I gave away an immense old pickup truck camper (came with the house...) free on Craigslist. Free is not a good idea, I should have asked for $50 just to eliminate the flakes, and just given it to the one guy that actually showed up to get it.
I gave away an immense old pickup truck camper (came with the house...) free on Craigslist. Free is not a good idea, I should have asked for $50 just to eliminate the flakes, and just given it to the one guy that actually showed up to get it.
-Dave
Flatiron A
Way too many other instruments
There's a lot of stuff out there .. living in a bloated consumer society, stuff all day... But I digress.
.. stuff swaddled into closets, attics, basemrnts.. Fddles. One can pick fiddles off CL routinely. Bunch of accordians and horns too.. ive acquired practically everything I need from someone in the community. I keep surfing CL N Dakota on hopes that a hardanger will suddenly appear.
Neat stuff comes up on our local CL regularly but at egregiously inflated prices. I blame junk tv like Pawn Stars and American Pickers, that give people the idea their crap is worth it's weight in gold, without realizing that they pass over 90% of what they see as worthless.
I see cheap guitars all the time but only about 4-5 mandolins a year.
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams
I recall watching my dad give away a FREE weed eater. It wasn't a cheapie and it was in good condition, other than the pull cord was broke. The guy is asking all kinds of questions and doing the whole used car routine.... how much line does it have, how many hours are on it, etc...
Finally my dad says, "look it's free, I am not going to pay you to take it". I found it rather amusing. Again, he really should have asked $20 and let someone haggle him down.
Robert Fear
http://www.folkmusician.com
"Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
" - Pete Seeger
There's a Gibson F5 on my local CL for $6000. Seems like it's a bit high, but likely someone will buy it.
I bought my fiddle on CL and I also put out a renter wanted request there. I’ve learned to not respond to texts or emails. I list my phone number, and if they’re not willing to call then they’re not interested or they’re scammers.
Peter Kaufman violin
Old Wave two point
Just because folks prefer not to call doesn't necessarily make them scammers or tire kickers - I find it's a generational thing with younger folks preferring email and older buyers preferring to chat on the phone. I've bought and sold a lot of stuff on craigslist over the years - if someone specifies that they'll only respond to calls then I'll call, but otherwise I email, hate talking on the phone unless I absolutely have to meself. I hear you on texts though - I don't really want to be texting back and forth, asking or answering questions via text etc.
2018 Girouard Concert oval A
2015 JP "Whitechapel" tenor banjo
2018 Frank Tate tenor guitar
1969 Martin 00-18
my Youtube channel
Agreed, younger folks/kids like texting. I bought a somewhat rare effects pedal for a good price off CL a few years ago and it was a teenager selling it. Instead of a single phone call to arrange a time to meet up. I must have gotten 15 texts with updates within a 25 minute period. (I think he needed a ride and his sister had to drive him so we could meet up at Walmart, IIRC.) We did meet and I bought the pedal, but it was annoying to have to play his "game."
Or, possibly I have just lost my "youthful exuberance!"
Update, I had a little free time today and took some pictures and listed on CL a name brand USA guitar at a very attractive price. I put local cash sales only in the ad with my phone number. I added no texts or emails, please......
Drumroll please, FIRST TWO RESPONSES were out of state texts stating they would love to buy it and wanted to know where to send the check.....
I would tell them where to put the check, but it might require a hospital visit in order to have it removed!
Texts can be okay, but you have to be careful. I've gotten scam texts, but never direct calls and rarely emails. But I usually only answer emails sent through craigslist's anonymous system, though, unless we have conversed enough for me to know they're serious. If the text asks you to follow a link, or email someone else there's a pretty good chance it's a scam. They always were for me. Also I've gotten inquiries from out of state area codes. I automatically reject them. Nobody is going to drive 250 miles to buy an 8 year old tablet.
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams
Update, guitar has been for sale less than 24 hours, I received two more texts (even tho I said no texts) from out of state people wanting to buy it. Both of these sounded like they were written by people whose first language probably wasn't English......"I am delighted at the condition and price of the guitar and would like to purchase it"......... "My name is Tom and my mother wants to buy your instruments, you can email her at....." Like Roger says, a text camouflages some stuff that would be obvious in a phone call.
