Craig's List etiquette?

wandajune6

We're tearing out/knocking down our nasty old above-ground pool. As we do this, we're trying to sell off some of the unnecessary pieces that have value - the pump we bought at the beginning of the season, last year's new ladder, etc. No big deal.

Yesterday, I posted the ladder for sale. We asked $80. I had someone ask me if we'd take $60. I responded with a no - but told him that we'd take $65. This was at 6:15 yesterday evening.

Since then, I've gotten several additional offers. I finally agreed to one this morning at 8:30 this morning for $65. Perfect. Then the original guy gets back to me and tells me that he decides he wants it.

Am I obligated to the first guy? He wants to pick it up Thursday while the other guy wants it today. I'd rather sell it now and be sure that it's gone rather than wait until Thursday and hope that he doesn't flake on me. We have bad luck getting people to follow through.

What's the etiquette of these situations?

(We're not terribly concerned about how much we sell the items for. The main goal is to get rid of the junk taking up space and hopefully offset the cost of fixing up the part of the yard that once held the pool.)

luckya23

Let it go now.

CL is the wild west, you need to look out for you.

Maggie0829

No, I don't think you are obligated to the first guy.  I would just tell him that you are sorry but it has already been sold.  It is basically a you snooze you lose kind of thing.

emmaaa

Go ahead and give it to the new guy, the first guy waited too long to reply.

wandajune6

I told the 2nd guy he could come tonight. I told the 1st person that if #2 flakes, it's his.

#1 just called me a bitch. He's off the list.

If you haven't noticed, I worry far too much about being rude! Thanks!

Maggie0829

wandajune6 said:

I told the 2nd guy he could come tonight. I told the 1st person that if #2 flakes, it's his.

#1 just called me a bitch. He's off the list.

If you haven't noticed, I worry far too much about being rude! Thanks!

WTF?!

novella1186

wandajune6 said:

I told the 2nd guy he could come tonight. I told the 1st person that if #2 flakes, it's his.

#1 just called me a bitch. He's off the list.

If you haven't noticed, I worry far too much about being rude! Thanks!

He seriously called you a bitch?! Wow. Sounds like a great person. You had no obligation to him at all. You can't hold items and wait around just in case he decides to be interested. As lucky said, you need to watch out for you, not this douche. 

beachyone15

wandajune6 said:

I told the 2nd guy he could come tonight. I told the 1st person that if #2 flakes, it's his.

#1 just called me a bitch. He's off the list.

If you haven't noticed, I worry far too much about being rude! Thanks!

That seems a little harsh for losing out on a ladder *eyeroll*. Damn. Don't even think twice about this loser. Apparently things worked out for the best.

WinstonsGirl

You snooze you lose.  I can't believe some of the people selling/buying online.  I tried to sell my old kitchen table and chairs a few years ago - Ikea, worth about $1000, asking $200 or good offers.  One woman cam to look and decided not to buy cos it didn't exactly match her new cupboards.  Really??  You're going for an exact colour match of your cupboard and table with something you fond on Kijiji??  We ended up selling it at a garage sale to someone who had just immigrated here and was setting up their house.  I liked that better

wandajune6

The bitch part was hilarious. I told DH and he suggested that I let him have it-- but meet him at the door with DH, my BILs and a couple of their buddies.... (I'll pass)

@WinstonsGirl- we're actually doing a yard sale with a bunch of stuff at the end of August. Lots of people in our family are moving right now so we thought it would be better to wait. We're selling stuff right now because we don't have room in the garage and shed for everything that people want us to hold until the sale.

The downside of being the only people with a yard or garage...

julieanne912

I always put in ads (or on Facebook sale pages) "First to pick up gets it".  I've been burned way too many times by people who say they'll come get it on payday, or in 2 days from now, or whatever, and then they disappear.  

huskypuppy14

Pretty sure you don't want #1 knowing where you live if he's butt hurt about missing out on a ladder that he never had claim to. 

loveislouder

wandajune6 said:

I told the 2nd guy he could come tonight. I told the 1st person that if #2 flakes, it's his.

#1 just called me a bitch. He's off the list.

If you haven't noticed, I worry far too much about being rude! Thanks!

