I recently tried to sell a piece of furniture we no longer needed online. I posted the ad on both craigslist and our local facebook buy and sell group. I got a TON of emails from people on Craigslist that pretty much went something like this:
“Ok good to know its in a good condition, I’m cool with the price,, I would have loved to come see it and pick it up in person but I’m currently out of town for work and unable to do that. I am moving back to town soon with my family and I’m looking to get very good furniture’s for my home.
I will make arrangement for my movers to come pick it up from you once payment is made and cleared. I’m willing to put an extra $100 for you to keep the item for me if you don’t mind. Payments will be made via certified check through my bank. Do get back to me with your name, cell number and address so I can send the check out to you ASAP. Will be hoping to read from you soon. Thanks”
Ummm. Ya. NO.
If it sounds fishy, it probably is.
By the way, in case you are wondering, I went 0/3 trying to sell some unwanted stuff on Craigslist the past few months. I finally gave up and won’t be posting on the site again.
My local Facebook group? 5/5. And they were a NORMAL housewives.
How about YOU? Have you had any weird responses when you’ve listed something on Craigslist? Have you tried selling anything on your local Facebook buy and sell group?
~Mavis
Emily says
I have decent luck with CL here in Mpls. The FB garage sale sites I find annoying, because stores join, and then monopolize the postings by listing all their merchandise…for hundreds of dollars.
I just picked up 3 styrofoam coolers last night from a CL post that I plan to use at the bottom of my oak barrel planters to save on soil to fill it.
Marcia says
That’s too bad. Our FB garage sale sites do not allow stores.
Michele says
I hate Craig’s list. A local dog went missing and it was suspected the landlord stole it to sell (pure bred German Shepard). I found a for sale as on Craig’s list for a German Shepard pup about the sams age and sex and the photo they used was a stock photos I found on Google. I contacted the seller who sent me a video of much younger pups playing and stated that they moved out of the area but would be happy to she the pup delivered to me. Ok so why aren’t you selling it where you live? Why are people so dishonest?
Natalie says
Can you “flag” that particular post and contact CL folks about it? Perhaps text the missing dog owner about the posting so they can look into it as well?
Tanya says
My husband and I just listed the downstairs apartment for rent on Craigslist to rent. The ad read “must be dog loving but no pets as there are two dogs on the property already, single occupancy,” etc etc about the apartment amenities. More than half of the phone call and e-mail responses are asking if they can bring their dog or dogs, or if it is okay for husband, wife and child. It’s driving me batty trying to be polite and refer them back to the ad and say “no thank you.”
We even got a trac phone for the Craigslist ad so the crazies don’t have our proper phone numbers. People are weird.
UpstateNYer says
Using a trac phone is a great idea! I never thought of that. Thanks!
Kay says
I don’t bother with Craigslist. To sketchy for me. But we have several local buy and sell groups on fb and they work wonders.
livingrichonthecheap says
I live on Vancouver Island in Canada in a small town that is very close to 2 other small towns. They call it the Comox Valley – there are over 9000 people in our 24 hour Facebook bidding site which is great. You can start things at free if you want and people bid up in 50 cent increments (you can start much higher of course too) and people must pick up within 72 hours after bidding is over or are kicked out of the group. I have only had an issue with 1 buyer out of about 30 and she was new to the site so I gave her a break. I see she is still on it. I love it! A very safe way to sell and buy. I have also bought some lovely things! I hate Craigslist – we got that same type of email when we tried to sell a truck. So many people with zero values out there.
Deborah says
I’ve never tried to sell anything from either site. My daughter has bought and sold both on Craig’s list. She always meets the person instead of them coming to her house. I believe safety first in all things.
I agree if it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably some kind of scam! JMHO
Miriam says
I’ve been trying to sell my beautiful wedding dress, but the only people interested are people who just happen to be ‘out of town’ for one reason or another or ‘can’t pick it up in person’. All want to send payment… I’ve seen about 6 unique stories so far.
My listing says cash only and in person, but the scammers have nothing to lose by trying. It’s so sad.
Suzanne says
The local news where I’m at just did a story the other night that a new Craigslist spam is to pay you with counterfeit money. You don’t realize it until you go to use the money somewhere else. So even if you request cash only, be careful of anything that doesn’t seem right.
Teresa says
I have sold a tent trailer and motorcycle on CL with good results. I stated in the ad: cash, in person sales only. I had detailed pictures and stated EXACTLY what was (or not) included. Both transactions were quick and easy. Both the items were sort of high-ticket so maybe that weeded out the weirdos. My daughter has has good luck with FB groups too. Maybe we have just been lucky?
