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Craigslist horror stories

I look a lot but have only purchased a thing or two. Many things I might be interested in are in my opinion way over priced so I don't even call or correspond. I'm not a barterer, so if reasonably priced I might be more likely to inquire. The couple things I did buy went very well. Cash is king. gobble
 
I bought and sold lots of stuff on
Craigslist but more issues selling than
buying. I get idiots wanting to trade an
Xbox and games with a can opener with 30
dollars for a truck I'm wanting to sell.
Crap like that. But buying I don't have
trouble. I will haggle prices a little but
if it's way out of my range I won't try. 20
to 100 dollars is what I'll usually haggle
down.
 
Same here. Always issues selling. People offer less than half the asking price or offer a trade for some junk even when I specifically say no trades in the ad
 
I sold a rusted/wore out Buick a few years
back. Had it "sold" on the phone 2-3 times.
Those people never even showed. Just wanted
me to hold it. Must have found something
better.
 
Bought and sold several things there. I guess any transaction from there we live to tell about is a good one ! As in the horror story of the guy in Ohio with a help wanted ad to lure people to his remote place to do them in.
 
Advertised a dirt bike years ago. Some punk came with his girl friend and just wheelied up and down the driveway then left. Never had any intention of buying it.
 
Have bought and sold lots of things on CL. Just purchased a 2013 Dodge Journey for my wife 2 weeks ago. That is the fourth vehicle we have purchased from there. Never had any problems buying but being a mechanic helps. She even had one seller offer to let her bring the vehicle home overnight as I couldn't get away to go look at it. He offered without her asking which I thought was risky on his part not knowing her from Adam. When selling we list for more than we will sell for because everyone will offer less (myself included) and it gives us room to negotiate. Sold her old suv in 6 days. Cash or cleared check before title is signed. Selling you tend to get more time wasters and scammers but still gets the item advertised to the target audience. In a bigger city I would be more cautious with meeting location and personal information.
 
Not horror stories but selling: You will get all kinds of email or texts and no shows. Buying: Guy won't respond to any calls or email etc. Or they have 10 people coming to look at it already!! I have never bought much on there and not much luck selling.
 
The best one I know was a local high school kid. He advertised a 4 -wheeler for $1500-$2000. He got a call from Atlanta. We are 3-4 hours from Atlanta! Caller tells the kid he will give asking price plus $200 if he delivers.[You know where this is going] The kid delivers and guy says he wants to road test it. Guy gets on 4-wheeler , pops a wheelie and waves goodby! The kid calls police and they tell him that the guy has done multiple people like that and there is nothing they can do. The now educated young man crys all the way back home. Thankfully he didn't get hurt.
 
There's an old saying, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Maybe your ad has a firm price. Maybe it says no trades. It doesn't hurt to ask. You may have changed your mind. You may be just saying that as a bargaining tool.

All you have to do is ignore them or politely say no.

The no-shows, tire-kickers, and time-wasters are more of a burden, but if you accept that you will encounter these people as part of the process, and don't get so gosh-darned upset about it when it happens. It baffles me how people can get so frothed up over a rather minor transgression.

The whole buying/selling thing is not for everyone. If you don't like it you don't have to participate.
 
Just make sure what you buy has been paid for! I bought a MF tractor with out checking and was not paid for, a bank took it because they had UCC filing against it for a loan to the previous owner, ahead of the guy I bought it from. $7000 gone! and no tractor.
 
I have bought a number of things off Craigslist with no problems. I also ask a lot of questions and make it clear that if its not what they
say it is I walk away.
 
(quoted from post at 11:08:14 11/28/16) Anybody got any good ones? I've never had much luck with it and have heard quite a few. What about you all???
Click to expand...

I am a CL junky...buy and sell all the time. Every once in awhile I go on a wild goose chase, but can't imagine going without it. I also use it for advertising my tractor work business...that and word of mouth is all I use. Can't beat free....
 
I guess the worst was calling on an Oliver 1650,telling him I was on my way,driving two and a half hours,finally finding the place and the guy wasn't there. His brother was though. I asked him if the tractor was there so I could look at it. He said no,it went out of there about half an hour ago. I wasn't happy,said I told his brother I was on my way! He said "Ya,he said he had two guys coming to look at it. He wondered which one would get here first.".
 
I've done very few Craigslist transactions, a little scared I guess.

Never sold anything specifically, just ran some garage sale notices.

I bought a stainless commercial sink once. Got there at the arranged time, gate locked. Called the man, best I could understand him he was about an hour away... So I come back in an hour, we dug it out of his junk pile. Guess the picture was a few years old...

Then bought a piece of I beam from a very trusting man. It was behind his shop, very nice place! He opened his shop, showed me all his toys, tools... We spent an hour just shooting the bull, like we were best friends. Guess he hasn't been burned yet!

