a recent potential deal that fell through over nothing...

[itsalljustaride]

I cancelled because I have a low tolerance for BS

TBF, you gave your own share of BS with the, "oh wait, I also want to try it out"...

...Also, why the need to stipulate that your cash was in the cupboard? Maybe he would have been more comfortable if you told him you had the cash stored in the freezer? Or the crisper in the fridge?

 

[tpaul]

What is "fresh money" and why would anyone prefer it?

I've always heard that old money is better than new money. Not that I've had much experience with either type...

 

[tpaul]

I once traded a new Gibson SG Standard to a nice older gentlemen, for both a Gibson SG faded & a Gibson Flying V faded.

He was in his 70's & his dad, his mid 90's I believe. They lived on a farm in a small town. After about 25 minutes of chatting & jamming he said, " alright, you seem like a nice guy, I'll show you some cool stuff. He proceeded to pull out old stratocasters & Les Paul's & all kinds of vintage equipment.

After I left, I shuddered to think how the guy could have been taken advantage of easily.

Sounds like he checked you out to his satisfaction before showing you the goods. When you get to that age, your intuition about people's character is pretty finely honed... otherwise, you don't get to that age.

Besides, he probably didn't show you ALL the vintage equipment. Like the vintage shotgun, the vintage baseball bat, and ye olde German shepherd.

 

[AngusHasMoxie]

Redflag/ulterior motive to me when he insists that you both go to your bank machine and pullout "fresh money".

Possibly a setup for something further...

Yes... the "new price" as you feel something against your back.

Either they'd be burned before, or they were planning on burning you and got cold feet.

 

[tbz]

He was probably wary because of stuff like this.

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Not that complicated. If things start to feel off with CL people just get wary.

Our media pushes fear on us like the profitable drug it is. Some feel empowered by backing out of potentially dangerous situations, others feel empowered by arming themselves so they don't have to. Neither is optimal.

That aside, I had something similar to your situation happen about a year ago. Insisted to the seller I needed to test the bass and she initially got cold feet. When I put myself in her shoes it made sense. In this case the seller was a ~22 year old woman, who weighed all of maybe 95 lbs, trying to sell a $1,000 bass to a total stranger.

The eventual solution was to try the bass at a GC. GC folks honestly didn't care that we did it, and the store was essentially empty mid-day Saturday when I tested it out. Plus I've given that company enough business in the last ~20+ years that they owe me a solid or two. Despite meeting in a public place she seemed really nervous, and kept glancing around. To be honest she was so nervous I thought she was up to something, but in reality she was just young, and really worried I would steal her bass.....

Ultimately that sale went fine. She walked away with cash, I walked away with a bass.

 

[RyanOh]

I cancelled because I have a low tolerance for BS

I've done the same or sometimes I stay patient get what I wanted to buy. I had a recent craigslist experience buying a small amp where I was convinced the guy was purposefully being evasive, but later found he was very honest and only trying to protect himself. Yeah, some people are paranoid....but he doesn't know you. If you like the bass, give them another chance.

99% people I've dealt with are pretty reasonable, and nothing crazy has happened.

 

[tbz]

Again, I'm not taking advantage of a business by going inside to conduct a deal.

Not trying to push, or be too political here, but why would that bother you with Walmart?

Granted, taking a Wii into a Walmart is, as others have mentioned, just asking for a problem. They're tight on shoplifting and would assume you stole it.

In this case though, it's been proven in several studies that Walmart only is able to stay in business due to it's employees reliance on government assistance. Their FTE and PTEs need food stamps, medicare, etc. If they paid a living wage to their employees they'd still be profitable, just less so, and taxpayers wouldn't need to subsidize them.

So, man, that's the LAST company on the planet I'd feel guilty about testing a device at.

Doesn't cost them a thing regardless. So even if you disagree with the tax subsidy issue it doesn't cost them business, or employee time for you to test something there. Not sure how you'd be taking advantage of them in that case. Worst case spend $2 and buy a bag of chips on the way out.....

 

[Ellery]

I can say, I've personally witnessed myriads of things happen for no reason whatsoever.

Some things happen for a reason.

 

[Remyd]

What is "fresh money" and why would anyone prefer it?

Canadian money has a distinct maple-y odor - iirc part of an anti-counterfeit change a couple years back.