Jeanie says
Where to begin….the bike we tried to sell on CL which someone wanted intimate details regarding the seat thereof….ugh, yea. The many middle of the night calls from freaks. The daytime texts from work-release inmates. The messages similar to yours with someone wanting my direct deposit info so they can “pay” me for the merchandise to hold it.
That said, we have sold many cars, a motorcycle and a few pieces of furniture. We use it more often to post curb alerts for free merchandise.
Brianna says
I had a very specific racing car part I listed on Craigslist last fall. I got no action for the longest time and then suddenly a ‘buyer.’ After negotiating around on the price with back an forth emails and agreeing, he then sent me an email informing me he will have to travel to pick it up and it will cost him $80 in fuel and he wanted me to lower it $80 more for his time and fuel cost. Seriously? My husband and I were laughing so hard. I responded with a ‘I wish you well on you auto racing endeavors; however, I am unable to reduce the price further to compensate you for your personal time and fuel consumption. If you are a business, you may be able to write it off for travel expenses. You can also find this part at such and such website and have it shipped to your door.” The guy responded back with a vulgar email. Ahh the nerve of some people.
Jenny Young says
I’ve never sold anything on Craigslist but often sell things through Facebook with no problems.
Lindsey says
We knew it was a scam right away when someone offered to send us a check plus some extra money and asked that we send the overage back to him. We agreed to take a check and then sent it to the supposed issuing bank and the postal service fraud investigators. When we got a phone call asking when we would be sending the overage we informed him that we’d sent the check to the investigating agencies. Never heard from him again.
Lace Faerie says
Haha! Good job. Like the way you think!
JD says
Craigslist plant people have all been great and normal for buying/selling plants in my area. Furniture ones not so much! I tend to use Facebook’s Marketplace mobile feature exclusively now to buy/sell. Sooooo easy and having great luck with it! ~ The Repurposed Gardener
Cindy says
I had success with Craigslist a few years ago, so recently I had a couple of items to sell and tried it again. The same thing that happened to you happened to me. I only received the scam e-mail…not a single legit response. I am currently trying some other avenues, but haven’t yet formed an opinion. There are several FB forums in our area, and I’m also trying the “letgo” app and “decluttr” and “swappa”. The only bad thing about “decluttr” and “swappa” is they are for a limited type of item (phones, tablets, dvds, cds) and they have to be in perfect condition. I hope I will have success with letgo or FB. Some things I would rather get a little money back for them rather than just give them away.
Tammy says
Before we moved from Michigan, we sold a LOT of stuff on both Craigslist and a Facebook group I was on. I found that the larger furniture pieces went better off Craigslist than they did off my Facebook group, and the smaller household stuff went better off Facebook. Since it was heavy furniture pieces, we did have people coming to get them from our house/basement. I got a lot of sketchy emails but just ignored those. We made it work.
The biggest problem came when we put our piano on Craigslist. We had gotten it free and not put any money into it, so I put it on Craigslist for free because it was way too heavy to consider moving across the country and having to keep it in storage. I had a lady flake on pick up twice, so when my husband told someone else they could have the piano, I figured it wasn’t a big deal. The lady called back hours before the other person was going to come, and she was furious when I said someone else was coming. She wouldn’t give it up and my husband took the phone and eventually had to hang up on her because she wouldn’t quit. Then she sent me an email detailing why she was so upset and why she wanted it (sob story: it was for a friend who had cancer…) The funny thing was that when I listed two other things for free she emailed for both of those as well – a large heavy table and a bunch of gardening stuff we didn’t want to move.
Anyhow, now I mainly stick to Facebook but sometimes Craigslist. I’ve had people flake on me off Facebook too, somehow even a face with a name doesn’t keep some people from no shows. Frustrating!
Emily B. says
There are a lot of weird and dishonest people out there. What a nutball!
Carrie says
I recently started using Nextdoor. It is so nice if you are looking to limit your buyers to your neighborhood or adjacent neighborhoods. It’s also nice to connect with neighbors and get recommendations for services. I bought a chest freezer from a lady two streets away and the transaction was smooth.
