All great advice. I often tug at the emotions a bit by saying I like the "old steel road bikes" or some such. Recently bought a Univega Viva Sport for $50 [ok deal] and a '84 Schwinn Le Tour for $25 [much nicer deal] using the method of "I'd like to buy", a phone number, and "I'm local". Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

To the OP's question, I've had success with wanted ads. Bought the queen of my [admittedly pedestrian] fleet that way - an '86 Bridgestone 500 in nearly new condition for $150 from the original owner. Been riding it all summer. Recently got an early '80s Motobecane Super Mirage from the original owner using the "wanted" ad too. [It'll eventually be my commuter].

Some people are at locations that block domain names and sometimes craigslist.com is one of them so there is no way to email until you get to a location or computer outside of the firewall filtering. Sort of like those garage sales that are on Thursdays and early Fridays during the day only, makes it real tough on those of us with day jobs.

If they're seeing the CL ad in the first place -- then CL isn't firewalled for them. Perhaps it's blocked from the office email account -- but that's why you shouldn't be using the office email account in the first place for personal matters -- one of the better FREE email services like gmail, should work fine -- unless they've blocked the gmail domain.

I've purchased 9 bikes on Craigslist in the past 5 months. My best score was a pair of mint 1984 Raleigh Portage bikes I got for $175. I'm keeping one to ride and sold the other for $290 after a couple of hours of cleaning and polishing and a little grease here and there. So essentially I got a free Portage in my size plus the money to upgrade to barcons and a few other goodies. No secrets, just the ability to act quickly when I find something I want.

this is the text of the ad:

25 inch (64 cm) frame size from the center of the crank to the top post. You have to be at least 6 foot tall to ride this bike. This light frame bike was made in Japan and has a great looking and functioning. Altus LT Shimano derailleurs and lever shifters located on the frame for easy controls. All parts are original with brand new tires and tubes. Price is $140 and negotiable. THIS BIKE IS AS GOOD/better quality AS TREK, CENTURION, COMMONDALE, specialized, columbia.

I have limited luck with WTB ads on CL. I am just looking for flippers and had two ads up at various times over the past year or so. One said I was looking for a track bike. The other I said for 70's/80's road bikes. I received a number of replies on the road bike ad, but many were huffys, magnas, and freespirits (which I mentioned I didn't want in the ad). Of all of the ads I think a bought a few bikes from them. Miyata, Fuji, and a Trek MTB carcasses missing some parts, 80's Peugeot, Miyata 310, 1Puch Meteor De Luxe, and the two best finds a vintage 1984 Fuji Track bike and a Miyata 6700 alumitech. The 6700 doesn't sound like much but it had a C-Record and SR group on it and came with another wheelset and a Trek 2000 frame/fork.

This ad is still up 16 days later. Wonder if that means it isn't sold. When I list a bike in Boston
it isn't unusual to have it sold that night. Randolph isn't that far out of Boston,
but you really need a car to get there. Also, it is listed under in the "North of Boston" section, when in fact it is south of Boston. Wonder if that has added
to it not selling. It seems to me there are a lot of angles to buying bikes on
CL that are not well explored.