matt770 Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 I'm selling a bunch of furniture and a fridge on Craigslist, and 99% of the people responding are wasting my time. They ask if the stuff is still available, I say yes, give the phone number, never hear from them again. Or they offer 50% of my asking price, or I get scams like this one, I've received this same mail from 4 different addresses now: Thanks for your reply,please concerning my inquiry (The Sectional sofa),Am quite comfortable with the condition of the item since i won't be making any repairs on it,i will add $50 to it for keeping it for me,Please provide your full Name,Address for payment.I am paying by Money Order Or Classified Check .It will take few days for payment to get to you.As per pick-up, I will make arrange for the pick-up after payment has been received by you.I hope it is in good condition?I would have loved to come check it out but i am presently away on a business trip,so you can send me pics of the item so that i can know it is in good condition,kindly get back to me with your name,phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent.I will let you know how i intend to pick it up. Note:I would appreciate it if you take the posting off CRAIG LIST today and consider it sold to me.As for the pick-up,it would be handled after you receive your payment. Thanks Supposedly this is a well-known phishing scam, not sure exactly how it works but you'd have to be a moron to read that and believe the person is at all legit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 I've had mixed luck. The odd thing is that I always have the best luck when I write really stupid stuff. Tried to sell my old tube TV and got no love. Reposted with "Who wants one of those skinny TVs. You want a TV with some back!" Got an offer for asking price within hours. Same with my golf clubs. Posted photos and the basic description. No love. Then, "You know it, deep down inside, you're a great golfer, but your sticks are crap. I know you've suspected this and I'm here to tell you it's true. Free that scratch golfer that lurks within, with this pimp set of Ping knock-offs" Done. That evening, full asking price. Some of my best hires I've gotten off Craigs list and every time I've posted in the paper, it's been expensive and I've gotten a load of idiots. Mind you, that doesn't mean I don't get a slew of people who obviously don't read the ad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 (edited) I'm selling a bunch of furniture and a fridge on Craigslist, and 99% of the people responding are wasting my time. They ask if the stuff is still available, I say yes, give the phone number, never hear from them again. Or they offer 50% of my asking price, or I get scams like this one, I've received this same mail from 4 different addresses now: Supposedly this is a well-known phishing scam, not sure exactly how it works but you'd have to be a moron to read that and believe the person is at all legit. Step 1. They send you a well-forged money order (with lots of shipping costs included for super-excellent #1 long-distance shipping). Step 2. Being "smart" you decided to deposit the money order first, and the bank (temporarily) credits your account with the money order. You are happy. Step 3. You then pay to have the item shipped, out of your own pocket, because you've be "paid" out of the money order. Step 4. Money order turns out to be a fake and bank takes money back from your account. :sadface: Guess who runs the shipping company you paid with your own money? Edited August 10, 2011 by yo mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 I may have said this before, but in March I listed our 1997 Honda CR-V on Craigslist on a Sunday morning. I got a dozen emails within an hour. Sold the car in less than six hours for 90 percent of asking price, to a guy who paid cash and didn't even want to go get a 14-year-old car checked out by a mechanic. I sold a 3-foot-high stack of moving boxes for $50 within a couple hours of listing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted August 10, 2011 Author Share Posted August 10, 2011 Tonight was good, unloaded the dinette and sectional. Still have the behemoth wall unit that is made for the old CRT TVs. Going to have to drop the price I guess. And the fridge, that should be easy. The people that are actually showing up are solid. Their money has the security strips embedded in the paper which is nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazinib1 Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Their money has the security strips embedded in the paper which is nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Meh, I've always had good luck with Craigslist. Of course I don't live near the 7th ring of hell like you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted August 11, 2011 Author Share Posted August 11, 2011 Meh, I've always had good luck with Craigslist. Of course I don't live near the 7th ring of hell like you. 12 more days....12 more days....12 more days.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peepinmofo Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Step 1. They send you a well-forged money order (with lots of shipping costs included for super-excellent #1 long-distance shipping).Step 2. Being "smart" you decided to deposit the money order first, and the bank (temporarily) credits your account with the money order. You are happy. Step 3. You then pay to have the item shipped, out of your own pocket, because you've be "paid" out of the money order. Step 4. Money order turns out to be a fake and bank takes money back from your account. :sadface: Guess who runs the shipping company you paid with your own money? So what happens if you never send the item, and the bank deems the check invalid? Obviously they deduct the money, but do they then follow up with it? Seems like there could be SOMETHING done about these scams. What about the address the item is shipped to? Why cant they persue anyone at that address? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted August 11, 2011 Author Share Posted August 11, 2011 So what happens if you never send the item, and the bank deems the check invalid? Obviously they deduct the money, but do they then follow up with it? Seems like there could be SOMETHING done about these scams. What about the address the item is shipped to? Why cant they persue anyone at that address? I have gotten 4 or 5 of these now, all with similar verbiage, and all written as if the person does not speak English as a first language. I would guess the forged checks/money orders originate from overseas, the US-based fake moving companies have no paper trail back to the originator of the fake funds, and the goods end up at a fence run by Greeks or Russians (because I watch the Wire too much). The moving company can probably legitimately claim that they are only moving furniture for a paying customer, not involved in anything illegal. To round up all the players in the scam may not be worth the manpower considering the amount taken per transaction is not huge. I believe credit card fraud for example has to be something like $5K or more for any real investigation to take place. We all pay for it in higher interest rates. I would also assume that many people stupid enough to fall for this might be too embarrassed to report it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 So what happens if you never send the item, and the bank