Yep and if possible have them meet you away from the house to pick up the item. I usually have people buying stuff off craigslist from me meet me in the parking lot where I work which is public property but real easy to find. I usually request a return phone number and always include my cell phone number when I answer an add. Scammers seem to zero in on certain types of adds more than others probably hoping that they will get less knowledgeable and more gullible people responding.
I never had a problem using C/L...I've met some nice hot rod folk buying and selling parts...the price is right for placing an add...its like anything else you do...just got to be smart about it...I like the cash and carry...
I used to use emails, but that only attracted the assholes of the planet. By phone, I only get the interested parties. Once the item sells, I delete the ad. Which only run for a week anyway. Bob
After all the CL worriers I placed the item for sale here on the HAMB in the Miscellaneous For Sale section, it sold and I got paid by PayPal. There is no place like the HAMB, and the people here are the best on the planet! Bob
Never take a bankers check unless it is local . US law [ NZ, Aust,UK also] requires the banks to honour it, which isn't the same as being cleared. They send the original back to the bank it was issued from and discover it was a forgery or stolen [ under these circumstances the bank is allowed to reverse the funds from your account ] This can take months before you discover you've been scammed.
I sell alot on C-list. Everyone here is correct. Never respond to "Is it still for sale?" I always put No emails answered, and don't. If they don't call, they're not serious. The ones that do call are the 5% you MIGHT trust. Avoid bringing them to your house. Always meet somewhere..AND NEVER "update your Paypal" Always a scam!
Which raises another good point: don't have anything in your CL photos that you don't want the world to see and know you have.
You can sign up for a CL account, it takes sbout three minutes and its super easy to manage/edit/edit/bump your ad. I'm kinda lucky and have a few 0's in my phone number and just post it with o's instead. Or you coud spell out the last number like 555-123-456seven that'll help to weed out scammers.
Times 3......cash only....no BS... I have had pretty good luck selling on Craigslist...but do not vary from the above... (actually have had some emails stating that they are so interested that they may pay me more than I am asking...yes for real)
I agree, never put your email in the ad. In fact, specify NO EMAILS. Then, take it one step further... There are Companies out there that use a software scan on CL ads in search of phone numbers. Next thing you know you're getting calls from all kinds of garbage pedaling Companies, some dude who owns a helicopter wanting to know if you would like an aerial photo of your house (why the hell would I want that?!?), loan Companies, work from home Companies, and the likes. I always put in my CL ads; Please call SEVEN ZERO 4 EIGHT 9 ZERO 9 EIGHT... (rest of number, you get the idea) and LEAVE A MESSAGE. I will call you back at the number you leave as soon as I am able to. ABSOLUTELY no emails. All emails will be deleted immediately, unopened. Haven't had any problems since.
I strung a spammer alog for a couple weeks the last time I had something for sale. It was a blast. Whats really fun is ask them a specific question about something. They have pre written emails that they send out in a particular order, so when you ask them something they have to anwer, thats when the real fun starts.
I've bought and sold a lot of odds and ends on CL, and I've never had a problem with any deal I've done. I do not put my email address, since you can easily reply using the CL link that's already in the ad, that way you have a third party in between you....but I rarely get emails on my CL ads this way, I just list my name and phone number. I did have one a$$hole call me from California and try to scam me on some high end stereo equipment, but I caught on quickly and told him to fuck off. Don't be afraid of CL, just use your head. I guess there are still enough people like the OP out there who don't know about the scams that keeps it a viable income producing business for the scammers - I wouldn't have thought so......
I found alot of parts for my roadster on CL, motor, body, etc. The clues are anything vague, i.e. when they reference the"item" you have for sale or an "agent" or obviously stupid question such as "how much would shipping be" with no reference as to WHERE they want it shipped. Lots of good stuff to be found on CL, just gotta be aware, there are also lots of fishing scams goin on too.
