Hmm, I have a New Yawk area code, but that has nothing to do with where I live, since it's a free internet phone number. I hope the area code in question isn't compromising my standing in society. Not that anyone calls me, anyway. Or maybe that's why. :(

Oops. I should edit this post.

For the first few days of his ad being up, he was passing the bike off as genuine. I now see he has the word "replica" in the title. This occurred after 2 different "warning" ads went up about his bike. But the point is, he tried initially to sell a fake Colnago as a real one.

someone seems to think that those of us not selling from our home are either selling "stolen goods" or "lemons," and he has the website to prove it.

in seattle, some transit sites are not bad places to meet. i know a decent flipper in a neighborhood south of town, and he frequently asks buyers to meet at a light rail stop. it's a convenient location for those of us that don't drive, it's near his apartment, and there is ample room to test ride the bike.

he recently opened up his own shop along the bike trail here in town, but i think he sold out. i don't know the reason he couldn't keep it going. it's tough to make a buck in this racket regardless of your skill at marketing or wrenching.

Hi

Don't get too far with my position. No I'm not implying this. I'm just bringing up this specific example. It has nothing to do with what you do or what anyone else does. This is one example. It may be an outlier, but it is relevant to HIS post.

That's fine. As I've said in an earlier post of mine, it doesn't really matter what anyone does - everyone chooses to do what is comfortable to them. This is not an ethical or moral issue. It is a personal decision.

In suburban Toronto, where I live, I feel OK letting people come to my house to buy stuff. That's how I feel. I recognize this may not be the case for all people in all parts of the world.

^ thank you.

In the old days of telemarketers, I used to do something similar.

They would call, "Is this Bill xxx?" My answer "sure is". "We'd like to talk to you about XYZ". My reply, "Great, can you hold on for a minute, someone is at the door". Their answer "Sure". Then I would lay down the phone on my desk and walk off. I figured whatever time they lost waiting for me was time not spent scamming the next person.

I've bought 5 bikes on CL, and looked at about a dozen others, and most of them involved meeting the seller at their home - but this is hardly surprising - as it's a pain in the rear to pack a bike into the car any time someone wants to look at it. Only one of the bikes I bought was worth more than $150 - the others were either cheap mountain bikes or projects needing a fair amount of work. But I've also looked at a half-dozen fairly high value bikes - one of which I bought, and all of those were at the seller's homes. It's actually only been smaller items, like wheels and other parts, that folks have asked me to meet them in a public place.
And I never have an issue giving out a cell phone number - it's a pay as you go phone, and I consider it very low risk to give out the number.

It's never been an issue - either I bought the item I came to look at, or I didn't, but even where we didn't complete the transaction, they were never scams, just sometimes sellers with too high an opinion of the value or condition of what they were selling, or simply something that was not quite what I wanted to buy.

I've bought a couple of bikes off CL going to the seller's home, but in buying a used car for my wife seller's of the type of vehicle I was looking for tended to be recent graduates who planned to buy a new car when they got to their new job. The young women among them wanted to meet in well populated parking lots. The one I bought from noted that this was on dad's advice. Never having sold anything myself, it hadn't occurred to me. But I could see their point.

I suppose it may matter as to where you live. But I have sold several bikes on CraigsList, one today as a matter of fact, right at my front door and have never had any problems. In fact you meet some if the nicest people buying and selling on CraigsList where I live.

I put a phone number on the ad and write that texts are preferred. Then after communication has been made and they want to see the bike I tell them that once I become available they can stop by. I give them my address when they are about to come see. I am usually sitting in a lawn chair in my driveway with the item 5-10 minutes before they pull up. I let them go over the bike with a fine tooth comb, tell them take it for a spin, which is usually just a 20 ft. circle.lol I don't negotiate on price. I never say anything about having some other great bike for sale, and I wear a fanny pack that contains a 9mm. Also my 150lb bulldog obediently sits by my side.I've only had two guys not buy the bike I was selling, and about 75 that did. The only view that people get of my house is the same view that anyone driving by would get. In my area of the world, I worry more about the drug addict tweaker thieves than people who have cash and are knowledgable about vintage steel, but I still take what I feel are adequate precautions, and I don't befriend any of these strangers(that weirds me out the most; the people who want to tell me their lives story etc.).

As far as the fake Colnago, it is quite possible that the "bike flipper" got duped himself. Next time he'll pay more careful attention to buying a bike that appears too good to be true.

Perhaps I should count myself lucky that I bought a Colnago 30 years ago instead of a rebadged Colner or some other fake. I'm still not sure whether or not it was repainted, but that doesn't matter to me.

But if I saw a classic Bianchi, or Pinarello, without time to research it, I wouldn't know for sure whether it was genuine, and would have to go by my gut, and some level of trust.

I've met a few "bike flippers", or people selling a garage full of tools. An advantage of meeting at the house is that they can show you other things they have for sale that you might be interested in. It is not uncommon to leave with two or 3 items when one was only anticipating buying one.

