71rocket

What a pain in the %ss!! I get nothing but scammers on my '62. Years ago it wasn't bad, mainly tire kickers. I've never sold on ebay motors but from what I read about as bad. Oh well, my venting is over.

m371961

I never sold a vehicle on line until I listed my military truck on a M-37 Dodge site. I got more scammers then anything. Somebody fairly local finally did see it just as I was cancelling the ad, and we made a deal. Have some patience and I hope it comes through.

brownbomber77

Just check the box for reply by text or phone call only and that usually avoids a lot of the phony emails. And then put in the ad what times you're available for phone calls. I have pretty good luck with that.

dredluxx

Warning: Long post! read at your own risk:

Craigslist is a cesspit when it comes to attempting to sell things. Attempting to buy things is just as bad. Craigslist just sucks period.. yeah, you can find good deals sometimes, but unfortunately scammers and other undesirables lurk constantly looking for targets.

Right before i got my Delta, I was in contact with a guy who had a 1985 Caprice. The pictures showed a clean, well maintained 4-door Caprice, supposedly with a 305 V8 and 50K miles. I quickly called the guy for the car the same day. He told me about the car, we negotiated a price and i got excited. He said that he wasn't in town because of work, but he'd be back in a few days .. i said OK, i'll call back in a few days.

Few days pass, i call. he say he's still not off work. Now a week later, i call again. His response this time is he's off of work, but still has some things to take care of. OK. 2 weeks later.. I call again.. he's waiting on some "paperwork".. call back in a few days. OK. 3 weeks later, i'm getting annoyed. I ask what's up with the car. His response:

I'm gonna be upfront with ya. The car's in Wyoming. I need a grand to ship it down to you.

What? You wasted all my time for nothing? The same day, I came across the Delta. The car was in VA.. i talked with the gentleman on the phone for a while, agreed upon a deal, he pulled the car off ebay, and i had a train ticket out there the next day. Drove it back home without a hitch. Funny how things work.. because had that situation never happened, i probably would have missed out on the Delta 88, which i would have regretted had I known about it. Honestly, i've had a much better time dealing with people on ebay that craigslist, tho ebay can be pretty chitty sometimes too. For my Delta, however, the guy accommodated me the whole time and made it as easy as he could for someone coming so far to buy the car. I wish all car buying/selling experiences matched the one of this particular sale.


You've got to watch people, man. I came across a 84 Cutlass Supreme 4-door on craigslist for 3800, the owner described as "pristine", "needs NOTHING but a new owner" "runs like a champ"… So i sent a text message to the guy inquiring about the car, in which he never responded. It's a good thing he never replied! 2 weeks later I see the same car relisted, this time for 800 bucks, with "MOTOR SEIZED" in big huge letters in the title. Description simply read

"Motor blown."

I dodged a bullet.

I had a 1999 Land Rover Discovery.. first and last foreign car i ever owned. I liked the truck, a lot.. but maintenance was insanely high and if you get one that wasn't babied, then the cost of replacing parts or rebuilding it literally is more than what a NEW Land Rover is worth. When it started leaking oil viscously, i decided time to sell it. I was upfront with my description in the ad. I stated in big bold letters: the truck runs, drives, etc, but I DO NOT recommend driving it away. It's leaking oil amongst other things pretty bad. I made the mistake of including my phone number in the ad. From the minute i placed it on Craigslist, i start getting a ton of calls, and texts. People, of all different kinds and backgrounds asking about the truck. What condition is the truck, (even tho i specifically stated every detail about the truck mechanically and cosmetically to the best of my knowledge) If i would take some **** *** amount for the truck (i.e.: 500$) , (even tho i specially stated how much i wanted and how much i would work with) F'ing scammers out the wood works. People asking me to ship them the car, and they would wire me the money.. People asking if I need help selling the truck, they'd put it on their lot for me, People asking me to wire THEM money. HAH! Could you believe that? Insane ! All day I'm at work, trying do actually do work, and i have morons blowing up my phone trying to scam me. I told a couple of people to politely take their scams elsewhere.. other people i told to shove it up their ***. Eventually, i did sell the truck. A woman, who claimed that her husband exports the trucks to Africa. I got a bit less than i wanted for it, but i was just happy to be thru with the selling experience. I refuse to sell on craigslist now.

