Best solution: Buy Paramounts locally.

-Kurt

I finally noticed that you're in Tucson, the scene of a CL success story (for me). Last year I was driving cross country and saw an ad for a bike I fancied- called the fellow up and asked him to hold it. Son-of-a-gun did too! 3 days no less. In appriciation I didn't haggle (It was a reasonable price however). He appriciated that and threw in some 'goodies'.
I geuss the moral is that there are good peopleand jerks out there. The best we can hope for is to deal with the good folk and have fun yankin' the jerks around.

Well it's hard for me not to pursue a full campy paramount track in seemingly good condition at that price!
But maybe it's just me.

There are just so many inconsiderate bums buying and selling on CL. There are some nice ones but they expect you to be a bum. Over the weekend I went to look at a couple bikes. We agreed that I would come by at 12:30 to look at the two bikes. I show up at 12:30 and he's still taking various accessories off the bikes that he wants to keep and he is surprised that I'm there on time. I offered him more than his asking price for both of them but he wouldn't sell them to me because he also had another guy coming at 12:30 to look at them and he didn't want to be rude to the other guy and sell them before he got there. Other guy finally rolls in at 1:00. We came to an agreement and I got the bike I wanted at a good price, but it still kind of irks me that I could have gotten them both.

If I was the seller I would have sold them both to me immediately, especially at more than asking price. When the other guy showed up my response would be, "hey, you showed up half an hour later than you said. Sorry you missed out." I can't really fault the seller though, he was just trying to be fair and he was a really nice guy.

You do have the sellers address and phone number.Never mind thats just the Italian in me.

Last summer I was in the market for a new sail boat. Found one in Milwaukee (6 hours away) talked with the guy, exchanged emails and got photos had a friend who lives over there take a look at it for me. Agreed to buy the boat, and told him I'd be there friday around noon to meet him and make the purchase. Called him thursday evening to let him know that I would be there friday as planned and had the cash on me. I left 5am friday morning, and called him when I stopped in chicago for gas to tell him I had made good time and would be there as expected "no problem's on his end, he'd be there"
Driving through Kenosha my phone rang, and it was him saying he just sold the boat.
After 4 1/2 hours driving my wife had a hard time convincing me to turn around and go home instead of going on to put his lights out. Ended up buying one that was local


I called on a bike once that was listed at the top end price for that bike, but it looked nice and was the right size. After talking to him a bit the seller said he had other people wanting it, so what was I willing to pay? I told him no more than the asking price. He said the other guy was really interested in it and was willing to pay more. I said no more than asking price and he said OK call later to see if he still had it.
Bike was still listed a week later, so I called him up and got the same routine. That ad expired and it was relisted so I called again, and same old thing. So I started playing with him, Said I could go listed plus $50 and would be there in two hours, then had a friend call him and after getting the same thing say he would go listed + $75 and could be there in an hour, then had my wife call and say it was the exact bike her husband was looking for and that she'd be willing to go $100 more because she wanted it for an anniversary present. A few days later the ad was pulled, and the bike was relisted with $75 added to the original price. Saw it listed three times after that with the price dropping down each time, last time I saw it was at 2/3rds the original price.
Sounds mean, but the way I see it, if you want people to bid on something use Ebay, not CL.

Ken.

Every bike I posted in the 'high end' thread, with the exception of the blue Tomasinni has been a CL find. As a whole, I've been very satisfied with my CL dealings.

I think a lot of it has to do with your area and you also have to be a skeptic or you will just end up angry or disappointed. I seem to have had good luck overall with CL, but my local bike section is VERY slow, but what little gets posted is generally a pretty good deal compared to what people on here are paying in other areas.

The pickings are slim, but if you're patient there seems to be some killer deals and not a whole lot of competition. I've called on things that have been up for weeks at a very reasonable price and they've still been available.

The farthest I have driven for a bike is an hour and I don't think I would drive any farther than that because of stories like you guys are telling. Being out an hour of driving is frustrating but not enough to send me into a rampage. If I were to drive 2 plus hours to get a bike and then get screwed, somebody is probably going to get hurt.

