Craigslist woes

Anyone having problems with the people of Craigslist a lot more recently? It was always a bit odd but recently......wow

Some cool cars pop up on my local Craigslist but usually they are attached to crazies. One guy thought that obo meant the figure went up from what he was asking. Another told me his jetta was in running condition and ran great.....but needed the head put back together because it threw a rod.....

Or the guy who swore his caprice had 90k miles on it and showed a pic of the odometer.....with 009670.5 miles on it

Even selling musical gear has been bad recently. Anyone else having bad luck?

Yep. They're whacked.

The level of aszhattery has gone up too. Basic questions seem to be beyond answering

This is exactly the reason I keep tripping over the lawn tractor in my garage that I cannot use on my hilly postage stamp sized current lawn. Every Spring I consider selling it, then rememberances of past Craigslist b.s. makes me pass on that idea.

BTW ... Anyone in Cinci area who is NOT a Clist loonie need a well maintained lawn tractor?!?

Last piece I had on CL was a V-twin air compressor pump. Told the guy 'no trades' before he even showed up.

Showed up anyway and wanted to trade a 1.5T come-a-long admittedly stolen from his workplace, didn't even clean the mud off or oil the chain. WTF

Sorry to hear that, I have had nothing but good luck. The last thing I sold was an outdoor playset that a co-worker gave to me for nothing. They go for about $100 on CL, so I listed it for $50 to give someone a deal. (I would have listed it for free, but I assume someone would have grabbed it and re-sold it.)

A nice guy came right over and had two little girls in the truck bouncing up and down with excitement. I told him to keep his money and enjoy it, he clearly was not a scammer.

I am with Pinchvalve on this one, the last few item have sold without much fuss, still getting low ball offers but nothing really crazy. Want to see full crazy try selling a used dirt bike or four wheeler. JesuesmotherofGod!

ive had much better luck selling then buying.

I'll trade you my Xbox for your car. Just needs a power button to function perfect.

Robbie wrote: I'll trade you my Xbox for your car. Just needs a power button to function perfect.

Lol, yeah. There used to be a guy that cut and pasted to every musical instrument ad all he had to trade.

It was a bike without tires. Cabelas boots only worn one year. A toaster oven and a few other things

When selling I tend to put a lot of all caps warnings in my CL postings, usually added as stupid questions come in, but for a car I'll generally start with something like "WILL TRADE FOR CASH, QUESTIONS ANSWERED WITHIN THE LISTING WILL BE RIDICULED" and so on. Seems to work well enough.

Buying, you've just gotta have an eye for the crazies and decide if the item in question is worth the hassle.

Around here, sleazy small-time dealers have pretty much taken over the cars "For Sale By Owner" section. Photos of cars with dealer tags or no tags, some with car lot signs, or parked in a hotel parking lot or along a random street, make/model listings that don't match the photos, six postings of the same car, and those ever-amusing stories, "It's my daily driver so mileage may go up" or "was owned by elderly woman". If they are lying about not being dealers, why would you believe anything they say about the car?

Not to say perusing CL isn't still fun though...

Just dealt with some loony the other day. Last weekend I called him about a WJ Grand Cherokee he had. First, he's one of those people that doesn't answer his phone and doesn't have voicemail set up. Strike One. Finally he calls back and tells us that he still has it, but likes it so much that he has decided to keep it for himself. Strike Two, take the damn ad down then. So, he tells us that he has another WJ coming up from Long Island and we can see that next weekend.

Saturday morning call the guy and wait for him to call back, because, surprise, he didn't answer. He tells us that he has it but he has to work. He'll be out of work at 3:00PM, so call him then to look at it, and he should be home by 3:30. Failed to get the address from him but the craigslist map gives a rough idea of where he is. Okay. Had something going on in the evening and it was an hour drive, so decided to head out there at 2:30 and get in the general area. Call at 3:00, no answer. Find a parking lot and wait. Call at 3:30. No answer. Proceed to call every 15 minutes until 4:30. He finally calls back and says he has to work extra, can we wait a few hours. No. Tell him we are already in the area, just give us the address so we can go look it over at least, to see if it is worth wasting more time. He says he doesn't want to give us the address. Then asks if we can come out the next morning before he goes to work. Uhh, that's Easter morning, hell no, got stuff going on. Told him he had wasted enough of my time and left. Back to square zero.

