Craigslist Oddities

[Linctex]

Originally Posted by bubbatime
I primed the bulb, pulled twice, and it started and ran perfect. I looked at him like he was an idiot, and he threw it in his truck and left.

You have to realize that 80% of the folks you meet are absolute morons.


I THINK YOU ARE BEING GENEROUS

 

[c502cid]

This is why I NEVER sell anything at Craigslist from my house. I always meet the people at the local Walmart. I've only had a couple of nuts from CL over the years but that was enough. I once had a guy call me 3 months after I sold some tires telling me they had a damaged sidewall and he was going to sue me.

 

[billt460]

I know sometimes it's difficult to toss used things that may have some value left in them. But in many cases, (and this is a pretty good example of one of them), is why I do it. It's just not worth the hassle and risk of dealing with people you don't know over a few lousy bucks. Like trying to sell old junk at garage sales. You end up sitting out there all day dealing with these cheap, penny pinching chiselers, who think they're doing you a favor to be there, and offer you 50 cents for something you priced at a dollar. Just so they can replace the junk they sold last week at their garage sale, with new junk from yours.

If it's still in working order, I'll just set whatever it is out front on the sidewalk with a big "FREE" sign on it. It's usually gone within in a few minutes. I remember some years back I had an old, dirty propane gas grill I replaced with a new one. I rolled it out front. About an hour after I put it out there, this woman and her daughter were trying to load it into the back of a really nice, newer mini van. Before I could get outside and give them a hand, the whole thing tipped over, spilling the old, dirty lava rock all over the back of it. They laughed, got in and drove off. Her poor husband probably ended up having to clean it all up when he got home from work.

I do the same with old TV's, patio furniture, computer monitors, and or anything else that still works. If it doesn't, I'll make a dumpster run. You never know with people today. If they think you screwed them, and know where you live, God knows what they might or might not do. It's just not worth it.

 

[billt460]

True story. A few years back I had some cheap, old steel patio furniture that was starting to leave some minor rust stains on my patio concrete. I wanted rid of it because I knew it was only going to get worse. (The set was made in China, and it started rusting after about the third or fourth time I hosed everything off). And it wasn't worth prepping and painting it, because in a year or two the same thing would happen. So we ended up buying a new, much better set made from Aluminum to replace it. My wife and I hauled the table and 4 chairs out to the front sidewalk.

Within an hour my doorbell rang. It was my neighbor down the street asking if I would help him carry it over to his house. I said sure, but first warned him why I was getting rid of it. He didn't care about the rust because he told me he was going to, "fix it up". After we got it over to his house, I went to Home Depot and bought some rust stain remover for concrete. It worked well and got most all of it off.

Fast forward about a year. He came over one morning when I was washing my car, and wanted to know how I got the rust off my concrete. I gave him what was left in the bottle. A couple of hours later the whole set was sitting in front of his house, waiting for it's next victim. In the movie "Wall Street", Gordon Gecko said, "Wealth isn't created, it's merely transferred"...... You can say much the same about junk.

 

[skyactiv]

FYI, craigslist doesn't capitalize its name if you look.
Tip, you should use a 2nd phone number app like 2ndLine or Text Free. It gives you a 2nd phone number so you can text for free and not give strangers your personal phone number.
You might need to pay a buck or watch some videos if you want to place and receive voice calls however, but texting is always free.

 

[cjcride]

I had a similar deal a couple of years ago.
Some people are scoundrels.

That said most of the interactions were fine though.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted by 2002 Maxima SE
After the sentiment to have a good evening he let loose in another text saying these are known issues after the TV is on for an hour and accusing me of fraud.

I had to block him. I've never had anything like this before.


Wow, if there are known issues, why'd he buy it?

If the harassment continues (in your face so you have to respond), tell him you're not walmart, you don't do warranties, and if he wanted one, he should have bought new. I would also mention that you already spent his money on an overdue bill and it's gone.

People this aggressive get rejected all the time, you just have to meet his threshold for knowing you're not soft.

 

[Audios]

He bought a 10 year old TV that was tested to his satisfaction that you both witnessed. If he wanted a more thorough test, he should have checked it better while you were together. Also ask him what the warranty terms were you discussed, which there is none. Or, dont buy a 10 year old tv and complain about its sharpness! 10 years ago TVs were alot worse for alot more money! This is a typical scam, if you had no identifying marks on it or recorded the serial number, then you cant play the game and say OK bring it back and well test it again to make sure it works and its the same one, and then Ill refund. Usually, they just want some sort of partial refund to get one over on you. You go out and buy a car without checking it out thoroughly, and then complain to the seller when it needs work? Dont sweat it, its not the last time youll have issues, but on the whole people are never happy with what they have and are always looking for more.

 

[spasm3]

Caveat emptor

You pays your money, you takes your chances. You did not attempt to defraud, you don't know what happened after he left with the tv. It worked there at your place.

YOU are done. Anyone upset over a craigslist deal is a fool. Everyone knows its used and there is some risk and no warranty. I would not communicate with him further.

 

[bullwinkle]

I would block his calls, emails, and texts, period. I have bought & sold on CL in the past, 99% of the time it's been fine. There's been a couple of times I bought something that ended up not quite right, but that's the way it goes, doo-doo happens!

 

[JustinH]

Here is my tip for craigslist, get a free google voice phone number and use that for transactions.

You can block easy on google voice and don't have to expose your real phone number.

You can text on google voice using gmail as well.

