GoGoStand’s design didn’t just appear out of thin air and that it took a lot of thought, experimentation and starting over and over to get to this point.

Q: How does it perform on a plane? Does turbulence knock it over and if so have you found a remedy for this?
A: The GoGoStand passes with “flying” colors (groan). Unless the plane performs an airshow maneuver, the GoGoStand will pretty much stay put. It might slide around a bit, but it’s not going to keel over when you’re watching a movie in landscape mode on a bumpy plane ride. We could have some sort of rubber feet embedded in the GoGoStand to prevent sliding around, but then it wouldn’t be as easy to slip in and out of the credit card slot in your wallet. It’d be a nice addition, but would also raise manufacturing costs.

Q: What is the expected life for a GoGoStand? Does the plastic wear out?
A: With normal use, even daily use, I expect the GoGoStand to easily outlast your AT&T wireless contract. And no, the plastic doesn’t wear out. Even though the GoGoStand is the size and shape of a credit card, the GoGoStand is not made out of the same material as a credit card. It’s made of different, more flexible plastic. It’s not brittle like credit card plastic and doesn’t easily tear or crack. I guarantee the GoGoStand’s durability for 1 year. If it breaks within a year of your purchase, send it back to me and I’ll replace it free of charge.

Q: What are your favorite travel gadgets?
A: Other than the GoGoStand, right?
1. My iPhone. Last time we went on a trip, I didn’t bother bringing my laptop.
2. My pocket camera. Panasonic TZ-5 (also used to record the GoGoStand videos for youtube). Ok, it’s no DSLR (don’t own one), but it’s got a nice big lens for great low-light photos and HD video recording with autofocus while recording.
3. Bugaboo Bee baby stroller. Hmm, that’s a big gadget. This stroller sets up and breaks down in seconds, is also really easy to push around even with one hand.
4. For road trips: iPhone windshield mount. If mine broke today, I’d have a new one set up the very same night.
5. Spare contact lens cases included with the Costco 2-pack Alcon Opti-Free contact lens solution. Bear with me here; I can’t believe I almost forgot this. These spare contact lens cases are great for both me and the missus. They are water-tight and big enough to store makeup, hair gel, shaving gel, and medicines. Saves you from having to bring entire cans of product for a 3-day trip! Sure, you could pick up travel-sized products from Target, but where’s the fun in that? Just remember to label the cases with a sharpie so you don’t put shaving gel in your hair and hair gel on your face We’ve collected so many of these over the years that we have to store them in a plastic bag under the bathroom sink.

[flickr-gallery mode="search" tags="gogostand" user_id="43663040@N07"]

Netbooks, What are they?
Well, for those of you less new gadget crazed out there, a Netbook is a lightweight, small form-factor, less than full featured, & cheap laptop computer. Wikipedia defines a Netbook as:

“a rapidly evolving category of small, light and inexpensive laptop computers suited for general computing and accessing web-based applications” – wikipedia

What makes a Netbook so cool?
Well, I suppose that depends on the person using them… but from our perspective it’s the fact that they are a perfect complement to you full featured Laptop or Desktop machine that you have at home. Additionally they have all the features you want while traveling to the great state of Arizona! Specifically our favorite features are as follows:

1. Super fast boot up and wake from sleep: Have you ever sat their waiting for your laptop or desktop to come out of sleep mode or boot up? Of course you have! Well you don’t have that problem with the Netbooks they wake from sleep almost instantly and depending on the operating system and type of hard drive you have they boot up very fast.
2. Most (but not all) come with Solid State Hard drives: In layman’s terms these things are pretty durable! There’s no moving parts to the solid state hard drives so there’s a lot less likelihood of that hard drive you just upload all your days photos to crashing because you’re traveling so much and that hard drive is bouncing all over the place.
3. Built in video cameras & microphones: Most (but again not all) have built in video cameras and come pre-loaded with software that lets you do on the fly video chats with family or friends back home. It also allows you to quickly take fun snapshots or record video journals of your trip. Some of our favorite software for video conferencing is Google Talk and Skype.
4. The form factor: These things are just the right size for Traveling (like to the great state of Arizona) with! They are typically about 3lbs and have a 9 inch screen.
5. Battery Life: Some models advertise 9 straight hours of continuous use before you have to charge them up again!

Why don’t I already have one of these fantastic machines!