Saw a 2005 SRT-4 with 89k for $72k...I checked, she accidentally added 1 too many zeros.

I've had good luck lately. Put up my 93 full size Blazer POS. It sold within 2 hours for $140 profit.

This thread is why I'm still sitting on my rx7.

I've had great to horrendous experiences. I sell a lot of stuff so most of mine come as a seller.

The ones that pissed me off the most was the "I want a new car for $2000" people. "Have you seen the condition of this weatherstripping?????" And "Oh dear Lord, is that a door ding?????"

Had one old man Miata driver come look at my Miata. Told him about all of the maintenance I did to the car which involved, clutch, TB, WP, suspension, and a host of other stuff. Looked at me stone faced and said, "You must feel really stupid for putting so much work into an old car." I didn't respond to that idiot.

Been using CL for years to sell. Not like it used to be. Responding party agreed to meet me halfway between our locations (60 miles) and stood me up. That and low offers. E-mail spam seems to increase after posting ads as well.

pinchvalve wrote: A nice guy came right over and had two little girls in the truck bouncing up and down with excitement. I told him to keep his money and enjoy it, he clearly was not a scammer.

That's awesome, you are clearly a good and lucky guy.

I find it hit or miss, my neon, tons of I want it for 1/4 the asking price with out coming to see, the first guy that actually came to see it bought it, I knocked 100 off the price cause he did not wastey time with endless emails. Parting out a legacy, not going so well. The battery is the hot item right now, part # is in the ad, but tons of will it fit my car questions.

I've had pretty good luck with Craigslist. My LSx 951 sold through Craigslist much to my amazement...

Strangest CL deal for me was buying my 02 Civic Si. It was listed for about $1500 less than the going rate for similar cars with similar mileage/condition. Called and got an address and set up a time to see it. Found it street parked in DC near the ballpark and went to the address. Rang the bell and a woman pushed the key through the mail slot and said I could look at it and test drive it.

Car drove fine and we decided to buy. Didn't bother beating them up on price since it was a good deal compared to others we've seen. Brought the key back and said we want to buy - again, talking through the mail slot. Seller said cash only and we said we'd be back in an hour after going to the bank.

Came back with cash, rang the bell, fingers came from the mail slot to take money and I pushed it through. A couple minutes later the mail slot opens and the title comes out with signatures in the appropriate places along with the key. I asked if there was a second key and she said "I'll have to find it and send it to you", and I knew I'd never get a second key. But the deal was done and I went back to the street to put plates on the car and take it home. We probably spoke ten words to each other total, and I have no idea what she looks like. I never got a warm and fuzzy feeling over the whole deal but it's been a couple years and nothing's come back to haunt me, so I guess it all worked out OK.

I think they also shop at Walmart*. Fortunately there's an occasional bright person who keeps me from deciding that we're all morons.

*If you haven't, check out "peopleofwalmart.com" for some true head-shaking moments.

In reply to kb58:

WTF would you go to Walmart with no pants on?

Ive had 6 different people email and call about 2 tires I'm trying to get rid of. Begging for the tires, sob stories, then NEVER answer their phones or return a message the time they were supposed to meet. IDK about everyone else, but if I need tires, I NEED tires.

I just picked up a very well kept Buick Regal on Craiglist from an accountant who was very prompt at answering emails and the car was exactly as he described it in the ad.

OTOH, the three other Craigslist sellers I'd also emailed at the same time still have yet to write back.

Sold my C10 on Craigslist as well - it took a while and I had a few scammers or lowballers, but eventually got a buyer where everything worked out.