I got another reply from a local guy, by text, of course (jeesh!) who wanted to know if I was interested in trading. (I'm not.) Anyway, I will give the scammers credit for working hard and responding quickly to my ad. At least I know it is being seen by people. Too bad none of those people are "local cash buyers" -- at least, so far!
Last edited by Jeff Mando; Apr-02-2018 at 9:13am.
Most of my craigslist dealings have been via text. It is pretty rare to speak to them via voice.
I find that quite a few legit buyers do have non-local phone numbers. It makes it a bigger hassle to weed out the spam, but you typically know within 1-2 texts.
Robert Fear
http://www.folkmusician.com
"Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
" - Pete Seeger
I've found that just because it's not a local number doesn't mean anything. Almost everyone uses cell phones now as their primary phone. When they move, they keep the same number so all of their contacts can still get ahold of them. That person may have simply moved to your area and kept their old number.
Not only that, but I often browse CL in distant cities that I know I'll be visiting soon, or that I would be willing to drive a few hours to if I find something of interest.
I agree with the rest of your post though.
It ain't gotta be perfect, as long as it's perfect enough!
Good points, but the fact remains the scammers outnumber the legit buyers. My guitar has now been up for 3 days, still unsold, and I have received a dozen scam texts, one possibly legit offer to trade, and ZERO actual cash buyer local phone calls. What's up with that? Let's put it this way, if 12 people brought cash with them to look at the guitar, I think I would have sold it to one of them by now...
If someone has an out of state area code -- no problem -- just leave a voice message saying "Don't hang up, I know I have a weird out of state phone number, but I am actually local and want to buy your guitar. I can meet you at your convenience, etc." -- if they do that INSTEAD of a text, I will be glad to meet them and sell them the guitar. OTOH, when they text and I respond with LOCAL CASH SALE ONLY and I never hear back from them, I pretty much know they are scammers.
That's all true too. I've had the exact same experiences when selling things, but I've also had a lot of good experiences both buying and selling on CL.. Just gotta weed out the scammers.
It ain't gotta be perfect, as long as it's perfect enough!
On my higher dollar items, it is not common for it to take 30-60 days to sell. My routine is to make a thorough listing, take nice pics, and price at market value which tends to be a little above what you might get it for on eBay. I never haggle. Right after I post comes the spam and scam emails and texts. Then the lowball offers. After all that dies down, it gets quiet, then about the time I have forgotten about it, someone comes over and buys the thing.
Robert Fear
http://www.folkmusician.com
"Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
" - Pete Seeger
The last 2 guitars I sold they had out of state phone numbers, I use to just look up the area codes and block them from future texts, but, 1, I sold to a trucker who didn't want to take his nice guitar on the road, and the other was a security guard from Oregon working in WV, I thought for sure a scam, but, same circumstances, he wanted a guitar to play while was waiting to make rounds to pass time away guarding heavy equipment that wasn't going anywhere. So I've become a little more tolerant of most area codes now. And let me apologize to those whose first language is not English, but if I have to ask more than once "what did you say", I hang up.
I've sold, bought and given away a ton of stuff using Craigslist. Like any transaction in any medium one should be cautious, but as in many things we hear most about the exceptions, like bounced checks. I think Craiglist is a great tool, but if you have a nagging discomfort in using it then don't. Not worth the stress. But I sure think it's convenient.
Hmmmm... how do I delete a post?
Last edited by AndyV; May-17-2018 at 2:18am. Reason: reply to wrong post
What!?? Talk to someone on the phone? Weird.
I had a mandolin listed for sale and the person that wanted to buy it said they would like to meet me at a park and ride after he got off from work so I told him that would be fine and that I will bring my son who is an FBI agent and that fellow did show up and bought the mandolin at my price but it still pays to let the buyer know that you do not know them or they do not know you and you are just playing it safe....At a park and ride it would be easy to knock some one over the head and steal the mandolin...
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