Author Topic: Buying and Selling on Craigslist  (Read 5923 times)

clarkfan1979

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Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« on: July 12, 2018, 08:27:51 AM »
We bought a baby bassinet used on Craigslist in April 2017 for $180. We just sold it yesterday for $180.

Car Jack

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2018, 11:42:06 AM »
If I listed everything I've ever bought or sold on craigslist, MMM forums would run out of room :D.  Literally thousands of things from the Yakima bike rack I sold yesterday for $10 to the Subaru Legacy GT that I sold for $13,000.  For a while when I owned a roadrace car and would get cars for spare parts, sell the parts I didn't need, then scrap for metal value, I'd be selling at least one thing every day of the week.  The fun part was that almost everyone would get to the house....exclaim "you have the whole car?" and proceed to buy 10 more things.

DreamFIRE

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2018, 01:12:56 PM »
I haven't bought anything on Craigslist in 9 years, and I have never sold anything on there.  I have sold on eBay from time to time for about 20 years, although less frequently in recent years.

I was looking at RVs last year and again more recently on Craigslist, and there are so many fake ads that are so obviously scams.  I've noticed a pattern to them - someone isn't putting much effort into making them look real.  You also have to be careful about meeting people privately for anything regarding Craigslist, even for things like job offerings.  People have been killed.

Having said that, this thread reminds me that I have a lot of crap I probably should start trying to sell off since I'm looking at a FIRE date in 2019 and may end up relocating, albeit probably not within the first year of FIRE.  The less useless shit lying around, the better.

MasterStache

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2018, 01:34:41 PM »
Always fun isn't it OP. I've purchased used workout equipment only to sell it again for the same price a year or two down the road.

Rhinodad

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2018, 02:06:36 PM »
I've bought all my gym equipment off of Craigslist. Was able to buy a concept 2 rower for $75, sold it the same day for $500, which allowed me to buy a better power rack and more olympic weights...all off of Craigslist.

HAPPYINAZ

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #5 on: July 12, 2018, 02:24:03 PM »
Does Craigslist charge any fees to buyers or sellers?  If not, how does it make money? 

DreamFIRE

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #6 on: July 12, 2018, 02:57:26 PM »
Does Craigslist charge any fees to buyers or sellers?  If not, how does it make money?

Most listings can be placed for  free, although some types of listings require a fee (I'm thinking job listings and apartments in certain areas).

ginjaninja

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2018, 03:35:03 PM »
Its like renting for free!  I am a big fan of CL.  I have also adopted the philosophy lately that if I have to borrow it more than 3 times I need to buy it.  I have bought much less stuff because I only needed it one time.

Car Jack

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2018, 07:17:58 AM »
I find that there are 2 types of people.  Some who will only use eBay because they either don't want to interact in person with strange craigslist people, or are maybe scared, and those who use craigslist and just deal with people.

I've done both.  For the most part, on eBay, between the eBay fees (even on shipping) and paypal fees, I rarely even break even.  I might as well literally throw the thing in the trash.  It would end up costing me less.  I actually have 2 nvidia big dollar graphics cards I want to get rid of and will probably either put them on craigslist or scrap them.  I expect that any eBay buyer is going to file a complaint that it doesn't work and with eBay always siding with the buyer, I've just given it away and lost the cost to ship it.

I've met craigslist people all over and never had an issue.  To my house, all the time.  At their house, many, many times.  Heck....I bought a stratocaster in a Sunoco parking lot.  I showed up with my battery belt held amp and cord to test it out, played it, made a lower offer that was accepted and bought myself a guitar.  Out of the thousands of transactions, I can't think of a single time I was killed.  I'm old and my memory isn't great, but I think I'd remember if that happened.  But I do understand if you live in a bad area or something.  Bring a friend?  I guess that wouldn't work for me as I have no friends who would put up with going with me a few times every single week someplace.

Rhinodad

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2018, 09:28:20 AM »
This is my experience as well. I also live by the mantra, if it's too good to be true, then it is. You should do research to see what similar items sell for, go through several email exchanges, google their name, look on FB/Instagram etc. In Wisconsin, we can look up the names on the Circuit Court website. And now, most cities have spots reserved at Police Stations for Craigslist sales, and if you call ahead, some may even monitor the transaction. My only bad experiences on Craigslist is when I've tried to give stuff away for free, and then people don't show up. Buying/Selling, I've only had good experiences.

