| Author | Message | ||
     Swordsman |
So I finally got my Buell ad to post up on Craigslist. Over the past, oh, 4 or 5 days, I've received 3 different emails from potential buyers. Or so they claim. My money says they're scammers. Here's what I've been hit with thus far: 1st response- some guy whose name I cannot even begin to pronounce sends me an email that reads "BuellXB12Ss?". That's it. One word. I clicked delete. 2nd response- Guy says "Please send me more information. I want it." Again, that was the entire email. I am instantly suspicious because, had he bothered to actually read my ad, he would know that there's simply nothing left to say about the bike. The entire history and every technical detail has been accounted for except for how many miles are on the tires (which I don't know). And he didn't specify what information he was even looking for. Again, I clicked delete. 3rd response- The most legitimate sounding thus far. He wants to know if the bike is still available. But it's a foreign name (Medina Coe?), and the English is ALL wrong. I dunno, just sounds fishy. I don't feel like dealing with a language barrier. Deleted. Does everyone have this problem with Craigslist? I've had one REAL bite from my Cycletrader ad, a local guy who used to own a '99 lightning. But he's having trouble with the loan, said he'd get back in touch if he could get things straightened out. I was expecting the "will you take payments" bit after that, but he didn't ask, so I think this guy's probably legitimate. Wish he could get that loan! ~SM | ||
| Buellerandy |
I'd almost chalk half of craigslist responses to ads as a weird way of house anchored folk to be social. OMG he replied back! Somebody loves me. | ||
| J2blue |
Yes, same experience a year ago. It isn't worth it to me to use Craigslist for anything anymore. | ||
| Xl1200r |
You will get tons of spam. I get a lot that are just, "Is your item still available? I would like to pay you your asking price for it." Obviously trash. You'll see many posters ask people who respond to include something in the email or subject line so that you know it isn't spam. Others just won't include an email option at all and cryptically type a phone number instead, ex: 8 six seven 5 3 oh nine. | ||
| Swordsman |
What I don't get is that they seem to simply be fishing for my real email address instead of the random one used by Craigslist. I mean, if I was really trying to get at some money, I'd spend a little more time on the initial contact to look like a real buyer. But instead, they seem to be looking for nothing more than a response. What would be the point of that? ~SM | ||
| Froggy |
Last time I sold a bike on Craigslist, most of the replies I got were just people wasting my time, IDK why they bothered emailing me if they weren't serious about buying the bike. That said, I don't recall getting any real spam. Check the sender IP in the headers of the email to see if they are local or overseas, that can help weed out scammers from idiots. | ||
| Bbbob |
I'm a sales manager at a motorcycle dealer & we use craigslist for some of our used bikes. Scams & nutjobs are the norm, but we do get many real buyers there. Some of the more common ones are: "Hey, I see you are selling your bike, I had no luck here but my bike sold instantly at (unknown website)...why don't you try there?" "Obama is giving out free money...just go to this website" "I am currently overseas but have strong interest in your product..." It's not all that different then some of the walk-ins at the dealership... | ||
| Jb2 |
I tried Craigslist for the sale of my Vegas. I had it listed as possible partial trade for an interesting bike of late 60's or early 70's vintage for $2K of the asking price. All of the responses were for trades on POS F-bodies(Camaro/Firebird). I didn't get one legitimate response. I finally put the bike on eBay and it's already higher than the asking price I had listed on Craig's. I had never used C-List prior to this and won't ever use it again. Too many scammers, too many lookers and not enough serious buyers, IMO. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Sword, it could take a scammer 5 minutes to study your email and write something that made sense and seemed real. Instead, he could use that same 5 minutes to send hundreds of generic emails out, hoping that one of the recipients will either be to stupid to know or get mad and send a nasty "don't mess with me" reply. They do it the way they because it WORKS. Consider yourself ahead of the curve of humanity. Jb2, Re: ebay, I've had very mixed luck with it recently. Non-paying bidders, items I've bought show up damaged or incorrect and the seller doesn't rectify it, etc. The trade off is you put up with some BS up front with Craigs but at the end of the day you've got someone in person handing you a pile of cash. Hard to scam that way. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
When I use C-list to sell something, I list a phone number. The email thing will result in spam for years. Litteraly years! | ||
| Bosh |
Same as Panhead Dan, I only put my phone number on CR and have sold 2 motorcycles and a car. The motorcycles sold to the first caller on each. No spammers, no crank calls. Personally, I love Craigs List. | ||
| Jb2 |
Xl1200r, Your testimonial was the same I had heard from several guys I work with so I finally tried C-List with a lot of anticipation. After 3 weeks of junk mail and low-ball offers I pulled the ad. I'm a realist though and figure it could have been the timing or the market. On the other hand this is the 4th bike we've sold on eBay. I've always exceeded my minimum/reserve and on two occasions more than fair market value. We've had a few run-ins with non-payers but only on small items. We've also had some issues with people who retracted their bids claiming they entered an amount higher than they intended. In every case we were able to resolve the issue. There's a lot of luck and risk involved with either. So far eBay has been very good to us. I might try some small engines I have for sale on Craig's just to see if I can get a different outcome. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Jb2 - I will admit, selling on Craigs does take a bit more patience, and like you said, weeding out the bogus emails. After selling a couple items, you get a knack for it. I've learned, I know what emails to ignore and have learned to make people come to me, no meeting halfway or anything. I both bought and sold my XLCH on Craigs. The selling took a while, a number of months, but I wasn't in a hurry and got my asking price on it at the end of the day. I also sold my above ground pool, couldn't have done that on eBay easily. I use both, depending on the item. If it's small, cheap and shippable I'll just toss it on ebay. An exception I made was my non-working MacBook, which was selling very well on eBay so I put it there, ended up getting burned twice on it (one non-payer, second said it was 'not as described' and forced me to issue a partial refund). Bottom line is eBay you get a quick sale but risk a low price (can be mitigated with reserves and such) and getting screwed by a bidder. With craigs, it usually takes longer and you have to weed through some trash but none of it will cost you money. The BEST thing about craigs is getting rid of stuff that you just don't feel like paying extra to throw out. I had an old dingy recliner, REALLY dingy shower doors and a busted water heater, all gone the day I posted them in the free section. | ||
| Blake |
Suggestion: Set up a special email on gmail or yahoo or hotmail or the like just for your craigslist dealings. Use only that special email for dealing with craigslist inquiries. | ||
| Jb2 |
Spot on Blake! We did it for that very reason and it has worked out well by avoiding all the junk on our regular e-mail. | ||
| Bwbhighspl |
A little off topic, but for anyone who uses Craig's list, look at this site: http://www.dontevenreply.com/ There are some AWESOME ones on there, but this is my favorite: http://www.dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=84 On another related point, a guy I knew sold a bike on Craig's list. What he did with the scammers (the ones willing to send you the check first, and you send the difference after shipping) is that he would make up fake names for them to send the "check" to. Seimore Buts, Myra Mains, etc. etc. Very funny. He kept a runny tally on his white board of how much money he had "made" from them. He was up to around $250k in fake checks before he got bored of it. |
