Stupid Craigslist people
 

Since there is a similar thread for Ebay people,I figure I'd share a CL story or two.

A few years back I had two nice,rust free,original paint '76 Cutlass doors sitting around. I put an ad on CL with a few pics,also telling what years the doors would fit. A steal for $100 for both IMO
A lady calls and asks if she can come "Right now" and look at them. It was about 10 AM,and she lived 30 or so miles away. I tell her "No,sorry, I work 3rd shift and I was just heading off to bed. I can show you from 7-9 PM or 7-10 AM,or anytime on the weekend. She then asks if she can come on her lunch hour,at about 2PM! I told her "No,I JUST went over this!"
I learned years ago NOT to alter my schedule or sleep for no show CL dopes.
She calls again about a week later,a weekday,same conversation.:rolleyes:
About 2 weeks later she calls a third time,same deal,wants to come "Right now". Figuring she called 3 times,maybe she's serious about buying them. I told her to come over,but she would have to deal with my wife,as I'll be sleeping. My wife has a soft spot in her heart for the dumb,so things should go fine.
When I woke up later I asked my wife how it went. The buyer came over,took a look at the doors,and said "These won't fit my car!". My wife asked what kind of car it was that she owned- "A '98 Cutlass". Then she claimed that I TOLD her my doors would fit her car. My wife called BS. She left pissed off.:confused:

Well my luck is not limited to eBay. Listed some free items on Portland CL and had a women email wanting them all. Emailed back and asked what would be a good time for her to pick them up at my shop, said I'm usually there from 11AM - 4PM or so. She emailed back and in a very nasty way said she wasn't interested if I wouldn't deliver them, 35 miles away. Told her great, they'll fit in my wood stove and help heat the shop.

I had forgotten how much I hate dealing with people until I listed a snowmobile on Craigslist early this week. I stated in my ad that I would not respond to emails or text messages that only ask "is this item still for sale" rather than reference the actual item. Of course I get several of those, plus the guy thinks that because he has cash in hand, I will graciously accept his offer of exactly 1/2 my asking price. Then there is the guy who texted (in somewhat broken english) from Kalamazoo (He didn't disclose it, I googled his phone number) who claimed to be too busy with work to come look at it and asked me to consider it sold, BUT, he wanted my address to send me a bank check and he would arrange for someone to come pick it up. Not to escape honorary mention, the guy who lives 7.5 hours away from me who wanted me to meet him half way (for free, of course) or discount the sled considerably so that he could justify the trip to his wife. It wasn't until 7:45 last night that my faith in humanity was restored when I got a guy on the phone who offered me within $50 of my asking price sight unseen (other than pictures in the ad) and gave me his full name, a time when he will be here tonight to complete the transaction, and a firm commitment to purchase. Hopefully he is not a no-show. Friday night is my night to have a few cocktails while I do a fish fry for the family. Screwing that up will black list you for life.

Unfortunately, the joy of selecting the"delete this ad" button will be short lived, as I have a second sled to list tomorrow.

This ought to be a good thread. I don't even list things on CL any more for this very reason. I can't STAND dealing with the 90% to get to the 10% that's serious and not lulu in the head.
The last one was a lady that swore she was on her way over and definitely wanted my gas fireplace. I spent all afternoon waiting on her and she wouldn't answer her phone. Finally, she called back. Her cat had gotten sick in her car and threw up all over the interior. Had to be rushed to the vet, bla bla. I understand that. No problem. Things happen. She is definitely coming tomorrow though and exactly at 1pm. I'll be there. Don't sell it.
Another afternoon spent waiting on this dingbat, except now she won't even answer the phone. Never heard from her again.
Same thing on a free fabric and metal gazebo that I just wanted gone. My phone almost blew up with people calling about it. I deleted the ad 5 minutes after posting it because I literally could not react to my phone fast enough. I picked a lady that lived nearby.
"Oh yes, I want it. My son will come today with a trailer." Another afternoon burned. Never showed and refused to answer the phone. I think her son told her to take a hike because it involved about an hours work to disassemble it. She could have told me that but instead, chose to ignore my calls after I'd talked to her at least a half dozen times that day.
I won't even go into the crazy offers I've gotten on cars and that type of stuff. Poster above is right. They think you are obligated to take the most ridiculous offers just because it's 'cash money'. What'd they think, I was going to offer financing?
This has happened to me at least 10 times over the years. I'm done with Craigslist, from a selling standpoint at least.