DreamFIRE

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2018, 09:30:44 AM »
I can't think of a single time I was killed.  I'm old and my memory isn't great, but I think I'd remember if that happened.

Nobody gets killed buying and selling on Craiglist.... until they do.  And no one has come back here to report that they've been killed.  Only the living appear to be posting here.  Funny how that is.

It's not always about death.  Sometimes people just want to scope out your home as part of a plan to rob you later if your stuff seems worthy.  Or they might want to cut a baby from a pregnant women (true story).  Don't let your guard down, or you could become a statistic.

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2018, 04:06:10 PM »
I have sold a ton of items on CL for at least 10 years from downsizing twice etc... Also autos. I have never bought anything but always my go to when I want to sell something. I have a fridge in my garage thats going on next. Something like that I would expect to sell in a day.

clarkfan1979

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #12 on: July 13, 2018, 04:48:36 PM »
I can't think of a single time I was killed.  I'm old and my memory isn't great, but I think I'd remember if that happened.

Nobody gets killed buying and selling on Craiglist.... until they do.  And no one has come back here to report that they've been killed.  Only the living appear to be posting here.  Funny how that is.

It's not always about death.  Sometimes people just want to scope out your home as part of a plan to rob you later if your stuff seems worthy.  Or they might want to cut a baby from a pregnant women (true story).  Don't let your guard down, or you could become a statistic.

Everything in life has risk. There is no such thing as zero risk. Craigslist can take advantage of people who lack common sense. However, people who lack common sense are going to get taken in other areas of life as well.

DreamFIRE

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2018, 05:27:49 PM »
I can't think of a single time I was killed.  I'm old and my memory isn't great, but I think I'd remember if that happened.

Nobody gets killed buying and selling on Craiglist.... until they do.  And no one has come back here to report that they've been killed.  Only the living appear to be posting here.  Funny how that is.

It's not always about death.  Sometimes people just want to scope out your home as part of a plan to rob you later if your stuff seems worthy.  Or they might want to cut a baby from a pregnant women (true story).  Don't let your guard down, or you could become a statistic.

Everything in life has risk. There is no such thing as zero risk. Craigslist can take advantage of people who lack common sense. However, people who lack common sense are going to get taken in other areas of life as well.

No kidding.  But I was responding to someone who downplayed the risk because of his own anecdotal experience.  There are other risks as well, which I didn't even get into.  As I mentioned, I bought something off Craigslist before and lived to tell about it also.  I'm just putting the advisory out there for those who may not know of the risks.  Lots of scams out there also.  Do Google searches if you want to know more.

grantmeaname

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #14 on: July 14, 2018, 10:51:15 AM »
Do Google searches if you want to know more.
Super helpful post. You could die. Someone could steal your baby out of your womb. Do google searches if you want to know more.

How do you leave the house in the morning without being paralyzed that a shark could fall on you from space?

DreamFIRE

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #15 on: July 14, 2018, 11:05:44 AM »
No kidding.  But I was responding to someone who downplayed the risk because of his own anecdotal experience.  There are other risks as well, which I didn't even get into.  As I mentioned, I bought something off Craigslist before and lived to tell about it also.  I'm just putting the advisory out there for those who may not know of the risks.  Lots of scams out there also.  Do Google searches if you want to know more.
Super helpful post. You could die. Someone could steal your baby out of your womb. Do google searches if you want to know more.

How do you leave the house in the morning without being paralyzed that a shark could fall on you from space?

WTF?  Nice quoting only one line of my longer comment out of context.  That's my way of saying you shouldn't be lazy and expect to have to spell everything out for you in detail, and also so that you can search and confirm the validity of what I'm saying is true.  Is that so difficult to understand?  As I repeat yet again, I've sold on Craigslist and lived to tell about it, and as I mentioned my first post, I plan to sell more, but that's just another anecdote.  People should be aware of the scams and threats, which will help protect against them.  And your post was actually less helpful.  And your shark comment is a straw man.  I didn't expect to get trolled for posting warnings to help people.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2018, 11:34:57 AM by DreamFIRE »

grantmeaname

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #16 on: July 14, 2018, 01:45:44 PM »
I don't know to what extent pointing out a ridiculously unlikely scenario is really helping anyone. Safety is an expensive illusion, and the fact that a small handful of bad things have happened among the 500 million or so annual transactions on the site does not make craigslist unsafe or suggest that you need to protect yourself from it, any more than you should carry a fortress above your head because there is a 1/1.6M chance that you get hit with a meteorite.

