What's the deal with craigslist?

[Josh Stihl]

It never seems to fail, 9 out of 10 people I deal with on craigslist are insane... Either they have something I want but I guess the one they have is made of gold, or they just can't seem to figure a time or place to meet even thought they need to sell as soon as possible, or they forgot to mention that what ever they are looking to buy from you, they want for free. My latest example, I replied to an ad looking to by used saws and or parts "running or not". I send and e-mail listing the 4 running saws I am looking to sell and the 1 parts saw. They respond, asking my price, so I come up with a high end starting price and send pics. I get a response this morning saying my prices are insane thanks for my time, and an explaination of what reasonable prices would be ($40-50 less than what I suggested) never heard of a counter offer? Sorry for the rant, kinda hope this guy follows this site...

 

[watsonr]

Same problems here.. The last call wanted a Stihl bigger than 60cc and wanted to pay only $100. I asked him to tell me how long of a bar he wanted, say's 24" would be good but preferred a 28" bar on the saw. I told him "sorry, you have the wrong number" and hung up...... seriously.

 

[Guido Salvage]

Just part of the game... I rarely respond to people looking for saws as most are even cheaper than I am.

 

[JC360]

Yeah, we have one locally wanting to sell a large collection of chain saws and parts. Says he has health problems and needs $$. I have emailed 3 times, no response. Guess he don't want to sell that bad!

 

[nmurph]

It never seems to fail, 9 out of 10 people I deal with on craigslist are insane... Either they have something I want but I guess the one they have is made of gold, or they just can't seem to figure a time or place to meet even thought they need to sell as soon as possible, or they forgot to mention that what ever they are looking to buy from you, they want for free. My latest example, I replied to an ad looking to by used saws and or parts "running or not". I send and e-mail listing the 4 running saws I am looking to sell and the 1 parts saw. They respond, asking my price, so I come up with a high end starting price and send pics. I get a response this morning saying my prices are insane thanks for my time, and an explaination of what reasonable prices would be ($40-50 less than what I suggested) never heard of a counter offer? Sorry for the rant, kinda hope this guy follows this site...

I don't know what prices we are talking here- $40-50 off a $400 saw is reasonable. $40-50 off a Wild Thing might be an insult. You said yourself that you started high???? It sounds like he did make a counter offer but you got your feelings hurt. Maybe your "high end " price was out of line???? I'm sorry, but I don't see your point in this scenario.

 

[Sierradmax]

I've seen those posts. I don't bother. I love the people advertising "free firewood" when it's a bunch of trash or it's a hundred foot standing tree.

 

[wyk]

I've seen those posts. I don't bother. I love the people advertising "free firewood" when it's a bunch of trash or it's a hundred foot standing tree.

100 foot standing tree for free? Where?

 

[watsonr]

Right next to his house and he wants all the limbs and leaves gone as well. Power lines within 20' and the neighbors place is 35' away with a heavy lean on the tree toward both.... want his number?

 

[rocketnorton]

ive had pretty good luck there... I can tell in about 10 sec if I wanna deal w/them, [buyin or sellin], or not. I ran a "wanted" ad too, most replies were for overpriced dead plastic. all mine [see sig] except one are c/l deals. one other from member here. most dirt cheap...

 

[tedmister2]

Yeah, we have one locally wanting to sell a large collection of chain saws and parts. Says he has health problems and needs $$. I have emailed 3 times, no response. Guess he don't want to sell that bad!

Or maybe is too ill to respond? kidding

 

[wyk]

Right next to his house and he wants all the limbs and leaves gone as well. Power lines within 20' and the neighbors place is 35' away with a heavy lean on the tree toward both.... want his number?

Nah, already took that one down. I got his # on ignore now Good thing I live in another country.