I have to say, I can't complain. It's because of these losers that I got my motorcycle for free.
A guy had an '03 Suzuki Bandit 600 for sale that I was interested in. I called him up, and as it turned out we knew each other from a previous job. We had a great conversation, but as it turned out later, I didn't want the bike. It was getting close to Christmas so I changed priorities. He called me about two weeks later offering a super low price, but I graciously declined.
The thing was, as the price got lower, he got more and more calls from what we call "Kijiji Flakes" (we don't use Craigslist as much here). "Dude, do NOT sell that bike, I'll be there to buy it". Then a no show,, another no show, some idiot offering stupid low, stuff like that. He called me up in frustration and asked if I wanted to just come over and take it. He had sold everything else and was leaving town for a new job way up north. I was there the next morning with a truck and trailer. I gave him 100.00 and a bottle of Scotch as a token of my appreciation and the bike is the most fun that I can have on wheels.

Its the nature of CL. Expect absolute frustration and anger, you will rarely be disappointed.

One jackass asked me if I would take payments for a car I listed for $500.

I said "Yes. Five hundred easy payments of a dollar, before it leaves my driveway".

Like winning the Polish lottery, a dollar a year for a million years.

If you interface with morons, you will have fodder for internet threads..... I don't have near the trouble some evidently have..... I just don't respond to stupid, who has time?

Sometimes you just don't know they're like that until after the fact. Sure, texts and emails you can ignore but when someone calls you, sounds normal and then never show up or show up and start making offers and demands that never came up in the conversation before...well, there you go.

I haven't sold much on craigslist but lately I tried to buy a few things. Amazing how many people don't bother to remove ads after a sale or even have the courtesy to respond to an email that it is no longer available.

craigslist
 

My neighbor listed a good used riding mower for free. He just purchased a new
unit and wanted to give the old one away. People rang his phone off the hook and
yet few showed up. They wanted to know what's its worth and could he deliver it 3 hours away for FREE!!!!. Heck after two weeks I loaded it onto my trailer and we donated
it to our local church. Where it is still running fine today!!!!

Gerry

I don't use Craigslist, but I had my wife's car listed in Autotrader several years ago for $6,000. Had a few guys call and, sight unseen, offer something like $1,800. When I said "No - I can't sell it for that," they always responded with "It's cash!" I told them "I think that goes without saying - I didn't think you were offering to pay in bubble gum."

I end up doing this fairly often with stuff that doesn't sell on Ebay. (Like the box of diapers that someone wanted me to ship to the Ukraine.) It helps someone out, and I at least get a tax write-off out of it.

Wait till I start my thread about dealing with tenants. :)

I've been lucky when selling or buying smaller items on CL or Ebay. My issues always start when buying large item.

It seems the more expensive the item is, the harder people are to deal with. Some peoples expectations are extremely skewed when buying an item sight unseen.

Hehe... Amen! 😁

I've had pretty good luck with C/L. Everything has gone smooth, even the freebies.
Had a free mattress one time, several wanted me to hold it. I responded, "it's against the garage door, first one here get's it".

Mr Anonymous: That sure was a funny line about the Polish lottery.

george

To each his own
 

I have bought all of my F350 crew cab dually towing trucks off of craigslist.

I just sold one of my trucks and bought another one off of craigslist a couple weeks ago.

When used correctly by buyers and sellers - it is the best place to do business ........


Jim :3gears::

I always put in the ad "do not e-mail me asking if the car is still available, if the ad is up it's available." but I still get e-mails that say "is the car available?" :noidea:

I've always used Craigslist to advertise my rentals. Believe it or not, most of the people that I've had contact with (about the rentals) have been reasonably decent candidates. Of course, only about a third of those that initially responded to the ad actually get back to me when I send them my number to call/text.

This most recent rental listing of mine, I decided to try Facebook Marketplace. Holy crap did I get a lot of wackos out of that! And the questions- how much$$, how big, where is it? All of those were in the text of the ad! At least on FB Marketplace you can see their facebook page to prescreen before you even reply. I eliminated most of them pretty quick! :eek:

For me, it seems like the easiest stuff to sell is specific to one group of people. I never had too much trouble selling pontiac stuff, because only pontiac people are interested. I just sold a snowmobile in july, had 4 people interested, one from michigan. Had the snowmobile trailer listed for a few days then it sold. Dirt bikes and ATV's aren't too bad to sell, you get a lot of kids but they're easy to weed out.

