I'm all for responding to cl's ads if there is something wrong with them, but I think the best way is to when you email them is to include a link to the manufacturer's website where the instruction manual is located. That way not only do they know that your not some idiot just spouting off, but if they want they can print it off to give to whoever buys the seat so that they will have the manual and be able to use the seat correctly. I think people will be alot more inclined to listen if you back up what your saying with links to respected websites, instead of throwing out the "I'm a tech thing" which apparently everyone is doing these days.
Only some manufacturers post manuals online. Some (Dorel) make you order a manual, and you must have the model number.
okay, so i propose a challenge to the carseat.org community: let's compile our own inventory of electronic manuals for at least the seats that we ourselves have... then one person can volunteer to host them all on his or her server space, and make them freely downloadable (i'll volunteer for this). we can have a stickied thread with links to each one. then whenever someone wishes to respond to a dubious CL/ebay listing, they can provide the link to the appropriate manual (or attach it to the email). granted, some of the seats on CL are long outdated and digital manuals may not even exist, but at least we'll have a good base inventory established.
this will also benefit community members here as well... how many times has someone asked how to get a copy of a manual? if we had an inventory of them, they'd be one link away... and i'm willing to host them.
i already have pdf manuals for all my carseats (past and present), and i'm sure many members here do as well... and for those that don't, it would be a good time to do a little legwork and get them. this is not something that can be done overnight, but in the long run i could see this as a real asset to this community.
just another of my :twocents: