Craigslist Question

Any of you folks ever sold or bought anything on Craigslist?

The reason I ask is cuz the wife and I had a yard sale yesterday and didn't do as well as we had hoped, so we have a bunch of stuff leftover. We plan to donate most of the knick-knacks and stuff to the local Vietnam Vets (as luck would have it, we got a postcard in the mail from them just a few days ago asking for "household castoffs" to sell at their thrift store and flea market) but we have a couple of larger items (my old beer can collection, a Thomas the Tank Engine wooden railroad table, and a toddler bed, to name just a few things) that we were thinking of putting up for sale on Craigslist. We've never used the site before (in fact until earlier today I'd never even looked at it) but it seems pretty simple to post stuff for sale.

I am just curious if anyone here has had experience with Craigslist (buying or selling) and if so, if they recommend using it.

Thanx in advance.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Any of you folks ever sold or bought anything on Craigslist?

The reason I ask is cuz the wife and I had a yard sale yesterday and didn't do as well as we had hoped, so we have a bunch of stuff leftover. We plan to donate most of the knick-knacks and stuff to the local Vietnam Vets (as luck would have it, we got a postcard in the mail from them just a few days ago asking for "household castoffs" to sell at their thrift store and flea market) but we have a couple of larger items (my old beer can collection, a Thomas the Tank Engine wooden railroad table, and a toddler bed, to name just a few things) that we were thinking of putting up for sale on Craigslist. We've never used the site before (in fact until earlier today I'd never even looked at it) but it seems pretty simple to post stuff for sale.

I am just curious if anyone here has had experience with Craigslist (buying or selling) and if so, if they recommend using it.

Thanx in advance.

I bought a twin over futon on Craig's list - pretty easy and worked out well

I bought and sold some stuff on craigslist. It has worked out well so far. I only had to run from one house fearing for me life

not even signed up on craigslist

I inquired about buying a lot of cd's once from a local woman on Craigslist and ended up "meeting" her in person at a flea market and bought some cool metal from her. She told me through e-mails that she did some freelance writing for metal mags and had tons of cd's that she was getting rid of. I invited her to join this forum, but she declined, saying she already wasted enough time on facebook and was too far removed from the metal scene these days.

She was a hideous beast woman in person however, so I did not reveal myself to her as the person that exchanged e-mails. Just bought her cd's for next to nothing and left. I'm pretty dickish like that.

I've bought and sold stuff on Craigslist without any trouble.I just sold my truck on there a few months ago.Pretty easy really.

This summer, I plan on digging out the fish pond in my backyard and selling it on either ebay or Craigslist. I'll be interested in reading some opinions in this thread.

We've bought a few things through it. XBOX, furniture, misc stuff. Never had a bad experience.....yet.

So hey, a year after I originally posted this question, I decided to finally take the plunge and put an ad on Craigslist today to try 'n' sell my old beer can collection. Here's my ad:

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/clt/2420555214.html

Less than an hour later, I got an an e-mail from an interested party: "Are they still available?" ... so of course I'm like "Wow, this thing really works. Cha-Ching!" I replied back and told him that they were indeed and to e-mail or call me if he needed more info. This is the reply I got:

Hi,
Thanks for your response. I'm going on a vacation to London but I will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail your payment which I'm sure you will get in about 4 - 6 business days. I'll add $20 extra for the delay. I'll pay by M O or cashier check so send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and your phone number) so payment can be mailed out immediately. I will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have received and cashed the payment.
Awaiting your info.
Thanks

Ummmm.....yeahhhh, OK! Needless to say, my B.S. alarm went off very quickly, so I replied back to say "Sorry, I'm only accepting cash for this item." Haven't heard back and don't expect to either.

I may be new to Craigslist, but I'm not stupid.

Fat Freddy wrote:

So hey, a year after I originally posted this question, I decided to finally take the plunge and put an ad on Craigslist today to try 'n' sell my old beer can collection. Here's my ad:

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/clt/2420555214.html

Less than an hour later, I got an an e-mail from an interested party: "Are they still available?" ... so of course I'm like "Wow, this thing really works. Cha-Ching!" I replied back and told him that they were indeed and to e-mail or call me if he needed more info. This is the reply I got:

Hi,
Thanks for your response. I'm going on a vacation to London but I will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail your payment which I'm sure you will get in about 4 - 6 business days. I'll add $20 extra for the delay. I'll pay by M O or cashier check so send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and your phone number) so payment can be mailed out immediately. I will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have received and cashed the payment.
Awaiting your info.
Thanks

Ummmm.....yeahhhh, OK! Needless to say, my B.S. alarm went off very quickly, so I replied back to say "Sorry, I'm only accepting cash for this item." Haven't heard back and don't expect to either.

I may be new to Craigslist, but I'm not stupid.

That sounds like those spam e-mails about a Baron in Nigeria needing to transfer money and they need your information, all your information, etc. Too funny.

GrandNational wrote:

That sounds like those spam e-mails about a Baron in Nigeria needing to transfer money and they need your information, all your information, etc. Too funny.

Hahaha, I thought the same damn thing... I've gotten MORE than enough of those e-mails over the years to recognize such B.S.