The most frustrating stuff is junk I say is free. I quit putting free stuff on CL because one person always responds immediately that they want it, but you never hear back, 10 other people want it but can't come till the weekend... I started putting stuff on Facebook but it's the same way. A local guy is always looking for free scrap, guess his family needs the money. I had a little bit I said he could have. He was gonna be here at 7pm on a beautiful summer evening. So now were stuck all evening waiting for this dude. Sure enough at 7pm he texts me and says his truck is full and he can't make it tonight! Like he couldn't have told me at 4 or 5 that it's full? He bugged me for a few days but I ignored him. Posted a very large chicken coup for free, I never knew how popular chicken coups are, especially free ones. First people said there were coming tonight, then they couldn't find a trailer, then couldn't get a truck, then in the morning, then afternoon... Eventually I showed a little frustration because of the wasted time but they did show and got it out of here. I'm never saying anything is free again.

Well it goes both ways.

If any of you know what snowplow shoes (or feet) are, I answered a C/L ad for a pair of new ones for $10.00. The guy was only a couple of miles from my house so I rushed over to buy them. The guy told me he got a text from a guy that said he will take them IF the seller would deliver them almost 25 miles away. Are you kidding me!

The other, and one that bugs the hell out of me, is that no one can spell BUMPER anymore. Its always BUMBER. What the hell is a BUMBER? There is a guy out my way that has a listing for a Mustang BUMBER for over a year now. He claims his Mustang BUMBER is TRIPLE BLACK. Duh!

I just checked the urban dictionary for "bumber". There's 4 definitions but this one fits the bill, the others are more creative.

bumber
Another "word" for a bumper, as on a vehicle, except spelled in such a way that the moron using it obviously has no common sense to know that a bumper is named for a reason...It is what you BUMP things with if you're not careful
I need a bumber for my car, someone hit me.
by MoronsPissMeOff July 12, 2017

LMAO ^ ^ ^

Hmmm....

Here is an interesting one that just popped up > 高价收购旧车

I'm not clicking on it.

I've had mixed success with CL. The key is hit delete on any reply that smells fishy. If I reply, I remove the Re: subject line so the scammer can't figure out which CL he posted the ad to. I ask "Where do you live". A lot never reply because they can't figure out which city they posted from.

The free ads seem to bring out morons. Back in the early fall, we had a huge neighborhood yard sale. I live in an older subdivision, and all of the homes are on 1.5 - 5 acre tracts. The guy directly across the street from my house has a huge open area with large trees around the perimiter. When his kids were younger, he hauled in dirt and made a motocross style track. The neighbor keeps it well maintained, and allows a neighborhood yard sale one or twice a year, but only when the weather is nice. There is a creek that runs along one side, the ground can get mushy when it rains.

So the yard sale came and went, weather was beautiful. Usually after a yard sale, there are a lot of items people just want to get rid of, so we put all of the stuff in the center and post an ad in the CL free section. The only stipulation stated in the ad is you have to carry it out (at least 100 ft), because the land owner doesn't want people to show up in huge trucks and leave ruts. This year the land owner had somewhere to go on Sunday, so I said I would block the driveway with my Suburbanf and help haul off anything left over to the dump. My son left his car trailer for me to haul stuff off with.

The ad was placed late Saturday night, and early Sunday AM I see a truck with a trailer, with several people walking around my Suburban. It was locked, but I had tools and some yard sale stuff my wife bought in the back. I walked down and asked what they were doing, and the guy in charge says "some a**hole left this POS in the driveway". I replied that I was the a**hole, and the POS was there to prevent people from driving on the grass. He replied that other people drove on the grass, and I told him the land owner was there overseeing people setting up and leaving for the yard sale, and that it was his decision to block the driveway. He got smart and I told him he could carry out anything he wanted, but he wasn't driving on the grass. He told me he could drag my POS out of the way. I told him I didn't make threats, but it wouldn't be a good idea for him to do anything stupid. I went back home, got out my rifle with a scope out and watched him from the upstairs bedroom window. He was about 250 ft away.

My favorite "dealing with idiots" experience was in the 90's in Oregon, when I bought the old RatBird Formula 400. Was there at the kitchen table getting the money out to buy. Seller was a nice guy, hot rod dude and all. So in the middle of counting money, his wall phone rings. About 10 seconds into the call he says: "I wouldn't sell you that car if you were the last person on the face of this earth". And slammed the old Ma Bell tank of a phone (like you could) really hard down. You had to be there, but it was just damn funny.

Free really brings out a special kind of person.