#ByeFelipe   https://instagram.com/byefelipe/?hl=en

sarahufl

CL is a first-come, first serve thing. First person at my house, cash in hand, gets it. I don't set things aside and I don't wait for you.

sorrynotsorry.

lovemesomemonster

Wow, what a fantastic human being! I think anger management classes are in his future if he gets that upset over something he was trying to buy off craigslist. I'm currently trying to sell my couch, I have had everything from "my daughter is a single mom, can I buy it for less than half what you are asking?" to "thanks for all the info and measurements, I'll show my husband tonight but I'm not sure if I'm just dreaming because I don't know where we will find the money right now". My favorite so far was a person who asked if it was smoke free and pet free, I said smoke free yes, pet free no.. the response was "I have severe allergies but I will offer you 50%" Um, what?

lembaslover

I learned the hard way not to wait on people. I was moving in with my fiance and trying to sell some of my furniture which wouldn't fit in his place and I had the worst CL experiences ever. I got stood up at least 50% of the time probably more than that. I had one woman who wanted a time frame of 12-2 to pick it and finally I agreed because I wanted rid of it, it's only 2 hours and I could work on packing for 2 hrs but 2pm comes and goes and I call, email and text... nothing. Finally at 3:30 she emails me saying she will be there around 5, I told her no and the next day someone else came and got it. 

The last people to stand me up were awful, she sounded so excited in her e-mail and gave me her cell phone so I called and texted after waiting for her an hour and never heard back. Unlucky for her she and her husband own a landscaping business and she used her work email. I made some accounts and left a bunch of bad reviews for their business saying they had no-showed and were impossible to get in contact with after a deal was made. Was it petty?.. sure... but I was really frustrated by this point! 

Also I had someone inform me that my couch was too comfortable for them and they didn't buy it because of that... really of all the reasons you can think of that's the one you're gonna go with?

Final rant (if you can't tell I had an awful experience... and am still a bit bitter) what is with people trying to get stuff for nothing. I was selling an $800 couch that was less than a year old for $200 and I had people emailing me asking if I'd take $50... really you're not even close, if you'd said $150 I'd probably have said sure but ugh. 

I think next time I'm just having a bonfire, at least that would be entertaining and I wouldn't have to deal with any scumbags. Just show up if you say you are going to or tell me you changed your mind before I waste my time waiting on you.

novella1186

lovemesomemonster said:

Wow, what a fantastic human being! I think anger management classes are in his future if he gets that upset over something he was trying to buy off craigslist. I'm currently trying to sell my couch, I have had everything from "my daughter is a single mom, can I buy it for less than half what you are asking?" to "thanks for all the info and measurements, I'll show my husband tonight but I'm not sure if I'm just dreaming because I don't know where we will find the money right now". My favorite so far was a person who asked if it was smoke free and pet free, I said smoke free yes, pet free no.. the response was "I have severe allergies but I will offer you 50%" Um, what?

Well duh, saving money diminishes allergic reactions. Did you not know that? 

onefootinthebayou

luckya23 said:

Let it go now. CL is the wild west, you need to look out for you.

@luckya23, you took the words "Wild West" right out of my mouth.  

Being a city-dweller, I have a lot of experience with CL.  Definitely having someone willing to come get something quickly trumps price and whoever is first to respond.

The only etiquette I would recommend is to take your ad down as soon as the item is sold.  

Good luck, there are a lot of sketchy assholes on there!  

ETA - 

Forgot to add, I always put "cash only, final sale", just to prevent any attempts to return stuff.  For example, I just sold an old flat-screen TV for $30 (turns out I low-balled as tons of people wanted it).  However, it's 10 years old.  I turned it on for the buyer to show it works but if that TV cut out a week later, I would not take it back or offer a refund.  Seems obvious but again, once you sell to someone, they usually know where you live & have your email/cell #.  

redheadbride15

I sold a bunch of stuff on CL before I moved in with my H. One particularly memorable interaction: I had a futon on sale for $40 and this one guy said he wanted it and then kept making demands: first, could I take a picture of it with the cover off and send it to him to show that there were no stains? second, could I disassemble it for him before he came to pick it up? third, could I drive with him back to his house 1 hour away to keep an eye on it in case it started to slide off the top of his tiny little car (it was going to be strapped on)?