Well, they are a relatively new category of computing machine. They’ve really only been on the scene for about 3 years. Additionally they don’t do everything you want or could do with a full featured desktop machine. They simply don’t have the kind of horse power under the hood that you need. These machines are designed to consume very little power but the tradeoff there is the amount of computing power you have available to you. Specifically the things that you can’t do that most buyers have a use for are as follows:

1. Play graphic intese video games.
2. Stream and view HD Video.
3. Use other client based software that is CPU intensive like editing videos, editing photos, running multiple applications at once.
4. Anything you need a built in CD/DVD ROM device for… um these things don’t have one.

Where can I get one and how much do they cost?

As to where you can get one well… just about anywhere! They sell these things at Target, Walmart, Bestbuy, and just bout every online store! We recommend a tried and true purchase online with Amazon.com to find the best deals with a trusted source. You can expect to spend between $200 and $500 on one.

Why are you talking about NetBooks on a site like iTourAZ? What does this have to do with Arizona?
That’s an excellent question! Our answer here is that we suspect if you live in Arizona you’ll be doing some amount of traveling over the holidays that are coming up…. if you don’t live in Arizona and are checking out this site it’s likely that you’ll soon be taking a trip to our beloved Arizona and this is the perfect travel companion for that trip of yours!

What makes it a perfect travel companion?
Well, lots of the things we stated up above in this article… but… if we had to break it down into a list for you it would look something like this:

1. You don’t want to lose those photos do you? With a Netbook you can easily transfer the pictures you take each day onto your netbook for quick simple editing like cropping but more importantly you can use the built in wireless connection to upload to your favorite photo sharing and archiving site (ours is Flickr). This also keeps you from filling up that memory card right before the “oh so perfect” shot materializes!
2. Blogging!!! Using your netbook you can easily journal your entire trip as you are taking the trip and share with friends and family in near real time how your adventure at the Grand Canyon, Sedona, or the Cards game is playing out.
3. Video Chat! Trying to keep in touch with mom and dad … or the kids if you’re brave enough to leave them home along and want to keep a tab on them and the “No house parties” situation. These Netbooks are just perfect for that!
4. Quick access to Google each night: If you’re traveling and want quick access to Google to get directions, updates on traffic, read up on your tourist destinations for the next day, or shoot off some emails to friends and family this device is just perfect for that!

Are there any particular machines you recommend?

Absolutely! We really like anything that ASUS makes they seem to have the best value for the money! We are currently particularly enamored with the latest offering from ASUS: It’s called the ASUS Eee PC T91MT Tablet and its’ fantastic! This little gem of a Netbook weighs only 2.2 lbs and features a multi-touch (think iPhone) swiveling screen, a gig of ram, and 32GBs of Solid State Drive goodness! ASUS also gives you 500GBs of online storage (think a constantly backed up hard drive in the sky). You get all of this for $532 shipped to your door in two days if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber! You can also check out this great LifeHacker post on the 5 best Netbooks topic. There’s lots of other ASUS Eee PC’s out there. We’ve listed a few here for you to browse through:

Good luck on finding the yourself that perfect Netbook! Hit us up in the comments and let us know your favorite thing about Netbooks or if you have any questions we can help answer! Also be sure to check out our Black Friday posts for some fantastic deals on Netbooks!

Here are some of the companies in Arizona and around the country with the best deals…

Kmart: Yeah I know,  are they still around? Yes you can find a couple here in Phoenix. I am assuming they are on the comeback trail, so this black Friday should prove to be good. They have even gone as far as to rename it “Blue Friday” in honor of the once famous blue light special….I guess!

Old Navy: This staple of cheapness will try to out do themselves for sure. They are already the home of affordable cargo shorts and the never say die approach to rugby shirts. They refuse to let trends die and will surly have some unbeatable deals. If you end up with the same rugby shirt you had in high school…don’t say I didn’t worn you!

Wal-Mart: Ole Sam Walton is probably turning in the grave in anticipation of this years Black Friday. He epitomized the idea of pre-black Friday. Once gunning with the motto “name-brands at low prices” to his brilliance of inventory turn, Wal-Mart will not be undersold! Well, whatever, Wal-mart will have the best deals and will definitely have them first….so get in line. Also, for entertainment value, and I am sure this is going to be true, keep an eye out for priceless pic’s for peopleofwalmart.com

Best Buy: There is split opinion at iTourAz about this one. You say best buy, I say NOT! either way, they will be slashing some prices and will have some really great deals online. For example, using PayPal to get $20 cash back on $100 purchases.  And since NOTHING at best buy is less than $100 you are sure to get that deal. They are also boasting a No Shipping, No Waiting offer that will allow you to buy online, have it shipped to the store, and pick it up without waiting in line. Maybe Wal-mart should employ that strategy. There must be some fire code being broken there.

