Ugh. And there is no easy way to verify whether the check is genuine and authorized, you know, beyond checking to see that Princess Leia’s signature looks right. A guy in San Francisco got one of these checks and asked at local Bank of America branch if it was legit, and when told the funds were there, asked to cash it. BofA had him arrested.
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I hate the Craigslist ads that don’t list a price and say things like “Best offer. No low-ballers! I know what this is worth!”
If you know what it’s worth, put up a price.
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See,This is what happens when you’re not in this for the revolution, and just want to get paid.
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I stopped saying OBO because at some point it became one of those things that was redundant. Either it was an informed buyer or they didn’t understand the concept of “best offer”.
I stopped putting any mental energy into guiding buyers because people respond as they’re always going to. I can help guide the transaction but no amount of detail is going to matter until they’ve made the contact, and I want as little friction as possible in them making that human connection.
I start off higher than I want, and if I get nobody offering less, I progressively chip down and usually ends up reasonable enough so people offer to buy it with no negotiation whatsoever.
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CL can be a headache, but it also has its benefits.
With any of these platforms there are items more suited to one than the other, often because of shipping limitations. Typically you are selling on CL for less than what it might go for on ebay, but just you want it gone now, or you got it for free so it’s all profit anyway.
I also know there are people near the bottom of society’s ladder who are part of this off-the-books cash-money economic underground. They sell at flea markets and on CL and report nothing to the man.
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The problem as ever that persons who don’t understand scams find themselves too clever to ask others-
“What could possibly go wrong?!”
Or assume customer-is-always-right and payments protections apply to banking regulation.
They don’t understand checking accounts, money laundering or our national clearing mechanisms.
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This. I was looking at cargo vans, guy had an incredible deal, exactly what I wanted, I arranged to come see it, but before I could show up I got a call “Hey, another guy offered me ____, can you top that?”
“Heh. No. Goodbye.”
The van was up on CL for another month or two. Clearly this “other guy” did not exist and he was trying to play buyers against each other to get the highest price.
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If you don’t know you are being scammed you won’t have any reason to ask people stuff.
And I used to work at a bank and created training materials, and I still don’t understand check clearing systems after the Check 21 act. Not sure why some checks are instant but other take days to clear, from the same bank. And as a customer, the bank doesn’t want me to understand it.
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Q.E.D.
As a general concern yeah.
But Craigslist, Facebook Market Place and what have are loaded with sorta bonkers people these days. Getting real rude about their lowball offers. Or attempting to alter terms after the fact. I’ll give you $50 for the $500 item, but only if you drop it to me and I happen to be around when you do. Or agreeing to a price, then showing up with far less than agreed and getting heated when the seller refuses.
It goes the other way too. With sellers offering very high prices and refusing to negotiate, setting unreasonable terms for pickup, or failing to deliver. On a “I know what I have” basis.
In either case the person has a habit of ghosting.
Like right here. Can’t be sure down to exact brand. But barstools like that typically run about $50-$100 new. Ikea’s are about $110 each, Amazon has similar ones ones for less than $100 for two or 4 for $170. And Wayfair and Overstock are both selling damn near identical ones at two for $125.
So there’s no savings here in buying used.
From what I gather most of these people are resellers running a turn and burn. Basically try to line up as much free or stupid cheap merch as they can along a fixed route. Pre-sell it before they even pick it up, then drop it to a buyer the same day they pick it up. Often in a rented van.
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The industry obviously does not care to inform or protect persons, certainly.
But online, on a few subreddits, there are a great deal of persons who are a prime demographic for being scammed, who believe they can swindle from “the other guy” and end up in extreme debt / fully blacklisted by Chexsystems because they think they have a grasp on chargebacks, stolen checks, and can “turn it around”. It’s even sometimes a bit of a colonialist mindset in that case mingling with the greed and desperation.
It’s like cryptocurrency scams in a lot of ways. Yes there are innocent victims, but there are persons who create the victim scenario because they see a scam at surface level but think they “have an angle” and are thus blinded to the many externalities involved.
It’s fascinating how many persons buy in because they think so lowly about overseas scammers who make it a living to take these individuals and either ensure that the other party is directly stolen from or left in a vulnerable position.
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Perhaps, but those 1/3 of buyers don’t dicker and make for a smooth and enjoyable transaction. The people that don’t negotiate make the process easy.
When I sell (or buy) something, I want the transaction to be as simple and efficient as possible. So from a selling point of view, I just price things reasonably low and ignore the people who want to haggle. Where I live, this approach is pretty successful when selling or buying items of over $100, and items sell pretty quickly. If it’s an inexpensive item I’m selling, I’d rather donate it to my local thrift store.
Many people love haggling. I’m just not one of them.
Obligatory:
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I want to know Loretta. She sounds awesome.
Also, I feel very lucky that I can pretty much donate stuff when I’m done with it. I don’t need a lot, and I hate the wheeling and dealing.
If I do need to monetize something, I know they get a bad rap, and for some good reasons, but I think pawn shops have their place. I can take something in, they tell me how much I can get, and if I regret it, I can go get it back within a couple weeks.
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So according to his terms, the logical and rules consistent thing to do would be to have a friend offer him $100 for the lot, and then expect to buy them yourself for that price with free delivery?
Honestly, I just avoid dealing with such self described rageaholics.
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I gave up even trying to give things away on Craigslist. Folks don’t show up or show up really late. I gave away a mattress and told them I am disabled and cannot help them move it, so bring help. They showed up alone. Sorry dude, no I can’t “just help.”
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As much as I’ve had good luck giving away things on my local Buy Nothing Facebook group, I’m gonna guess that could happen in that group, too. I’ve passed on a number of items because it was logistically impossible for me to pick them up on my own, but I’m sure lots of people would hope to impose on the gifter. Sorry that happened to you.
I do think that the Buy Nothing group has fewer flakes because it’s a local group with admins, and people who are repeatedly flake may get bounced out of the group. Less anonymous, and people are all supposed to live locally so less reason to be late. Flakes definitely do happen in the group sometimes, even with the prospect of public exposure, though.
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I said exactly that to Leia when I was just trying to make a few VaderBux off some power converters.
"I know ‘your highness’ looks down on mercenary scum like me – but your little ‘rebellion’ wouldn’t last a day without us.
[Breaks power converters on the sand]
Now they’ll never be yours!"
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I don’t think I have ever sold on anything I own. Ever. This sort of headache is exactly why.
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There’s the rub. If you have done a good job of pricing an item and taking appealing pictures, there are asshole resellers who show up and “negotiate” after-the-fact, then resell the item for your original price using your pictures!
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