Craigslist Shenanigans

I have always been skeptical of Craigslist, and after my first six encounters on Craigslist I realized that I should probably remain skeptical about Craigslist. I think it is a great tool if used correctly. I want to share the stories of my first six encounters because they are fun and interesting.

 Encounter #1

 I was selling my Sitar that I impulsively bought from Ebay before I was married. I maybe played it a total of 5 times and finally decided that Craigslist was the way to go so I created an add. Within two hours three different people contacted me saying they wanted it and had cash and could meet right away. I was shocked, so I met the first lucky responder in the Kroger parking lot near my house. The guy was in a psycadelic band and wanted the sitar to add to the vibe of the band. I was so nervous about the meeting, but he seemed to be a Craigslist veteran and talked me down off of my price, but end of day it needed to go so it went for more than I was expecting it to go for.

 Encounter #2

 This time as a buyer I was seeking a mandolin and decided to check one out that was pretty close to my house. The add had a phone number to text so I went ahead and made contact. He gave me some info and an address and I was going to look at it but the price seemed way high. So after awhile I texted him back and said that I wasn't interested anymore. Then he sent me three texts in rapid succession begging me to come look at it and in the last text he dropped the price $90. So reluctantly I agreed to go look at it. When I got there and met the guy, he had an interesting story. He was visually and hearing impaired and used a walking stick and could not communicate with me unless he saw my lips. The first thing I asked him was how he came to play a mandolin? He said that he wanted to try it, but couldn't hear it and ended up breaking a string and was ready to part with it. So I asked him to cut another 10 off, paid and was on my way.

 Encounter #3

 I needed a bag or case for my newly aquired mandolin so I found someone in Amelia who had a brand new bag for cheap, so I contacted them and told them that I wanted the bag but was not going to go all the way up there to get it, so I told him where I lived and he recommended that we meet halfway and he determined that halfway was Tri County. So I had a 20 minute drive to his 45+ minute drive, but I got the bag on his terms.

 Encounter #4

 Becoming inspired I decided to become the seller. My mom brought over this old busted up beat up starting to rust up trumpet that was completely non functional. I threw it on Craigslist and to my surprise got a response to it rather quickly from someone is Colorado Springs. It turns out that the busted up trumpet had a soulmate in Colorado. The guy who is in the Airforce revealed to me that as a hobby he refurbishes and fixes up busted up and messed up trumpets and that he really wanted this one and wondered if I could ship it to Colorado if he paid. Since I was excited about connecting them together I said yes, he sent me the money and I shipped it. He emailed me to let me know that he received it and he was excited to get started on it. I asked him to email me a picture of it when he was done.

 Encounter #5

 My mom also had 2 old busted up banjos in which I was determined to find their soulmates. I believe that I succeeded on this one because I met the third guy who was interested, because he was the first one that could meet, in a Walgreens parking lot and he told me that he plays music with his family and that his two sons are pretty good fiddle players. He was interested in the 4 string banjo because they all play Irish music together. He ended up buying both the 4 string and the 5 string.

 Encounter #6

 By this time I have become my mom's selling agent and she had an antique samsonite suitcase for sale. I got a response from someone who said they were just in town visiting their son, but left to go home and they wanted the suitcase for the price I had on there and that they would send me a check and arrange a pick up. They also stressed to me to be honest because they were "a God fearing man". So being inspired by the trumpet guy from Colorado I gave them my address and waited for the money. Today I got a FedEx package with a check made out to me for $2,125. The item was only $40. So I googled the company name on the check, got the phone number and called them to see what the story was. They said that i was the 150th person that called them today who received a check. It was a SCAM. Someone had gotten into their accounts and printed out checks and were sending them to various people across the US from Craigslist. Lesson learned, no more giving out my address, the Colorado guy was great, but obviously he was an exception.

This has turned into a very long post and I would be very surprised if anyone has made it all the way down to this sentence.

 Bottom Line - One man's junk is another man's treasure.