Not around here. There are a lot of really lazy sellers. That is my preference, as it usually means a lower price and no competition. Sellers with great pics, all the details, etc = full market price.

For example, consider the number of people that post to the what is this bike worth forum, with no pics and minmal details. Happens several times a day.

My favorite bike pickup off CL of all time was one word, bycicle. That's right, the seller didn't even get that right. I called and asked him if he could tell me more, like what brand, type of bike, size, anything. The only thing the guy could tell me was that the bike was blue. Great...

Turned out to be a full Sante Cannondale road bike, and he threw in a floor pump and a MTB. Deal. I was the only reply he got in a week.

Not really sure how much this would help. Cheapie pay-as-you-go phones are readily available and, if anything, the kind of shady characters that sell hot bikes have a high likelihood operating on said phones. What exactly about a verifiable phone number seals the deal of legitimacy for you?

In the last 10 months, my experience with contacting Craigslist sellers has run somewhat like this:

• 1977 Lincoln Mark V for $1,500 - emailed seller (no phone). Replied 2 weeks later. Called, left message. A week later, they call back. Somehow the car became $3,000 with no explanation. Hung up the phone on them. Six months has transpired - the car is at this very moment on eBay for $1,500 starting bid
• Diamondback hybrid on Craigslist. Seller left phone number. Bought it that evening.
• 1971 Mustang Fastback project car. Called. Emailed. Everything. No reply even when I asked them if they just intended to let their ad "languish" on Craigslist. Two months go by, the old ad expires. New ad pops up; car is now $400 more expensive with "spare" 302. Contact the seller via phone, they say they will call me back on Thursday. I have to remind them of my phone number (which was in all those emails to them). In the meantime, I find that they have YouTube video of the car, watch it, found out the car was 10 times worse than their ambitious claims. They didn't call on Thursday.
• Raleigh DL-1. Emailed (no phone), received reply that I was first in line, but no phone # to contact. Gave them my phone number. No reply after 2 weeks.
• Free Spirit singlespeed. Emailed (again, no phone). No reply. 1 week.

Sellers are out to lunch just as much as the buyers. Chav's market.

-Kurt

That's another thing. I've posted on CL before and I honestly don't want my phone number floating around out there. I'd much rather do business via email and then once things get serious, exchange phone numbers. I've done it that way before and not too long ago, got a great deal on a bike for my wife.

However, the key, as cudak888 illustrated, is to freakin' reply to emails. Not only that, but if it's gone, let them know. Better yet, take down the ad when it is sold. Not that hard.

Sometimes a bike with a poor description can be a heck of a deal. I've got some like that. I've also passed on great deals because I want no part of the culture that feeds criminal activity.

The OP gave little info. I guess my experience is looking for better bikes, and when I see one advertised with no pictures and little knowledge, I assume that it's hot. Missing it is not a big deal. I've passed up exceptional deals that were shady before.

For a member here to use my post as a reason to take personal pot shots is beyond the pale. Take it to PM's if you have a problem.

Perhaps things are different in Minneapolis, I don't check that CL. I do check PHX and DTW, and I can usually differentiate between stupidity and criminal activity. In a town between Dallas and Ft Worth, I may be inclined to be suspicious. So far a healthy dose of suspicion has get me safe for over 6 decades.

Jaded? I would suggest that the poster who used that term check the dictionary.

Cautious? Oh yeah.

This had been on CL for a day before I called. The photo and description were so bad that I was the first caller.
Original owner had bought it in '80 and hung it up almost immediately.
Didn't know how to describe it other than it was expensive when he bought it.
That's where the bargains are - though a lot are dead ends.

Photos and description here

That fuzzy photo alone would have caused me to make contact. Seeing a under the down tube water bottle braze on would get me curious. Braze on shifter bosses, even more so. That's about all I can tell from the picture.

Of course, this is nothing like what the OP described.

Every phone number is traceable by law enforcement to a real person directly or indirectly through an IP address, credit or debit transaction.
Of course, this does not preclude the possibility of a phone or card being stolen, but if the seller is in effect TELLING me up-front that he wants to maintain total anonymity -

Whoa ! Sweet!

No more a pot shot than you took at an anonymous CL seller who had no opportunity to mount a defense and who's ad you, by your own admittance, had "little info".

No more a pot shot you took at everyone here who might not have figured out how to get a pic out of their phone and on CL. I'm sure there are quite a few here that might apply to.

"Cautious? Oh yeah." Agreed...but it's a long way to drug use and theft from "cautious".

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jaded

jad·ed adj \ˈjā-dəd\

Definition of JADED

1: fatigued by overwork : exhausted
2: made dull, apathetic, or cynical by experience or by surfeit <jaded network viewers> <jaded voters>

Exactly the term I was looking for and completely apropos.

You've already set the tone for any PM discussion with your message this afternoon so I think I'll refrain. It would have been interesting to engage you in the discussion.

Seriously...would like to know more of the history of that one.

That would be me. Run to the dictionary I did. I was not aware the first definition of jaded implies fatigued or over-worked. I was using "jaded" in Miriam-Webster's secondary definition ("made...cynical by experience"). I do not wish to foist any unwelcome terms on anyone, but I for one would be jaded if someone stole my beautiful De Rosa. Btw, FWIW, I took no issue with your original reply.

I used the word as well and my use was proper as well:

Thats All Folks...time to ride your bikes.