 

[DirtDog]

I've had many strangers come over to my house to buy stuff. Mind you, I live in the country so...
...there's plenty of room to bury the corpses.

"It rubs the lotion on its skin....."

 

[tpaul]

Canadian money has a distinct maple-y odor - iirc part of an anti-counterfeit change a couple years back.

So does German money smell of wurst, British money of limes, and Australian money of... um... roos?

 

[drumsnbass]

I thought Canadian money smelled of loons.

 

[Ric5]

this one bugs me.

-I find a bass that is about five hours away; the guy has it advertised on a site (not CL). I contact him and we talk on the phone. twice. I was prepared to make the drive; he says his son will be bringing it down to where I live in about ten days' time-even better.

he says it was bought new, played once, and put in the case. essentially new. full documentation. the price was more than right.

i'm really excited and figure I cant go wrong on this one.

I get a call on Monday night from the son (right on schedule), I could sense hesitation in his voice right away. we planned to meet the following day; I said "I have the cash in my cupboard". he goes on to say he wanted us to go to my bank and pull out fresh money. this will be a bit out of both of our way but he said fine and I (irritated) said ok as well. I reassured him that I was a straight up and honest guy to ease his mind.
I realized that it sounded like we were doing the deal in a neutral place (think parking lot); I told him I needed to try it out first; he said he never even thought about that. after some talk, he agreed to meet at his house (I offered my house) right after work the next day.
five minutes later he texts me back and says the transaction is delayed for a month until his dad can come down and deal with it. I already waited 10 days.
I told them both to pound sand.

for the life of me, I don't know why they were so paranoid-I mean...they are selling and I want to buy-real simple. doesn't get easier. I agreed to whatever their terms were. the fact that they brought the bass down here shows the willingness to sell. makes no sense.

it pisses me off that this one slipped away but I refuse to allow people to string you along while you kiss their butt just to get something. I refuse to give people that much power over me.

you would think that a local face to face deal would be easier, but IME-dealing on TB is far superior to this kind of crap. I think part of the reason buying/selling on here is better is that you cant flake out of an agreement once the funds are exchanged-a deal is generally a deal.

A guy a few miles from where I live was selling stuff on Craig's List ... two guys show up at his door and pull a gun and tied him up and stole stuff ... he got loose and shot one or both of them ... And I live in a pretty peaceful neighbor hood with professionals and bigger homes

So When I have somebody come to my house regarding a Craigs list sale I have my wife sit in the other room with a weapon loaded.

Some people will only meet people at a neutral location.

Sooo ... be careful with Craigs list sales.

 

[DirtDog]

Canadian money has a distinct maple-y odor - iirc part of an anti-counterfeit change a couple years back.

Man, I've been carrying pockets of that stuff for years.

Now it makes sense that everytime I walk by a Tim Horton's, the urge to buy a maple-glazed donut is almost inescapable!

 

[DirtDog]

Sooo ... be careful with Craigs list sales.

Can happen anywhere!

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[Biggbass]

red flags everywhere on this deal. I can just see the headlines...

 

[Sixgunn]

Some things happen for a reason.

Actually I meant there was no reason that I watched them happen lol.

 

[spaz21387]

I have never been robbed or had gear stolen from me through craigslist. I have bought and sold alot of gear through cl. I always do the meeting in a public place. I never have them come to my house. Usually its just another musician trying to fund their next gear purchase. As long as you are smart about it everything should be fine. But there always is a chance things could go wrong...

 

[MultiScaleMale]

A guy a few miles from where I live was selling stuff on Craig's List ... two guys show up at his door and pull a gun and tied him up and stole stuff ... he got loose and shot one or both of them ... And I live in a pretty peaceful neighbor hood with professionals and bigger homes

So When I have somebody come to my house regarding a Craigs list sale I have my wife sit in the other room with a weapon loaded.

Some people will only meet people at a neutral location.

Sooo ... be careful with Craigs list sales.

On my last CL deal, I was selling an iPhone for $150. We were meeting at a BestBuy since it was about halfway for both of us. Some things seemed slightly sketchy, so I took a knife along. No concealed carry in Maryland. The deal went okay other than they tried to pay $100 instead of $150, but after realizing that I took a knife for a $150 deal, that was the last time I did anything on CL. It's not worth it.

 

[McTred]

Fresh money for a stolen bass. Seems legit.