To me o.bo. means the highest price possible if they cannot get their asking price. But you're right. Sellers are interpreting that as the highest that they can get. CL is not an auction. Thats why I prefer it.

haha very good. I would love for her to get a taste of her own medicine

I tend to think in those terms, if not always act on them. Not always....

To the OP:
I've been exactly where you're at. Yep, it's infuriating. CL is being used to bid folks against each other. Like you, I'm an hour away from the "big market."

I've lost several buys simply to distance and not being able to arrange it in time.
I've had several try the "bid me up" thing. CL as local eBay.

Here's what I've done in the past; some things worked, some didn't.

1) Email and offer to send PayPal, plus fees, right now, and explain why (distance, schedule). This has only worked once, and generated suspicion other times. One other time, it convinced the seller I was serious, and he met me half-way between our locales.

2) Make an offer, and if you are told there are "others," withdraw it. This is purely about the bidding part. I tell the seller my offer is good until such and such time, I can pay by PayPal or come up there when we can arrange it, but if he/she wants to raise the price, good luck. This has resulted in two buys at the original agreed price, either because the seller now trusts me or there were no others, and the transactions went very well. The others, I told I'd report to CL, and did so. CL pulled both ads.

3) Get someone to pick it up, either by paying with PayPal to the seller or having someone you trust to buy it and PayPal them. This solution is all about good faith. I have had this work from California (riva did it) to locally NC (roccobike has done it twice for me) I've done it for others, and work hard to return the favor or Pay if Forward. This creates proximiity to the market, if you don't abuse it. At the moment, I'm hoping it works for one of my BF friends once again, and I'm going to help as much as possible.

4) Simply go get it, stay in contact, but be prepared to say "no" when presented with a higher price, or be bamboozled such as the boat deal.

Re, the boat deal: I'd have likely gone the extra 1.5 hours and found that Kenosha SOB and knock on his door, inquire as to whether he attends a church, and if you find out which one, you're set. Then tell him who you are, and thank him for his time. Explain that a local newspaper ad is about $35, in which you will explain to the community what he did and how he has no integrity. Then explain that you drove so far, you may as well start visiting his neighbors to tell them, and you plan to attend his church in the near future and talk to some of those folks, too, especially the women. They may not believe you, but they'll certainly talk about it. Advise him he can sue all he wants, as the truth is the truth, so bring it on, then thank him for his time, and leave. Hesitate as you leave, and ask if he has any kids he's teaching to do the same thing.

And lastly, don't look at it as a loss. You never had it in the first place, and the expansion of markets due to the internet are great, but still not an ideal set of circumstances.

The best bike I ever owned, I got from the local trader publication. Called, drove 1.5 hours, bought.

Quite often, the seller lists it, then others start to chime in to try and help her get more of your money. I often state, "you have a fair price and I'll pay it. Is there anything I need to know before I get in my car and come that way?" This can ward off problems if the seller's intentions are not in line with the ad.

RobbieTunes, thanks for the great advice. I'm new to the hobby and new to buying things via CL. If I can I'll try to use some of the strategies you suggest. You're right, not being directly in the major market sucks. Most of the bikes I find are posted in Phoenix.

Yelling, cursing, and other abuse are immediate deal breakers. That's all.

My worst experience was last year driving to pick up a Raleigh 3 speed with original Brooks saddle. Priced at $25 and looked good in the picture. It was about an hour away and had to schedule the pick up for Friday afternoon (this was on Wednesday) and things were set. One of the lower life bike flippers called and wanted to come right away and get it and was told that if I did not buy it, they would call him and it was his.

He sent an email to them pretending to be me and saying that I could not make it. I found this out after driving for about 40 minutes and calling to see if it was okay if I showed up early. They felt terrible (didn't really look at who the email was from when it came) and they forwarded it to me, which is how I know it was this one particular 'flipper'.

For me it boils down to time wasted.