 

[abramj]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I think Craigslist is fair for what you pay for the service. I've bought and sold a ton of stuff from trinkets to cars, and purchased stuff in the same range. Most of my dealings have been good, with an occasional nut case. But hey, I live in a college town, so what do I expect. There are nut cases around every corner. I've got three items on there right now. The bonus I like is that there is no shipping with the local sales! The thing I dislike the most is when you try to buy something and it's a scam. I have gotten two scams, one for a car, and one for tickets to a football game. Neither cost me anything but time.

 

[Whiskers]

As for me, I love craigslist, met some great guys actually, and a few nut jobs as well. I met a guy last weekend, bought an almost new rockwell 653 planer. Turns out he's a saw nut, he used to work for Asplundh back in the day and has a collection of husqvarna saws you'd never see around here. Nothing like sitting around BSing about saws for an hour, and I'm first on his list when he wants to part with something.

 

[watsonr]

meeting guys on CL... I avoid those ads!



Just kidding, met a couple saw nuts myself that way.

 

[Whiskers]

Haha, looks like my phrasing was a bit bad, but you get the point.

 

[half_full]

I search nearly every day on CL. I'm really not in need of any additional saws so I go into it with a don't care attitude. If I get ahold of the seller I follow through. If I don't hear from them, I go about my day. I usually find a saw I want on CL about once a year.
Only time I've been disappointed with a buyer was for free items. I guess they are not buying but they don't show up.

 

[67L36Driver]

Can't beat the price. I much rather buy/sell a saw face to face.

 

[shootingarts]

Gotta say, original poster said he threw a high ball figure out, the guy responded. Can't ask for much more than that. Doubt many on here have bought and sold much more used than I have, I've owned a few auto-salvages. Sometimes I had time to clown around dickering, sometimes I didn't. If I asked someone for their best price and didn't want to pay it I climbed in my wrecker and left. Often they tried to negotiate after I had asked for their best price, too late now dude! I was the same way when selling, someone asked for my best price on a business I had in the seventies. I thought a minute and told them $70,000. A few minutes later they asked me if I would take sixty. I told them I wouldn't take $69,999.99, they asked for my best price and got it. Now we might talk about what stays and what goes but the dealing on price was done.

Something I learned in the salvage business, I had to let people come to me. If I stopped and asked about salvage sitting grown up in weeds the price was five to ten times what I could get it for when people came to me. Buying and selling anything is much the same way. Got to have motivated sellers to be able to buy.

Most stuff for sale leaves me laughing. Never know though, I have hit gold a few times. Bought my first thing off of Craigslist a few weeks ago. A Makita 6401. They were asking eighty dollars and it was an hour and a half drive, to a pawn shop. Had to be a catch but the picture sure was pretty. Cost another thirty or more in gas. I took the drive and they couldn't find the saw. When they found it the $119 sticker was still on it but they said they were getting rid of stuff that had sat on the shelf too long. A little paint missing on the bar, factory chain never been sharpened. Had planned to try to get them down ten dollars or so just on general principles but the back was hurting like hell so I paid asking plus tax. Got it home and the inside was clean. Doubt seriously the saw had two hours running time on it, a one tree job I suspect. Could have gotten a 460 and 660 both for good prices but more than I could pay behind the same thing, people buying saws to do their own work and then they were done with them. Two more 6401's on Craigslist. One looks to be one of the Home Depot saws and then owned behind that, they want $220 for it. The other one they are asking over four hundred for.

You deal used, you deal with all kinds of people and you get all kinds of prices. I could spend a day telling funny stories about people's expectations! It took $15,000 a month to keep the doors open at my salvage yard in the eighties. I told people bluntly and simply I didn't trade even and I didn't buy anything I couldn't make a profit on. The smartest thing buying saws, cars, land, anything you can name is to make your profit on the purchase. A hell of a lot easier to buy cheap and sell at market than to buy at market and sell at a premium price. However when wanting to buy cheap you have to wade through a lot of chaff to get to a little wheat. Just the way it is.

Hu

 

[nmurph]

Pretty much spot-on, Hu.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[ash man]

I also like Craig's list. Heck its free. I've sold two Stihl saws on CL and there were calls out the ying- yang.