Um, no no no. Next?!?

sarahufl

engagedhamstermom said:

I learned the hard way not to wait on people. I was moving in with my fiance and trying to sell some of my furniture which wouldn't fit in his place and I had the worst CL experiences ever. I got stood up at least 50% of the time probably more than that. I had one woman who wanted a time frame of 12-2 to pick it and finally I agreed because I wanted rid of it, it's only 2 hours and I could work on packing for 2 hrs but 2pm comes and goes and I call, email and text... nothing. Finally at 3:30 she emails me saying she will be there around 5, I told her no and the next day someone else came and got it. 

The last people to stand me up were awful, she sounded so excited in her e-mail and gave me her cell phone so I called and texted after waiting for her an hour and never heard back. Unlucky for her she and her husband own a landscaping business and she used her work email. I made some accounts and left a bunch of bad reviews for their business saying they had no-showed and were impossible to get in contact with after a deal was made. Was it petty?.. sure... but I was really frustrated by this point! 

Also I had someone inform me that my couch was too comfortable for them and they didn't buy it because of that... really of all the reasons you can think of that's the one you're gonna go with?

Final rant (if you can't tell I had an awful experience... and am still a bit bitter) what is with people trying to get stuff for nothing. I was selling an $800 couch that was less than a year old for $200 and I had people emailing me asking if I'd take $50... really you're not even close, if you'd said $150 I'd probably have said sure but ugh. 

I think next time I'm just having a bonfire, at least that would be entertaining and I wouldn't have to deal with any scumbags. Just show up if you say you are going to or tell me you changed your mind before I waste my time waiting on you.

well, that was incredibly inappropriate.

OliveOilsMom

I belong to a few facebook yardsale pages.  I only use the ones that say you are not allowed to barter on the price or you get banned.

You were totally in the right on giving it to the person who could come pick up fastest.  CL is a totally different animal than the FB pages.  I've mostly used CL for curb alerts, but the few sales I've done I never give my phone number at any point during the transaction.  I will communicate only through email.

A many years ago, I was looking to buy a car.  Not having a lot of money, I was browsing CL car listings.  I came across one that looked good.  I used the info in the ad to get a Kelley Blue Book estimate on price.  It came in under $1500 lower than the car price.  So H (BF at the time) and I go to look at the car.  I have the print out of the KBB value and show him at one point to see if the price is negotiable on his end.  He starts telling me that KBB is wrong all the time and blah blah blah.  It also was not currently registered, so he wouldn't let me take it for a test drive, except behind his house.  Yeah no, that's not happening.  So I say, ok, thanks but no thanks.  We leave.  About an hour later, my phone rings.  I answer and its that guy again, telling me that he put his car into KBB and the value came out to what he is selling it for.  I didn't know what he wanted me to do, go back and buy the car?  So I said, that's great and all, but I don't know what you expect me to do with that information.  He then kinda stampered and I said bye and hung up.  It was weird.  The house was on a main road, so H & I would frequently drive past the house.   He almost always had a random car out front to sell, we always referred to him as the wannabe used car salesman.

novella1186

redheadbride15 said:

I sold a bunch of stuff on CL before I moved in with my H. One particularly memorable interaction: I had a futon on sale for $40 and this one guy said he wanted it and then kept making demands: first, could I take a picture of it with the cover off and send it to him to show that there were no stains? second, could I disassemble it for him before he came to pick it up? third, could I drive with him back to his house 1 hour away to keep an eye on it in case it started to slide off the top of his tiny little car (it was going to be strapped on)?

Um, no no no. Next?!?

WTF?!!! That's just creepy. Who would even ask that? 

I remember when the Craigslist murders had just been in the news, my grandpa died and my mom went to clean out his condo. I found out that she placed some ads on Craigslist for a few of the smaller pieces of furniture that no one in the family wanted, and she told me these three people were coming to pick stuff up while she would be alone at the condo. I was just like "Are you fucking kidding me? Nope!" 

So I went with her (not that I could scare anyone away; my mom and I are both 5'1" but safety in numbers, right?) The people were perfectly nice but I still lurked in the next room with my phone in my hand just in case. Maybe I'm too paranoid. I hear too many creepy things about CL, and your story just adds to the creep factor! 

wandajune6

Crazy stories!

We actually posted the pool we're taking down on CL. It's got value as scrap metal but we just don't have the time/vehicles/energy to deal with it. We offered it for free to whoever wanted to come and get it. We mentioned that we'd throw in some additional scrap metal if they cut down the wood deck around it in small enough pieces for the garbage while they were at it. I had 3 calls in 10 minutes.