I sell all the bikes I fix up from my house. I don’t have any hesitiation- it’s the same as when I sold a clothes dryer- it was from my house. I am not going to move a dryer to a public spot just because I don’t want some random people in my house. If I am ok with that, I should be ok with selling a bike on my driveway.
I have bought bikes and parts from people’s homes and from parking lots. Parking lots, if anything, make me chuckle because the whole idea of a meeting place seems funny like there is something nefarious going on, even when there clearly isnt.

I have a church parking lot across the street from my house- perfect to test the fit and build of bikes. Some women have come alone and others have come with their husband/boyfriend. Cool by me, makes sense, really.
I have come across some really interesting people thru buying and selling on CL. A young woman looking to train for sprint-tris. An older man who rode in 30+ RAGBRAIs starting with the first. Just last night I sold a bike to a couple who had just moved to the area and the women wanted to take up cycling since there are a lot of trails here.

Never have I felt unsafe. I am tall and not exactly tiny, but still, I cant say I have felt unsafe.

If someone asked to meet at a shopping center to buy a bike of mine, I would do it- its less than ideal, but I wouldn’t think twice since it provides a sense of safety for some.


As for spam/scams- I always google the name of the person who emails me. I provide email and text, but probably 90% of the time email is how buyers contact me. If a quick look at google shows the person lives at least in my state, I am much more likely to accommodate their 10 questions sent 1 at a time via email over the span of 3 days.

I meet people on my porch in Brooklyn if they seem normal from their emails. This hasn't been an issue. If they're cool I sometimes invite them in to check out my bikes. I also sometimes meet people in front of my office in Manhattan if they want to meet during the day. This also has never been a problem. You can weed people out from weird emails pretty easily, if they sound like a weirdo I just ignore them. Problem solved. Hand-wringing not necessary.

I sell all kinds of stuff on CL not just bikes & I get tired of all the scams so this is what I do. First I will only accept phone calls, no Text messaging, No Emails. The way I see it if you don't want to call me and talk to me person to person then why should I sell to you. I want to hear your voice ( easier to weed out the flakes ) as I can tell most of the time if you are serious or not about the item I am selling. I do sell out of my home and I am not worried about any harm or being set up to be robbed later once I have talked to you, I will only give my address out after a set up date has been agreed on and only then will I tell them to call before they leave & give them my address. This has worked out better this way for me. Every time I list something on CL within the first 1/2hr I get a ton of text messaging about my items ( all of them ) from the same number & always with a area code from the west coast.

I will not hold a item, I will not wait around all day and have a no show, I will not drive anywhere to meet you ( I do agree to meet them at the shop I work at if a bicycle ). Nobody is ever invited into my home, I sell out of my detached shop only ( so go before you leave home because you can't use my bathroom ). Once you are here be prepared to talk a lot about bicycling or whatever because believe it or not I am a people person, although it has been getting harder to earn my trust as I get older.

Glenn

I recently listed a Toyota FJ55 for sale. The buyer came to see it while he was visiting my place to see the vehicle I mentioned that I also had a Jeep CJ8 for sale; he looked at that as well. I ended up selling both vehicles to him. So I guess it can be an advantage to show ur stuff at your house as it turned out in my case.

Aww, that's sweet, thanks. ;)

But seriously, you might be a weirdo for all I know. I'm not calling you without a pleasant and normal email exchange first.

a lot of older people like phone calls.

my elderly parents have had smart phones for two or three years. but they still pay for a land line. when they watch cable tv, a notification pops up when they receive land calls, and 60 percent of the time, it's a survey or spam. i tell them they could have more privacy and save $30 a month by ridding the land line, but they feel comfort it's there.

A man sitting in a lawn chair on their front lawn wearing a fanny pack and a morbidly obese dog by his side?
Well that'll get odd looks every time from me!

It's not just old people. My wife and I are in our mid-late 30's and we have one shared cell phone that we leave in the car for emergencies (it's a pay as you go tracfone). We still have a landline. We're university faculty so our students every semester get a good laugh when we say we don't have a cell phone and so only answer e-mails during the working day Monday - Friday because we can't see them the rest of the time.

Think what you want about my fanny pack, but how dare you insult my dog....

That would be fine except it seems the only emails I get from CL users are scams or flakes and I have better things to do with my time then to be bothered by them. I also don't check my Email very often as there is nothing but junk mail in it anyway. I list that I won't reply to Text Messaging on every ad I post but yet I get a bunch of them every time, so it's either Scams or people to stupid to read, either way I have better things to do then to reply back to them. All most every text & email I get starts with "Is the Item Still Available" even when I post "if you see this ad then the item is still available" on every ad. Are all the people in the world turning into little wussies hiding behind their phones and computers afraid to talk to another person one on one. My phone number is also listed should I be afraid of that also.

Glenn

I have had the same experience happen more then a few times also selling out of my home.

Glenn

thanks for info
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