Sears: The creature of the online hoopla. The leaked ad that is destined for your newspapers began the insanity we call black Friday 2009. Why is it called black Friday? Lets just say it involves death, suits, sales, and corporate shenanigans. All very fitting I would say. But Sears will prove to be the very best deal of the year on the necessary tech bargains such as TV’s, Cameras, and DVD players so don’t miss out.

Kohl’s: The Grand Daddy of them all. Phoenix, Arizona’s Finest! This is hands down iTourAz’s Go-To Black Friday experience. They too have caught the online bug and will be offering some major online pre-black Friday gifts, with a buy one get  one free coupon to kick it off. We will be online and in person at Kohl’s this year, like usual.  The group with the walkie talkies and the over filled carts is us. Feel free to say Hi!

For a complete guide to Pre-Black Friday. Although mostly online you can definitely find in store deals  all over Arizona. Remember, Shop with Caution….and buy American!

Ok…..here is the story of black Friday. Did you really think I would leave you hanging? Black Friday Origin

Family fun: Out door water pad and restrooms right next door for easy access.  Comfortable and trendy outdoor seating with many places to get snacks and drinks.

Shopping:  What is there to say… Barnes and Noble, Victoria’s Secret, Gap, Aeropostale, Target, Ross, Ulta And much…much more!

Eating: California Pizza Kitchen, Dave and Busters, and lots of trendy little cafe’s.

The environment is truly relaxing and fun!  At night there are bands and lots of good music.  As well as a stage with a huge screen playing music video’s.

You can’t buy this one online at Costco.com, instead you have to head into your local store here in AZ

(Not living in the AZ? Don’t have a Costco membership?… Well, you can also buy it on Amazon).

Man I love Halloween in Arizona!

Indoor / Outdoor Halloween Bat with eight foot wingspan - 27.99 at your local Costco

1. Giant Spider web with Prey – I bet that would scare some kiddos…especially if you add a little fog!

2.       Electric Chair – No Kidding!  This thing would spook me if I saw it at a Halloween party.  I wonder if they leave this thing in their living room all year round.

3.       phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/for/1370853118.html”>Pumpkin Chiminea – This would be nice to have while you were handing out candy…well only if it gets cold enough this year.

4.       Guillotine & Coffin – This is pretty cool stuff!  It looks real enough to me.

5.       Pumpkin Fairy Costume – This has to be the cutest thing I have ever seen!  If I had a girl, I would buy it!

6.       Halloween Cakes – Theses are some sweet cakes!

7.       Chucky Dolls – These are pretty expensive to just have around at Halloween…but some people might like them as house decorations, maybe the Adams Family next door.  They would be pretty cool for a scary party though.  I think they would give me nightmares, if I knew they were in the house.

8.      Scary Masks – These one will give any kid nightmares…

9.      Pet Pumpkin Costume – I admit that I have dressed my dogs up for Halloween before, but I never thought that a rocking horse would have to be submitted to the shame that dogs are at Halloween.

10.     7 ft Knight in Armor – This is awesome!  I would consider leaving this up all year round to spook everyone that passes in the hallway.

Here are a few of the goofiest costumes that I have seen on craigslist:

Unusual Skeleton Costume – This one is a cross between a little school boy and the state puff marshmallow man.  Very original…to say the least.

Couples Costume – Bun in the oven and the Baker.  This is pretty silly!  I would go to this website if you are looking for better themed couples costumes.

Okay maybe I have a weird obsession. Yet, if you are an avid golfer, a professional, or simply respect the sport enough to wonder what all the hype is about, a trip to the chandler Golfsmith is a must. The building is huge, they have a section dedicated to gently used clubs they took on trade. As you enter the store, the wall to the left is completely filled with new sets. These golf club sets are hanging on a wall that is about 50 feet long.  Also along that wall is an ocean of racks housing every wedge and driver imaginable. It is truly a spectacle to see all that golf equipment in one building. There is every driver a person can imagine in every loft, length and shaft strength you could ever need. All of this is nicely covering about 1/5th of the store. Down the middle of the  store they have racks with the more intricate details such as golf balls, gloves, tees, and some training devices. To the right of the store upon entrance is the clothing section. This is a regular Dillard’s shopping center. Every name brand shirt, hat, shoes, and pants. If you can’t find it there, you don’t need it. If you are able to make it past any of this, which is difficult, believe me. You will be lucky enough to make it to the really good stuff.