Likely outcomes of craigslist use: you will begin to see the service as a "stuff cloud" that you can call and put possessions into and out of with a modicum of effort, and become less attached to phyiscal possessions; you will divert used but working goods from the landfill; you will decrease the demand for new goods and let our poor planet have a little sigh of relief; you will save money; you will meet neat people with similar values; you possibly see fraudulent postings or hookers, which you will need to spend an iota of your energy to ignore.

Unlikely outcomes of craigslist use: you will get hit by a meteorite while transacting; someone will steal your unborn child from your womb; sharknadoes.

Penn42

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #17 on: July 14, 2018, 03:24:08 PM »
Some paranoia up in here, geez.  I've bough and sold tons of shit off CL.  If it's easily moveable I always meet people at the grocery store of something, but I don't fret when or if I'm selling something that is practice to take to a remote location or that needs to be running/hooked up or something.  I've never had any issues besides people being flakes.

Dicey

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #18 on: July 14, 2018, 09:23:00 PM »
We're flipping a house. In an ongoing effort to keep shit out of the landfill, we're giving stuff away via Next Door and CL. Lots of redwood planks, a 13' x 26' aluminum awning, bricks, pavers, stepping stones, scalloped edging, windows and more. We've met lots of interesting people. Twenty cubic yard dumpsters cost $750 each, so giving things away free is saving us money.

We buy and sell off CL all the time. DH is quite proud that everything he's ever listed has sold. And we're still very much alive.

MasterStache

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #19 on: July 15, 2018, 05:08:29 AM »
Yep, just getting up in the morning has risk. No since in living life in such a pessimistic way. Obviously if something is too good to be true it likely is and taking precautions is a no brainer. With that said we actually bought our first house on Craigslist. Great house that we sold a few years later and purchased our current house off Craigslist as well. I've bought and sold many items on Craigslist. In fact I sold a impact driver a year or so ago and the guy that showed up happened to be an old High School friend that I used to hang out with. I live in a very large city so I thought that was really cool.

eBay has gotten ridiculous with their fees. I still use eBay on occasion for items I know will net me more money even after fees.
« Last Edit: July 15, 2018, 05:10:46 AM by MasterStache »

meghan88

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #20 on: July 16, 2018, 08:37:46 AM »
Just this past summer, I've bought and sold five mountain bikes, all while trying to find the perfect bike for me.  I came away on the upside each time, with the best being $115 over what I paid.  Sure beats buying new and paying for my mistakes in depreciation.

Davnasty

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #21 on: July 16, 2018, 09:16:17 AM »
I can't think of a single time I was killed.  I'm old and my memory isn't great, but I think I'd remember if that happened.

Nobody gets killed buying and selling on Craiglist.... until they do.  And no one has come back here to report that they've been killed.  Only the living appear to be posting here.  Funny how that is.

It's not always about death.  Sometimes people just want to scope out your home as part of a plan to rob you later if your stuff seems worthy.  Or they might want to cut a baby from a pregnant women (true story).  Don't let your guard down, or you could become a statistic.

Everything in life has risk. There is no such thing as zero risk. Craigslist can take advantage of people who lack common sense. However, people who lack common sense are going to get taken in other areas of life as well.

No kidding.  But I was responding to someone who downplayed the risk because of his own anecdotal experience.  There are other risks as well, which I didn't even get into.  As I mentioned, I bought something off Craigslist before and lived to tell about it also.  I'm just putting the advisory out there for those who may not know of the risks.  Lots of scams out there also.  Do Google searches if you want to know more.

I get what you're saying. The bolded part above is what people should be concerned with and it is a real concern. While incidents may be uncommon, if I wanted to lure someone out to rob them or visit their house to scope it out, CL would be the obvious choice.