So you just never know how it will turn out, still leery of making a big cash deal though.
 
haven't sold much but no problems with what i have.

bought a few things no problems either.

one scam i ran across was an ad for a car. looked really good and had a really good price. The price was too good so i figured it must have a million miles on it. So i inquired just to see. I think it was email.

so the lady replies and the miles are on the lower side but still over 100000. so i ask when i can look at it. she replies and asks where am i located.. and gives this story how it was her son's car and he died recently and she just wants to get rid of it. so i reply with my town and asked her how the tire were.. her next reply was how she moved to Oklahoma and has the car set up thru ebay motors (but not listed on ebay) that they will handle the transaction by delivering the car 1st, then after 10 days if i like it i pay ebay for the car and they pay her. very odd i thought.. why list the car in battle creek Michigan if you live in Oklahoma and why pay ebay to handle the transaction and not just list it thru them... and i don't think ebay even has that type of service anyway... but i didn't look... i simply replied too far away and i reported it to craigslist..

not sure how the scam would have played out... i'm guessing a deposit would have been required in there somewhere.. or COD or something... that was a new one i hadn't heard of.. takes all kinds i guess.
 
So far, I have not had any issues buying or selling. One item I sold from the farm. The rest I always make it clear that we meet in a very public place, like a police station. I get there early and go talk to the officer in charge and have them keep an eye on things. Cash only too. I have never had anyone complain about the arrangements either.
 
(quoted from post at 14:24:47 11/28/16) haven't sold much but no problems with what i have.

bought a few things no problems either.

one scam i ran across was an ad for a car. looked really good and had a really good price. The price was too good so i figured it must have a million miles on it. So i inquired just to see. I think it was email.

so the lady replies and the miles are on the lower side but still over 100000. so i ask when i can look at it. she replies and asks where am i located.. and gives this story how it was her son's car and he died recently and she just wants to get rid of it. so i reply with my town and asked her how the tire were.. her next reply was how she moved to Oklahoma and has the car set up thru ebay motors (but not listed on ebay) that they will handle the transaction by delivering the car 1st, then after 10 days if i like it i pay ebay for the car and they pay her. very odd i thought.. why list the car in battle creek Michigan if you live in Oklahoma and why pay ebay to handle the transaction and not just list it thru them... and i don't think ebay even has that type of service anyway... but i didn't look... i simply replied too far away and i reported it to craigslist..

not sure how the scam would have played out... i'm guessing a deposit would have been required in there somewhere.. or COD or something... that was a new one i hadn't heard of.. takes all kinds i guess.
Click to expand...

CL is loaded with those scams like that out here...just search for Deere or Kubota and see what pops up. I guess enough people fall for them that they are worth the effort. I did go for one Deere that I thought might be a scam last summer, but it wasn't. Turned out to be a good moneymaker for me. You just have to be smart about it....
 
They can't be as bad as these people being murdered by Craigslist people:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/01/11/think-twice-before-answering-that-ad-101-killers-have-found-
victims-on-craigslist/
Craigslist murders
 
I had something similar to that happen to
me. Except with a truck, and a motorcycle!
High school age kid both times. Told me he
could drive a stick. After ripping the
clutch at 3,000 rpm, he took off. When he
got back, he looked it over, and said he
liked it. I told him I hoped he bought it so
he could put a clutch in it, not me, after
that take off. He did buy it. The motorcycle
was a high school aged girl with her bf. She
said she could ride a motorcycle, so I let
her on it. It took her a few stalls to get
it moving, but once she was moving, she
actually shifted pretty smooth. She bought
the bike, so at least it was out of my hair.
 
It is rather annoying to wait at home
sometimes for someone to show up that ends
up not showing up when you had other things
to do, or changed your plans. Had that
happen 3 times in a week on a car I was
selling.
 
Last time I sold something I got a couple of emails from a guy who seemed to think he was a "barter king". I didn't really want to take anything in trade, much less the junk he was offering so I told him the only thing I would trade for was a top of the line mountain bike (worth twice what I was selling). Never heard from him again.
 
I have bought a few items and sold a few items on craigslist. All of the transactions have been good ones for the most part. I did have two deals that were a bit of a pain. The first was someone listed an Allis-Chalmers shop heater for $25 that worked. The seller didn't have a phone number listed so I emailed and said I would take it. I was told I was the first to email and it was mine. This was a Wednesday and I told them I would be there on Thursday night. Well I emailed mid day Thursday and asked for directions. I was told that they had offered it to someone else before they listed it and that person came and picked it up. In other words someone offered more money and left me in the dark even after I was told it was mine. The second one was I listed some pig feeders on CL and I mentioned in the ad several times that I highly prefer TEXT or email or that you can call if you don't have either form of communication as I have found it works the best for me. Well this guy calls me up and asks all sorts of questions, most of which were like "why are you selling them" and "how did they work for me" after I had told them that I had to buy a bundle of them and only needed a couple and I hadn't used them yet. Well after all of this the guy tells me he will take them and asks if I used text messages and if I could text him my address. I just had to laugh. But in the end the guy was a good person and paid in cash. So all was well.
 