Situate directly in the middle of the store is a synthetic putting green. This isn’t just any putting green. There is a small wall around it and it is completely jammed with putters. Every inch of the wall is putters. Honestly there could be up to 500 putters there. They should do a promotion, whoever guesses the closest gets 50% off one of those putters or something…..just saying.

Directly past that lovely meadow is the golf club building and repair. This is the place I spend the most time. I have been there so much they have let me come back and look at their shop setup. Last time I was there, I couldn’t seem to find anyone to help me, and I almost went back and got the shafts by myself. I can’t count how many times I have chimed in when a customer is asking questions as if I work there….Oops! They truly know what they are talking about there and it is fun, and enlightening every time I go.

Directly behind that is a place you could get lost for hours. They were nice enough to put up 5 hitting bays and an unlimited amount of golf clubs and golf balls. Seriously, you could hit back there all day. Its like a free driving range with any club you want..they won’t even kick you out…trust me I know. If you see a club you feel you just have to hit, they will put some protective tape on it and let you swing away…of course, you break it you buy it.

Just to the right of the hitting bays is the newest addition to the Golfsmith world. Although it has been with Golfsmith a few years now, it is relatively new to the company as a whole. It is called golftec. It is Golfsmith’s state of the art lesson and fitting facility. They use video cameras, and computers to monitor your swing. It is a video lesson and fitting all in one. I have personally had a video lesson and I will say it is the most amazing swing changing event a person can go through if they are into golf. First, it will keep you humble. Seeing your set-up and swing on video is like hearing yourself sing outside of the car…..painful! But once you get past the initial shock, it is amazing how the visual approach, of looking at yourself from the outside, will give so much insight. It is well worth it if you have the time.

Just around the corner from that is their tennis section. This day was the first time I have ever been near it. Tennis just isn’t my game I guess. But it sure seemed well stocked. They even had a practice area there as well. I suppose it would be to try out the racket?? All I see was a guaranteed injury. I was a little confused by this, as you can see the cage isn’t very big, hardly enough room to swing a racket……so your guess is as good as mine.

This is a place that anyone can enjoy at least once. It truly is an amazing place. Even for the non-golfers, a person could find themselves wandering around this Golfsmith for a long time. And if you get bored pick up a putter, or driver, or tennis racket and swing away….its free!

That’s a lot of balls!

Parking Garage – Yes, I know that it sounds kind of lame, but not all the malls in Arizona have parking garages.  Parking can be a nightmare if you are going to Chandler Fashion Center or Arizona Mills.  I think all malls should have a parking garage, especially when it is over 110 outside.

Food Selection – I was impressed that they had Pita Jungle in the food court, but I opted for Panda instead since there was a shorter line.

Entertainment – There is a movie theater, water fountain, spa and good people watching.

Store Selection – They have a wide variety of stores, from the large anchor department stores (Dillard’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus & soon to be Barney’s of New York) to the normal mall stores (Gap & Pottery Barn) to the designer stores (Michael Kors & Louis Vuitton) to the little off the wall boutiques (iLori & Socrati) .  Here’s a link to the full listing of stores.

Directories – There are several directories…conveniently placed.  I hate going to a mall and not knowing where any of the stores are…that is the way I feel with Chandler Fashion Center and I can never find a directory when I need one, instead it ends up being a large marketing add instead of a directory.

As I mentioned before, the Scottsdale Fashion Square is going through an expansion right now.  They will be complete with the new wing on October 15th adding another 30 stores, including Barney’s of New York.  If you end up on the East end of the mall, you will see that the tiling is being redone and there is a bunch of caution tape.  There were no hassles getting around it though.  I don’t visit this mall that often, but I will probably check out the finished product after the Grand Opening.  Happy Shopping!

Craigslist.org is now the worlds largest online classifieds. They are actually the worlds most used classifieds ever known. This phenomenon known as craigslist has been around since 1995. Started by a fella named Craig Newmark in the San Francisco Bay area. It now spans approximately 570 cities and

50 countries. Here are a few statistics to better understand the mammoth we know as craigslist.

