Your Favorite Craigslist Lines from Buyers

I'm not much of a buyer on CL, unless people will ship things (even in my own city). I've never found anything in the city that's less than an hour round trip, with the potential (this is Pittsburgh - not a grid) of an hour turning into 3 due to surprise weekend lane closures.

However, I've sold guitars on CL in the past (not now...will describe why), and sold amps on CL, too. And a banjo.

(the last guy who bought an amp brought a friend, tied us up at the house for two hours while he played, and then ultimately bought the amp - but wife and kids got stuck waiting for me and they're not having that again - so the mrs. said no more house buyers, I have to meet people somewhere instead. We did tell him we were in a hurry, but the amp was a two channel rivera amp and he was particular and wanted to experience every sound it could possibly make).

(I've had good luck with CL, by the way - better than I'd ever expect, and never a bad experience - I've ignored tire kickers or typical "can you hold this for a week for me" - those people never show up).

First guy:
* I'm interested in ___, but I'm not too sure about it. I want to come over and look through your other stuff and see if you have anything else I might want. (!!!). He may have said that as a joke, but when you list one thing, and someone asks if they can just go through all of your stuff? I don't doubt he's had success doing that.

*Second guy: expensive banjo involved (not sure if the guy got me through CL or banjohangout, he sent me a text, and then a follow-up email).

"Hey, I have a connecting flight in pitt international - gets in at 10pm, and I have a meeting the next morning. Can you bring the banjo to PIT at the marriott after 10 PM sunday night so I can look at it?". There was some lead time (a couple of weeks before the actual flight date), and given the cost of the instrument, I considered taking it to the airport, as buyers for $4k used instruments are not plentiful.

Dude #2 also asked me to hold/delist the banjo until then (which I wasn't willing to do).

I told him it might be possible, but I'd wait until closer to his flight and get back to him. Thankfully, someone from belgium spotted the banjo on a search and asked if I'd ship it to his friend in Virginia. I told him his friend would have to pay through paypal (so that payment and address would match), he did, and that was that. When I contacted dude #2 to let him know the banjo sold, he said he was bummed. After his flight came though, he sent me another message letting me know it didn't get in until 2am.

I'm glad to not be telling about the time I drove to the airport to take a banjo to a guy, and sat in the lobby of the marriott for 4 1/2 hours.

Ever have any oddball CL experiences that weren't part of the normal tire kickers, scam emails or just outright rude people?

 

People tend to actually like the later one, at least if they're spending a significant amount. It's a bigger pain in the arse than tracking down the scale on a guitar when someone else has used it, though - so I generally check a blade and give an "about" comment and qualitative statement. If someone asks for me to do something that takes an hour to make an extra ten dollars, the stone they're asking about usually gets bought out from under them without issue. Kind of like guitars. No need to deal with tire kickers when a legitimate buyer is sneaking up behind them.

 

I think you're browsing a different section than the rest of us, unless you were looking for grooming.

 

I can identify with your second guy. You sell me an amp that's common, we confirm that it's stock and nothing was missing from the listing, I don't need to sit at your house for a half hour and put you under a bright light. It wastes my time and yours, and I can always come back with a scowl on my face if you lied to me (never been burned by that).

Bought a (push) mower from an indian lady one year. She wanted me to start it to make sure it worked. It was two years old, it wouldn't start, and she said her husband was a doc and they stopped mowing their lawn after the first year and paid someone else to do it. I gave her the money and told her I'd figure it out when I got home. Honda mower, no choke and no primer, and a year and a half of sitting just meant it needed a bunch of additional pulls to get fuel through. I was excited to get it for her asking price (1/3rd of new) - still using it 13 years later.

 

There's a variation behind that person (my wife's friend, who always wants you to do thing for her). If you can't help her out, she always ends with "well, I would've made time to do it for you if you asked for me". I've had buyers say "I'd have ____ if it was me selling". It's easy to say that.

Anyone who has ever coordinated a group buy and bought items without having money in hand from every purchaser ahead of time knows how different what people do vs. what they say they'll do can be.

 

Been there on that, too. "free if you can haul it, bring enough help to do it without me". two things happen:
* I can't haul that, but can you bring it to me?
* one guy shows up and says his buddies canceled on him, but he was coming anyway just to check to see if he could still get it

(anything heavy, I always overdescribe the number of lifters needed so that if someone comes two short, it's me subbing for one guy and nobody goes to the doctor over a 450 pound free item).