I just had three “very special” Craigslist experiences in a row and wondered what everyone else deals with when selling things online.
I had a big heavy electric bike I used for my work commute, and once I retired it gradually morphed into a coat rack. I put it on Gumtree, a UK Craigslist equivalent, priced at £50 more than I actually wanted for it, which was well under half the price I’d paid. A full 27 SECONDS after I listed it, I had a buyer, and less than half an hour after that he was at my door. As expected, he offered £50 less than the listed price, and was delighted when I accepted. Bargain!
I noticed he’d come in a car, and wondered out loud if it had room for a big heavy bike. “No problem, it can fit loads!” As he wheeled the bike out the door, he realised just how heavy this big heavy bike was. But he forged on, managed to heave it into the car, and drove off a happy man.
Questions he didn’t ask: How old is this bike? (Seven years or so.) What’s the projected lifespan of the battery? (About another year.) How well is it holding a charge? (Not well at all.) How much is a replacement battery? (£200.)
I fully expected to hear back from him complaining about the big heavy lemon he’d just bought, but no. I guess he’s enjoying his new coat rack.
The only thing I’ve ever sold online was an item from the MMO Everquest. I ran a top raiding guild on my server and had just gotten a really rare end-game item but I was coming up short on rent so I jokingly offered to sell it to some guildies. None of them took me up on it, but one guy had heard about someone who was looking for the item and willing to pay, so I chatted him up and wound up selling him the item for $250. I was super nervous about it but everything went great.
I was selling a saw. Pretty good one, compound mitre, slider, 12" blade, and a really nice stand. I don’t remember what I wad asking, but it was fair. Let’s say $500 for the sake of the story. Dude gets in touch, asks a couple of questions, and says yeah, he’ll take it for that price. Day comes, he shows up and checks it out. I have it set up and we cut a couple of boards to show him it’s all square and good.
He says cool, here’s $300.
I say, yeah, uh, we said 5. I’m selling it for 5. Not 3.
He looks at me deadpan and says this is all I brought.
I say well, I’m selling it for 5.
He looks at me and says I drove all the way from *city about an hour away on a good day with no traffic.
I look back at him and say Huh. I bet you wish you hadn’t done that.
He just kind of stands there looking at his shoes while I pack the saw back up and he sort of sulks off.
This is extremely common as a sort of all-or-nothing negotiation tactic. They’re hoping that you’ll just go “ah well, I don’t want to bother with getting someone else out here. Just go ahead and take it for $300.” Basically, they’re hoping you’ll fall for the Sunk Cost fallacy, and let them have it for cheap.
We were moving between countries and could not bring it all. Transporting it would be the big hassle, and we dont need the like maybe some 100€ at most we could get for the stuff, so we put it up for free. Lots of people were bringing candy, store bought and even homemade, for the stuff they were getting. Very nice actually.
Here’s an old but short one. I was selling my Xbox 360. A couple comes to pick it up, so I start it up so they can test it out. Red ring of death. It never had any issues before. I was so flustered and embarrassed that I just gave it to them.
I was selling an Xbox one and a dude got in touch with asking if he could trade something for it. I can’t remember what it was but I think it was slightly worth less than what I was selling for so I offered a deal. Give me this plus $100 and the Xbox is yours. He agreed so I traveled about an hour to meet him at a train station and met up with him.
I give him the Xbox and he gives me the thing and looks me dead in the eye and says “Well, where’s my $100?”
I don’t know how people can be like that. It baffles me. Needless to say, I just settled the deal with what he gave me since I just wanted that Xbox gone.
I 've learned to NEVER give anything away on CL. Always have at least some minimal charge, like 5 bucks. Otherwise you’ll end up suffering multiple no-shows, and often finally have stuff taken by people who will just be taking to to try to sell should they decide to actually come get it at all. At $5, they still may flake out, but at least replying and having to consider a small out of pocket will weed out most time wasters
It also helps filter out all of the people who simply sort by “Free” and shotgun requests to every single post. Best case scenario, they show up, are chill, and you have the opportunity to go “eh ya know what, just take it for free.” But at least that way it’s not listed as “free” and deters all of the people dedicated to spamming the free posts.
This is a great idea! I also get tons of time wasters. We once had over 10 people flake on picking up a free couch. I could instead list things for cheap and just give them away to whoever shows up.
I’ll start with one that happened over the last two weeks. I had a weight set I was giving away. I was first contacted by a fellow who was interested but couldn’t pick it up for two weeks. He asked if I’d hold it for him. For two weeks. WTF. I refused and told him that I’ve literally never had anyone follow through when I’ve held items, so hit me up in two weeks if the posting is still up.
He calls me and lays this sob story on me: his mother needs it for physical therapy but they don’t have a lot of money. They’d pick it up now but his father is out of town with their only vehicle for two weeks. He promises me that he’s a man of his word and he will keep his word to get it if I keep mine to hold the gym set. My inbox is already blowing up from others wanting to get it, so I know I’ll be able to offload it, no problem. I decide to give him a chance and hold it.
A week later, I text him to verify he’s still interested. He assures me he is and that he’s so grateful I’m holding it. I text him again the day before he’s supposed to pick it up to check again. He tells me they bought a new set instead. I respond, telling him how I made an exception to not holding things and he gave me his word. He tells me to go fuck myself.
I relisted it and it was gone within two hours. Just for giggles, I check a few local listing apps later that day. My former weight set is now listed on Facebook Marketplace, using the same picture I had, for $100.
