Ah the joys of craigslist.
 

Reading through the for sale section, I saw the BBS wheel thread...and the one that was closed due to the discussion on how the description was wrong. It reminds me of my craigslist experiences...one in particular. I was attempting to sell a bike and had it listed as "Like New." After a few emails nearly telling my life story of how long I've had the bike, how little I rode it, and how it was in perfect condition, here's the email response and conversation that followed:

Them: "I'm going to defer on general principle. I hate motherfucking liars, of which you are one." ...
Me: "Have a bit much to drink tonight? Good luck with your search. The bike will go to someone who appreciates a great deal. "
Them: "Fuck off, liar." ...
Me: :noes:
Them: "Just stop lying... Mebbe y'ell sell it." ...

The next day I sold it for 80% of what I paid for it new 2 years prior.

What's your worst craigslist experience?

I sold my wife's 03 Protege last fall. It was a decent car and I priced it to sell the same weekend - $2000. The ad specifically stated that the price was firm. If you call and offer less I will hang up on you. If you come to see the car and offer less I will walk away. I take cash, cash or cash, your choice.

Well, this guy calls and offers $1950. I don't say a word and hang up on him. He calls again. And again. And texts repeatedly, offering full price. I ignore him. It was the principle for me.

I did sell it later that day for full price to the first guy that came to see it, so it all worked out.

OK, it wasn't the worst. But it was funny.

I guess my worst was the 99 that I bought for my V8 swap. It took 14 MONTHS to get the title. In between he had lost his job, lost his house, moved and filed bankruptcy. All along I had been working on it, so I was stuck with a $2500 car that I had sold the drivetrain out of, had labor into and no title. Yeah, that was the worst.

My worst Craigslist experience involved a border collie, seventeen cans of whipped cream, the confessional at Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church in Boston, and a 46 year old pre-op transvestite who had claimed to be three teenage girls in his posting.

Quite regrettable.

I've found that nothing I've ever listed has been cheap enough for the scum that haunts the site and that if you list an attache case for sale, people will text you at 3 a.m. on New Year's Day wanting to buy it. Over winter break, I sold a ton of shit that I had stashed around the house and, despite using the word "FIRM" in many of my listings, people would offer to trade me other shit they had for my shit.

I listed an old bike for sale and set the price at $200, which was more than fair (it retailed for almost $1,500 five years ago, needed a new rim as one is bent) and some guy offered me his bmx bike in trade via text. I declined his offer and he instantly texted me that he'd throw in a helmet and teach me how to bunny hop. I ignored him until the next day when he sent me a pic of his bike via MMS and a msg that if I don't make some sort of deal with him, he'll kill me. Seriously, what the fuck?

I was trying to sell a motorcycle on craigslist once. I mentioned it worked great prior to being stored for many months and that it started fine and revved but I made it clear they shouldn't expect to ride it home. Some douchy guy that wouldn't stop mentioning that he stunts for monster energy drinks said he wanted to come out and pick it up. Called me and double checked about the state of it since he was going to be driving about an hour to it. Started it up, gave me cash, and off he went despite what I said.

Needless to say, it died on him about a mile down the road. Apparently he had little experience working the choke and killed the battery in the process. So he ditched it and came back to my house yelling and screaming claiming he wanted his money back almost to the point of getting physical. Towed it back the next day and sold it full price. The guy was so satisfied he texted me the next day thanking me for a great deal. According to him the tank just needed to be flushed and the carbs sprayed with a bit of cleaner and it was good as new.

A couple of 18-19 year old guys who claimed they had been riding dirt bikes for several years bought a 100cc Formel A-Kart of me. They called the next day and wondered how to start it and when I last changed the oil. “It is a 2-stroke with direct drive from the crank to the rear axel. What does that tell you?” was my answers. The stupid calls went on for days: “The seat is way to low! It broke and you should fix it!” – “You are supposed to drive it on a Karting track! STOP DRIVING IT ON THE STREET!!”

I stopped answering my phone on day 3. They stopped calling on day 7.

I used to sell laptop all the time on CL, never really had a problem though. The only problem I had was one I posted on the local douchy car forum to some guys aunt. Well, the a/c adaptor went bust on it, though I did test it and charged the battery with it before making the sale. So instead of being a normal person and waiting until a "normal" time to contact me, she calls me at 3am on a Tuesday night....multiple times, proceeded to bitch me out and demand a new charger and all this shit. I tell her it could take ma a day or two as I was really busy (true) and that I would deliver it to her. Typically, she blew my phone up all day before I even got off work. I did bring another charger and verified in front of her that it worked and she went from raging whore to the nices person in about 2 seconds. WTF is wrong with people?

I also used to have fun selling laptops on CL. When someone would contact me, I'd play my phone conversation on speaker phone to my GF as well as let her read the emails. From there we would guess the physical appearence and what kind of car they would show up in. Too many of those assumptions were nearly spot on at times.