Hot Rods Beware of Craig's List scam

Sort of off topic here however since We all have to live somewhere it is relevant to a degree.
A few years ago when selling our house in Oregon we listed the house and within a couple days we had literally lines of people driving by the house. like we had the best lights at Christmas or something. Funny thing is that there was not one person calling to make an offer or even to come look at the house. a day later someone stopped and knocked on the door and asked why we were renting the house out if it was for sale.
A dirt bag scammer was using all the photos and info from our listing and created an add to rent the house for an absurdly low price of course asking to send the money to a P.O. box and they would mail you the keys.
true story. I filed reports with craigslist and honestly this happened day after day until the house sold.

BEWARE!!!!! SCAMMERS

 

maybe you could help me out, I've bought and sold a shitload of junk on craigslist, which one am I, liar, crook or scammer?

 

you can usually right click on the image and one of the choices will be" search google for this image."

 

Can you really be just one?

 

I have bought and sold with Craigslist for several years and have not had one bad experience.

 

Craigslist is no better/worse than any other public media.
I've listed/rented income properties on CL - even the 1973 Simplicity tractor out in the barn came from CL.

The evening my date and I went and saw "The Flim-Flam Man" the nature of all humanity was revealed to me.

"Thus it has always been, and thus it will always be"

 

I've sold a few items and so has my son. Bought a 77 Camaro front frame the same way. No shipping, cash only at our homes. Garage doors closed.
Advertised a WTB for a 1940 Chev frame on CL and here. Can't believe how many responded that they had one. All BS. Did find one in Phoenix. All worked out.

 

Ask the guy if he'd take $2500.00 cash money.

Everything I list on CL some idiot asks me if I'd take 1/2 of what I listed it for. Of course in cash money.

 

"The Flim Flam Man" is a GREAT movie! I first saw it decades ago and still refer to it. Absolutely illustrates the old adage "you can't cheat an honest man".......the essence of every scam is that the 'pigeon' thinks they are getting the best end of the deal.

Ray

 

That's it in a nutshell!

 

Ft. Hood TX?

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That same exact scam ( at least the wording was the same) was going around the east Texas Craig's list a few years ago, except it was for a Harley sportster at super low unrealistic price

 

I never try to talk anyone down, if I don't like the price I just scroll on by, (or walk on by if at a swap meet), don't like haggling. I think a lot of people on CL seriously up charge their items because of that "what have I got to lose" mentality, which also accounts for the ridiculously low offers from buyers.

 

I 've got a PHD in back stabbing, cork screwing and dirty dealing !!

 

as the 'doee' or the 'doer' ?

Ray

 

I advertised an M21 Muncie 4 speed on Craigslist, asking price $600. Firm. Light use, synchros were like new.
One guy called, said he was coming from Los Banos. I waited...
Finally a white Chevy pickup drove up, parked across the street. Another car was making a 'U' turn as the truck parked.
The 'U' turner parked in front of the house, both guys walked up.
"Who's from Los Banos?" The shorter guy said "I am." The other guy said, "Got here at the same time.."
I had the cover off, the box was on a table in front of the garage.
The "Same time" guy said he wanted it, what was the "least I'd take"? He said, "Your best price".
I said, "Well, my BEST price would be more than what I asked."
The Los Banos guy said, "Just what I'm looking for. I'll give you 6-and-a-half," "Same time" says, "Hey, the price was 6, what're you doin'?"
I said, "Gentlemen, if one of you ends up the highest bidder, I'm here to take cash, and I'll help you carry it to your vehicle," "Same time" bids $675, and I sold it to Los Banos for $700.00
"Same time" grumbled, but I reminded him that "Los Banos" had offered me firm cash over the phone.
"Same time" just said he "might drop by"... (either was 'welcome' to have bought it, but being that they were from C.L., I was happy to play their little game.)
When "Same time" drove off, Los Banos said thanks, $600 was too cheap anyway.
We shook hands, and he left happy, so was I.

I've had other successes from Craigslist, mainly buying...I avoid the 'personals' like STDs!

