Watching craigslist has finally paid off

[Julian Tracy]

Ive seen it from both ends, as a buyer and a seller.

Recently though, I was selling a jointer for $250. Had a guy called on Friday wanted to buy it for sure but couldnt pay for it till Sunday, was even willing to come a drop off a deposit. I told him no worries on the deposit cause he was about 45min away, I'd see him Sun.
Sun we had a snowstorm, so Monday it was. Had two other guys call on Sat, one wanted to come right then. Told him a guy was coming Monday and I'd call if he fell thru. Well - he didn't call Mon and when I called him, he told me he had to go to the hospital. Tried the other guys with no answer.

Then Wed a guy called and said he wanted it and for sure would pick it up after work on Thurs. Had a nother guy interested but I held him back till thursday. First guy says thursday he bought a new one WQed night! Other buyer never called back.

Finally sold it the next Sat, but what a PAIN!

Lesson learned, no holding for more than about 30-45min...

JT

[Ellen Benkin]

Jay -- at the very least he could have called you and let you make another offer.

Julian -- always take the deposit and make it non-refundable. I just sold a car on Craigslist. Had two guys come and look but they wanted to think it over for a couple of days. Told them that the first person who met my price with cash or a bank check would get it. The next people who came to look (the same day)took it for a test drive and handed me my asking price in cash. I did call the first "lookers" to tell them it was gone -- they were friends of a friend. I also contacted everyone who contacted me via Craigslist to tell them it had been sold and immediately took the ad off Craigslist. It cost me nothing but a little time to be polite.

[James Nugnes]

I like CL on balance. The only thing I have to say I despise about it is that you can tell there are some sellers there that are trying to get out from under some really difficult times. Probably hard working people that were in better shape at one point or they would not have the stuff to sell in the first place nor the computer and Internet connection to sell it. Conversely there are some buyers that go there not even interested in the item for sale, not interested in the asking price....simply going there looking for opportunities to take further advantage of somebody that is already at a disadvantage. They will offer a ridiculously low price for the item, indicating they will come by with cash today to buy it. Heck they have no idea what the thing is actually worth and the seller does not even know if they can come by with cash that day even if the seller is willing to take that price. I don't like the way the CL profile, the way it is constructed seems to encourage that kind of activity.

On top of that it feeds into the worst aspects of American Society which is on balance a pretty darned good thing. But in truth, we love you when you are up but that does not mean we are neutral when you are down. We don't know you when you are down. We treat each other as sort of an extended version of the way we treat our stars. Love to adore them when they are up but can often revel in their failures. I just don't like the way CL tends to expose that aspect of us even more.

Granted there are those of us that are more generous than others and oddly enough we tend to extend more generosity to those that we don't know from a hole in the wall. But I think it is our own fear of failure in a society that treats failure even of the best intended and most vigorous efforts with something close to disdain that pushes us to shove people we have more in common with than we care to or even dare to admit, further under the bus than they are already going just on their own steam.

[Erich Larson]

I would ask for a 25% deposit to hold it. Otherwise you are getting set up for uncompensated aggravation.

[Marty Tippin]

Never hold *ANYTHING* for a Craigslist buyer. Most who ask you to hold it won't show up and even fewer will let you know they're not coming. Burned more than a few times before I learned better...

Selling on Craigslist is simple: First person who shows up with cash in hand is the winner. Everyone else can go complain on an online woodworking forum...

[James Nugnes]

Well that of course means you are not telling buyers that you are going to hold the item and then not holding it. That has been the main issue in this thread from the start. If you are not going to hold it, don't say that you are and then turn around and do otherwise. By the way, I agree with not holding an item.

[Brian Henderson]

Unfortunately, the Craigslist in my area really sucks, at least for tools. You go in looking for anything and you get "FEW results in your area" and the ones that are there, either the prices are sky high for everything, or the ones that might be reasonable are a hunk of rust. About a year ago, I was trying to help a friend get a jointer, we both watched Craigslist for about 3 weeks before he gave up and just went and bought a new one. I kept watching for an additional 2 months afterwards, just to see if anything ever came up and nothing worth spending a red cent on ever did.

[julian abram]

Unfortunately, the Craigslist in my area really sucks, at least for tools. You go in looking for anything and you get "FEW results in your area" and the ones that are there, either the prices are sky high for everything, or the ones that might be reasonable are a hunk of rust. About a year ago, I was trying to help a friend get a jointer, we both watched Craigslist for about 3 weeks before he gave up and just went and bought a new one. I kept watching for an additional 2 months afterwards, just to see if anything ever came up and nothing worth spending a red cent on ever did.

I check CL tools pretty much daily but not so much to pick up a tool for immediate use but to upgrade down the road. Quality, clean tools at a reasonable price are kind few and far between in CL. But they do pop up some you need to watch routinely.

[David Falkner]

I have a 6" Delta DJ-15 jointer that I bought new in 1990 and an Oliver 159-A long bed 8' lathe made in 1948 that I need to get rid of but I'm leery of listing on CL because people have to come to my house to see these tools.

How do you handle people coming to your house? I guess I could meet them in the HD parking lot 10 minutes away and do a brief interview to see if they're really interested and if it's someone I would actually allow in my shop, but just curious how y'all would handle this?

[Myk Rian]

I have a 6" Delta DJ-15 jointer that I bought new in 1990 and an Oliver 159-A long bed 8' lathe made in 1948 that I need to get rid of but I'm leery of listing on CL because people have to come to my house to see these tools.

How do you handle people coming to your house? I guess I could meet them in the HD parking lot 10 minutes away and do a brief interview to see if they're really interested and if it's someone I would actually allow in my shop, but just curious how y'all would handle this?

Wheel the machines out of the shop and close it. That's all they're going to see.
Write down their license plate number.

[David Falkner]

Wheel the machines out of the shop and close it. That's all they're going to see.
Write down their license plate number.

That would be nice but not really feasible. The jointer is possible with enough notice but I've sacked it away in a corner with stuff piled on it because it's in the way. The lathe is simply not possible. Eight years ago it took 5 of us to move it in and we only moved it 3 or 4 feet at a time. Plus, it's 10' long overall and would require a complete rework of the shop equipment to get it out and I only want to do that one time.

[Brian Henderson]

I check CL tools pretty much daily but not so much to pick up a tool for immediate use but to upgrade down the road. Quality, clean tools at a reasonable price are kind few and far between in CL. But they do pop up some you need to watch routinely.

I'm not looking for anything, I almost exclusively buy new tools, I was just making the point that Craigslist isn't a panacea everywhere, there are plenty of places where tools are few and far between, even in bad condition and overpriced. For the amount of time you spend waiting for the perfect tool at the perfect price and making the call at the perfect time and showing up before everyone else, it's usually easier just buying something new. YMMV.

[James Nugnes]

I think you have to get crazy lucky to end up with a good deal off CL when it comes to power tools. Same experience here. If somebody has something decent they just want way too much for it. Does not matter how good the condition is, sellers have to be realistic about what people will pay for used power tools. They are taking all the risk and it is not inconsequential when discussing power tools. Every now and then you run into somebody that is realistic about selling used power equipment. But the fellow that said you have to check regularly was right. You really have to check every day. Deals are few and far between and easy to recognize. So something worth your time is going to disappear pretty quick.