I may be making my first long distance purchase from craigslist. Since all of my previous Cl buying has been local, cash in hand transactions I am a bit nervous. Any advice from Forum members would be greatly appreciated.

1) Get as many photos as you can from the seller (especially ones of blemishes).
2) Speak with the seller on the phone.
3) Tell the seller how to measure the frame, and get accurate measurements of all tube lengths.
4) Ask the seller to read all labels, markings and serial numbers.
5) Use PayPal, if possible.
6) Tell the seller how to pack the bike, or pay for an LBS to pack it (contact the shop directly and ask them to ship it).
7) Insure the shipment and get a tracking number.
8) Never pay more than you are willing to lose if the deal goes south.

What's to be nervous about? How far is long distance? Is the seller going to ship the bike to you or are you traveling there to pick it up in person? What sort of price range is the bike in?

About the only advice I could give would be to have the option to look at the bike in person first with the option to walk away from the deal if you don't like it when you get there. And be preparred for the bike to have been sold before you get there, so have a backup plan in place to go check out other bikes or shops or thrift shops in that area since it probably isn't in your usual search area.

Beyond that the usual stuff applies for anything, watch the area, watch the people, be safe, so forth, and if the situation looks hinky or something seems off then just keep driving down the road and call them up from a safe location and ask them to meet you there or else tell them thanks but no thanks and something else came up.

Thanks to the first responders. Bike is several states away and I may appeal to any C&Vers in the area for assistance if the negotiations conclude in a purchase. Total package could reach $1k. I would be responsible for arranging shipping thru a bike shop. I am awaiting more pics and component info.

I think that working through a bike shop is a great way to do it. They will be able to spot any problems with the bike beforehand, provided the seller is not associated with them.

-see if a fellow c&v person here can be your proxy? Speaking for myself, I would find it fun to be someone else's eyes for something like this.

-in addition to sending emails back and forth, establish phone contact. It takes a bigger creep to lie to a voice than it does to write a lie. By and large in life, the more human you can make your interactions with people the better things go.

jim

personally... the thing I like about Craigslist is that it is (supposed to be) local. when someone from California contacts me about something I am selling in Madison Wi, I very gently let him know that 'if was selling it in California, I would have listed it in Craigslist-California.'

It's just me I guess... if I want to ship something, I post it on Fleabay

I did this a while back for a Raleigh Supercourse. Saw it mentioned in "ebay/Craiglist" finds, for $10. I was in Virginia, bike in Minnesota. No BF'ers local to area, so I emailed the seller and asked if he would be willing to sell to me and deliver to a local bike shop, for extra $15. He said no problem, so I contacted the 3 local shops (small town) and one of them was very willing to box and ship it for me. Since it was winter, they were not very busy anyway! So I paid seller via paypal and then he took it to the bike shop. They only charged $25 to box and deliver to Fedex, and back then (before the new "dimensional weight" rules went into effect), they shipped for $27, (bike shop had commercial account) so I go the bike for about $75, not as good as $10, but not bad for Supercourse in good condition. Just depends on the seller being willing to get it to the bike shop, where they take over.

Agreed with CL being best for local shoppers/buyers, but even then you'll get folks just over the hill looking at nearby stuff. Me here north of Milwaukee, I sometimes check the Madison WI CL to see what's there when I'm looking for something. But even then it's hard to compete with a local buyer when I've got to wait for the weekend or try to arrange a meeting halfway.

In any case, to the OP, where is the bike located? Or at least what state is in in if you don't want to disclose the city. It might even be listed by one of the folks on the site here, which has happened before.

$1000 thats a lot of bike.

+1 Myself as a routine Craigs List seller, I limit sales to locals. If I was going to ship a bike, I would instead open it up to ebay.

I have one experience with buying a long distance bike, and the packaging was very disappointing (and resulted in damage).

I live in Nebraska, not exactly a hot spot for vintage cycling goodies so I shop CL anywhere the action is good or anywhere I have friends or family who are willing to indulge my interests. In the last couple of weeks I've purchased an Trek 400 from Madison, WI (thank goodness I wasn't gently told to keep my business in Nebraska), a set of NIB Shimano 600 36-hole hubs from Philadelphia, and a really nice Brooks B-17 with Sakae seatpost from Boulder. I'm polite, considerate and use full disclosure when I contact sellers in remote geographical locations and find that 75% don't even bother to respond, but the ones who do frequently sell with no qualms to out-of-town buyers. I've never been stiffed, but maybe that's cause I also tell everyone I work as a security admin in support of local law enforcement. The guidelines posted earlier and all the advice has been excellent and if followed religiously can make shopping CL a worthwhile experience. I've got several folks I exchange emails with all over the country after having purchased something from them.

Well, my first attempt at a long distance craigslist purchase just ended abruptly. Everything was proceeding smoothly when the seller changed her mind and decided not to sell her vintage bike. My disappointment was shortlived since seller already had received two personal checks from me for the bike and shipping. My comfort zone which had been established by several emails and phone conversations began to unravel, despite a promise from the seller to return the checks. While I still had confidence in the seller, I felt it was better to err on the side of caution. So this morning found me at my bank placing a stop on the checks. The lesson learned: craigslist is best used for local transactions. I'll continue to make the 'dash with the cash'.

+1 for 23skidoo: If you have family/friends or whatever in a good C/L market, by all means go beyond local.

And sometimes you can find pretty good deals on C/L if you look back in history. Once items drop off the first page (which in larger markets can be just a day or two), many buyers don't even look. So every once in a while, it can be useful to search back a ways. I just picked up a bike in Atlanta that had been on C/L for two weeks or more.