• 570 cities worldwide
• 50 countries worldwide
• Only 29 Staff Members
• 20 billion page views per month
• 50 million unique visitors per month
• They receive over 1 million new job postings per month
• The theory at craigslist is to give the people a voice, and a sense of community trust.

One of the most popular sites in the world is to be run by the people for the people. They don’t disclose revenue formally, they don’t offer banner advertising or PPC, and only charge for job postings in a select amount of cities. They  once explained their drive for maximizing profits as “we have little interest in maximizing profit, instead preferring to help users find cars, apartments, jobs, and dates.” A brilliant strategy that appears to be working on many levels. Although they are tight lipped about finances at craigslist, there are reports of revenues in the $150 million mark in 2007. That’s impressive considering they only take money from roughly  2% of the cities they are in.

With all of this “self governing” it is obvious that some dishonest people are using craigslist to prey on the innocent, who are simply looking for a deal. One person’s trash is another persons treasure and many scam artists know that. Also, considering the site has not been technically upgraded since its inception, poses some safety issues. We have all heard the stories of scam artists, and worse, some more gruesome crimes associated with craigslist. We all know it exists, yet in the spirit of America, we continue to support this site in an attempt to find that one unbelievable deal. The “too good to be true moment.”

After using phoenix craigslist and buying and selling online through eBay I thought I could shed some light on things that I have found to work. Name a few scams and how they work, as well as things to look for, and use to make the craigslist experience a good one. First we can start with Scams. Craigslist does have an entire page  on how to handle would-be scammers as well as giving some basics on recognizing craigslist scams. They also give real examples of scams.

Offering to Pay With Cashiers Check

Many times in many situations a person will offer to buy your item, or rent your apartment or house sight unseen. They will claim they are very excited and sometimes will ask you to take the item off of craigslist to ensure they are serious. They will then announce plans to pay by cashiers check, and sometimes claim to have a local buyer that can pick up the item. They tell you they accidentally made the check to large, and would be willing to give you some of the extra money if you would be willing to cash it and send the remaining  back. Lets be clear here. The ONLY way to be safe is to deal in CASH and LOCALLY. But we can get to that in a minute.   More than likely the account numbers on the check are stolen from somewhere and the check itself is fraudulent. Meaning they probably printed the cashiers check themselves. Although the account number is real, the funds do not belong to the person sending the check. In the end the check will come back as fraud and you will be liable for cashing it. Then the person you sent it to will be nowhere to be found. Not only do you have to pay back all the money, which sometimes is a hefty amount, but also may have criminal charges brought upon you.

Using An Escrow Account

Often when dealing with large transactions like cars or very expensive furniture a common scam develops. Phoenix craigslist is notorious for this one. First, it is likely they will tell you a sob story or claim to be in the military over seas and can not be around to handle the transaction. To sweeten the deal they claim the government is helping them ship the furniture or car for free so you have no shipping costs. To further sweeten the deal they  claim they will only use an escrow service to handle the transaction. This is where the scam is. Although using an escrow service such as eBay or escrow.com are often very safe, if you receive a fake email pretending to be them, it is not safe. So basically the scam starts by making a decent report with you as the buyer, by exchanging emails and some personal information.  All along insisting on using an escrow account for your safety. After they have gained a little trust they will send you an email link, or page that is similar to the “real” page an escrow service would send you. However, it will not be an official email. It will take your information and send it to another bank account. They can then get you one of two ways, or both. If you send the money to the escrow account using their email or link they sent you, usually the money is instantly gone. They take the money and run because it is not actually being sent to a secure account. Most likely to their personal account of some sort. Secondly, if you don’t send money right away, or the deal falls through, chances are the email or link has a keystroke generator or cookie stealing script that will allow the scammer to get your personal information. This day in age, simply getting one or two passwords is enough to do some serious damage.

A Job Scam

A common job scam uses the front of a foreign company offering “account representative” positions in which they are operating in many different currencies. Therefore, they need someone to help deposit payroll and distribute payments. They will claim they are unable to receive the money directly and ask you to deposit the money, take a huge commission and wire the money to them. Again, any money wiring for craigslist purposes is just asking for trouble.

