Hey kids, its story time, Adventures in Craigslist!!/merged!

A note to those who complain about 'lowball' offers....as a craigslist buyer and never a seller...the seller (you) rarely list the real condition of the said sold item and will often say "like new" or "never used" or "used only twice"...blah blah blah.

When I show up and see that your shiiiite is not 'all that' I am forced to make you an offer I would consider and I have cash, say "take it or leave it", and show them my SUV all ready to haul their shiiite away....never been turned away yet.....

Then again, don't take a chance...because my offers are final.

 

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I hear you, though I think the positives far outway the negatives.... and it is a free service. Its way better than the penny saver/greensheet days.

Wish CL wouldn't have given the cease and desist to jaxed though... I miss the bike mash.

 

Most sellers (myself included) contact buyers in the order in which a response was received, so if you don't hear from someone it usually means that someone else responded and purchased the item first.

 

dude, i feel your pain...check out the thread i made awhile back...

http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/pub/58581-hey-kids-its-story-time-adventures-craigslist.html

 

I've had pretty good luck with CL. This summer I sold 4 items that netted me enough to buy a new bike. It's still a PITA dealing with people who say they'll come this weekend and you never hear from them and those that lowball you without ever even seeing the item.

I still thinks it's much better than the days of a $20(?) Trader ad. CL offers better pictures and info and it's free.

 

Yep. Ebay is ridiculously overpriced and even with a thousand pages of policies, there's no real sellers protection. But while 2 out of 5 ebay auctions are a mess, I've never had a single good experience selling on Craigslist.

Searching for anything rare enough to have to resort to CL, is useless waste of time as long as they try to restrict everyone to only trading on only their most local of the million fragmented, isolated regional sites.

Janxed Mash made up for CL's shortcoming for those of us who needed it. After they killed that, they removed any practical reason to use their site.

I hope CL and ebay see a competitor who does what they both do but well, and die an efficient death.

 

The best things on CL are free.

Pretty decent place to gat laid too. :clap:

 

Sold and bought quite a lot on Craigslist. I believe in in karma. I'm always respectful of my buyers, so I have nothing but good dealings. Lowball offers, I just don't reply. One thing I will not do, though, is meet at my home address.

 

Wow, way to take ethnicity into account, I have a hard time taking someone seriously who stoop to that level.
I like craigslist and if you are not willing to haggle I do not think you should by are sell their.

 

Gypsy generally refers to a lifestyle as they can come from many different ethnicities. I'm sure someone could also be offended his using the term ghetto because while it's technically a term for an impoverished area some people might jump straight to it being racial. Ah, what a politically correct world we live in, for better or worse. Luckily it is the internet so we all can reserve the right to not take someone seriously.

As for craigslist I've mostly found sellers that don't seem to care about making a sale and friends that have used it to sell stuff mostly get buyers that try to low-ball and don't follow through when they commit to buy or meet to look at items. The biggest things that tick me off are the keyword spamming and sellers that don't bother to reply to messages. I also dislike eBay as they've historically been increasing fees to sell items and as a buyer who uses it mostly to find auto parts I can't effectively search listings anymore without getting tons of stuff I'm not looking for (due to their new "fitment" info, generic parts, etc.).

 

Clearing out unwanted items at 50 cents on the dollar on CL is conducting business?:lol: Who told you that?:lol:

 

I had "gypsys" try to pick pocket me TWICE in Italy a couple of years back. Gypsys are from various ethnicities, but primarily from Eastern Europe. The word Gypsy itself has a mysterious origin. I don't think anyone was being racist.

 

When you have a ton of $50 offers on a $150 item, it's hard not to ignore all of the lowballers.

I sold a near new extra refrigerator we had which was from our condo before we moved. I listed it for $150, and within 20 minutes I had several emails asking if I'd take $50-$75. The first guy to offer me full price, cash, and pick it up that day turned out to be a neo-Nazi or something. Dude had SS bolts (I don't think he was a single speeder), 88's, and swastikas tattooed on him. But he did give me cash!

 

Lots of bad but some good. Sold a bike Craigslist a few months ago. Guy meet me on time. Was a nice guy and didn't squeeze me on the price. It kinda restored my faith in CL.

 

So I am selling my Salsa El Kaboing on C-List and get a buyer that wants to do a test ride on a trail. I say OK and we plan to meet at local trail head here in the Sacramento area. It is a female buyer so I thought for sure she would show up with a husband, boyfriend, friend etc. I never go alone for a Craigslist transaction. She shows up alone in a BMW station wagon with $1200 cash at some remote trailhead! I couldn't believe it! Then to top it off she wants to go for a ride with me (a complete stranger) in the woods and doesn't bring a helmet, is dressed in exercise pants and Vans slip-ons and I only have cheap plastic test ride pedals on the bike. Then to top this story off...she completely rips on the trail!!! She is railing corners and bombing descents faster than I have ever done and it was all I could do to keep up her. It was actually a great ride. Now comes time to pay for bike and she pays me $1200 with rolls (the size of cigarettes) of 1's, 5's and 20's! We had to count it like 5 times and I then had to stuff the "cash bouquet" in my helmet. She is very lucky that I am a trustworthy person. If I wasn't, she could have easily become another Craigslist horror story. Craigslist Gotta Love It.

 

It sounds like you found a mountain biking stripper....

 

i've bought and sold a lot of stuff on craigslist.
- my old road bike: bought on CL for 1350, the guy had purchased it 3 months prior for 3000$; super nice guy, great bike. I sold it last month for 1000$ A lot of low ball; if you are trying to buy; don't offer less than 70% of asking price.
-ice climbing tools: bought, used for a season, then sold along with my boots for the same price i paid. no hassles, no low ball offers.
- a cruiser i had up for 100$; bought it from a buddy for 50$; one guy contacted me, bought it for 100$, and freaking loved it.
0 some old ice climbing boots and xc skiis: traded for beer. best aspect of CL; you can trade stuff with little value for beer; which has high intrinsic value.

For CL: i always meet somewhere public and always state cash only.

i've also had good luck on MTBR and ebay. paypal is much better if you are a buyer; they will back you up. i also do those purchases with credit card via paypal, so i can dispute if anything is not as stated.

 

That story sounds kinda fishy....
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With an emotional reaction like that... I really feel like I'm missing out by not banking with Wells Fargo!


These days, I really only use craigslist like a free movers service of heavy furniture that I'm finished with. If you use the FREE section, you will get 20 responses in 5 minutes from people who will do anything to take your worthless crap.

Recently, I put up a broken, scratched up, cheap (but heavy) drawer set. I specified "you need at least 2 strong adults to lift this out of my second floor room without scratching any of my walls" - had someone there 30 minutes later loading it into a truck, thanking me.