It probably depends a lot on what kind of area you live in but I've had someone over to see a coffee table listed at $10. I was in a college town and took for granted that buyers would most likely be other students but the guy who showed up looked to be early 30's and like he hadn't slept in a few days. Didn't seem that interested in the coffee table but he did look around the room a bit and never made eye contact. Luckily I didn't have anything worth stealing as my roommates had already moved out and all that was left was some thrift store/found on the side of the road furniture. He seemed a little disappointed and left quickly.

Now I meet people in a parking lot or similar.

meghan88

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #22 on: July 16, 2018, 12:17:37 PM »
I think the moral of the story is to use common sense.  CL is a great way to sell stuff, and sometimes leads to interesting stories.  We are selling an antique on CL (listing it at $2,000 to see what happens - yes, it's an impressive piece) and I received the following reply, which almost merits a post on the Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy:

This is absolutely beautiful. I wish i could afford this item right now because I love it. Unfortunately I just separated from my husband [ x ] months ago and he is not paying me my alimony and child support. I own five [ description of motif on the item ] and this would tie into my “house theme” beautifully. Oh well perhaps you will have it listed once I receive my payments.

Eventuality

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #23 on: July 17, 2018, 07:32:11 PM »
I have bought and sold many items off Craigslist and using the Facebook marketplace - never had an issue.

I try to meet people in a public place if at all possible, and, if it requires them coming to my house or me going to theirs for whatever reason, I bring my boyfriend with me. It helps that I live in a pretty small and safe community.

Jon Bon

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #24 on: July 18, 2018, 10:26:44 AM »
I can't think of a single time I was killed.  I'm old and my memory isn't great, but I think I'd remember if that happened.

Nobody gets killed buying and selling on Craiglist.... until they do.  And no one has come back here to report that they've been killed.  Only the living appear to be posting here.  Funny how that is.

It's not always about death.  Sometimes people just want to scope out your home as part of a plan to rob you later if your stuff seems worthy.  Or they might want to cut a baby from a pregnant women (true story).  Don't let your guard down, or you could become a statistic.

Everything in life has risk. There is no such thing as zero risk. Craigslist can take advantage of people who lack common sense. However, people who lack common sense are going to get taken in other areas of life as well.

No kidding.  But I was responding to someone who downplayed the risk because of his own anecdotal experience.  There are other risks as well, which I didn't even get into.  As I mentioned, I bought something off Craigslist before and lived to tell about it also.  I'm just putting the advisory out there for those who may not know of the risks.  Lots of scams out there also.  Do Google searches if you want to know more.

I get what you're saying. The bolded part above is what people should be concerned with and it is a real concern. While incidents may be uncommon, if I wanted to lure someone out to rob them or visit their house to scope it out, CL would be the obvious choice.


See I disagree, criminals are not pulling oceans 11 type heists. Criminals are usually pretty stupid, and usually driven to theft/crime by other circumstances. Anyone smart enough to be pulling off any type of intelligent robbery is smart enough to find success in legal business. If they were checking out your place to rob later, why are they letting you see their face? But yeah dont let them see your collection of gold bars in the basement. Do show them your pit bull and gun collection!

Most crime is opportunistic, unlocked doors/windows etc. Stuff laying in plain view. This idea that criminals are scoping out the area with night vision googles and listening devices is just silly. I know these are not your words, but often I hear people painting quite the picture to justify why they wont leave the second story windows open or other over the top security measures. Just treat everything about CL like you would a used car salesmen and you will be fine!

TLDR CL is probably fine, just be a little cautious, and trust your gut.



whatupjeffy

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #25 on: July 18, 2018, 10:27:30 PM »
Haha I bought used 2012 Ultrabook for $200 on Craiglist and sold it for $350 a week later

grantmeaname

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #26 on: July 19, 2018, 05:25:37 AM »
CL is the only way to buy laptops IMO. Figure out three or four models that meet your needs, then watch CL like a hawk until someone who has no idea what they're doing underprices the hell out of one. That's how we've gotten our last four laptops. One of them didn't work out (MacBook Air - so sloooooow) and we sold it right back for the same price.

Although you might get stabbed in the unborn baby...