 

I had a similar experience as Atwater Mike. Listed a car part for $500 firm. Guy came over and looked at it and said $400. So I countered with $600 firm. He said "hey, you cant do that!" Guess what? He bought it for $600.

 

I buy stuff on Craigslist all the time but ALWAYS go look at it in person and hell will freeze over before I send money off to someone with a deal that is too good to be true. Even If I made a deal on a car that was out of state the deal would have to be that the money would change hands when I or my buddy or someone I trusted showed up to make the transaction.

On the other hand I have driven out and inspected and took photos of a truck that was local to me for a guy back east who spotted it on craigslist It just happened that the truck was being sold by a couple I have known for over 50 years and the truck was pretty decent. Not a show truck but a hell of a good driver and that was what the guy wanted. 100 photos and a walk around video later he made a deal on it and they shipped it to him. But I'd say that's the key on any rig you are buying or intending to by. Have someone go look at it and take decent photos that show everything about it. Anytime a prospective seller balks at having someone show up to inspect and photograph the rig you know that it is either a scam or the rig is misrepresented.

 

Mile I do the same thing when sell at swap meets. You go down and I counter up. Great reactions.

 

Both !!

 

On Craigslist I definetly get the best price guys. It's annoying. But I also get the guys who contact me about the item, ask questions, then ask how much for it. Now, mind you I always list the price of an item in an ad. So for example if I'm asking $100, when they ask me how much I'll tell them at least $110, sometimes more.
Then they reply with, "well the ad says $100". To which I reply, "well, then you know how much it is already. Stupid questions aren't free here"


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The real wonder is how anybody could believe this is a legitimate deal. Neat car, great price, we'll ship it to ya for free, check it out at your leisure. Have to sell by such and such a date.

The phrasing or word choice isn't quite right, the writer is not a native or educated English speaker. Nobody talks like that.

Can't we drone these people?

 

I've sold and bought on CL, I only deal with things I can go see myself and bring someone with me. Cash is king if I like the item.

I sold a storm door and steel door that got removed from my house in a re-modeling. They were both fairly new and never exposed to weather being in a closed porch, fastest no haggle $200 I ever made.

Using email, I find that the first few responders (10 minutes or less) are always flakes or wanna-be scammers. I use this as a filter before giving out my phone number. My buddy (a mechanic) has sold a few cars on CL, his own cars for decent prices are the cars are in great shape. The amount of chain yanking he took on some of them was amazing.

 

If you are ever bored, and love to spectate strange unwashed swaths of humanity (like I do), put stuff on CL for free, they will come out of the woodwork, weirder as the day goes on until they are actually accompanied by Nurse Ratched on a day pass.

 

Lmao !

 

I find the "I'm not really interested in selling, just testing the waters" ads a bit disappointing.

 

Bargaining is a dance as old as mankind. Apparently this gentlemanly art is becoming lost to time. Personally, I am not insulted if someone wants to offer me less. I will either accept, counter offer, or tell them I can't do it at that price. It's really easy. No drama. No adversarial experience. No power trips. We either agree on a price or we don't.

If someone talked to me that rudely, they'd never get any of my money.

 

I am not insulted if anyone offers me less either. I have no problems negotiating, but don't ask me for info that you already have, and when the price is $500, don't offer me "$200, cash". Or immediately ask for "my best price"

Neither of those are negotiating, they are wasting time.
If you want to negotiate, then negotiate.

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Well, I guess we have different ideas on that. I often see several ads for the same item with different prices. I often ask the seller to verify their asking price just to confirm that we are at the same place. If someone offered me a lowball offer of $200 on a $500 item then I would just say no. It may or may not be a waste of time. It has to start somewhere. If he wants the item bad enough then we might be able to get the money in the ballpark of a acceptable offer. If not, it only took a couple of minutes of my time.

No insult intended, Cretin. I just approach it differently is all.

 

No insult taken.
I would understand asking the price if there were multiple prices listed. That is never the case with my ads though.

I'm only short when dealing with Craigslist, because there are so many time wasters. I don't really have those issues selling other places. So I guess it's a bad apples spoiling the batch situation.


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