I had a nice swing set at a house I was selling and the buyer didn't want it so I posted it up on Craigslist for free. Right off the bat a guy e-mails me with his phone number and says he'll be there at 2:00 that afternoon (saturday) to pick it up, has tools and a truck to take it away with - great, it's yours I'll meet you there. I continue to get e-mails but don't bother to call anyone, leave about an hour ahead of his arrival to go mow the lawn there. 2:00 comes, no guy so I call him. His schedule changed he wouldn't be able to get there until 5:00 now - sorry, you lose! We go back & forth, him telling me his sob story and that he had already told his kids he was getting them a swing set and what is he supposed to tell them now. I told him to tell his kids that if he had kept the appointment that HE made that they would have had their swingset but since he was inconsiderate of anyone elses time that he wasn't - all sorts of anger and that it was his and I couldn't give it away to anyone else and he was going to call the cops - I said do it! They are only 4 doors down, they could walk here!

I started calling the other e-mails, got voice mail, hung up, next, same thing, third, same thing. Finally while all this was going on I got another e-mail so I called that number next and this girl answers - she said she could be there in 20 minutes so I waited, helped her take it apart & load it - by 3:00 we were done.

The first guy kept calling me until I blocked his number, leaving increasingly vulgar and threatening messages, so I stopped at the police department when I left the house and played them for the dispatcher. They called my new friend and asked him to stop in when he got to town, I don't think he ever came. :p

Special kind of stupid is more like it.

Add tire 'thread' to that. Drives me nuts.

Speaking of tires/wheels. I was looking for a specific set of wheels/tires for my wife's car a month or so back. Lots of new takeoff options on eBay, but I prefer to 'see' what I'm buying. Found a set on CL NJ and went back and forth with the guy selling them as he claimed he had someone lined up to buy them, but that the person in question was having trouble getting the cash together.

Told him that I was a cash buyer, not into playing games and that I would be there when I said I would. He agreed to let me have them and we set it up for me to pick them up early the following Saturday morning. I went to the bank beforehand and got the cash out. I texted him Friday afternoon to make sure we were still on for the Saturday meet only for him to tell me that the original guy had been in touch with him and that he was coming to pick them up that evening.

I didn't even respond to the text - I jumped right on eBay and purchased a set there instead.

Good friend went to look at a 69 GTO that was on Portland CL, had been hit really hard on the driver side, the driver died in the wreck. Friend was buying it mostly for the engine and 4 speed tranny. He offered the guy $2100 on a $2500 asking price and pulled out cash. The guy said "wait, I had another guy want it but he low balled me but I want to check with him and see if he'll match your offer." Friend left with cash in hand and never got a call back.

I listed a set of custom wheels on CL. One guy advised he wanted them and would I be willing to drive halfway (1 Hr) to meet him. We agreed on a location and time and the price. I make the drive, he shows up, I show him one of the wheels and tells me he is $100 short.

Obviously a dick move, so without saying a word, I put the wheel back in the car and left. I figured it was better to waste his time just like he wasted mine than sit there and negotiate after the fact.

A few years back I saw a set of rims for sale on CL The asking price was OK and the guy was in Kenosha,about 10 miles south,so he was pretty close.
I messaged asking him if he still had the rims.
He replied- "Yes"
OK,here's my phone #,call and we'll set up a time,then I'll come right over and check them out. No reply
I E-mail the next day asking if he still has them,he again replies "Yes".
I ask him to call or E-mail to set up a time for me to come look-no response.:confused:
I E-mail the next day "Do you WANT to sell the rims?"
"Yes"
OK,get back to me,I'll come look. No response!!
About a month later he renewed the ad,I went through the same crap with him,sent my phone #,blah blah blah. Never did get a response beyond "Yes" :confused:

Had to liquidate Mother in Law's estate after Dad passed, so I posted some free stuff on CL...hundreds of board ft. of hardwoods, oak, mahogany, maple. An entire professional darkroom (all color film stuff), big stainless sink,computers, etc.
Got many phone calls from people wanting the stuff, and would be there in a flash, blah, blah!! Of course no one shows up, so wound up burning all of the wood, taking the other stuff to the landfill and kicking it off the truck!!
Haven't dealt with CL since!

I must be lucky, for the most part I've had great experiences buying & selling. Was burned one time & drove 2 hours to buy a trailer that seller was going to hold till I arrived & was 5 minutes away from location & received text message stating trailer was sold. I'm not going to let one bad experience ruin future craigslist deals. I've meet a lot of other cool car enthusiast who have told me about other parts/cars that may be available.