The first response came from someone that's coming tomorrow. I'd go first come, first serve but this guy is a contractor and mentioned he was insured. I verified his info and have him giving us a roofing quote while he's at it. Hopefully he doesn't bail.

ShesSoCold

novella1186 said:

redheadbride15 said:

I sold a bunch of stuff on CL before I moved in with my H. One particularly memorable interaction: I had a futon on sale for $40 and this one guy said he wanted it and then kept making demands: first, could I take a picture of it with the cover off and send it to him to show that there were no stains? second, could I disassemble it for him before he came to pick it up? third, could I drive with him back to his house 1 hour away to keep an eye on it in case it started to slide off the top of his tiny little car (it was going to be strapped on)?

Um, no no no. Next?!?

WTF?!!! That's just creepy. Who would even ask that? 

I remember when the Craigslist murders had just been in the news, my grandpa died and my mom went to clean out his condo. I found out that she placed some ads on Craigslist for a few of the smaller pieces of furniture that no one in the family wanted, and she told me these three people were coming to pick stuff up while she would be alone at the condo. I was just like "Are you fucking kidding me? Nope!" 

So I went with her (not that I could scare anyone away; my mom and I are both 5'1" but safety in numbers, right?) The people were perfectly nice but I still lurked in the next room with my phone in my hand just in case. Maybe I'm too paranoid. I hear too many creepy things about CL, and your story just adds to the creep factor! 

Oh I agree. Whenever my sister or I have sold something on CL, we have the buyer come to my dad's house. My dad is a scary looking (I've been told) biker and his house is an unincorporated area and looks kind of creepy. Even with H at home, I feel better going to my dad's. 

Weesh

Yikes, calling you a bitch was totally unnecessary.  I'd say first come first serve too.

I'm a little nervous because as I opened this thread, I'm about to put some furniture on CL.  My husband is selling his first house that he had before we got married and there's a ton of old wood furniture there.  He's going to be at the house this week doing work, and we were hoping that people would just come pick it up that day and be done with it.  Hopefully that works out, some of these stories are crazy.  A couch being too comfortable?  GTFO.  Either you want it or you don't!

jenna8984

novella1186 said:

redheadbride15 said:

I sold a bunch of stuff on CL before I moved in with my H. One particularly memorable interaction: I had a futon on sale for $40 and this one guy said he wanted it and then kept making demands: first, could I take a picture of it with the cover off and send it to him to show that there were no stains? second, could I disassemble it for him before he came to pick it up? third, could I drive with him back to his house 1 hour away to keep an eye on it in case it started to slide off the top of his tiny little car (it was going to be strapped on)?

Um, no no no. Next?!?

WTF?!!! That's just creepy. Who would even ask that? 

I remember when the Craigslist murders had just been in the news, my grandpa died and my mom went to clean out his condo. I found out that she placed some ads on Craigslist for a few of the smaller pieces of furniture that no one in the family wanted, and she told me these three people were coming to pick stuff up while she would be alone at the condo. I was just like "Are you fucking kidding me? Nope!" 

So I went with her (not that I could scare anyone away; my mom and I are both 5'1" but safety in numbers, right?) The people were perfectly nice but I still lurked in the next room with my phone in my hand just in case. Maybe I'm too paranoid. I hear too many creepy things about CL, and your story just adds to the creep factor! 

Same here! I bought a really nice kitchen cart and of course I made DH come with me. Well we got there and the seller had done the same thing. Her 2 adult sons open the door and say "we were worried that someone would see the address to a retirement community and try to rip off an old lady". The few times I sold wedding items on a FB group, I would just meet in a CVS paking lot.

wandajune6

I have no problem buying/selling on CL. For smaller things, we like to do exchanges at the police department. It sounds silly but it's a lot safer. I also make sure never to do any of it alone. The only times I let people know where I live is if it's something too big to move myself. Even then, I make sure that DH is around and keeping an eye out. Also, the pooch has a great instinct for when to look/sound scary.

loveislouder

The only thing people use CL for where I'm from is creepy hook ups.  

That being said, we have kijiji and it's like the "cooler" CL. Not safer, but less creepy hook ups.

lovesclimbing

wandajune6 said:

We're tearing out/knocking down our nasty old above-ground pool. As we do this, we're trying to sell off some of the unnecessary pieces that have value - the pump we bought at the beginning of the season, last year's new ladder, etc. No big deal.