To much to read? Craigslist sucks.

vette442

Put it in perspective. Suffering through one phone call from a lonely nitwit calling in response to an old fashioned print ad takes way longer than deleting 100 scammer emails. The same kooks will contact you either way but it's sure easier to weed them out quickly via emails.

Like the sellers who don't post pics on a free site like this. You've got way too much time on your hands if you want sellers to call you for initial info about a car or part. Put some real info and pics and less of your time will be wasted.

Professur

I've had my '81 CC, winter tires on rims, and 2 different transmissions off Kijiji with no bother at all. Different audience I guess.

oldcutlass

Sorry to say, but thieves, scammers, and liars have been around through all venues of car sales advertisements since I can remember all the way back to plain old print ads before the internet. It's just something we all have to deal with.

71rocket

On a lighter note, had a gentleman show up this evening to buy an engine I had on CL. He drove over 200 miles for a 230 l6. A man of his word. There are a few good ones.

DewChugr

I've got smoking deals buying and selling a fair amount on CL. I found found full set of 08 c6 brakes, calipers, brackets, pads, rotors with 5k for $250, car parts, electronics, etc. I've driven two to two and a half hours for stuff. I've sold iphones, cars, etc.

I think bigger cities like Chicago, New Orleans get more crap ads than smaller cities like I live in. Also, our CL city name is not the same as the actual city name so I know if someone puts the cl city name as location is probably spam because most people here wouldn't use it.

You have to expect no shows, clowns and scammers, you just weed through them. When in doubt meet in a store parking lot with people around. For me it's the easiest way to sell stuff and the best way to buy used cars. My son has bought and sold quite a few cars on CL that he's flipped or fixed up and kept.

One thing that will help you selling stuff. Watch your spam folder. I get a lot of emails that go to my spam folder and if I didn't watch that I'd miss buyers. Also, if you email someone about an ad and don't hear anything email again, try to make your email more than one sentence and not spammy so it doesn't get flagged on their end. I had something I wanted one time and never heard back so I put an ad on asking the seller to contact me.

I like it so much better than ebay these days.

Indy_68_S

Guess I've had pretty good luck. Sold my bro's kid's Alero on CL several years ago. Had a few calls first day and later 2nd day a young couple showed up to look at it. I sent 'em off on test drive and they came back excited. Guy was not an experienced negotiator. He stammered an offer like $100 less than I had listed. I told 'em they looked like a nice couple so I'd do it. Next day guy came back with cash, but not quite all of it. He was counting out ones to get the last $50. I told him close enough & gave him the title/keys & all was good.

Sold some parts, furniture, a smashed propane grill, and other stuff on CL too ..no major probs. Also, returned a found iPod to its owner.

I always get a bunch of the scam emails & I just ignore/delete them. I reply 'sold' to stupid texts. Use common sense for transactions. Full disclosure, stuff in driveway with house closed up, public place for smaller stuff, etc...

The only weird one was I listed a nice dresser & crib combo for $400 OBO. Was like >$900 new and mint. Had some dingbat hillbilly lady who called several times yelling that she wouldn't pay more than $50. Everytime I told her to come on by & look at it.

Again, nice couple came by & paid $350. Sad part was by the time we loaded in their truck, it was going to rain any minute. I told them they could put the truck in the garage and wait it out, but they wanted to leave. Within minutes of them leaving it was sheeting rain. Hope they made it....

Olds_71_442

Craigslist is pretty much non existent here in Nova Scotia. It exists but there's nothing on it. We mostly use Kijiji and I use it quite often. I got a few rare parts for my 89 fullsize Bronco recently and I got a ton of stuff for my 71 Olds.....the most important was my fibreglass hood. Something I thought I'd never be able to find. I also buy a lot of music gear from Kijiji. I also live a long way from the city and have to make a long drive to get the parts, but still worth it to me.