Problems with Buying a Stuff off Craigslist

[simms]

How do you know if you aren't buying a stolen laptop or if they rip you off? Imagine yourself buying a laptop for $850 or some amazing deal. They know you have $850 in cash, and you are buying their laptop.

They could either rob you of your money, or the laptop could be stolen, etc. A number of problems.

Yet a number of you have bought off Craigslist, so any general tips?

What I was planning to do was to go to the guy's place, test out the laptop, take down the PN and SN and call the manufacturer (IBM, etc) to verify the registered owner.

Then, I log onto Paypal and pay him via CC or EMT. I would use EMT as a last resort because it is non-refundable, but would send Paypal CC.

What do you think?

 

[mpitts]

I think you should probably deal on eBay instead of CraigsList.

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: simms
What do you think?

I think you are being a bit paranoid.

If you are concerned about being robbed, just offer to meet in some public place like the mall.

I would be more concerned with scammers than robbers on Craigslist...

 

[preslove]

You should also do a blood test.

 

[God On Alcohol]

this happened in Boston, a man got robbed when he made a deal to buy a car from sum1 on Craigslist. Have a friend and Cellphone rdy with 911 on call 🙂

 

[mercanucaribe]

You can usually find a much better deal for a laptop NEW than from Craigslist. People on there have no sense of the worth of what they're selling.

http://www.notebookreview.com/deals/