Oksana says
A friend in another part of town told me about NextDoor, I went to sign out and I found out no one in my neighborhood had joined so there wasn’t a neighborhood group for us yet. NextDoor invited me to start one for my neighborhood and then the app sent out postcards to all my neighbors inviting them to join. We now have over 150 people in our neighborhood group out of 500+. Plus when listing things, you can decide if you want your post to show up in any of the other nearby neighborhoods. People use it from finding rentals homes, babysitters, local electricians, lawn service people and even to give away extra produce and eggs. One of the most popular features is crime and safety where people post about suspicious things they see in the neighborhood.
Mrs. C. says
That is actually a common scam that CL warns about on its site. Happened to me, too, but I smelled a rat and backed out. CL has some very weird people, and when we sell or buy, we meet only in highly trafficked, public places.
Marcia says
I wonder what the CL scam is though? They write a bad check?
Katherine says
We’ve had good success with Craigslist for big items. I don’t give out our phone number and I use an email address I have specifically for Craigslist and ebay. When we started our kitchen renovation in January I was able to sell some of the pine cabinets that were original to the kitchen and pine paneling that we were able to remove without cutting. Even the cooktop and hood vent went the same day they were posted. It was nice to have the extra money to put back into the new kitchen.
I try to provide lots of photos, measurements and as much info as I can. It takes a bit of work upfront but we usually sell 95% of the items we list and I’m not bombarded by lots of time wasting emails.
J L says
Exactly the same thing happened to me when I tried to sell a china cabinet. One person offered to send me a check worth more than the asking price. the extra was supposedly to cover the cost of the movers he would have to hire. That made no sense to me whatsoever. Why wouldn’t you pay your movers yourself? Am I supposed to cash your check and then pay your movers for you? what if they ask for more? Someone didn’t think this scam through very well. Also, why would you spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of used furniture you had never laid eyes on in person? Long story short, I still have the china cabinet…
bobbi dougherty says
I don’t use CL. I use FB and have gotten rid of something that were perfectly good, just purging and everyone followed through and were very nice about it. 🙂 Going to try Instagram next. That is a faster ‘venue’ though, and I am kind of slow, lolol. Haven’t had much luck on Ebay either, but I don’t even know a lot of people that go on Ebay anymore.
Ellen in Clackamas says
I have never sold anything through CL but I did find my wonderful, rescue dog on there!!!
BARRY says
99.9% of my Buyer responses on CL-NY or CL-LI are from Scammers since CL switched to Anonymous e-mail supposedly to protect the privacy of Buyers/Sellers. State in my Ad that l will only make Initial Contact by Phone. A Scammer won’t talk to you by phone. At worst, they’ll route the call to voice mail and hope you are stupid enough to leave your information for a call back that you’ll never receive. When I get vm, I don’t leave any identifying info about me. Simply tell the Buyer to e-mail me with days/times that they’ll answer the phone otherwise we don’t transact. My most recent Scammer was a Buyer who offered me $200 more than my Asking Price for one of my items. They wouldn’t give me their phone (to set up the Meeting Time and Location) or e-mail address. When I asked a 2nd time for the phone number, told the Buyer that they would have to bring 2 Forms of Photo ID that would be photographed with my SmartPhone because if they were thinking of ripping me off that there would be “hell to pay”. They e-mailed back that they changed their mind. Always have to be alert!
Ahena says
I sell on local buy and sell groups but even on those I’ve had a lot of people flake out on me. Now every single post says no holds, first to pick up with money gets it and if the post is still up the item is still available. This way I’m not planning to meet someone who suddenly won’t message me back to arrange pick up. Craigslist isn’t really used here so I’ve started just skipping it. When I post things I really just want them out of my house.
Danielle says
Have done okay with Craigslist, but here are my rules:
Email only, I don’t post a phone number or call people until we’ve emailed a few times
Their first contact must include some personal info. I never respond to “is this item still available” – of course I don’t say this in the post, I just don’t respond to the other kind.
They must come to me to see the item and we will meet at a public place. Our local Sheriff Dept has a parking spot deisgnsted just for this purpose.
Julie says
A few years ago, I was looking for an apartment in a state far from where I was living. In hopes of doing some scouting before I went to the small town, I posted an ad in Craigslist stating what I was looking for and my price range. I also posted that I am a professional woman, so they would have an idea that I was good for the rent and planned to be in town for a while.
I received an email from a man offering to be my “friend with benefits.” Ewwww. I promptly reported him!
Mike E says
Wow, it’s 2021 and I just found your story after receiving a CL email similar to what you’ve said. Still the same scam, almost verbatim. Thanks for keeping this out there on the web.