Of course it helped that I bothered to read Craigslist's FAQ/help/etc. sections earlier in the day before I posted anything, and right there in big bold type it tells you "BEWARE OF SCAMMERS who will ask to pay by cashier's check or money order. These are almost always fraudulent." But I guess lotsa people don't bother to read the warnings. Duh.

GrandNational wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

So hey, a year after I originally posted this question, I decided to finally take the plunge and put an ad on Craigslist today to try 'n' sell my old beer can collection. Here's my ad:

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/clt/2420555214.html

Less than an hour later, I got an an e-mail from an interested party: "Are they still available?" ... so of course I'm like "Wow, this thing really works. Cha-Ching!" I replied back and told him that they were indeed and to e-mail or call me if he needed more info. This is the reply I got:

Hi,
Thanks for your response. I'm going on a vacation to London but I will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail your payment which I'm sure you will get in about 4 - 6 business days. I'll add $20 extra for the delay. I'll pay by M O or cashier check so send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and your phone number) so payment can be mailed out immediately. I will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have received and cashed the payment.
Awaiting your info.
Thanks

Ummmm.....yeahhhh, OK! Needless to say, my B.S. alarm went off very quickly, so I replied back to say "Sorry, I'm only accepting cash for this item." Haven't heard back and don't expect to either.

I may be new to Craigslist, but I'm not stupid.

That sounds like those spam e-mails about a Baron in Nigeria needing to transfer money and they need your information, all your information, etc. Too funny.

Yeah, that is a complete scam. I have listed/re-listed a cabinet I am trying to sell and I always get that message...lame.

My wife has sold lots of baby stuff on Craigslist, no problems yet.

I've sold a few things on there, never had any problems.

I will use this thread when I decide to sell some of my stuff online (of course I could always go the eBay route). I have a bunch of baseball cards, G.I. Joe toys, and some WWF memorabillia (actually just one item).

I think eBay is the best. Nothing can beat the number of users and exposure your items will get if you list on there. Probably get the best price too, although any extra would probably go towards paying the ridiculous fees

snooloui wrote:

I think eBay is the best. Nothing can beat the number of users and exposure your items will get if you list on there. Probably get the best price too, although any extra would probably go towards paying the ridiculous fees

i really dislike ebay. I used to sell there all the time but their fees and practices are so slanted to the buyer its not funny.

exact33 wrote:

snooloui wrote:

I think eBay is the best. Nothing can beat the number of users and exposure your items will get if you list on there. Probably get the best price too, although any extra would probably go towards paying the ridiculous fees

i really dislike ebay. I used to sell there all the time but their fees and practices are so slanted to the buyer its not funny.

+ people claiming they never received the item, thus getting their money back, as well as the item you sent them!!

I've never used eBay and I doubt that I have the patience to start now. I figure Craigslist is a little more "local," like putting a classified ad in the town newspaper, so it's worth a shot. If I put these things on eBay I'd have to deal with things like shipping/handling, eBay taking a cut of the $$, etc., etc. Screw that.

kmorg wrote:

exact33 wrote:

snooloui wrote:

I think eBay is the best. Nothing can beat the number of users and exposure your items will get if you list on there. Probably get the best price too, although any extra would probably go towards paying the ridiculous fees

i really dislike ebay. I used to sell there all the time but their fees and practices are so slanted to the buyer its not funny.

+ people claiming they never received the item, thus getting their money back, as well as the item you sent them!!

yep. They wont let you charge more than $3 for shipping and expect you to get delivery confirmation and postage with that.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I figure Craigslist is a little more "local," like putting a classified ad in the town newspaper, so it's worth a shot.

I think I'll go through Craigslist for that reason. The WWF item will have more meaning for people in the Metroplex than elsewhere.

No other bites on my beer can collection ... sigh.

I'm thinking of throwing some other stuff on there over the next couple of weeks, just tryin' to get rid of some junk and earn some extra scratch. Hopefully I'll be more successful with some of it than I have been with the can collection.

I've never had a problem with another eBay user. Actually i'm lying, I did a couple of weeks back. Sold a video game and then the user demanded a part refund as it wasn't "mint" as I had described it. I promptly told them to basically get stuffed (in a nice and reasonable way) and they left me bad feedback. It was then removed because they had been trying it with a lot of people just the same and leaving bad feedback everytime.

Plus I don't think eBay is that geared towards buyers. Sure the rules are, but the sellers are so damn lazy with their descriptions. Described as mint and turns up looking like an elephant sat on it and they dropped it off a cliff. I try to avoid using eBay at all where possible.

I'd go Craigslist. Overall I've had good success buying, never selling. Most people are pretty good about what they sell. I've been hosed once with an 80gb iPod but other than that it's been good.

Ebay is always a nice fallback option to have.

My sister grabbed a bunch of furniture for me a few years ago off the Toronto Craigslist and she dealed mostly with college age women, getting good deals on well looked after stuff.

I have avoided placing ads where someone has to come over, so I eat the loss by junking stuff, or taking to crappy used stores/pawn shops.

You never know who will come over, and how many with them will barge in to rip you off, or if they are there just to look around and case the joint for a surprise visit when no one is home.

There are too many thieves out there.