Thanks for posting!

Thanks for posting.

Sent this to my GD as she is trying to sell a bedroom suite on CL right now.

A very timely posting, Red, since so many of us use Craigslist. I am totally soured on eBay/PayPal, but I still like Craigslist. However, I have learned that, no matter how nice someone appears, I only deal in CASH and I state that very clearly in my ads "CASH ONLY." I have been asked before to ship stuff and I always refuse. I've also been asked to trade stuff which I also refuse--usually because I don't want their stuff.

Some techniques I use besides that are that I don't post my phone number or address. I communicate via my yahoo account and if the person sounds on the up-and-up, I then give out my cell phone number or call them up. After that I will give out my address and arrange a time to pick up. All items I sell are in the garage so I can leave the door open as I never let anyone in the house unless my DH is there.

When buying, I keep the exact change and a cell phone in my pocket. I notice others do the same. Yesterday we sold some other electronics stuff--the DHs arranged it all on the phone and his wife picked up from me.

Not 10 minutes ago I sold a DISH satellite for $25. I met the buyer in my garage with garage door open. He gave me the $25, I saw the $20 on the outside so just put it in my pocket. He asked me to then count it, which I did.

Most people I've met through Craigslist seem pretty honest--particularly if you sell locally. I once sold a range and OTR micro to this lady who lived about one hour away. As she could not come out right away, she said she'd sent me a check for a deposit and pay the balance when she could get out with a truck to pick up. When the check arrived I noticed a different name on the check, but I still cashed it and then when she came she told me some story about how she had to close the account and paid with cash. Still I was out the $20 returned check fee by my bank. It left a bad taste in my mouth that she wrote a bad check so that I would hold the stuff for her. This is why now I only deal in cash and I do not promise to hold anything more than a day as people can change their mind all the time.

When I wanted my dining set really bad on CL, I sent the seller an email saying I was willing to pay full price in cash. She had several other emails, but mine got her attention and so she replied to me first.

Our attitude has always been if we cannot get a fair price on Craigslist then I will give away to a friend or charity. I am not desparate to make a sale and comunicate with questionable people. I think this helps make it a more positive experience, but one does always have to be vigligent.

Still does not compare with the young woman who was going to look at a seller's item and was raped and murdered. That still is what keeps me away from Craigslist and always will.

Good list of rules valin! That scam is an old one and often used in long distance purchases, but everyone needs to be aware of it.

I do the same as valin when it comes to Craigslist. Most of the buyers have been women, but I still let no one in my home and have the items moved to my shop by the time the buyer arrives. The large rolltop door is always left open and I keep some extra one dollar bills ready in case they need change.........which has yet to happen.

That's an old scam and our local BBB talks about it regularly on local news programs trying to alert people.

Just another thing you might want to try -- I have never let anyone come to my home when they are picking something up. We always meet somewhere nearby like the mall or the school (also a busy area with lots of people), but I feel uncomfortable letting someone come to my home that I don't know.

You'd think everyone would know about that scam by now. I was amazed the other day when DH and I went to look at an item advertised on CL (I never go alone). A young woman was the one selling it, opened her door to us, let us in, etc. We could have been thieves, murderers, whatever. It gave me the chills later when I thought about it. I think I watch too many crime dramas!

Scares me too, Patricia, although I really don't even look. Just curious at this point, with some of the great finds we've seen here. I think there have been a couple situations where women have disappeared on CL, actually. And, I've seen too many of the New Detective CSI shows too! They're out there ... and looking for trouble.

This is another good reason why I never even consider Ebay or Craigslist. I have no desire to waste time or money with God-knows-who is going to show up. It isn't safe and frankly, for the money, not worth it at all. You don't know who you are dealing with.

texanjana, that is really scary that the girl would do that. We've sold a few things via CL and my husband always tells the women who call that his wife will be here so they don't have to worry that they're coming to a house where its just a man. Then he puts me on the phone to confirm it.

When I pick up anything I find on CL, I always take DH with me.

I know people that have been scammed. Thank goodness I have never been scammed but I did have a situation that is similar in my opinion with someone trying to get away with a scheme that I feel I should have realized but I didn't until I suffered the consequences.

I had a problem with a client about 10.5 years ago (a little before the time I moved into my new home) which is one of many reasons why I had to drop him as a client despite the fact he used to be a challenging good paying client that gave me cumulative hours with a lot of continuous work.

My client (not giving names... he does not live in my state anymore and not telling what kind of business he was in.....) needed money in his bank account to close a deal on another letter of credit from the bank. He needed the money to show he was doing so well and claimed he was but the collection of the accounts receivable was slow. He told me he also had all this money coming in and told me he has the money in his related party account (he owned another business... I only did the work for this one business) but since both accounts were at the same bank he needed a deposit coming in that was not coming from him that day and needed it at the bank within 1/2 hour before they closed at 3 PM. He would meet me at his bank that was on the way to my bank and give me a check that was for so much more than my check I would give him. He told me to put it in the bank before 3 PM to give it time to clear first and he would put the check I gave him in after 3 PM. He said I could keep the profit for helping him make sure he did not lose this big client overseas that had a big order for him. I told him I do not have that kind of money in my bank account or in any of my accounts. He told me the bank was so local that the funds would be cleared before his check. He started to cry that he was a good client and he was giving me so much more for helping him not miss out on the letter of credit and the big order he has overseas. Since time was running out, I was not thinking and did this.

HIS check bounced and my check cleared that was not in my account and about 11 of my checks had NSF that my bank covered but charged me for! It was so stressful getting all this back from my client (and my banker was so upset with me for falling for this kiting scheme) and I would have dropped him right then if I did not have to tie up some work-in-progress I was doing for him that I needed to be paid for ( I ended up deciding I could not finish it anyway for many reasons that were all good reasons). I was in the middle of getting things in order to move to my new place. As soon as I moved, I started copying anything of his records to show why I did not finish his financial statements so I would not be in trouble and typed a letter that I was withdrawing for his account and needed him to sign off on any records I was returning to him.

I will never let anyone do this to me again. NO ONE that is honest writes a check for so much more than the transaction amount!

P.S. Thanks for the reminder and the warning and the link! I appreciate this and this is a great reminder to each one of us to be careful who we deal with and to trust less.

That's an interesting comment pesky, simply because there are many couples out there willing to do terrible things. It's just no longer safe to go to a strange home by yourself whether there's a woman there or not, and it doesn't matter what part of town they're in.
I've only sold (never bought) on CL and I can almost hear the relief from potential buyers when I tell them to drive around the house to where the shop/garage is...........and that I'll have the door open.

annz, you are so right that it is getting so scary in our world that we have to be so careful since some people are plain evil despite a lot of nice people in the world.

Lynn, I hope your bank had enough empathy for you to reverse those NSF fees and I hope your client eventually made good on this. I think all of us have fallen for someone's line, or tears, or plight, at some time or another. It's not really possible to prepare for anything that might happen, or for something coming at you through a friend or relative either.

But, as you said, when someone tells you that they will write something for all this extra money, it is really a Red, Red, flag.

My "Jane Doe" thanked me for telling her that we were going to order up a copy of the check he wrote and call the paying bank on it. But did she thank me for actually stopping her from sending out over a thousand dollars? Nope. Somehow, I just don't think she even realized that she literally almost had the cash in hand, when I caught the words "sold a chair on Craigslist" and started to question her. The teller working next to me asked me what had transpired with this woman a little later, so I explained the scam to her. She told me that she was glad that I had taken the customer instead of herself, since she would have handed her the money with no questions asked.

This is my 6th situation like this in the past 2 years.

Red