Giving your Phone Number out on Craigslist?

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UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
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I live in a residential neighborhood. People come and go on the sidewalk all day. Any of those could choose to confront me with hijinks. Why would a guy I contacted on CL come over, there being nothing of value involved and have an intention to mess with me? If I lived out in the sticks, sure, I can understand maybe, but where I live? Seems absurd.
You do you then. People get robbed (even in cities).

I'm not having random people from Craigslist come to my house. When I do anything like that, I meet them in front of the various police stations (which have parking spots and CCTV cameras designated for meeting people for transactions (because there were so many robberies/issues with people during transactions in my area).
 
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Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
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Seems absurd


That must be why so many police departments now have monitored parking areas directly adjacent to the station dedicated to "Craigslist" type transactions and encourage people to use them.

Silly me! :rolleyes:
 
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Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
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That must be why so many police departments now have monitored parking areas directly adjacent to the station dedicated to "Craigslist" type transactions and encourage people to use them.

Silly me! :rolleyes:
I'm not saying you were silly, but the circumstance for me made it absurd to be overly cautious.

Depends on the situation. Here, I feel confident. In a different area, I'd use the police station if nervous. Besides, I had some interaction with the guy before he came over. I'm a relatively discerning person.
 
Dec 10, 2005
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I do everything through e-mail first. I don't bother with a burner e-mail, since Craigslist masks your e-mail anyway and continues to do so in the e-mail streams. If person seems legit and everything is agreed upon, I'll give my phone number to help coordinate final pickup.

As for meeting people, the last few items I sold were pieces of furniture or just things I didn't care to carry to some random public place to sell. For the large items, I just met them at the door of my apartment complex and if they seemed fine, helped them move the piece out; for smaller items, just handled the transaction at the front door.
 
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BUTCH1

Lifer
Jul 15, 2000
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OP, since it's tech item and one that's popular have you considered Ebay as an option?, yes, you will be charged the usual fee's and a-holes still will try and jerk you around but if discretion is that much a concern then it might not be a bad idea. I understand where you're coming from though, last November I sold a Corolla for $10K cash on CL, it was quite the adventure. Wound up getting one of those markers that can check bill's to see if thet are fake or not.