Is craigslist a total waste of time?

[MrPrena]

I would rather do eBay over craigslist.

TOns of welchers.
Spammars and frauds.
Craigslist also do not have a great pw reset.
Now, I need to open a new craigslist, because I can't get to get my pw reset.
I had bad luck with help@ either.

[86k10]

I do a lot of deals on craigslist. I have the most problems giving things away. I have about 80% bullshit rate on free items. My boys trade/buy/sell PS3 games on there often, Its a lot better than Game Stop.

[Ranger]

I do a lot with Craigslist as well and I just prepare for the worst. When selling something WAY below book I'll get a hundred emails and it's out the door in an hour, if I'm selling close to book then far fewer responses and many low ball offers that want to come out and look at it and waste my time (or no shows, these really piss me off) and for free stuff, I plan to run the ad for a half a day and take it down because they never stop asking. Last year I gave away rocks and dirt from my backyard project and was inundated with calls for it, had about 20 no-shows and finally got someone to get it after a day waiting for the people to actually show up.

Roll the dice, Craigslist is a mixed bag depending on what you are selling/trading/giving away.

[10x]

The list has its place. I sold a car there that we couldn't get rid of in Colo. Springs. Sold it to someone out of our immediate area and happy with the deal.

Bought a few small things. Bike carriers were $200 - $300 in the stores. I found one for $40. Just what we needed.

We got no response on furniture for sale, so, that went to Goodwill.

Although only a few deals, we haven't had any problems.

[Zundfolge]

Craigslist is one of those great examples of caveat emptor/caveat venditor.

If you're real careful how you word your ad you can weed out a lot of idiots.

I sold a car a while back and when I first posted the ad I wasn't specific enough and had people wanting to trade other crap, write me personal and 3rd party checks and probably 3/4 of the people asked if I'd take payments and of course several people that wanted me to ship them the car.

Once I rewrote the ad to make it clear that I wasn't going to put up with any foolishness and that cut down the idiots by a significant amount. Still sold the car to an idiot but it got sold and I got cash.

[mrghost]

I would take Craigslist over Ebay for sure!

Same here. "feebay" is not at all what it used to be and I prefer to avoid the hassle of boxing something up and shipping it if I don't have to. The pluses ebay has over craigslist is you open up to a wider market (obviously) and don't have to even consider having a stranger come to your home, but I've always had good experiences with CL so far. Never had a problem with any of my ads getting flagged, but like others, the initial responses tend to be the spam/scam/Nigerian responses, but those are easy to ID.

Other than that, sometimes it seems like there are periods where it's just a bad time to be in the marketplace and there's no bites whatsoever, and then a couple months later the same item goes quick.

[Lex_Luthor]

I've had mostly good experiences with Craigslist. I've bought and sold a few cars on there. I've sold numerous other items, as well as bought things. As long as you're smart and watch yourself, most of the people I've come into contact haven't been to iffy. I've only had 2 cars sold where people came to my house to look at it. One was a truck that the differential was completely locked up and it was stuck in the garage. The guy ended up towing it out with a loud screetch as the tires dragged along the driveway. I usually arrange to meet someone open and public, like a grocery store parking lot.

[mrghost]

I usually arrange to meet someone open and public, like a grocery store parking lot.

That is good advice and I try to do the same as often as possible. People I don't know don't need a tour of my home just to inspect a used printer, etc.

[sandman76]

I've sold a pickup. a vintage motrcycle and Nuggets tix on CL. Bought a trailer from a guy and got a great trailer for a good price.

Got some spam and some of those responses where they say they are out of town and want to buy the item. That they will send their agent with the money yada yada.

Overall good experience.

[Zundfolge]

I usually arrange to meet someone open and public, like a grocery store parking lot.

Indeed. I usually have people meet at my office (as some of y'all here that have dealt with me have discovered).

Of course part of that is because I can give easy, clear directions to my office ... my home is in one of those confusing, twisty street residential areas.