I have had CL bikes that I have sold where I made a promise to a buyer and I keep others at bay (no matter if they offer more money) until I fulfill my promise. I have had those buyer not buy or change their minds, but for me it is the only way to do business.

VintageTrek85: I'm also an hour away from the nearest major market. The selection in the big markets is great, but the prices and competition are also higher. My local market doesn't get nearly the amount of CL ads or quality of stuff listed, but when something good does come along there's almost no competition for it and the price is almost always very low. The selection in the big markets is great, but the prices and competition are also higher.

Hmm. Once I called about a $175. Gitane Tour de France. Told the lady I was coming right over to see it. When I got there and saw that it was the full Campagnolo version I said I'd take it. She hemmed and hawed, said someone else was coming too. I immediately said I'd give her $250., still a great deal, which she accepted and took it home.

Another time, I was at a swapmeet. Bunch of guys looking at the sale table but no one saying anything. Ask the seller how much for the old Legnano. Names his price, I pull the money out of my pocket and hand it to him. Suddenly, one of the gawkers says, "hey, I was going to buy that." I said yeah, maybe, but I just did and wheeled it away.

With stuff like this I've found you have to be the first one there pulling cash out of your pocket.

This reminds me of a Bridgestone 450 I bought a couple of months ago. It was on my local craigslist for $40.00. I called at noon (it couldn't have been up for more than 15 minutes) to see the best time for me to look at it. We agreed to meet at 1:00. I got there at 12:45 and he said that a woman called and said that she would "buy it no matter what." I said "I'll buy it no matter what and I'm here with cash now." Two minutes later it was in the back of my car.

I would feel absolutely burned and tweaked if I were the OP, but I also try and remember that to the majority of bike sellers, the bike in question is just an object redeemable for cash and nothing more precious than that. So it's not surprising to me when someone who doesn't give a hoot sells said-object without doing any research (work...blech), and when alerted to their pricing error, changes their asking number.

Being really really into something that others don't pay attention to creates this lovely dichotomy, and sometimes the ignorance opens the door for us, and other times it smacks us in the face.

But yeah, at least you didn't find out after a 2 hour drive. There probably would've been broken windows or lawn donuts.

The ironic thing is, I can think of at least one other guy on this forum who would have been all over buying that bike-- and thus it may have been interest from others on this forum that caused her to raise her price.

I didn't mind not getting the boat, What got me was that he knowingly stuck me with a pointless drive of over 400 miles.

Ken.

That's bound to happen when two people have a common interest and live in the same area. I've made craigslist buys more than once wondering if I was getting it before another forum member. You win some you lose some. Other forum members could get to bikes before me too. I probably have about a 50% success rate with bikes I want from CL.

PayPal is your friend. We are talking chicken feed here (the difference between 175 and 400). The bike is obviously worth $400 because someone else offered her that much. You knew it was worth that much or more (you are obviously a vintage Trekkie). . . why didn't you get her the cash to seal the deal. Maybe she is a single mother trying to make it. Too much whining for my experience.

This thread reminds me of the eBay thread I got jumped on. It's like you guys expect Amazon.com, but you typed in craigslist.org or eBay.com by accident...

I mean, really, where do you think you are? Where do you think all those dickweeds from the flea market are? I mean, really, just chill. If you can't deal with chislers and amateur sellers, greedy and clueless sellers AND buyers, then you shouldn't be there. You should be buying here or on the CR list or something.

Personally, I just go with it. Sometimes you get a deal, often times you pay a fair price, and sometimes you just walk away. Stressing it takes out the fun...

These sources may LOOK all professional and rulebound, but really, it's just a flea market, with the same mentality.

I don't know what kind of chickens you are feeding but around here $225 is filet mignon. If I know $175 is a fair price, no way I go much more, unless it's something I've been looking hard for.

Along the same line, I've learned to get the seller to confirm their listed price in no uncertain terms before driving to make a purchase. I can't believe how frequently sellers feign surprise and claim the price was a typo after I show up.

A few even have the nerve to do it on the phone, and of course they "forget" to update the ad...