A Housing Scam

I read about this one, and still, it is astonishing that it works! This is the easiest scam out there. Basically a person will list a house, apartment, or timeshare for rent. They will provide a real address and real information about this particular property. They then demand their money up front. The kicker here is that the actual property does not exist for rent. It only works on people who are not in the same city,  and apparently  there is an enormous amount of people looking online for rentals in other cities. They take the money, and often “rent” the same property up to 20 times. I read an account where a person put a house, that he had absolutely no affiliation to,  for rent online for $1000 a month. Took 1/2 of the rent upfront from 30 people before he left town.  That’s $15000 this person scammed. The article went on to say he has done it more than once and the scammer was explaining how easy it was. I would like to add a personal note here. I have rented out a timeshare that I own using Phoenix craigslist. The first person who contacted me sent me  1/2 the rent within the first week of talking to them. basically one email.  The only source of reference they had was a website address I placed on the the ad, and the word of someone in a state 12 hours away. It was actually unnerving on my end to witness such trust for someone they don’t know. So I can see how this could work. Just a piece of advice here,  looking into and researching things can go along way. And NEVER follow all of the sellers rules, always ask questions and err on the side of caution. This person that rented from me has no idea if I truly own or who I am, or if that is truly my address she sent the money to.

Things To Look For

There are many things to look at in a posted ad on craigslist that might tip you off, or raise some flags. The most important for me is gut feeling. If it suspect  it probably is. Trust yourself and your feelings. Second, if its too good to be true it probably is. Here is a list of things I look for when dealing online.

• Spelling is a major issue. Many spam ad generators, and overseas scammers have terrible spelling and grammar.
• Check the information in the ad to have relevant and up to date information. If they are selling a car with pictures. Make sure the backgrounds of the pictures appear to have the landscaping native to the area they are selling from. Example: if selling a car on phoenix craigslist and the background is Victorian houses and weeping willows…..maybe second guess that one.
• There are many car scams on Craigslist, so it might be easier to look for dealerships like the Nissan of Peoria dealership, so you can be assured you’re not a victim of a scam.
• Anyone that leaves a phone number or personal information in their ad is usually legit. If they are not afraid to talk to you there is a higher chance of the transaction being real.
• A story that makes sense. Use some logic and avoid anything “free” to sweeten a deal. (i.e. free shipping of anything.)
• Never meet at your own house. Always meet in public place
  • Tell a friend or family member what you are doing
  • Always have a cell phone along
  • Ty to take a friend with you
• If anyone ever asks for your full information. Requesting Name, Address, Phone #, Email etc. Is potentially a scam
• Always remember craigslist has very basic functionality. Virus and spyware can happen. Always Trust your instincts.

Craigslist can be a beautiful thing if handled correctly. Especially the phoenix craigslist. I am officially deeming Phoenix Arizona as the unofficial home of the barter. Unfortunately there will always be someone out there who is willing to prey on the honest. From experience, many great things can be done on craigslist by being fair and understanding fair market value of what you are selling. Remember to always trust your gut feeling and remember the golden rule…..Yes the golden rule you learned in kindergarten. Lastly, the true way to tell if the transaction was a good one, look for an unsolicited fist bump or high five. or any final references such as “sweeeet…pound it” “up top” “yes!…give me some skin” or any sort of dancing…….. That my friends is success!

• Gen 1 iPhone – $220
• Old 27” CRT TV – $50
• Amoir – $100
• Moto HT820 Headphones – $25
• Microsoft Wireless Keyboard – $20

I sold all of that in 2 days with out any listing fees, and with out any hassles from Nigerian Scams!  Though I did have quite a few emails from people offering to pay me on average $100 more than I was listing the item for.  These are blatantly scams.  The best way to not get scammed is to make sure that people meet you in person or have them call you right away.  A lot of the phishing scams try to go back and forth with you a bit over email first to build rapport.  Instead of letting them try to hook you over email just have a short canned response: “Yes, the item is still available if you’re interested please call 602.903.5153.”

The other thing that has been crazy listing on Craig’s List of the last week that I haven’t noticed in the past few years that I’ve listed stuff (I generally list every time about to move or do some spring cleaning) is that people automatically assume the number you’ve listed is a mobile number. 

So they send you text messages. This is fantastic from the standpoint that it makes it easy to do a transaction and go back and forth with folks on price.    The downside to this is the aforementioned 3am text messages that you occasionally get.  I would highly recommend getting a Google Voice account and using that to list your phone number and hence get your text messages for your Craig’s List postings.

Anywho, that’s the skinny on Craig’s List from my perspective feel free to leave comments!!