Roypercy

Between my vintage bike fixation and my vintage audio hobby I've done a lot of buying and selling on Craigslist and haven't had too many problems. Occasionally I've run into something kind of skeevy. Last year I saw a Craigslist ad for a very nice-looking Motobecane in my size. The ad didn't contain much info except that the bike was "very light" and the price seemed right. Comparing the decals, color scheme (all black) and chromed fork I determined it was an 83 Grand Record or an 84 Le Champion. I trekked out to the guys' house in Queens, not a bad neighborhood but not a great one either. I knocked on the door, rang the doorbell, called him, and was about to give up and leave when he texted me that he was "in the basement getting the bike" and would be right out. When he emerged he was pushing a very roached out, black Nomade from about 1978, a couple sizes smaller than the bike in the ad. The guy, about fiftyish, seemed not quite all there, and I realized he'd just pulled a pic of any black Motobecane off the internet for his ad. When i passed on the bike - nicely - he started dropping the price in $50 increments till he got down to $30, and started getting weirdly insistent that I buy the bike. When he told me he had "lots of other great bikes" in his basement and invited me to come in and take a look, I figured it was time to go.

jefnvk

I generally let her know where I am going, and not that I am generally that worried, but I have a carry permit, and protection is usually around on CL deals. Too many cases where it went bad on the news to not be careful.

As far as selling, I live in an apartment complex, so I just move my vehicle to a parking lot near a building I don't live in and meet people there

aggst1

About a year ago, I found a Nishiki Pestige with a twisted rear wheel on a local craigslist ad and emailed the owner. We made arrangements for me to see it at his house after work the next day. On my way there I get an email stating that he had to go somewhere and that he left the bike on the side of his garage for me to check out. He said if I wanted it to go ahead and take it and pay him the agreed upon price by putting the cash under the front door mat. The price was very low ($25) and the bike was better than shown on pictures- only needed a rear wheel and new consumables. It was in a very nice suburban area and when I pulled up to the driveway I was a bit worried but I when ahead and checked the bike and decided to take it. I left the money under the mat with a note and called the guy but left a message. It was the only time I bought something seller unseen!!! A couple hours later the guy called and thanked me.

coolkat

Went to buy a Fuji s10s frame/fork with the supposedly decent original wheelset. For one, this dude's address put him in a fairly built up suburb, but he was way off on the absolute outskirts, in a trailer at the end of a (seemingly) mile long dirt driveway. It was pitch black, raining and foggy, and of course, there's literal mounds of trash and dirty clothes and crap all over the yard, and the guy is some crazy toothless hillbilly type. The wheelset was absolutely wrecked and the frame was junk. Nothing really happened, he was fine with me not buying it, but it was creepy enough i started telling people where i was going after that.

Other one was buying a Trek, killer deal, nice enough apartment, but there were like 10 people there hanging around and no furniture or anything. Pretty weird. The bike was just hanging out in an empty living room.

daf1009

Buying and selling on CL lead to all sorts of "adventures"...I have had many that have been represented here...but...I find that the "best" part is often the people you meet. Most are simply trying to get a bit of cash for something they no longer use...or buying a bike for exercise, etc. I have had both very positive and very negative buying experiences...most of the selling ones have been positive. As I read through this thread, I was trying to think of a fairly unique experience...I guess the most unique was the Rhode Island purchase several years ago...nothing special about the purchase...except that it was for $5K of bike stuff! I love "big deals"...this was a bunch of NOS (in box) Campy stuff...and a ton of other stuff...I bet I still have 100 "lots" of stuff from it.

oddjob2

This occurred several years ago when there was still a market for used iBook Apple laptops, which I would repair and resell.

I talked to the seller who gave me his address at a manufactured home community, "located across from the truck repair garage." He said look for the conversion van and the long barrier free ramp. Undoubtably an usual location for picking up a piece of "high tech" equipment, but my curiosity got the better of me.

Well I was greeted by a mid 30's woman in what I would describe as a lacy, fushia Frederick's of Hollywood ensemble. The Notre Dame/Michigan football game was on TV in the cigarette smoke filled double wide. Inside the family included her husband, wearing a wife-beater (sleeveless T-shirt) and pajama bottoms. Mom, who actually looked too wide to get down the barrier free ramp, and dad, a shirtless man with a protruding round belly and sweatpants. There was grandma too. I forget the species of dog, but it was a pesky crotch sniffing type. Everyone smoked except for the dog.

I made the deal with dad and went on my merry way.

On the other end of demographics, I sold a used HP laptop via ebay to the retired founder of Rockport Shoes, who lives in Marin County.