A seller on craigslist tried scamming me yesterday

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SAWYER

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
16,742
42
91
Another shitty person on craigslist story that just happened. I see an ad for a vehicle today, I contact the person and make an offer, they agree and I am on my way(30min drive). As I am about 5 minutes away they sent a text saying they sold it
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,828
184
106
In related news, I was just looking at a book available on Amazon from a third-party seller. New seller, only a few textbooks and a computer. I was thinking someone just finished a semester or college... but the laptop looks like someone swiped someone's bag.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,420
1,600
126
Another shitty person on craigslist story that just happened. I see an ad for a vehicle today, I contact the person and make an offer, they agree and I am on my way(30min drive). As I am about 5 minutes away they sent a text saying they sold it

Did you buy your car from Slag?

I couldn't give two shits if you were interested, you weren't the first one to get to me with cash so suck on it.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,987
31,541
146
Another shitty person on craigslist story that just happened. I see an ad for a vehicle today, I contact the person and make an offer, they agree and I am on my way(30min drive). As I am about 5 minutes away they sent a text saying they sold it

I see a flaw here. How were you supposed to drive back with the vehicle if you were driving there in your vehicle?

:colbert:
 

SAWYER

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
16,742
42
91
I was going to get it when my wife got off work, it was worth a drive twice for their asking price. I wanted to buy it before it sold
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,444
5,852
146
One of the police departments near here was going to do something to make a "safe space" (oh nooooooo, that's too PC!) for online sales.

I just bought a projector screen today, but it was only $35. Sounds like the guy had had a fair amount of hassle selling it. I'm planning on trying to sell some things, so hopefully won't have to deal with too much of that.
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,256
4,930
136
I buy and sell on craigslist every so often. My biggest problem is the time wasters. Meet at 7-11 at 4pm. They either are a complete no show or they want me to wait around for 45 minutes until they get there.
I agree and I've started contacting them before the supposed meeting to reconfirm that they are still going to show up. I've gotten some real creative excuses like "I just had a car accident" but it happened before the set time so I never left the house. I've had some who want me to travel across town to their location but I always charge a fuel surcharge and have them agree to it before hand. I don't sell so much anymore but I always take multiple pictures of my items and clearly describe them for anyone to look at. People still ask the obvious about them but I try to be courteous.
 

renz20003

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2011
2,714
634
136
The only item I've sold on Craigslist was a used 3ds. I made the young man meet me in front of the police station.

Everything was mint in box and I tried to show him it was all there. He was scared and quickly counted out the money and handed it to me.

He never even checked to see if it worked.
 

Linux23

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
11,374
741
126
This is a great thread with great ideas on how to scam people on CL. I'll open a new thread with pics of all the suckers I scammed
 

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
101
Did you buy your car from Slag?

OUCH.. hey now, if you tell me you are on your way, thats one thing. I won't tell multiple people to meet me at the same time. What I won't wait for is someone who just posts the word "interested" and then makes no attempt to contact me or anything. It's like they expect me to wait half a week for them to make up their mind while I have other people messaging me wanting to purchase the item.
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
I sold a garden tractor trailer once. The guy agreed to the price of ~$120 on text.
When he arrived, he said it was for his grandchildren. He was retired and asked if he could have it for free.
I said, "Uhh... No".
He pulled $120 cash out of his pocket and handed it to me.

WTF
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
63,457
19,853
136
I hate selling things on craigslist, but I hate shipping big things like guitars even more.
I sold a garden tractor trailer once. The guy agreed to the price of ~$120 on text.
When he arrived, he said it was for his grandchildren. He was retired and asked if he could have it for free.
I said, "Uhh... No".
He pulled $120 cash out of his pocket and handed it to me.

WTF
Maybe it was a poorly delivered/received joke?
 

Tweak155

Lifer
Sep 23, 2003
11,449
264
126
as a seller, i get tons of text asking if payment via paypal is ok.
can somebody here explain how that scam works?
as a buyer, i have been lucky so far...

So I had this type of scammer contact a relative... when I googled it, apparently if they have someone else pick up the merchandise, they can get their money back from PayPal. My relative had someone saying they would have someone pick up the motorcycle because they were at a military base far away. Yeah, no thanks buddy.
 

Tweak155

Lifer
Sep 23, 2003
11,449
264
126
I sold a garden tractor trailer once. The guy agreed to the price of ~$120 on text.
When he arrived, he said it was for his grandchildren. He was retired and asked if he could have it for free.
I said, "Uhh... No".
He pulled $120 cash out of his pocket and handed it to me.

WTF
I had a guy do this to me for a phone. He tried to lowball me when we met and brought his kids in the car as a sob story and I was like nope. He handed me full payment.