The worst for me is the people who say they will be there this evening or the next morning and then never show up. I sell alot of farm equipment and will hold things for people(I have had people do that for me) but I keep every number that calls in the order that they call and often return their calls just to say the item is sold. No big problems yet but most of my deals are with farm people who are usually good to work with. Tom
 
So far my wife and I have had real good luck with both buying and selling..I find it
to be no more dangerous than putting an ad in a trader paper,newspaper, or on a radio station..
You just have to use some common sense..You are usually dealing with strangers no matter
what you are selling or buying..

Heres my best 2 deals..Two years ago I bought a one owner 2004 Grand Prix with only 68,000
miles on it..It was $1000 under book and I found the ad 10 minutes after it had been placed
in a town 50 miles away...He got over 30 calls on it..I've put 12,000 trouble free miles on it..
I'll never get a deal like that again..He knocked off $500 because the passenger side mirror had been
damaged...I found a perfect one in Arkansas for $30 and put it on myself..

My MIL's 2003 Corolla behind the Grand Prix is now for sale...At age 83 she no longer wants to drive
so it will soon go on Craigslist..

A year ago I bought this 1997 Ford F-350 with 121,000 miles from NE Texas....It has no rust anywhere..
I met the guy half way just after dark in EC Oklahoma at a police station which was the darkest place
in town..We would have been better off at Braums 4 blocks away but things went OK...I've put 5,000 miles
on the truck with only a couple of minor problems that I fixed myself..
rs5xjt.jpg

2aaivlw.jpg
 
I bought a camper 1 1/2 hour way, he was late getting where we were to meat but it s mine now. Golf cart from St Louis Mo,I told him I would be there in two hours if he would hold it, and if he could not I understood and would stay home. 2 1/2 hours later we were heading home with a good cart.
 
(quoted from post at 12:49:29 11/28/16) The best one I know was a local high school kid. He advertised a 4 -wheeler for $1500-$2000. He got a call from Atlanta. We are 3-4 hours from Atlanta! Caller tells the kid he will give asking price plus $200 if he delivers.[You know where this is going] The kid delivers and guy says he wants to road test it. Guy gets on 4-wheeler , pops a wheelie and waves goodby! The kid calls police and they tell him that the guy has done multiple people like that and there is nothing they can do. The now educated young man crys all the way back home. Thankfully he didn't get hurt.
Click to expand...

Nothing they can do? I doubt that. It's called theft and they can do something. That little tid bit there makes the story a bit suspect.

As far as the # of people murdered and that murder linked to CL? With literally millions of ads up at any one time that's well under a .01 of 1% of the population. In fact it's less than one percent of the murder rate a year! Are people ripped off? Sure. But there are armed robberies and stickups every day too having nothing to do with CL.

Rick
 
I used to sell on ebay but don't sell hardly anything there anymore. Craigslist has been very good for me. I sell almost exclusively on there and this site now. I get tons of scammers but that is part of the process. Many don't show up and don't send the check when they say they will but I meet a lot of very nice people too. Selling equipment is not for the faint of heart. It's hard work many days.
 
(quoted from post at 18:39:51 11/28/16) I bought a camper 1 1/2 hour way, he was late getting where we were to meat but it s mine now. Golf cart from St Louis Mo,I told him I would be there in two hours if he would hold it, and if he could not I understood and would stay home. 2 1/2 hours later we were heading home with a good cart.
Click to expand...

I've driven 900 miles one way to get a tractor a couple of times....have been lucky so far, and usually have a backup deal so the trip isn't a total loss. I once drove 450 miles and slept on the guys couch (with his blind cat)... I guess I should keep a diary of my escapades! Usually talking to them on the phone awhile I can tell what kind of person they are and if they will honor their word.
 
Went to look at a small aluminum boat on CL. While I was looking, two deputy sheriffs come strolling across the yard. Seems the actual owner had seen the CL ad and sent the cops. This guy says he was given the boat in exchange for helping the previous owner move to a new place. As the one cop was talking to the guy, I took the other cop aside and asked if he thought this was going to get cleared up so I could buy the boat. He smiled and said I don't think so. . .
 