Dicey

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #27 on: July 24, 2018, 05:43:32 AM »
Here's my latest CL adventure.  DH and I are flipping a house. We're trying to give away as much as possible via CL and Next Door.  We've noticed that people tend to be a bit squirrelly when things are free. We removed a very large patio door and wanted to give it away, but decided to put a modest price on it to discourage flakes. DH listed this $5k door for $50 on CL. After a week of no bites, I put it on Next Door for $75.00. A few lookers, but no takers. The following week DH relisted it on CL for $100.00. Bingo, we have a winner!

Yes, it's nuts to sell a $5k door for $100, but it's not something any anyone can use, right? We're happy we kept it out of a landfill and the right buyer just scored a helluva deal.

Car Jack

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #28 on: July 24, 2018, 11:33:35 AM »
Dicey, you hit the nail on the head.

I think everyone who sells a lot on craigslist has learned to never list anything for free.  My story is that I had some piece of furniture....I think a 60's small desk in nice shape that just wasn't needed.  I list it for free.  The Hipsters from Cambridge call and want it but want me to deliver it because I'm sooooooo far away (25 miles) and they're not sure it's worth the gas money.  Off craigslist it comes for free and on for $25.  A used furniture dealer comes and buys it within a half hour of listing it.

So my craigslist sales this week.....:D  Bike rack that fell off my son's car: $10 with full disclosure.  Cordless drill I picked up at the recycling center leave/take where I found the charger wasn't working, exchanged the wall wart from my huge box of wall warts....charged both batteries: $15.  Just sold an old graphics card from a desktop that came from that recycling center for $10.  I'm not going to get rich doing this but a little here, a little there. 


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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #29 on: August 11, 2018, 08:51:09 AM »
I've found that motorcycles, being a seasonal thing, are something you can buy on CL at the cheap time of year ride it a year or so and then sell it for a profit at the expensive time of year.


I agree with the posters above about trying to give things away.  It can be hard to convince people that "free" isn't crap.


I recently had some houses to empty out and looked out the window to see the HOA yard crew truck of guys.  I went up to one and asked if any of them needed some free furniture & they were thrilled to get it.  A month later I needed to empty another place and mentioned it to a contractor doing a job for me and he had a worker that had just gotten out of jail who needed everything to fill an empty trailer he'd just moved into.  I gave him all kinds of old furniture, and he even came back pulled up a few hundred sq ft of laminate flooring.  He'd been sleeping on a leaky air mattress, so I know he was thrilled to meet me.   


Those are the folks that will take your free stuff.  ;)

Rubic

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #30 on: August 11, 2018, 05:02:30 PM »
I think everyone who sells a lot on craigslist has learned to never list anything for free.

I've completely given up on freecycle.org.  It's a great idea and the
last time I moved I had lots of high-quality / practical household items
free for the taking, but dealing with those idiots drove me nuts.

Dicey

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #31 on: August 12, 2018, 12:18:39 AM »
Dicey, you hit the nail on the head.

I think everyone who sells a lot on craigslist has learned to never list anything for free.  My story is that I had some piece of furniture....I think a 60's small desk in nice shape that just wasn't needed.  I list it for free.  The Hipsters from Cambridge call and want it but want me to deliver it because I'm sooooooo far away (25 miles) and they're not sure it's worth the gas money.  Off craigslist it comes for free and on for $25.  A used furniture dealer comes and buys it within a half hour of listing it.

So my craigslist sales this week.....:D  Bike rack that fell off my son's car: $10 with full disclosure.  Cordless drill I picked up at the recycling center leave/take where I found the charger wasn't working, exchanged the wall wart from my huge box of wall warts....charged both batteries: $15.  Just sold an old graphics card from a desktop that came from that recycling center for $10.  I'm not going to get rich doing this but a little here, a little there.
How apropos. This week's CL items are house jacks. We're flipping a house that needed to be leveled. We couldn't find anything suitable used, so we bit the bullet, and bought new ones at Harbor Freight for $30 each. We just listed most of them on CL. A young guy bought 4 jacks for $50. He called later and wanted the rest for a friend. He offered $200 for 20 and my big ol' softy DH said yes. Not our best recovery, but the house is level, and the jacks have gone to live another useful life.

Unique User

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #32 on: August 13, 2018, 06:19:10 AM »
Dicey, you hit the nail on the head.

