Am I Missing Something? (Craigslist Rage)

pparks1 said:

Yeah, good ole Craig's list. I've only tried to use it a couple of times to sell things in the past and it was always a nightmare.

Sometimes people are super interested and talk your ear off, when it comes time to getting it shipped to them....they disappear never to be heard from again.

Other times, I swear the same person opens about 5 accounts and then when they bid on something and then bolt, they come along with the second account and try to talk you down. For example, you list an item for $200. First person offers you $200 and drags it out. Later bails. Now, somebody comes along and offers you $175. So, out of frustration, you start talking to that person and they disappear. Then, you get somebody offering $125 and you figure...well, I do want to get rid of this..so maybe I should just take it.

Lastly, you get scammed. This happened to me just this week

I posted an item for work. Within 3 hours, I got 3 responses. First guy said he wanted it, agreed to price, said he was sending me a check immediately, please pull the listing, and consider it sold. He would swing by after his honeymoon and pick up the device. A few days go by and I don't hear anything. I email him back..wait a few more days...nothing. Finally today I get to work and i have a check overnight from UPS on my desk.

The check is for 2.5 times the price of the item. The guy wants me to just cash it and then money gram or wire his shipper the difference since his secretary screwed up. I refuse his check via email and he assures me that everything is good, the check is 100% legit and says "please just cash it".. He assures me it will clear and I will have the money. The guy pleads with me to just cash the check because he claims it's a special check that cannot be canceled and he is out the money even if I don't cash it. He emails again, and says that he will "kill his secretary for making this mistake" if he is out his $4,600.

I call the company whom the check is drawn against...yep sure enough...it's not them....their identity was compromised and people are sending out bogus checks using their name, their logos and their presidents name on them.


I always say I don't use eBay and such because I just don't trust people and it's stuff like the transaction above which makes me feel this way.

Yeah that pretty much sums up any site you try to sell stuff on. I'm trying to selling 30+ items and some people e-mail me saying that they want to come get it immediately then I never hear from them again. Or I simply do not accept the persons offer because it is too low and I know they will no like the counter offer so I say something along the lines of "No Thanks". And apparently the people do not take rejection well because I end up with some dude internet raging all over my e-mail.

I was selling my PS2 a while back and got an e-mail from "A charity for some part of Africa". I don't remember their official title but they wanted personal info to send the money "300$" plus shipping to me to be shipped to some random address in Africa. Checked the ip and it was in Japan or something like that.

I think its mainly that people don't like being rejected even though they know that someone is not going to sell something to them for the exactly price they want. I've probably sold 100+ items on Craigslist at this point and I have only met ONE person who has sent me an e-mail agreeing to the listed price but of course he later was never heard from again(That was this week).

We never buy without checking on who we are buying from!

smarteyeball said:

Lollies said:

Get another e-mail from him again...
"god loves you! lol... its not worth much dude... peace! o sorry i am emaling u back!!!"
I really wanna respond but again, that will just escalate things...

Definite crackpot.

Respond verbally to vent and then simply delete.

I do but then I just have to sit and wait for them to come up with some new crafty way for them to put me down which is completely unethical and incorrect. I ended this one with the following:

"Your entitled to your opinion, your now blocked, thanks."

I wanna be mature about it and not stoop to their level but at the same time I just wanna bust out the 3rd grade tactics cause its just another lingering thought in my head.

LittleMiss said:

We never buy without checking on who we are buying from!

That, as always, is a good idea. I kinda feel like the craigslist community as a whole has a reputation on screwing people over so there is little to no trust. I take VERY good care of my stuff, I clean it regularly, and even keep the original boxes for when/if I resell it with the instructions and such(in most cases).

Looks like the kids are discovering the internet. Welcome! :)

By the way that cashier's check scam is as old as the hills. You will learn to recognize them instantly from only a few words of the title if you're smart.

Saw a documentary about this type of stuff about 5 years ago. Believe it or not some 90% of internet scams come from Nigeria. They have internet 'cafes' (room full of computers and guys sitting almost shoulder to shoulder) where they do nothing but try to scam americans.

And who can blame them? We have plenty of people stupid enough to fall for it.