So I listed a bike on Craigslist today- sure I might have been asking for an upper-end price, but I live in Portland and I've sold lesser bikes for similar prices before, so I always start out at the upper end and see where it goes from there. I don't think I was asking anything ridiculous. But what do I get 10 minutes after posting? A visit from the Craigslist Police, kindly notifying me that I'm asking way to much and that nobody is going to buy it unless their a sucker!

Boy am I glad he came along to rescue me. I didn't even realize Craigslist had such a helpful thing.

I'm going to have to write you up for that misuse of they're.

~grammar police

Also, if you just posted it... more power to you. No harm in starting high and seeing if you get any offers. I only give people on CL a hard time when they list the same over-priced bike for weeks on end.

C'mon, it's Portland. Are you telling me that you aren't used to random people offering you unsolicited advice about things that are really none of their business?

Could be worse, at least the 'police' in question didn't make a new posting in the sales section to publicly decry you as a crass profiteer and tell everyone that your asking price is too high.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! You win the internet!

Seattle too, I kind of miss the unsolicited advice (not). I once got chewed out by some woman in a high end SUV because I spit into a drain in the middle of a grocery store parking lot. She told me "children and dogs play here, how dare you."

Without even looking, you WERE asking too much. So what, everyone does, and then comes down a bit.

I was selling a car in decent shape on Craigslist for $5,500, and was willing to part with it for $5,000. Some guy came by, spent an hour looking it over, and offered $3,500. I said $5,000 is my bottom line. Got the whole song and dance about this and that problem, and he raised the offer to a whopping $3,750. Told him $5k or take a hike. Sold it to someone else for $5k a couple days later.

All sorts of lowballers out there trying to make a buck off you.

Raise the price now

Is it the blue Mongoose? Even though it's a pretty good bike I'd guess the helpful CL police think it's a Walmart goose that sold for less than that new.

Probably be tough to get that much for it. What were they new? $500? Probably good for $125 or so now.

Nope, not my bike.

I went to Beaverton once and nobody offered me any unsolicited advice about anything, was I doing it wrong? Or are things that much different in Beaverton?

This is why I don't use CL ... way too slow.

Things are pretty different in Beaverton. In Beaverton the only interaction we get with our fellow human beings is in the form of letters from the HOA explaining why we can't choose the roofing materials we'd like.

I once had a woman at the local grocery store tell me about added salt in cooking wine, but I'm pretty sure she must have just been visiting from Portland.

Do people cook with cooking wine? I usually just use regular sparkling wine with most dishes (i.e. sauerkraut.) Or regular red wine with meats.

A lot more than salt is added to cooking wine. Nasty stuff. Is it me or is the o.p. a tad defensive. Probably just me... but I am pretty right on about these things. Yep... classic guilty conscience. The decent thing was to delete the offensive e-mail and get on with life. Coming here for validation was a mistake until post #15 .

I don't have time to write snarky e-mails to greedy people who try to profit off ignorance or a trust fund. The o.p. would have taken whatever outrageus price they were asking "as a test of the market" should someone have been so clueless or independently wealthy that they thought it was a good deal. Don't you smile when you see some insufferable and whiny princess in the dating section get smacked down in public? She has also received a few e-mails saying even worse things. That is the way of the world. Some will just shake their heads and walk away, some will ask you if you are serious and some will tell you where to get off.

But had the o.p.'s asking price been "fair" they wouldn't now have to be seeking solace for their hurt feelings. Karma. I for one have no sympathy. A lot of people also seem to think that a lot, as in, there sure are a lot of bikes in Portland, should mean that 45 year old mass produced bicycles should be sold used, for $500. Some of them didn't cost that when new. My main commuter cost $150 from a co-op. It is a decent enough mid-90's Schwinn touring bike with Shimano Exage (bio-pace) components. Not that shabby. CL sellers indeed want $350 and more for bikes like this.

The folks who want to spend lots of money on a bike in Portland and commute with it are legion. They know where to go to buy them. Most however are rocking way more pedestrian fare. Most paid nothing at all for them. They paid more to put brifters and compact bend handlebars on them.



H

Do people really say this?

Usually it's ironic... or a LARPer..

Guilty as charged. Please tell me how you were able to know that I came here for validation, that I'm trying to profit off of the ignorance/trust funds of others, that my asking price is unfair, that my feelings are hurt and that I'm in need of solace/sympathy. It's like you wrote a book about my life. You should probably spend more time using your talent and less time on BF.

I guess since I did a meaningless post I'll put my 2 cents in, I once and only once did a craigslist police stunt myself.. I wrote to a guy selling a typical $150 restore 3 speed (for this market at that times price), listed at $450, I tried to be civil and explain the list of why bike was worth 150 not 450 and that he might want to reevaluate his pricing.. in my mind I was helping the guy, I even told him it was just my unsolicited advice.. the amount of vitriol I received in return was enough to put me off from ever doing that again.. this guy did go on to be THE THREE SPEED guy for my area, and we are chummy now and even laugh about the incident but I just let it go now if I see a silly price on CL. Oh and as it turned out, he thought I was being a dick because I wanted to buy the bike at 150.. ahahaha.

I will confess a similar infraction: A few years ago a seller was trying to sell an item (I can't even remember what it was) like an auction. He wrote, 'send me your best price and I'll let you know by Sunday if you win."

I had no intention of buying it, but I entered a high 'bid' anyway. I got an email on Sunday telling me I had won. I promptly replied that I didn't want it anymore, and then 'lectured' him about doing this kind of stunt on CL or Kijiji, and that he should list his item on eBay if he wanted an auction. He sheepishly wrote back said he didn't know and that he wouldn't do it anymore.

I probably wouldn't bother with this kind of thing anymore nowadays, but it was just what I was feeling at the time.

I've gotten this for just about every bike I've sold on CL. I especially love it when people quote the BicycleBlueBook site(which BTW has no accreditation). Thing is,while it make take awhile,I do eventually sell the bike for what I want,so my prices must not be that crazy.

You should post the bike and price here if you dare, I am sure you will get plenty of good advice

There's no need to chastise someone for setting a price too high. The seller can set any price he wants. If he can find a buyer at that price, then that's the right price--the market price.

I've had instances when the seller's price and my price did not match. I would always end our correspondence with the message that should he change his mind to contact me. On several occasions the sellers did contact me some time later to ask if I was still interested at my price.

I'm dying to know. There are a couple of overpriced Cannondales but they were recent renews, originally posted days ago.

The previously mentioned Mongoose.

A blatantly flipped Scott MTB which was up for $50 a couple of weeks ago, now with maybe fresh bar tape and $200...

Nishiki with ridiculous bar angle for $450, maybe?

Steel Road Bike, 10 speed 62cm

80s Peugeot mtb for $250?

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/bik/4723139586.html

$200 High Sierra (not too hard to sell these for that much) Schwinn nuts would be all over it, just gotta wait for one to come along.

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/bik/4723004154.html