(quoted from post at 19:35:42 11/28/16)
(quoted from post at 12:49:29 11/28/16) The best one I know was a local high school kid. He advertised a 4 -wheeler for $1500-$2000. He got a call from Atlanta. We are 3-4 hours from Atlanta! Caller tells the kid he will give asking price plus $200 if he delivers.[You know where this is going] The kid delivers and guy says he wants to road test it. Guy gets on 4-wheeler , pops a wheelie and waves goodby! The kid calls police and they tell him that the guy has done multiple people like that and there is nothing they can do. The now educated young man crys all the way back home. Thankfully he didn't get hurt.
Click to expand...

Nothing they can do? I doubt that. It's called theft and they can do something. That little tid bit there makes the story a bit suspect.
Click to expand...

Well, if they have no idea who the person is, how are they going to find him? The kid probably didn't get a name, or if he did it was a fake name. The thief certainly did not have them meet at his house. He zipped off on the 4-wheeler, went a couple streets over, loaded it on a truck or trailer, and was 15 miles away by the time the police arrived.
 
My biggest CL complaint is "sellers" who fail to respond when I ask if the item is still available. It seems like a simple question, and it's just plain rude to totally ignore it. I've had good luck buying used 15" tires for my utility trailers on CL. I only tow the trailers on my own property or locally -- maybe 100 miles or less a year -- and I don't need tires that cost $100 each. I also just bought a very nice John Deere 214 garden tractor with snow blower without incident. Overall, no major problems using CL as buyer or seller.
 
I have made hundreds of transactions selling things on Craigslist over the years and bought a good many too. One of my best buys was a 6" Craftsman jointer for $50,
only 5 miles from where I live way out here in the sticks. Back when I was parting out fencerow tractors I did most of my buying and a lot of the selling through
Craigslist, and ever since we got our sawmill 9 years ago I have been advertising lumber on there, and it has been the source of most of my customers. There are no-
shows, people who ask really dumb questions and so forth, but that's the human condition and it's the same everywhere, not just on CL.
Zach
 
I deal extensively on CL and the only bad experianes I have had is being too late to find an item of my dreams and they were sold. Have sold many items also with same good results. Met many fine people some who have remain in contact and become friends. I think experiences vary depending on what one is dealing in. I am mainly looking for antiques and shop tools and that is by and large a good bunch of people.
People buying or selling roach clips or dating services are another crowd entirely, LOL
 
Never sold anything on Craig's List but listed items for free and they disappear about 1/2 hour after you post them. Neighbor said people scan Craig's list all day long for free stuff to sell at their own yard sale. Easy way to get rid of stuff. Bought my side by side and chipper/shredder with no issues. Like someone said, missed a few items I thought I couldn't live without by a phone call. Always enjoy browsing though.
 
(quoted from post at 06:44:39 11/29/16)
(quoted from post at 19:35:42 11/28/16)
(quoted from post at 12:49:29 11/28/16) The best one I know was a local high school kid. He advertised a 4 -wheeler for $1500-$2000. He got a call from Atlanta. We are 3-4 hours from Atlanta! Caller tells the kid he will give asking price plus $200 if he delivers.[You know where this is going] The kid delivers and guy says he wants to road test it. Guy gets on 4-wheeler , pops a wheelie and waves goodby! The kid calls police and they tell him that the guy has done multiple people like that and there is nothing they can do. The now educated young man crys all the way back home. Thankfully he didn't get hurt.
Click to expand...

Nothing they can do? I doubt that. It's called theft and they can do something. That little tid bit there makes the story a bit suspect.
Click to expand...

Well, if they have no idea who the person is, how are they going to find him? The kid probably didn't get a name, or if he did it was a fake name. The thief certainly did not have them meet at his house. He zipped off on the 4-wheeler, went a couple streets over, loaded it on a truck or trailer, and was 15 miles away by the time the police arrived.
Click to expand...

"The kid calls police and they tell him that the guy has done multiple people like that and there is nothing they can do."

The part about the guy doing it more than once? That's the key. They either know or suspect who it is with a statement like that. Plus that's a case where the cops don't have to come to the victim. No evidence at the spot the theft occurred so the victim can simply go to the cop shop and file a report.

Why would you allow someone to test a 4 wheeler when they show up without a vehicle to get it home or at that persons home? I'm not going to meet in the middle of nowhere. And even if I did and you showed up on foot? Well I may have been born at night but not last night!

Now I'm not calling you out on this. I'm calling the kid out. Something smells! I have a hunch that the kid owes someone some money/doesn't have a clean title/something of that nature. He hides the 4 wheeler at a friends place/sold to a chop shop and claims it was stolen to try to collect on insurance or only to find out that the insurance company is going to demand a copy of the police report. Now comes the excuse that the cops won't do anything! The wheelie part just makes the story a bit better.

Rick
 
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