I think everyone who sells a lot on craigslist has learned to never list anything for free.  My story is that I had some piece of furniture....I think a 60's small desk in nice shape that just wasn't needed.  I list it for free.  The Hipsters from Cambridge call and want it but want me to deliver it because I'm sooooooo far away (25 miles) and they're not sure it's worth the gas money.  Off craigslist it comes for free and on for $25.  A used furniture dealer comes and buys it within a half hour of listing it.

So my craigslist sales this week.....:D  Bike rack that fell off my son's car: $10 with full disclosure.  Cordless drill I picked up at the recycling center leave/take where I found the charger wasn't working, exchanged the wall wart from my huge box of wall warts....charged both batteries: $15.  Just sold an old graphics card from a desktop that came from that recycling center for $10.  I'm not going to get rich doing this but a little here, a little there.

Hmm, I've done several free postings.  I normally do curb alert type postings.  Annoying as heck to get all the flakes, but when I want to get rid of stuff and prefer not to haul to Goodwill, it works.  The best was the broken washing machine at an empty rental house that I kept refreshing since I didn't want to pay $100 to have it hauled away.  It was gone in a week.  Most of my furniture is from Craigslist even some things from the free section.  DH used to regularly check the free ads a few cities ago.  His job then came with a truck so he would pick up stuff when he saw something good, he also rescued things from the dumpster where his work storage unit was.  We resold the good stuff and would have two garage sales a year.  Small amount of extra cash those years we were so strapped for little effort. 

solon

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #33 on: August 13, 2018, 10:34:38 AM »
Not an amazing story, but I might as well tell it.

We had a chair we wanted to give away free. It was very solid and comfortable, but really ugly. It was several shades of that 70s harvest gold. I shudder to think about it.

I listed it for free on craigslist. I didn't get too many inquiries. There were three or four people who texted me about it in the first 4 weeks. They all said they were coming to get it. None of them did. This past Saturday I got another text. She said she was coming right away. Later she texted she'd have to wait until Sunday. So I sighed. Just another flighty craigslister.

Then I got another text Saturday evening, from a new person. She wanted to come see it right away, and she did! When she arrived she was so excited. She said she had been watching it on craigslist for a month, but never had the chance to come get it. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to get it, couldn't believe no one else wanted it, and on and on. I was really happy that it went to someone who was excited about it, but also happy just to have it gone.

I thought it would be polite to let the first lady (the one who was coming Sunday) know the chair was gone. You would have thought I ate her baby. "I wanted that chair! You were going to hold it for me!" What are you going to do. It sat there for a month. I don't have any responsibility to hold a free item for anyone.

meghan88

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #34 on: August 13, 2018, 01:22:11 PM »
Not an amazing story, but I might as well tell it.

We had a chair we wanted to give away free. It was very solid and comfortable, but really ugly. It was several shades of that 70s harvest gold. I shudder to think about it.

I listed it for free on craigslist. I didn't get too many inquiries. There were three or four people who texted me about it in the first 4 weeks. They all said they were coming to get it. None of them did. This past Saturday I got another text. She said she was coming right away. Later she texted she'd have to wait until Sunday. So I sighed. Just another flighty craigslister.

Then I got another text Saturday evening, from a new person. She wanted to come see it right away, and she did! When she arrived she was so excited. She said she had been watching it on craigslist for a month, but never had the chance to come get it. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to get it, couldn't believe no one else wanted it, and on and on. I was really happy that it went to someone who was excited about it, but also happy just to have it gone.

I thought it would be polite to let the first lady (the one who was coming Sunday) know the chair was gone. You would have thought I ate her baby. "I wanted that chair! You were going to hold it for me!" What are you going to do. It sat there for a month. I don't have any responsibility to hold a free item for anyone.

Great tale.  Moral:  you snooze, you lose.  As to the style of chair - really ugly '50's - 80's retro things are back in style.  Antiques are out, out, out.  I read an article the other day about how CDs are becoming collectible, which figures, since we sold about 150 of them last year, for peanuts.

