A pointless rant about morons on the internet...

[Larry Browning]

Ok, call me an old geezer if you want, cause that is what I am. But, I must say it is a sad commentary about who we are as a society if we can't even trust each other to conduct a simple buy/sell transaction without fearing for our safety. What is our world coming to? Sheesh!!!!! It makes me glad I only have 20-30 years left on this earth. I feel sorry for the rest of you though.

[Wade Lippman]

A guy drove from Windsor to my front door to buy my Brooks Pro saddle- and didn't even try to dicker with the price. I at least expected him to ask for something to pay the Ambassador Bridge fare for two crossings.

I put my sailboat on CL for $1,200. A guy 620 miles away wanted to buy it. He said he would leave at 6am, so should be here about 3pm. My phone was in my car and I went out to get it at noon. There were 15 messages from him on it. He couldn't sleep, so he left home at midnight and has been waiting at my boat for 3 hours. It took me an hour to get out there, but he paid me, lubed the wheels, hitched the trailer up and left for his 9 hour drive home. By that time snow was coming down and blowing pretty hard. He thought the interstate that he came on was the long way, so he was going to take lessor roads home. I've always wondered if he ever made it. (bear in mind that I had been trying to sell the boat at that price for 2 months, so it wasn't much of a bargain; I've never understood how it could have been worth driving 18 hours for)

[Curt Harms]

Ok, call me an old geezer if you want, cause that is what I am. But, I must say it is a sad commentary about who we are as a society if we can't even trust each other to conduct a simple buy/sell transaction without fearing for our safety. What is our world coming to? Sheesh!!!!! It makes me glad I only have 20-30 years left on this earth. I feel sorry for the rest of you though.

You obviously don't live in a large city, Larry. Though I suspect the media makes it worse than it is. There are parts of Philadelphia I'd have reservations about venturing into without someone versed in the 'local culture'.

[Larry Browning]

You obviously don't live in a large city, Larry. Though I suspect the media makes it worse than it is. There are parts of Philadelphia I'd have reservations about venturing into without someone versed in the 'local culture'.

I don't live in a city at all. The closest city with a population greater than 100,000 is 2 hours away. But there are still people around here that want to meet in a parking lot to do business. I still say it is a very sad thing that we as a society are scared (with reason to be) to conduct a simple legal transaction with a stranger at our home. It's just makes me shake my head. It is just pitiful.

[Chris Padilla]

I've sold a lot of stuff on CL. The largest/priciest item was a car. The woman who wanted it was a few hours north of me and she was trying to figure out how to see it when a stroke of luck hit: I had to go about half the distance to her town because I needed to pick my daughter up from a school-sponsored science camp so we did meet in a parking lot. She left me her car with her 1 year old son it and took my car for a spin. 3 days later she came down to my house with her mother and handed me $5k in cash. It all went smooth as silk and she still texts me every once in while letting me know how great the car is and that it will be painted soon, etc.

I think that was the only time I met at a 'safe place' for CL buy or purchase and eventually, she came to my house anyway.

The only issue I've ever had was when I posted something for free...two guys nearly had a fist fight in my front yard. That was the last 'free' item I've posted. Now if I want something gone fast, I'll put in on for a dollar and when I get a hit, I let them know that they can have it for free. Still no issue that I can think of with folks coming to my house...so far. But the world can be a scary place unfortunately so I understand the trepidation.

[Malcolm McLeod]

CL is like any marketplace, except its 'remote'. This remote anonymity lets people commit fraud. Fraud makes people ask for cash. Cash gets the bad guy's attention, "I can get the sap to deliver the cash."

If you're buying with cash, offer to meet at the nearest police station. If they agree, odds are they are legit. IMHO (Yes, this thread FINALLY sucked me in!!)

