Darth Lefty 

This weekend I had a lady come to my house to look at a treadmill. I had told her I had a truck and could drive it... but she revealed on my doorstep she wanted me to drive it to Fairfield, a solid 3-hour round trip! She had made the trip to come look at it and had brought someone to help load it. But I had to tell her no, there was no way.

Doge

I bought a Bike on Craigs List - my current one. It went fine. But I sell on eBay. Sure - I give up 10% but worth the clean setup.
Did you list on BF classifieds? I did. It worked.

Spoonrobot 

From time to time I'll sell a bike or some parts.

If I get a potential buyer I set a time window and give them the address of my apartments leasing office, a 3 minute walk from my door. "Text me when you get here"

I do whatever and if they text we meet and I sell, if I don't hear from them that's fine too. Usually another buyer comes along shortly.

10 Wheels

I never give out my phone no.

Spoonrobot 

I use a google voice number.

musicmaster

As someone who has bought and sold a bunch on Craigslist, I'd say that every transaction is different. Some people are direct, to the point and don't give you crap. Others, go back and forth too much.

Usually, I can tell pretty quickly what type of buyer they are. That being said, I've also had quite a few times that I've made money over the years on transactions. I'll upgrade laptops every year or so when I get a super slick deal and will list my old one for more than I paid. Often times someone eventually comes along and buys it. If they're paying full price or near full price, I'll put up with more. If they're already getting a good deal or it's a <$50 item, I'm a lot less lenient.

I've had a few people leave me hanging, but I usually meet at a Mcdonalds that's a mile away, so at most it's fifteen minutes out of my day. But I haven't often had people leave me hanging without notice. I'll have last minute cancelations, but only 2-3 have just no showed on me.

motorthings

here is the text I put in every CL listing:

---------------------------- RANTY BOILERPLATE ---------------------------------
------------- (please read, or you may not understand my response) ---------------

I have researched items like this to see what they sell for (on ebay), and have determined
that the price listed here is more than reasonable. if you have evidence to the contrary, i'd be more than willing to review it.

CASH ONLY
I honestly don't care how much money you have or, if it is "cash", as I have already stated "cash only". The amount of money you have only matters if it matches the price listed here.

I am not interested in trades, lowball offers, or any monkey business.

If you are seeing this ad, the item is still for sale. please do not email simply to inquire if it is available, as it is (if you are seeing this ad).

If your email is determined to be an offer of trade, a lowball offer, any type of monkey business, or a request if this item is still for sale, you will get a Zen koan as my response. it will then be up to you to determine which type of miscommunication you have made, and then also if you would like to remedy your email communication to fall within these simple guidelines.

Abe_Froman

Seems a bit unnecessarily confrontational, if the goal is to find willing and happy customers to buy your products.

edit: If you are that stringent on selling something in exactly the way you want to sell it, the used market is probably not the place for you. I'd open up a licensed business and sell new retail. People shop craigslist because it is inexpensive, and flexible. You don't get to just create a set of rules out of thin air and expect everyone to comply.

nycphotography

Seems very high maintenance, not to mention pompous and condescending. Unless you are selling exactly what I need for a lot less than I can get it for with no stress and hassle elsewhere, I would have nothing to do with you.

nycphotography

He does get to. In fact he just did. He can even remain willfully ignorant of the impact of those rules on his selling price. Or he can just not care because he doesn't need to sell it and doesn't care about the money. He can do all of those things.

And people can (and probably do) avoid him like the plague too.

motorthings

and we would both be much happier for it...glad it works for you too!

motorthings

the funny thing is, though....it works incredibly well, and many folks I have sold things to on CL have asked to use the same boilerplate when they sell things.

motorthings

i had no idea i was such a pariah...thanks for the clue!

seriously man, you and Abe are making a lot of unfounded assumptions about what i am selling, and how reasonable the price is.

if you do good research and determine what is reasonable on ebay, CL, etc., I have found it very effectively weeds out the crazies (and hypersensitive folks?) and get reasonable people to pay a mutually agreed upon price.

Abe_Froman

I now agree with the pompous and condescending assessment as well.

motorthings

you don't know the half of it...love you!

nycphotography

As I said earlier, learning to read people on craigslist is an actual skill

motorthings

the irony is palpable...palp, palp, palp.