Yesterday, I posted the ladder for sale. We asked $80. I had someone ask me if we'd take $60. I responded with a no - but told him that we'd take $65. This was at 6:15 yesterday evening.

Since then, I've gotten several additional offers. I finally agreed to one this morning at 8:30 this morning for $65. Perfect. Then the original guy gets back to me and tells me that he decides he wants it.

Am I obligated to the first guy? He wants to pick it up Thursday while the other guy wants it today. I'd rather sell it now and be sure that it's gone rather than wait until Thursday and hope that he doesn't flake on me. We have bad luck getting people to follow through.

What's the etiquette of these situations?

(We're not terribly concerned about how much we sell the items for. The main goal is to get rid of the junk taking up space and hopefully offset the cost of fixing up the part of the yard that once held the pool.)

Eh, I say you probably should have waited at least 24 hours. I'm part of a buy and sell Facebook group for our city with several thousand members. The rules are that you should wait at least 24 hours for a response before moving on, and I think that's courteous. If it's going to be first come first serve, I tend to think you should note that.

onefootinthebayou

lovesclimbing said:

wandajune6 said:

We're tearing out/knocking down our nasty old above-ground pool. As we do this, we're trying to sell off some of the unnecessary pieces that have value - the pump we bought at the beginning of the season, last year's new ladder, etc. No big deal.

Yesterday, I posted the ladder for sale. We asked $80. I had someone ask me if we'd take $60. I responded with a no - but told him that we'd take $65. This was at 6:15 yesterday evening.

Since then, I've gotten several additional offers. I finally agreed to one this morning at 8:30 this morning for $65. Perfect. Then the original guy gets back to me and tells me that he decides he wants it.

Am I obligated to the first guy? He wants to pick it up Thursday while the other guy wants it today. I'd rather sell it now and be sure that it's gone rather than wait until Thursday and hope that he doesn't flake on me. We have bad luck getting people to follow through.

What's the etiquette of these situations?

(We're not terribly concerned about how much we sell the items for. The main goal is to get rid of the junk taking up space and hopefully offset the cost of fixing up the part of the yard that once held the pool.)

Eh, I say you probably should have waited at least 24 hours. I'm part of a buy and sell Facebook group for our city with several thousand members. The rules are that you should wait at least 24 hours for a response before moving on, and I think that's courteous. If it's going to be first come first serve, I tend to think you should note that.

I agree with you but you have to admit, a FB group is likely more civilized and apt to follow the general rules of decorum than are rando commando CL posters. Lucky said it best when' she said it's a "Wild West out there".

sarahufl

onefootinthebayou said:

lovesclimbing said:

wandajune6 said:

We're tearing out/knocking down our nasty old above-ground pool. As we do this, we're trying to sell off some of the unnecessary pieces that have value - the pump we bought at the beginning of the season, last year's new ladder, etc. No big deal.

Yesterday, I posted the ladder for sale. We asked $80. I had someone ask me if we'd take $60. I responded with a no - but told him that we'd take $65. This was at 6:15 yesterday evening.

Since then, I've gotten several additional offers. I finally agreed to one this morning at 8:30 this morning for $65. Perfect. Then the original guy gets back to me and tells me that he decides he wants it.

Am I obligated to the first guy? He wants to pick it up Thursday while the other guy wants it today. I'd rather sell it now and be sure that it's gone rather than wait until Thursday and hope that he doesn't flake on me. We have bad luck getting people to follow through.

What's the etiquette of these situations?

(We're not terribly concerned about how much we sell the items for. The main goal is to get rid of the junk taking up space and hopefully offset the cost of fixing up the part of the yard that once held the pool.)

Eh, I say you probably should have waited at least 24 hours. I'm part of a buy and sell Facebook group for our city with several thousand members. The rules are that you should wait at least 24 hours for a response before moving on, and I think that's courteous. If it's going to be first come first serve, I tend to think you should note that.

I agree with you but you have to admit, a FB group is likely more civilized and apt to follow the general rules of decorum than are rando commando CL posters. Lucky said it best when' she said it's a "Wild West out there".

yeah, lol at being civilized. I live in New York City- CL is not civilized. People say they are coming and never show up, they arrive with no money, they come and change their minds. Every man for himself.

You want a guarantee that you get the item, buy it from a store.