• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

I drove an hour and a half to sell something on Craigslist and the buyer had no cash

Status
Not open for further replies.
BossLackey

BossLackey

Gold Member
So many Craig's List horror stories. The only time I ever bought something from someone on CL, I got screwed over. Does anyone ever have a good experience? Geeze.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
I knew Vita demand was low but this thread really puts it in perspective, a 90 minute drive to get the first interested buyer in weeks, who then tries to scam you.
 
N

Naked Snake

Member
I know your pain OP. Trying to sell things left and right just to barely make ends meet can be stressful, then having an unexpected expense like that (driving long distance for nothing) pop up can really put you down.

Bunch of unsympathetic people in here if you ask me.
 
G

GameAddict411

Member
Bread said:
You really shouldn't be driving an hour and a half for a Craigslist deal, that's insanity.
Click to expand...

this^^^, I am very sorry about what happened, but you need to be careful. At least he didn't steal it from you, or worse assault you(your were on his property, so he can easily get away with it). I have a few college textbooks on craigslists right now and i specified i will not travel even for a few blocks.
 
U

UncleCross

Member
BossLackey said:
So many Craig's List horror stories. The only time I ever bought something from someone on CL, I got screwed over. Does anyone ever have a good experience? Geeze.
Click to expand...

I've been buying/selling stuff on there for years and never had any issues. Worst stories I have involve someone not showing up occasionally. Not really a big deal.
 
A

Afro

Member
can't imagine the dad coming home to encounter a random grown man chilling on the living room couch playing Persona 4 with his autistic son.
 
C

crazygambit

Member
StarStuffToStarStuff said:
So I finally ask him, "so what do you think?" He replies, "I like it! Give me your bank account information and I will have my parents transfer the money into your account tonight" EXCUSE ME?!? I say, "you told me you had cash on hand for this and I will not give you my bank account information.
Click to expand...

I don't know how it works in the US, but where I live that would be a perfectly valid way to do it (immediately of course, not hoping his parents would do it at night). In my country he could have called his parents and have them transfer the funds to your account and they would have been available to you instantly.

I also don't understand this paranoid fear about giving people you bank account information. That's its purpose, you give it out so people can make deposits on it. You obviously don't have to give any passwords or anything.

I guess I'm just baffled that in a first world country no way could be found to make this transaction and it turned out to be a huge waste of time for everyone involved.
 
T

t26

Member
BossLackey said:
So many Craig's List horror stories. The only time I ever bought something from someone on CL, I got screwed over. Does anyone ever have a good experience? Geeze.
Click to expand...
Traded a xbox 360 for some DJ equipment that's worth more than double the cost of the system
 
C

Corgi

Banned
wait... $200 for a used vita + 64gb card + grip?

Can't you get that new for something similar?


edit: nvm was confusing prices of vita with vita tv.
 
M

Mammoth Jones

Member
BossLackey said:
So many Craig's List horror stories. The only time I ever bought something from someone on CL, I got screwed over. Does anyone ever have a good experience? Geeze.
Click to expand...

Sold my laptop via Craigslist. We met at a Starbucks of my choosing. He inspected it. I got cash. No problem.

How anyone with any common sense would go to a private residence is beyond me. And not a good look asking the pops for gas money. You should have known you'd be taking an L on the sale when dude started talking about his dad...
 
H

Horns

Member
I've sold maybe 50 different things through CL, but I don't bother any more. CL has attracted a bad population of people from what I've experienced in the last 5 years. You get your low ball offers, people too far away, scams and people who will email you non-stop, and only a few decent people will contact you. It's just not worth the hassle.
 
Allforce

Allforce

Member
I always voice verify people on the phone when buying/selling anything on CL.

Also never had an issue going to someone's house or having someone come to mine. It's just a fucking classified ad site, some of you think it's just for finding potential murder victims.

Electronics and videogames seem to be the thing to avoid however, I mainly deal in furniture and stuff like that so I'm dealing with housewives or middle aged people. I bought a bunk bed for my kid in November and spent the afternoon in the guy's house while he disassembled it for me. Super nice people.
 
T

The Beard

Member
Leunam said:
You have my sympathy since you have nothing to show for that three hour drive, but you shouldn't have taken that extra step to ask for gas money after its already clear that kid shouldn't have been making these kinds of dealings in the first place. That I don't understand.
Click to expand...

I don't see anything wrong with that. A 100+mile 3hour round trip with nothing to show for it ? I understand the kid was autistic and shouldn't have made the deal but damn, how about monitoring your kid ? Maybe not let him use the Internet unsupervised ? At the very least have some parental blocks on sites where this kid can naively set up unsavory meetings at his house. OP could've been some terrible person that could've killed this kid and robbed the home.

There's nothing wrong with asking, "I'm in a real bad financial situation right now, hence why I just set off on a 3hr round trip to sell a $200 item. Is there any way you can help me out with a little gas money ? I just wasted at least $20 that I don't have in gas sir." I'd imagine you'd get a "no sorry" response more times than not, but it's not an outrageous question.
 
M

Mammoth Jones

Member
Allforce said:
I always voice verify people on the phone when buying/selling anything on CL.

Also never had an issue going to someone's house or having someone come to mine. It's just a fucking classified ad site, some of you think it's just for finding potential murder victims.
.
Click to expand...

It's just telling random people on the Internet where you live. Nope.
 
B

Blader

Member
crazygambit said:
I don't know how it works in the US, but where I live that would be a perfectly valid way to do it (immediately of course, not hoping his parents would do it at night). In my country he could have called his parents and have them transfer the funds to your account and they would have been available to you instantly.