Yeah, there's no reason to avoid CL, just use your head. If someone offers you more than you're asking, WAKE UP. Nobody is going to do that. If somebody wants to buy your item sight-unseen, and then offers to send you a Western Union or Money Order, don't even give them the satisfaction of a reply. If you're BUYING something off of CL and the deal seems too good to be true, RUN. If the seller says they want to handle the transaction through eBay (not an auction, mind you, but as an escrow service), be advised that eBay offers no such service. If you inquire about a vehicle that seems like a REALLY great price, but then the seller replies that the vehicle is in another state, or that it is crated and on a military base, or that they are on a military base and are unavailable to show the vehicle (but they ASSURE you the vehicle is everything they say it is, and that it will be shipped to you FREE just as soon as they get your payment), well, don't be a schmuck. MOST of these scams have been around for as long as the internet, and it amazes me that they're still going on. This means that somewhere out there, SOMEONE is still falling for it. Just be smart. And yes, stringing them along is WICKED FUN. If you can get them to divulge a personal contact email address, bingo. There's nothing more fun than tricking them into giving up something legit, then reporting their asses to the proper authorities, and THEN informing the scammer that they may be getting a knock on the door. Well, I've gotta get going. The mail just arrived, and I have to go deposit this check before the bank closes. Turns out, the wife of a dead Nigerian King has chosen ME to receive 3.75 million dollars, and all I had to do was pay $3000 for the lawyers processing fee! I wonder why this check has a water-mark shaped like Mickey Mouse on it...
Those are just the usual scam thief's that hit the new people post . To get around that just tell people to put a certain word that you want to use in the subject line and you will delete the rest . that way you know who want to know about your items forsale and the others just delete them ! Retro Jim
it's funny how all the scammers have the same stupid stories. as stated, anyone with an "agent" is a scammer. they all seem to speak the same scammers english, using the same odd sentence structure. I can spot one a mile away. a few years ago I listed my old road bike for $1500.00. it wasn't up for 15 minutes and I had recieved 3 scammer replies. when I list now I put only my phone number. I put at the bottom of the listing "scammers and thieves need not reply" never had any actual problems selling ther than a few annoying emails and some scrapper asshole who called at 11:00 PM offering $12.00 each for some aluminum rims I was asking $100.00 for.
AND $200 T bodies and haul it off axles and $100 motors and $50 edelbrock carb/intake combos.... and...... seriously, i've bought and sold alot of stuff on CL, you just never know what yer gonna stumble across. Not to mention, It's fun readin the way some folks brain works when they're listin shit for sale. Today for example, i stumbled across an ad for "motorcycle helmet. for your head" That was the title. c'mon man, thats funny!
when i first started selling on cl the hot scam went like this:"is youre item avialible for purchase".."yes"..."iam out of town on buisness and i will have my agent send the check"..."ok cool".....so,if i was selling somthing for $600,they would send me a check for $1600 and say "oops,my agent sent the wrong amount.can you please wire the balance back and keep $100 for youre troubles"...well all of the checks i got from these fools were either fake or stolen payroll checks..i had over $10,000 in fake checks..after i got a good collection i called the cops.they came to my house and didnt even take the checks.they just said to throw them away.theyre fraud department was so backed up with these types of cases that they will never get to them all. so be careful on cl.and make sure you tell them to put what ever youre selling in the subject line of theyre email and to leave theyre phone number and you will call them.never put youre phone number on cl...
I always list a phone number in my Craigslist ads. I also state that I do not respond to E-mail or text. If they call me then I will deal with them and perhaps make a sale otherwise the multiple E-Mails that always show up simply end up in my spam folder and get deleted. I have called back some of the phone numbers from text messages and only found a few to be a legitimate buyer so they usually get deleted too. Been doing it this way for some time now and it seems to work well for me.
Related issue for me was I had a person from a large retail company I bought truck parts from call me the day after placing an order stating they needed a form of payment other than PayPal because our account was messed up and they would not ship until I would give them a credit card #. I have been doing business with this company for over 5 years and almost gave an account # away, but I said I would check into PayPal and phone back. Later found out one of their own was running a scam to purchase text books and put their self through college! Tom S. in Tn.
The Jalopy Journal
