tmh657

I have no problem with people coming to me since I don't really want to load a complete bike in my car, drive to a spot to have them take a spin and say it's not the right bike. I have done it before after talking to the buyer and knowing he is very serious and once an older gentlemen just said, "I can't drive that far to your house".

I had a guy give me his number in e mail yesterday and ask to call him. What a time waster. Why are you selling...blah blah and then, "what's your lowest price?"

roccobike

Use of a code word is unique, I've not seen that before. I had an all time first with a bike I sold recently, I met the buyer at a local shopping mall parking lot. During our discussion, I mentioned that I used to have folks come to my house but due to the recent incidents with Craigslist I stopped that approach. They informed me, they would not go to my house if I had tried to set up the sale that way. They would only go to a parking lot of a busy store where lots of folks were present.

Zoku620

I sell lot's of stuff on CL, never had any problems. I generally suggest meeting at the local Wal Mart, it's well lit and there are cameras everywhere. I have a pickup truck so it's easy.

mparker326

I don't have any problems with people coming to my house. That way if they don't show I am not out a trip or have to wait if they are late or endure numerous texts telling me they are almost there. To me, it is more legit to sell from an address. Parking lot hook ups seem like you are either moving stolen goods or don't stand behind your product. A highly doubt someone is going to break into my basement and steal a $100 World Sport that I have for sale. My doberman is also very visible when someone comes by.

if someone is uncomfortable coming to my house, then let them bring a friend with them. With Google maps, they can see where you live before they get there anyway.

eschlwc

yeah, we're "moving stolen goods" because we don't invite strangers from craigslist to our home.

eschlwc

don't submit.

i ask them to use email until we set a time to meet, then i'll exchange phones for texting only. there's not a question email or my ad can't answer.

i'm selling a vintage bike, but not through vintage forms of communication.

after recent sales, i've been providing a follow up email on tire pressure, chain wax, and any specific items to that bike i spent hours and hours rebuilding.

mparker326

you should move your quote of me back two words to include "seem like".

Are you really afraid of that stranger you are selling to? Most CL crimes have been from the seller not the buyer. The buyer should be afraid of you because they have the cash. What is WalMart or other store going to do if you are held up in their parking lot conducting a private sale? You really think they want to provide security service for people not using their store?

I have sold plenty of bikes via CL and have not feared for my safety on any of them.

GordoTrek

i use Groove IP with ring to, this will mask your phone number and you can give out the RING TO number without any consequences. the free version only works on WIFI but the paid version works through a data connection. Nice when you aren't sure.

armstrong101

Nice of you to reply to this snippet, totally out of context, and without addressing my other points. Makes you feel smart I'm sure. How about this one?

1. I'm selling you a lemon.

I'll just point out that your neighbor 3 houses down probably doesn't know you either, and yet he knows where you live. With some simple surveillance, he can probably even know when you are likely not to be home.

I wouldn't give my address out to someone who hasn't given me their phone number and with whom I've already traded multiple correspondence. I figure if my house is to be burglarized, it probably won't be from a guy who responded by email to my ad for a $30 saddle, and who gives me their telephone number. I mean, if I go home to see my saddle has been stolen, I have a prime suspect to identify to the cops, as well as a lead. Sure people can hide behind fake emails/numbers etc., but it certainly is a better lead than nothing. People can choose all sorts of places to burglarize - you'd think they'd probably avoid contacting the home owners directly in advance of their burglary telling them they are interested in something they own.

Last thing I'll mention is that the way each of us respond to this topic probably depends on where we are from. I'm from Canada, and although there is crime in Canada, I'm told it's not quite like that in the US, where apparently there are some places you just would never go, ever, that there are places in certain cities where you don't stop at red lights, ever. I don't know of any such place in Toronto. As a friend from Cleveland told me, when he heard a Torontonian was planning on going down and checking out the city at night - "Cleveland is NOT Toronto!".