On the flip side of lucking out, I was garage-saling with former spouse about 30 years ago when we came upon a near-new set of winter tires for $10.  For some reason we were out of cash, so we asked the seller if they could please put them aside for us so that we could dash over to the ATM.  They said sure, and we moved the tires out of the way.  We took off and were back in less than 15 minutes ... and the tires were gone.  Grrr.

Dicey

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #35 on: August 14, 2018, 07:35:12 AM »
Not an amazing story, but I might as well tell it.

We had a chair we wanted to give away free. It was very solid and comfortable, but really ugly. It was several shades of that 70s harvest gold. I shudder to think about it.

I listed it for free on craigslist. I didn't get too many inquiries. There were three or four people who texted me about it in the first 4 weeks. They all said they were coming to get it. None of them did. This past Saturday I got another text. She said she was coming right away. Later she texted she'd have to wait until Sunday. So I sighed. Just another flighty craigslister.

Then I got another text Saturday evening, from a new person. She wanted to come see it right away, and she did! When she arrived she was so excited. She said she had been watching it on craigslist for a month, but never had the chance to come get it. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to get it, couldn't believe no one else wanted it, and on and on. I was really happy that it went to someone who was excited about it, but also happy just to have it gone.

I thought it would be polite to let the first lady (the one who was coming Sunday) know the chair was gone. You would have thought I ate her baby. "I wanted that chair! You were going to hold it for me!" What are you going to do. It sat there for a month. I don't have any responsibility to hold a free item for anyone.

Great tale.  Moral:  you snooze, you lose.  As to the style of chair - really ugly '50's - 80's retro things are back in style.  Antiques are out, out, out.  I read an article the other day about how CDs are becoming collectible, which figures, since we sold about 150 of them last year, for peanuts.

On the flip side of lucking out, I was garage-saling with former spouse about 30 years ago when we came upon a near-new set of winter tires for $10.  For some reason we were out of cash, so we asked the seller if they could please put them aside for us so that we could dash over to the ATM.  They said sure, and we moved the tires out of the way.  We took off and were back in less than 15 minutes ... and the tires were gone.  Grrr.
Moral of the story: If there are two of you, one stays, the other goes to the ATM. An alternative is to always have some mad money in your car or wallet or both.

Not the seller's fault. Cash is king at garage sales.

turketron

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #36 on: August 14, 2018, 07:53:51 AM »
I've bought & sold plenty on craigslist, and I love the email alert systems if it's not anything I need immediately. I agree with everyone else's suggestions about not listing things for free, however my one exception for that rule would be something large that would need to be hauled away. Listing something as "Free if you can come get it" is a great way to quickly get rid of anything that would require a truck or a lot of effort to get rid of. I've done it for an old swingset (they disassembled it themselves too), a giant truck tire that had been turned into a sandbox, and a split queen box spring (the guy drove from at least an hour away to pick them up!). I think the effort to come haul something away serves the same purpose as asking a nominal price to help deter anyone who wasn't really interested.

Adam Zapple

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #37 on: August 16, 2018, 05:48:30 AM »
I can't think of a single time I was killed.  I'm old and my memory isn't great, but I think I'd remember if that happened.

Nobody gets killed buying and selling on Craiglist.... until they do.  And no one has come back here to report that they've been killed.  Only the living appear to be posting here.  Funny how that is.

It's not always about death.  Sometimes people just want to scope out your home as part of a plan to rob you later if your stuff seems worthy.  Or they might want to cut a baby from a pregnant women (true story).  Don't let your guard down, or you could become a statistic.

All kinds of bad things happen all the time.  Why would someone come and meet you face to face so they could rob you?  If I ever start a burglary side hustle I won't be letting people get a good look at me or give them a way to track me down by calling or emailing them before I rob them.  Just because the news reports one or two bad things happening while doing a certain activity doesn't make that activity inherently dangerous.  People are abducted jogging, shopping, waiting for the bus etc.  People are killed crossing the street, driving to work, swimming, sitting in a classroom etc.  For those who are more cautious you can meet at your local police station to exchange goods.

afuera

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Re: Buying and Selling on Craigslist
« Reply #38 on: August 16, 2018, 07:31:27 AM »
I have actually started using an app called OfferUp recently.  Things sell quicker on there, all the communication is through the app, and there seems to be more younger people using it, at least in my area.  Sold 3 things on there this week alone!