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Craigslist People Are Junk

Craigslist people:

  • Suck

    Votes: 4 33.3%

  • I am one of them

    Votes: 6 50.0%

  • Carrots

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Oatmeal

    Votes: 2 16.7%

  • Flats

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Rounds

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    12
hondo4life

hondo4life

Feb 29, 2016
2,016
8,736
CT
#1
A while back, I sold a banjo on craigslist. The buyer was really cool, showed up on time and paid the agreed price. We even talked about music and junk for a few minutes. Cool.

Lately, I've been trying to sell an acoustic guitar on craigslist. So far, 3/3 potential buyers have been complete flakes. Not just regular flakes, but low-balling, no-showing, no-calling, flakes. If you can't make it, just send an e-mail, or text. It takes what, 10 seconds? And don't ever try to low-ball me until you come look at it.

The last car I bought on craigslist overheated and spun a rod bearing up on my drive home. Buyer beware, no warranty - I get that. I took a gamble on it and lost. Fine. But the seller was a dirtbag liar.

The last truck I sold on craigslist was immediately relisted for a much higher price with a fake story about his dad passing away, and a bunch of lies about how reliable the vehicle was (it wasn't, and I fully disclosed the cracked cylinder head to the buyer).

Have you ever looked in the pets section? There are so many obvious puppy mills run by dirt bags. I just want to end these people and start a giant animal sanctuary.

It is sad, but I think craigslist people are a fairly accurate sample of the general population. Am I wrong? People suck. Old news, right?
 
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#2
Old news, alas.

I'm trying to give away an item right now. You'd think this would not be difficult, and indeed, I've had about 30 people contact me. But they can't manage to follow instructions well enough to get the thing out of here. My ad devolved into a litany of ways people failed. It was funny...but not funny.
 
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#3
I'm on a good streak with Craigslist lately. Most of it was selling specialty items (vintage truck and Harley parts), but even the cheap junk worked out fine.
I have a handful of items up now that just won't sell, not even tire kickers.
I did list an iPhone last month that sold that day. All legit. Met the person at a Sprint store, made the exchange, no issues.

-Mike
 
#5
my kid in San Fran swears by it. he even 'reports' posts. might be a different world.

my experience: as a seller, you weed them out when you text or talk to them; as a buyer, 4 out of 5 have been spot on.

now as community:musicians, well that's a whole nother thread.
 
#6
I've had mostly good luck on CL, but I'm mostly the buyer so I'm not at all surprised. What few items I've sold were sane transactions but they were not something your average crack head or scam artist would be attracted to so there is that.
 
#9
I noticed that two of the negative posts come from the Carolinas. Maybe you should say "People in my region are junk." :p Personally I've bought and sold on CL many times without issues. In fact I got a great deal on a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano from it.
 
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#10
My CL selling/buying experiences have mostly been positive, but I've had my share of frustration. I recently emailed a seller who had a bass I was interested in. They responded promptly, and I suggested making plans to meet up. Silence. After a couple days, I reached out again and asked if meeting up was still a possibility. They finally responded and said they weren't sure if they wanted to sell it. Fine, but maybe take the ad down if you aren't sure? The ad is still up, by the way. Oh well.
 
#12
Pretty much success here, with a few of the normal characters - 5 minutes after you list it lowball guy, the very interested buyer who suddenly gets cold feet and invents a reason to run away, etc. I suppose I file "Obvious Nigerian (or wherever) scammers" under "etc." But on the whole, with a reasonable amount of due caution on both sides, it has worked pretty darn well for us both buying and selling. Admittedly, not much of that has been musical, and I've seen a bunch of red flags on the musical side (ebay was actually a better deal and less sleazy for a bass, but the bass amp came from CL - no shipping.) There's plenty of chaff among those selling when we're buying, and a few flakes among those buying when we're selling, but it beats the heck out of the newspaper classifieds.

I actually prefer that lowball-boy makes his play before ever seeing it - saves me the bother of seeing him in person, because I'm not going to bite either way. Stock response is I'll get back to you in a month or so if it's still for sale - they never want it then.

Huh - posted this last night, but it's not posted and here as a draft today. Try again.
 
#15
Sometimes they are flaky in your favor.

I was looking for an instrument my daughter wanted and found one listed like new for $150 locally. Same one was on Amazon for $159 new with case and tuner. So I emailed the craigslist seller, linked to the ad, and said I could offer $110. The only reply was "no".

A week later the ad shows up again listed for $100. So I went and got it. It was in perfect condition, like new with case. And they saved me $10.
 
#17
As a buyer I have found a lot of good deals on CL. However some of what might be good deals are missed because people don't get back until days later if at all, or a few people couldn't even tell me the address or how to get there. Like I'm just supposed to know?

As a seller there have been some good friendly straight up buyers, but for the most part I have found it to be a completely miserable experience. More no shows and dump outs than anything. Then sometimes when they show up they lowball or flat out don't have any money (like why'd you come?). So much wasted phone and text and email time that I probably lost money in the end. I dread selling anything at all, but sometimes I have to in order to make ends meet.

I think that's just what you get with a free and unmonitored ad service. Far too many people don't take it seriously.
 
#18
my CL experiences have been good, but i think part of that realistic expectations. i don't get excited about a listing till i hear back from the seller, and i've only once met with someone i didn't exchange a couple emails or a phone call with. if the person doesn't feel right, i pass - but we've met with all sorts of cool people buying from us. i've bought cars via CL, but we give them the once over before we buy it. we've passed on many, but that's how it goes with cars for us whether we're at a private seller, small business or dealer. i've sold tons of cameras, guitars, fitness equipment and basses through CL, and i bought several electronic drum kit pieces via CL, all from nice people. also my ads are businesslike with accurate, well lit photos and i always list any issues or downsides in the ad, as well as links to the product and reviews.

oddly giving stuff away on CL was more challenging, partly because we were in a rush.
 
#19
pcake said:
...
oddly giving stuff away on CL was more challenging...
Click to expand...


There may be something to this. I have had good success with CL transactions in the past, both as a buyer and seller, but this little disaster is entering its second month. I thought it had to do with the brainpower of the local populace (this is my first CL attempt in my new town) and I still think this is correct, but maybe if I had put a $10 price tag on this item things would have gone differently.
 
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