[Karl Andersson]

I think the truly dangerous people are few and far-between, but then again, the Internet does seem to attract predators. Baltimore County where I live is mostly working-class suburban, with a few neighborhoods that are better and some that are worse; when buying, I always look at the map to get an idea of what neighborhood I'm going to, and if possible, get the person to talk on the phone so I can hear what they sound like. That has worked when I've sold things too - the items always seem too big to take to the nearest parking lot, so I have the person call and can tell from conversation if I'd rather find somewhere to sell other than my home (hasn't happened yet). Of course, my digs aren't encouraging to thieves and the old Lab can still bark like a hellhound even if she can't walk real well.
I've found that the really cheap things are either sold by people who have no idea what it is worth, or people in a real need for cash. That second group usually sounds kinda weird on the phone, saying things like "um, yeah, it works, I promise" without giving any idea if it's in the "excellent shape" they advertised. They are also willing to have you come over any time of night or day. I have a hellish commute, so I've bought three things on weekdays at 8:00 pm- in winter when it's more than dark. I guess I sound trustworthy enough that the sellers didn't balk at having me come over, plus the things I bought were all working person's tools (ladder, anvil, truck box) - not the kind of thing that attracts thieves who want to grab and run.
The only really weird experience was when I bought the truck box. I could only get the guy to text, and we were meeting at about 8 at his house in a lower-cost neighborhood. I would say that I do not appear to be easily robbed or even attacked, so I normally don't worry (but I do have a nice 4" sapper knife I carry to buys as my "Craigslist protector" for peace of mind) but this time I asked my wife to come along. This was after I finally talked to him on the phone and he sounded a little shaky. In addition to my knife in my pocket, I had my wife keep her phone ready to call 911 and placed an antique Civil War-era, non-working Colt Navy model revolver under her seat in case she had to point it (it has a garishly nickeled barrel - easy to see) if I needed a distraction to escape. So, we got there and it was the only house on the street that had a broken-down truck out front, overgrown bushes, and piles of junk in the side yard. Everyone else had neat yards and vehicles denoting tradespeople (plumbing vans, cable trucks, etc.). As I left my truck (running), "dude" comes rambling down his steps, talking a mile a minute about weather, work that day, trying to find work, how the box is in great condition, hey is that my truck, hey is that my wife - all with minimal eye contact. Dude was obviously on something, likely meth, so I made sure I could see the box from the truck and proceeded to look it over. Tweeker Dude forgot to mention it had been in a fire (only on one side), but the damage was superficial and the dent he had mentioned was not too bad. Problem was, he hadn't cleaned it out, so it was full of junk and broken tools - but he wanted to keep all of them, down to the last socket, so he could sell them for more cash (wonder why). While he unloaded his crap into a collection of empty paint buckets, I went to my wife, told her he was wired, and said just to keep an eye on him. I helped him get the last things out, keeping him in front of me so I could see him, then hauled the box over to my truck and paid him under the street light. After watching him tremble while I counted out the cash (exact amount), I jumped in the truck and got out of there as fast as possible. It was an interesting experience, and aside from not getting murdered, I did get a Weatherguard side-door truck box (retail about $700) for $60, only needed to polish it up, hammer the dent, and spend about $150 on new locks and struts.
My advice, if buying at someone's house, would be to always check the map, then show up early and drive through the neighborhood to get a feel for the environment, and if you feel uneasy, call from your car and get the person to come out before making any decisions.
Karl

[Tony Zona]

Ah . . . I don't need a Weatherguard side-door truck box (retail about $700) for $60 that bad.

I could just see the police roll by my house with a warrant for receiving stolen property. If you had reason to believe it was stolen, you are just as guilty as the thief. (I learned that on jury duty a couple years ago.)

Not you, Karl. That was a generic "you."

[Mike Henderson]

She left me her car with her 1 year old son it and took my car for a spin. 3 days later she came down to my house with her mother and handed me $5k in cash.

When I first read this I thought she left the kid with you for three days I was thinking: "Well, that's an interesting way to get someone to babysit."

Mike

[Karl Andersson]

yeah, this wasn't so much stolen as probably someone let the guy have it after they had an accident. I can imagine what he traded for it at the time... but hey, it made for an interesting experience and maybe after meeting me, his life took a turn for the better.