Also I try to meet in parking lots of grocery stores not my house. My local sheriff just setup designated areas for selling merchandise so that may be smart as well. They monitor the area with video recording, and police.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by billt460
If it's still in working order, I'll just set whatever it is out front on the sidewalk with a big "FREE" sign on it. It's usually gone within in a few minutes. I remember some years back I had an old, dirty propane gas grill I replaced with a new one. I rolled it out front. About an hour after I put it out there, this woman and her daughter were trying to load it into the back of a really nice, newer mini van. Before I could get outside and give them a hand, the whole thing tipped over, spilling the old, dirty lava rock all over the back of it. They laughed, got in and drove off. Her poor husband probably ended up having to clean it all up when he got home from work.

I do the same with old TV's, patio furniture, computer monitors, and or anything else that still works. If it doesn't, I'll make a dumpster run. You never know with people today. If they think you screwed them, and know where you live, God knows what they might or might not do. It's just not worth it.


Make sure it's far enough away from your home. I remember looking for a weber grill once just to see if there was a cheap one out there. Found an ad from one guy pleading for his weber grill back. I think he had put something else out by his house and someone came by and stole his grill in addition to whatever it was free that he put out. Never did buy one on Craigslist, people there were crazy, they wanted 75% of retail for a 10 year old grill.

 

[marine65]

I listed an old Honda beater,and I mean a beater on Craigslist.
The best thing about this car was that it ran,other then that it was a beater.
The asking price was $400.
I had a couple of people that wanted to make payments.
Of course they wanted possession and the title first.
I had so many flakes call me that I finally cut the brain damage and sold it to the salvage yard for $200.

 

[Propflux01]

I sold a set of Harley pipes to a guy one time. Met him at a gas station where he compared his 'old' pipes to the ones I was selling. Said, and I quote: "These are perfect, exactly what I was looking for". So $200 later I'm gone, he is happy---until about 4 hours later he's texting me back wanting his money back because they don't fit. I reminded him of his words and stated (as I did at the sale) that it was final. After a few cuss words on his part I told him I was sorry, but no refunds. Done and blocked.I have no remorse or regret. Nor should you with your TV issue.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by marine65
I listed an old Honda beater,and I mean a beater on Craigslist.
The best thing about this car was that it ran,other then that it was a beater.
The asking price was $400.
I had a couple of people that wanted to make payments.
Of course they wanted possession and the title first.
I had so many flakes call me that I finally cut the brain damage and sold it to the salvage yard for $200.

I know I've bought some decent stuff off CL but stuff like this keeps me to not bothering selling. Too much work, too little gain--I try to use it up and then toss it out.

My last buy, I felt bad calling the guy back. But we forgot to put down address on the bill of sale, and before altering that legal document I wanted verbal OK on it, in case the DMV got suspicious (different color ink, shakey letters, whatever). Was very apologetic about calling him on it!

 

[Elkins45]

I had a guy threaten to kill me because I sold a water heater to somebody else. That's when I stopped using my "real" email for craigslist.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Originally Posted by eljefino
Originally Posted by 2002 Maxima SE
After the sentiment to have a good evening he let loose in another text saying these are known issues after the TV is on for an hour and accusing me of fraud.

I had to block him. I've never had anything like this before.


Wow, if there are known issues, why'd he buy it?

If the harassment continues (in your face so you have to respond), tell him you're not walmart, you don't do warranties, and if he wanted one, he should have bought new. I would also mention that you already spent his money on an overdue bill and it's gone.

People this aggressive get rejected all the time, you just have to meet his threshold for knowing you're not soft.


We met at a local store and he tried to overpay (he didn't remember the price) and I told him the TV was priced less than his amount. We had to go inside to break a bill and he commented about how high quality the TV he was buying was because he had done the research. 12 hours later the research shows this TV has a lot of problems. Still miffed because the TV purchase price was seventy dollars but he's acting like he paid big money. My wife thinks he went in the store and found a deal on a TV that was not much more than my asking price and decided to make up an issue.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Originally Posted by Audios
He bought a 10 year old TV that was tested to his satisfaction that you both witnessed. If he wanted a more thorough test, he should have checked it better while you were together. Also ask him what the warranty terms were you discussed, which there is none. Or, dont buy a 10 year old tv and complain about its sharpness! 10 years ago TVs were alot worse for alot more money! This is a typical scam, if you had no identifying marks on it or recorded the serial number, then you cant play the game and say OK bring it back and well test it again to make sure it works and its the same one, and then Ill refund. Usually, they just want some sort of partial refund to get one over on you. You go out and buy a car without checking it out thoroughly, and then complain to the seller when it needs work? Dont sweat it, its not the last time youll have issues, but on the whole people are never happy with what they have and are always looking for more.


Exactly. If he hadn't emailed (I had it listed for 1 week) I was resolved to reuse it elsewhere in the house or the garage. It was a great set and had been working the whole day before I took it offline. I had thought about recording the serial numbers but did not...I'm sure I have them documented online with the vendor. At this point though, I think what you and the others are saying are right. I did list the full vendor alphanumeric model, size and feature code in the Craigslist ad. It's very possible he did a search for the same set for sale for the purpose of switching his non-working set with a working set or he had remorse that a TV in the store was on sale.

 

[DriveHard]

If its not really worth selling (car, truck, motorcycle, etc.) I just donate it to a local charity. Not worth the hassle.

 

[Gasbuggy]

Google Voice account and junk email. Mandatory. I had a guy get really nasty and start name calling via email because I decided I wasn't interested after he answered how many miles were on his truck. (He left that out of the ad of course) so I said, actually yea, how about I come over and check it out. He said no thanks. I sent him a screenshot of the map in his ad and suggested I stop by tonight? LOL [censored].