I also don't understand this paranoid fear about giving people you bank account information. That's its purpose, you give it out so people can make deposits on it. You obviously don't have to give any passwords or anything.
Click to expand...

Identity theft?

You can't just freely give out your bank account info to literal strangers off the street. That's asking to be robbed blind.
 
T

The Albatross

Member
My old roommate a few years back had a nice Yamaha electric piano, which was like $800, but he had barely used it over the 2 years he owned it and decided ot sell it on Craigslist for $500. So, a guy comes to the apartment to check it out, comes in and sits down... and plays the piano. Not well but well enough that he at least knew a bit how to play the piano. He sat there trying every feature, etc, which was fine.

5 mins go by...

15 mins...

I'm in the other room and I know my roommate is getting annoyed, he's like "so, uhh, what do you think?" and the guy is like "OH, can I try it with headphones?" So, he hooks up headphones.

25 minutes...

"I really like it, this is great, just want to try some more things out..."

Finally, at 45 minutes of this guy just playing, not badly, but just playing, my roommate is like "So, I have to go... what do you think?"

Finally, the guy is like "Sure, what's the price?" My roommate tells him $500, and he's like "Ohh... I only have $80 but I could trade you some things I have in my car." My roommate just looks at him and says "Get Out."

Guy just leaves.

SOme people are so weird.

crazygambit said:
I don't know how it works in the US, but where I live that would be a perfectly valid way to do it (immediately of course, not hoping his parents would do it at night). In my country he could have called his parents and have them transfer the funds to your account and they would have been available to you instantly.

I also don't understand this paranoid fear about giving people you bank account information. That's its purpose, you give it out so people can make deposits on it. You obviously don't have to give any passwords or anything.

I guess I'm just baffled that in a first world country no way could be found to make this transaction and it turned out to be a huge waste of time for everyone involved.
Click to expand...

Sounds like this kid's parent did not approve of him buying a Vita, so if he had given him the VIta and then his bank account info, he just would have never been paid. Giving bank account information to make a payment is abnormal in the US. ALmost every person to person transaction is done using a check, cash, money order, or some sort of payment system (PayPal, etc), not transferring money via a bank account. Craigslist is almost exclusively done in cash.
 
D

diamount

Banned
Blader said:
Identity theft?

You can't just freely give out your bank account info to literal strangers off the street. That's asking to be robbed blind.
Click to expand...

There is NOTHING someone can do with just your bank account information. Stop spreading nonsense.
 
T

Takuan

Member
Aside from meeting in a public place, ALWAYS make them come to you or at least meet somewhere convenient for the both of you. I've done fairly large transactions in-person following these rules, and each one has been extremely cordial.

The only weird encounters I had were as a buyer. My "worst" experience was when I bought a Wii off some guy who advertised a bunch of games that came with the system, one of which was NSMB. He was sort of far, maybe 25 minutes away, and when I'm basically at his place he texts me saying he "can't find" Mario. I got him to take $30 off the asking price and we were square, though.

Another non-ideal experience involved me buying SM3D Land off someone. He didn't have transportation, so I went to him; figured he was in college and plenty of college kids don't always have access to a vehicle. Plus, I was in the area anyway. So, I go to his place after texting him and confirming the meet, but no one's home. I call the number a few times, and eventually an older guy picks up; my reception is garbage and I'm not able to make out what he's saying, so I hang up and go grab food with my buddy who came along for the ride. About a half hour later, I get a text explaining he was out to dinner, and that he'd be home soon. So I drive on over to his place again and sure enough, people are home. I ring the doorbell and am surprised to be greeted by a kid no older than 12. His parental guardian's standing beside him, staring daggers at me the whole time for god knows what reason.

I felt a little embarrassed for a moment being a grown-ass man buying a "kid's" game, but everything worked out.
 
C

CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls

Banned
I feel your pain, OP. When money is tight, it gets hard to make more rational decisions. I almost got scammed out of $2000 trying to sell my 360 some years ago. It was before I was familiar with Western Union scams. Thank goodness the bank was on my side through it all.
 
Z

ZeroX03

Banned
The Albatross said:
Sounds like this kid's parent did not approve of him buying a Vita, so if he had given him the VIta and then his bank account info, he just would have never been paid. Giving bank account information to make a payment is abnormal in the US. ALmost every person to person transaction is done using a check, cash, money order, or some sort of payment system (PayPal, etc), not transferring money via a bank account. Craigslist is almost exclusively done in cash.
Click to expand...

That seems really inefficient. Why not just pull out your phone and use Internet banking to deposit money there and then? PayPal takes a cut, who wants to carry around large sums of cash and people still use checks? Strange. Nothing wrong with giving someone a bank account number. Come on States.
 
L

Loofy

Member
Craigslist is great. Got a $700 pool table for $200.

Also bought a set of steel winter rims for $100.
 
Exr

Exr

Member
The part where the dad tells you to fuck off after asking if his autistic son could spare gas money is really making me laugh. Thanks for sharing your experience friend.
 
B

bill0527

Member
fuck craigslist.

Shit has gotten so bad in my city from people getting robbed at these meetups that the police set up a special room at the police department for people to do their craigslist trading.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

What's the weirdest thing a friend has done to you?
2
68
4K
Alex Anderson replied
I've had a rough Christmas and I just want to vent
45
4K
Dev1lXYZ replied
Happy Birthday to Me GAF
47
2K
Mooreberg replied
Last night I had to put my cat to sleep
9
601
Blade2.0 replied
  • Locked
The Onlyfans generation: 13 year old left depressed and suicidal as classmates taunt him with mums nudes
16
2K
jason10mm replied
Top Bottom