Sometimes responses go to a Spam folder. It's happened to me both selling something and buying something. A guy had a fireplace insert I was interested in. I must have replied to his add 4-5 times over the course of a month. He finally replied, and when I told him about the other attempts to contact him, he said he never got anything.

Ready for restoration!
 

This is code for: I beat the crap out of the car , sold the good parts, parked it in the yard with the windows open or broken and now it is good'n rusty for you. Hey, thanks so much for getting it ready for restoration for me!!

This must be the winner > https://buffalo.craigslist.org/pts/d...427605425.html

That guy is a moron for not jumping on that for free. Several of my neighbors have kids older than mine, and their 10 y/o swingsets All sit unused in their yards. They don’t look too hot - I think they are all designed to last the 8 years your kids will play with it, then fall apart. Good luck finding a used one that isn’t beat.

I have a $100 CL rule on me selling. Anything of less value that is good, I put in the alley by the pole, and it disappears in a day or less. Something about the $20 wheeler dealers that gets too complicated to be worth it too often.

I actually found a reasonably nice 1971-75 Firebird Formula hood on CL near me. Just over the border in Delaware. He wanted $300 but when i got there he said he was cleaning out his garage and he'd take $260. Other than the 80-mile drive down there, it worked out well. (a rare occurrence to say the least).

We've done that too - a whole ton of stuff left out on the curb and it all gets picked up. Free is great as long as it doesn't take any of my time. You know what they say, no good deed goes un-punished!

How about the improper interchanging of the words sell, and sale?

I.E.
I have a framis washer (for sell) for $20.
I will be (saleing) my framis washer for $20.

Don't know if it's just a regional thing in my area, or if it's Craigslist world wide.

BTW, that's a heckuva deal for a framis washer..................:D

Must not be a regional thing (as I also thought) since I see it all the time here in NW Florida / Lower Alabama!

Something that annoys me is the folks who will modify their ad to say "Sold" instead of just deleting the thing.

Now on the free stuff I do on CL, I title the subject as "Curb Alert" and then the item, post a pic, and give the street intersection, not my house addy or phone. Stuff is gone within an hour, but don't know if that is someone just driving by or a CL person. Then I remove the ad immediately. Our city rule is if it is on the easement then it is concentered thrown out.

Neighbor put a small rusted out utility trailer with dry rotted tires that only fit a riding mower and nothing more on Craigslist for free with just his address and no contact information. First person to show up drove away with it but was unbelievable the dozens of people that drove by for an absolutely junk worthless trailer, even several hours after the Craigslist ad was deleted.

I use Searchtempest, so I see aggregate adds for cars all over North America. One thing I'm increasingly seeing is people referring to the trunk of the car as the "truck". Also, what does it mean when the seller describes the car as Chrome, as in " 65 Lemans Chrome", or "1965 Chevelle Chrome coupe"?

This could also qualify for Epic Craigslist Ad of the Day. This idiot doesn't have a clue what engine they are off of but he knows they are BIG BLOCK PONTIAC HEADS > https://buffalo.craigslist.org/pts/d...393065742.html

Priceless
 

A few years back I was cutting up a 37 Ford to part it out. Placed an ad in CL saying what parts will be available with really cheap pricing. Saturday only. If not sold it will be scrapped. Nice day, a few beers in, cutting torch hot and a guy shows up wanting the complete rear end housing and gears. I had it listed for $20. Pretty darn cheap. He goes on to haggle for $10. We open up the rear end and the gears are flawless. He still said only $10. I opened another beer fired up the torch and cut right through the gears. I told him to his face that it was worth $20 to see his reaction. He was horrified.

LOL!

I replaced a really low mileage muffler shop exhaust system with a pypes system on my 67 GTO. It was all welded together, but I removed it in one piece, cleaned it up and listed it on Craigslist for $100. I figured I would give a Pontiac guy a good deal, and I just wanted it gone. The first guy to call offers $25 extra if I deliver it across town, so I took the ad down and loaded it up. I get to the address, an apartment complex in town, the guy has the money in hand. I ask where his car is, and he points to a 70’s Oldsmobile, not even an A body. He said that he could make it work. I said good luck and went about my way. All that work to remove it in tact, and the guy was just going to butcher it up. I guess I sold it too cheap.
That night, I couldn’t believe the calls I got from guys wanting that exhaust system. The ad was up for only about a half hour that morning. One guy wouldn’t accept that it was long gone. I now tend to just scrap or give away items to friends , rather than list them on Craigslist.