I think anybody who has dealt with Craigslist is going to assume, by default, that the people they are going to run across are flakes...because that term applies quite well in the majority of cases.
When we bought our vacation condo, it contained a number of small and old beds that we just wanted gone. The wife placed a Craigslist ad describing them accurately and offering them free for the taking, and there was immediate interest...I don't know how many times she drove up there to meet people only to be shown up with some lame excuse like, "Oh, that was too far for me to drive!" Some folks finally showed up on a weekend we were all up there to have fun, and they were actually really nice folks who had limited resources and a sudden need for beds due to a family emergency. Thing was, they didn't seem to have thought in advance about how they were going to take the beds with them...they were driving a tiny Toyota sedan. They seemed to be hinting that I should transport them in my little SUV, and I told them I would donate the string to tie them onto their vehicle. I'm sure those folks got pulled over at least once on the long drive home. I think they took two and I can't remember how we got rid of the third, but the whole process took over a year...I told the wife over and over that we had to just take them to the dump and pay the $$$ to dispose of them, but she just wouldn't listen.
She had also learned that it made excellent business sense to advertise her garage sales (which I despised) on Craigslist ahead of time to increase foot traffic, and she made a point to mention particular big-ticket items that might draw interest and that people would need to have substantial cash on hand to buy. One item she was selling was a very nice child's bike trailer/sports stroller that our daughter had outgrown, and somebody contacted her asking if they could come 5-10 minutes before the "official" opening to get a first look at it. My wife said fine, and then 3-4 people showed up an HOUR before the sale started. One of them pointed at the trailer/stroller and said he had asked to see it early and he liked it. He then said she had also promised to sell it for $25 ($200 tag on it)! My wife laughed, and the guy started getting chippy with her...I had to amble over and ask why he was yelling at my wife in our garage. Of course, this wasn't the guy who had gotten in touch with her, he was just fishing...the other person never showed up.
I've found you really just need to assume the worst on Craigslist...I wanted to try ski racing a while ago and found that my old intermediate rec skis I brought down from our condo just didn't cut it on the sheer ice of the local NASTAR run. I found a guy selling used slalom skis of an appropriate size and we met in a parking lot, they were well used but seemed solid enough (a coworker who worked race courses on weekends helped me out here). I probably overpaid a bit because I needed them soon and immediately ran them down to a nearby ski shop to get them sized for my boots and have them do a torque test...failed the latter miserably, one binding was just shot to the point of being dangerous. They suggested new race bindings, and I told them they were going in the trash before I spent that kind of money on them. They then put one of their techs on the phone and he told me he had parts for those old bindings in his personal stash, but it would take a 6 pack of really good beer to pry them from his hands...done.
Turned out the guy selling the skis raced the same night as me, he had been a college racer (VERY fast) and also handled tuning and repairs for his NASTAR team...he knew that binding was shot and didn't tell me. Happened to catch his eye in the lodge on a race night and he hustled the other way in a big hurry...
