Scored on Craigslist today!

[disneysteve]

Following from my thread about giving up on eBay, I listed my first item on Craigslist last night. It was a set of headphones my daughter had gotten as a gift a while ago and wasn't using. I checked eBay and they're selling for about $230. I listed them for $175. Got an email this evening from someone, wrote right back, met him nearby less than 30 min. later and drove off with $175 cash in my pocket. Couldn't have been any easier. Beats eBay by a mile. No waiting. No shipping. No overhead. So for my first experience, I give it 5 stars.

[cypher1]

While I still use eBay very rarely, CL is a great replacement. I've bought and sold home theater equipment, PCs, cars, tools, furniture. Just common sense and meet at public places, and can't hurt to bring a buddy for certain items.

[creditcardfree]

Glad it worked out so well for you! Once I can get someone to commit to a time, it is usually very smooth sailing from there. There can be a lot of spam emails right after you post something, but they are often kind of vague.

[disneysteve]

Just common sense and meet at public places, and can't hurt to bring a buddy for certain items.

Absolutely. Cash only and meet in public. This guy works at a local car dealer and we met at the dealership.

[YLTL_Dan]

I bought my last car from an ad on Craigslist. I was a little nervous about it, but if you think about it, it's the same as responding to an ad in the newspaper.

It's also a great resource to give stuff away on. Last summer we pulled out our azaleas, posted the ad on craigslist, and got over 10 responses in less than an hour! We happily gave them away for free to a happy home.

[greenskeeper]

$55 discount should sell quickly no matter what the venue.

[disneysteve]

$55 discount should sell quickly no matter what the venue.

That's what I was hoping. And although it is a $55 discount for the buyer, it isn't for me since with ebay, I would have had to pay the listing fee, final value fee, and Paypal fee. Plus I would have had to pack and ship the item. I'm perfectly happy to have them gone in less than 24 hours with cash in my pocket even if I could possibly have made a few more dollars on ebay.

[bjl584]

Just be careful with Craigslist. There are tons of scams on there. It's like Ebay for degenerates. Just do your homework before buying or selling anything on there.

[sweetlady2k]

Craigslist is great, I bought my daughters new ( old) car there. I met the lady at her house after I spoke to her on the phone. I took my boyfriend since he knows a lot about cars. It was a 94 Jeep Cherokee listed at 1500. We drove it and he said it ran great but we should offer her 1400 since it needed a headliner. When I said that to her she laughed and said I'd take 1300 I just want it out of my driveway! Good thing my boyfriend went, he shook her hand and said OK 1300 it is! I would have given her the 1400... She did talk herself out of a hundred dollars though.

[disneysteve]

Just be careful with Craigslist. There are tons of scams on there. It's like Ebay for degenerates. Just do your homework before buying or selling anything on there.

When selling, it is quite simple to avoid scams. Accept cash only and meet only in a safe, public location. No checks. No money orders. No strangers coming to your home. No meeting strangers at their homes.

As for buying scams, same rules. Meet somewhere public - the mall, the library, the local police station (that's always a great choice). Pay cash. Don't hand over a check that contains your account info. And preferably don't go to any meeting alone.

[sblatner]

We have sold more things that I can even remember on Craigslist. Bikes, toys, lawnmower. Just recently, our son had a concert ticket to sell. He had e-mails from a girl from up north. I met her at Starbucks where we made the exchange. I was nervous about meeting her and it turns out, her mom was just as nervous about her meeting me. It seems like we hear all the stories about Craigslist deals going bad but don't think about the thousands that go right each day.

A few years ago, I had tickets to a NCAA women's basketball tournament. I met this couple in a parking lot to sell them one round of tickets. I didn't have any buyers for another round (I think there were four rounds total and we could only go to two). I gave the tickets to the woman and said if she could find someone to give them to, that would be fine. She took my name and address and said she would send me the money if she was able to sell them. A few days later, I received $20-30 in the mail. Needless to say, I nearly fell off my chair.

[UnknownXV]

It's very good for local sales, definitely. Free to list stuff, faster.. it just depends where you are. If you're in a major city or near one, it's definitely useful.

[joshuaking]

I bought and sold 2 vehicles on craigslist earlier last year. With both transactions I emailed back and forth a few times before even giving out a phone number. It was a good way to weed out the scammers. Both transactions went very well.

[snafu]

Over the years we've sold a lot of stuff on Craig'sList. Local e-bay Kijijji + name of city is even more popular in this region. Post a photo, description, contact e-address & phone number if you want and so long as your price is reasonable, even ugly stuff sells really fast.

[rennigade]

Craigslist is great. Ive been using it for years to sell stuff.

As long as you live in a heavily populated area, craigslist is the way to go.

I however never meet people in public. There has been 2 occasions where the persons seemed legit and wanted to meet, I would show up and they would not. Now its local pickup only. I live in an apartment building so maybe its a little different. They do not know what apartment I live in. I couldnt care less if they did know what apartment I lived in. Everything I sell is in great shape and priced to sell. As long as you're not trying to pull a fast one on someone I dont see any issue.

Id say the hell with ebay since they charge so much to sell...but they do own like 10% of craigslist. Cant get away from them even if we try.