Antieverything

I never give out my address, there's a fair amount of people that will come by to check out things while casing your house. There was a guy selling radio controlled planes, a guy bought one, he also saw the sellers workshop, a few nights later he came by and stole a bunch of stuff but was caught on camera. There's also a scam where they get your address as part of a identity theft ploy. I like to mess with them, sending the address to a local prison, police department, or the like. If it's a payment scam I like to up the price to a crazy number. I also like to send them back a reworded text or email asking the same thing they asked me. Maybe turn the scam weird like say I only take payment in live stock or in coins. I might start asking them personal questions or like how those infomercials start, "are you troubled by your partners snoring?", "do you frequently have to find a bathroom?"

I always insist on a on a seller meeting me in a well lit, public place which is convenient to me. I may lose a few here n there but I don't sell for a living so it's all on my terms. Recently I've decided that it's not worth the hassle of selling. I'll keep buying, though, N+1 right?

Ex Pres 

The only responses I've been getting recently are these, unfortunately.

rgver

I am not comfortable letting people into my house, I am anti social (my wife says BF is my most social outlet, I have 350ish posts in 3 years. Take from that what you will.), a little reclusive, quite a lot weird and generally uncomfortable around people. I can creep people out, an antiques store with taxidermy, dead stuff, human skulls and skeletons tends not to weird people out as much as a house with that stuff in it. So I meet at the store, its also where I am used to having my 'work face' on and am more personable and friendly (its taken years of practice). Meeting at our store is as much for the buyer as it is for me.

Buying from Craigslist is really tough for me too for the above reasons.

I love the anonymity the online buying world gives, craigslist is a weird hybrid of awkwardness, The ads give people preconceived ideas of you because of how they are written (Yorkshire English is my first language, it's a lot different to English English and worlds apart from US English) and the typed word is not one of my strong suites. Then there is the face to face meet, again my personality gets in the way, along with my still thick accent, which causes me to have to repeat the dumbest things almost until they have no real meaning, I only know how to say "the brakes" one way, I have had more than one occasion of repeating something in actual english 5 or 6 times. I can say 'the things that stop you', 'stoppers' or 'pinch the wheel bits' but these tend to get a more blank look and more emphatic 'Huh?'

himespau 

I am really uncomfortable talking on the phone, so I hate giving out my phone number. If we could do everything by e-mail, I'd be happiest. what's really awkward is going to someone's house and finding out that what they've advertised isn't really what I want and then I have to tell them that I don't like their stuff.

Cougrrcj

As for insisting on a local phone number: When I travel I often look at the local paper/Craigslist/whathaveyou... As such, I don't have a 'local' phone number - just my cell phone from an area code 2000 miles away. Same for many other people who are 'snowbirds'. Am I losing out on deals because of that?

noglider 

"Area code" is now a misnomer. It's almost an ethnic heritage code now.

willydstyle

Wow, OP is being really over-paranoid. Just because someone doesn't want to share their personal information, or wants to meet at a home rather than a public place does not mean that they're trying to scam you. There *are* several warning signs of scams, such as insisting on items being delivered by mail, or trying to pay with non-cash methods, but you're seeing scams where there very likely are none.

Wilfred Laurier

I really mean this as a response to all the sellers who are opposed to the 'meet in a public place' rule that many people have... I am not trying to say you are wrong - there are basically an infinite number of buyers and an infinite number of sellers, and everybody has the right to conduct business however they want. But the implication that a home-address meeting place helps prevent buying a substandard product disagrees with my CL (and used goods purchase) experience in general - there is no warranty, all purchases are as-is, where-is, and I certainly would not want the purchaser stopping by my house for a refund because he is dissatisfied for some reason, and I would never do this to someone else. I carefully inspect everything I buy, as I expect purchasers of my items to do, and If there is a flaw I don't notice it is my own stupid fault. While working in shops I have had many many people ask me for ways to do 'cosmetic' fixes on major problems to facilitate a sale (stock answer: eff off you sleazeball!), so my guard is always up.

All that being said, I don't strictly insist on a public meeting place (sorry, but I am Canadian after all, eh?) for items I buy or sell - I take it on a case-by-case basis.