deems the check invalid? Obviously they deduct the money, but do they then follow up with it? Seems like there could be SOMETHING done about these scams. What about the address the item is shipped to? Why cant they persue anyone at that address? The address they ship to is usually a university or other high-traffic location. Believe me, the scammer doesn't live there - they're in an internet cafe someone else. If you never send the item they just harass you for a while, but they ultimately don't care if the item is delivered or not. They just want you to pay their "mover" and then the item probably gets dumped on the street somewhere. Long story short, my wife got caught by one of these and deposited the money order. I told her not to ship for a few days, and sure enough the bank took back the money back that was initially deposited. The bank didn't punish us and the scammer ultimately went away, but only after trying a bunch of different ways to manipulate the Mrs. via email. Finally I stepped in, told the scammer our Craig's List posting was for local pick up only, and that we were contacting the police. Never heard from them again, but kept all the paper work "just in case." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulzale Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Sold tons of stuff on CL with good success, mostly sporting event tickets/concert tickets, but sold a car too for cash money! Get the crazy scams now and then, just ignore them. Low ball offers from time to time, just tell them no thanks price is firm...I like it better than Ebay honestly. I buy stuff off there too, mostly sporting goods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 The address they ship to is usually a university or other high-traffic location. Believe me, the scammer doesn't live there - they're in an internet cafe someone else. If you never send the item they just harass you for a while, but they ultimately don't care if the item is delivered or not. They just want you to pay their "mover" and then the item probably gets dumped on the street somewhere. Long story short, my wife got caught by one of these and deposited the money order. I told her not to ship for a few days, and sure enough the bank took back the money back that was initially deposited. The bank didn't punish us and the scammer ultimately went away, but only after trying a bunch of different ways to manipulate the Mrs. via email. Finally I stepped in, told the scammer our Craig's List posting was for local pick up only, and that we were contacting the police. Never heard from them again, but kept all the paper work "just in case." There are so many moving company scams. Google "Israeli Moving Company Scams". We got into this by going through movers.com when we moved cross country. Stupidest thing we've ever done and, as far as I'm concerned, we got off easy because we actually got all our crap. They just bilked us for a bunch of money and took their sweet-assed time. But it was still hell. As far as tracking them down, forget about it. They do far to good a job of hacking up the trail of accountability by sub-contracting from this guy to that guy and so on that you're ultimately screwed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Sold tons of stuff on CL with good success, mostly sporting event tickets/concert tickets, but sold a car too for cash money! Get the crazy scams now and then, just ignore them. Low ball offers from time to time, just tell them no thanks price is firm...I like it better than Ebay honestly. I buy stuff off there too, mostly sporting goods. The trick is simply to sell local to people who pick up for themselves. Movers are red flag, and if you agree to drop off the buyer has leverage once you get there because they know you don't want to cart the crap back home. We got rid of a ton of baby toys, furniture, etc. when the kids out grew them. The Mrs. promptly spent the cash on booze and porn, so it was win-win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I've had great luck with Craigslist. Patience is key and so is finding the right price point. I've had a few bidding wars go on with some items and I've also found that sometimes you'll make more money by separating items such as chairs and tables. List as a set but also list out individually. I probably sell about 3-4 things a month. My junk is someone else's treasure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I've had great luck with Craigslist. Patience is key and so is finding the right price point. I've had a few bidding wars go on with some items and I've also found that sometimes you'll make more money by separating items such as chairs and tables. List as a set but also list out individually. I probably sell about 3-4 things a month. My junk is someone else's treasure. Does that include the last set of twoobs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Does that include the last set of twoobs? I'll start the bidding at $100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I'll start the bidding at $100. Let the bidding begin... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 I couldn't resist, because I'm 12. Hopefully you will get this email... Could I get the dimensions of the wall unit you have and if possible some better pictures. Thank You Dawn Hi Dawn, It is 6'2" tall, 7' wide and 19" deep. There are 5 total pieces and the shelf is adjustable. Also there are halogen lights built in. You can zoom the pictures I'm sending. I work from home so I'm usually here. Call 410-XXX-XXXX if you'd like to come look at it. Thanks Matt About a foot too long... eveything would have been perfect... Thank You If I had a nickel for every time a woman told me that... I LOVE IT... I needed the laugh.... THANK YOU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 My junk is someone else's treasure. Especially to a penguin. I couldn't resist, because I'm 12. When the Mrs. is away, Matt will play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 This is why Craigslist doesn't suck: We used to have our veggie garden set up using "Mister Landscaper" drip irrigation hooked up to an old sprinkler head. Now we water everything through rain barrels and there's not enough pressure to make it work. So it's just taking up space. It was too beat and random to feel good about selling, so I put it out on craigs for free pick-up. Turns out a guy around here is installing a raised bed veggie garden for a disabled vet to help feed his family and getting all this stuff for free was a total boon. I get rid of stuff that is taking up space and a disabled vet gets a drip irrigation system to more easily water veggies to feed his family. Props to the guy who is building this for him. Placed the ad at 11am yesterday and it was gone by 1pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slambo Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 No matter what venue you use to sell something you'll get time wasters and scammers, don't blame craig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazinib1 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I've been trying to find craigslist via gps....no luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slambo Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I've been trying to find craigslist via gps....no luck. That sucks, you may have gotten a better deal on them new teef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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