Also, having a friend do the pick-up is not an immediate disqualifier, but it is something that bonafide scammers all seem to have in common. I read recently about a seller (in Western Canada, I think) who got robbed or otherwise ripped off, and now uses the lobby of the police station as the neutral meeting place. I have never done that, but once when I was contacted by an obvious scammer (over-valued money order mailed to me with difference to be given in cash to the 'agent' doing the pick-up), I gave the street address of the police station and name of the Chief of Police as my mailing info, and when he contacted me to come get the item and cash I simply said 'come by any time!'

armstrong101

I'm going to mention that with traffic fatalities what they are, and if any of you are guilty of ever having "rushed" to make your Kijiji appointment away from your house, that you are in all likelihood, statistically speaking, more likely to get killed and/or maimed driving to and from your Kijiji encounter, than to be killed by a Kijiji visitor to your house. My statement here is probably true, and given how "rare" Kijijij-related murders are, this is probably significant.

Anyways - there's no right or wrong to any of this. How safe you feel conducting your business is up to you, and up to where you live.

mparker326

As a non-Canadian, how would I pronounce "Kijiji"?

armstrong101

I pronounce it ke-G-g

So longest syllable is the 2nd one. Any different from anyone else?

eschlwc

you wrote, "why don't you want me to come to your home to pick it up?" and i responded with several reasons. the context is selling bikes or bike parts through craigslist to those i don't know. i did not bring your question out of its context at all, nor "totally."

do i feel "smart" for answering your question? it didn't occur to me to reflect on my intelligence one way or the other. if anything, i felt honest about my reply.

well, all my bikes are all mid-level, fully rebuilt and completely refurbished. so, your question doesn't resonate with me. buyers have either my email, phone, or both. i always have an ad up. i send a follow-up email, and people can contact me for additional items or service if needed. few rarely do, but i'm so goddamn honest about the stuff i sell, i do have return customers for parts and advice. one guy called me a "bike geek." i'm ok with that.

when i first started doing this, i invited people to my home ... just for parts. i won't go into the incident that swayed me from doing that again.

armstrong101

And likewise, your list of reasons doesn't resonate with me, as I'm not going to harm or murder you. So same thing. You have no fear of selling me stuff from your home.

RoadGuy

You could be losing out if the Seller is screening by looking at the area code of the phone number. I don't answer home calls from number that I don't recognize on my cell phone. If I were you in your situation, I would send TXT to the phone number and explain that you are visiting, and will only be in the Seller's area for a short period time, and would like to schedule an immediate appointment because you would like to purchase. The Seller might not pick up the phone for a call, but will probably read an TXT or an email. And that gives you a chance to convince the Seller that you are a legit buyer and to meet with you.

eschlwc

it's not only about preventing violence as i explained among the reasons. other factors include giving beginning riders a safe place and ample space to test ride a bike. this should resonate.

i just sold a trek 414 to an older guy that was a bit out of shape. thank god he didn't try to tackle my hill on his first ride on my beautiful bicycle. i had to instruct him on mounting a road bike on a flat surface. he tried to sit first.

remember, not everyone is as skilled nor as compassionate as you.

armstrong101

Umm... a recent bike being sold in Toronto is an example of this very situation.

Colnago Vintage Road Bike | road | Mississauga / Peel Region | Kijiji

This bike was listed 2 weeks ago and sat for about that long unsold. I'm sure it was viewed in person by dozens of "us" Toronto hawkists, who look for nice "cheap" vintage bikes locally. $500 for this bike, if real, gets sold in an hour here. But, it's a counterfeit Colnago - real fork but Tange frame with applied decals. Fast forward last weekend,

It is now being sold by a seller in Toronto. He bought the bike and is trying to flip it - frame/fork only for $520. It was previously listed as a full build at a "steal" price of 750.

56cm Colnago Frameset Replica with Authentic Fork | road | City of Toronto | Kijiji

Notice the address? Along a subway platform: Don Mills Station - Subway Platform, Toronto, ON M2J, Canada

Fortunately, some civic minded individual has created an ad explaining what's going on, and that it's a fake.

WARNING! Counterfeit 56 cm Colnago for Sale | road | City of Toronto | Kijiji

This seller knows it's a fake. I know he knows because I told him. I know it's fake cause I inspected the bike from the original seller. I know he knows it's fake because I have some bikes listed for sale and he offered his Colnago to me in trade for a "real" Italian bike of mine. I told him it's fake. I know he knows.

So, like the warning ad says, there's a reason why he wants the sale done at a public transit stop.