News:

Need a manual?  Buy a Haynes manual Here

Main Menu

Craigslist Adventures

Started by qcbaker, July 05, 2019, 07:35:53 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

qcbaker

So, as some of you know, I recently but my Buell Blast up on craigslist. Now, I have someone coming to look at the bike this Sunday. But, that's not why I'm posting. I'm posting because a second person also emailed me to ask if the bike was available. A normal enough question, but always a little strange to get an email in bold Comic Sans and all caps.

"STILL AVAILABLE?"

I told them that while the bike is still technically available, someone else has dibs, but they're next in line. They replied:

"THANKS BY THE WAY-WHO MAKES THIS BIKE?"

I know I should expect dumb questions like this, but the make of this bike is literally right in the title of the ad, which means it is also in the subject line of the email that HE sent ME...  :icon_rolleyes: I just said "A company called Buell made this bike" and sent a link to the wikipedia article about the bike.

I'll update this thread with any more humorous anecdotes that arise, but in the meantime post up your own stories about buying and selling.

Bluesmudge

That's pretty tame by craigslist standards!
Good luck with the sale.

Watcher

#2
Can't think of any really memorable ones like this, typically get the "still available?" messages that I generally stopped responding to and the occasional low-ball, which I usually can't resist replying with a GIF of Dr. Evil saying "how 'bout no!"

I've been trying to troll scammers, though, with limited success.

The last one was:
"{copy paste exact title of ad} is still available?"
I replied with a GIF of a motorcycle on fire and the rider flailing nearby.  This didn't deter the scammer.
"{some BS about sending a check and sending a transport to pick the bike up}"
I replied with a GIF of a scantily clad woman riding a man wearing a horse mask.
They stopped replying after that.



The amazing thing about your person is presumably they were on the internet browsing Craigslist, and instead of copy/pasting the title of the ad into Google, which is on the internet they wasted your time with such a mundane question.
I get annoyed by stuff where people are like "how much oil does it take?" or "what size tires does it use?" and while in my head I'm screaming "Just Fing Google it!" I'm usually a lot more polite and respond accurately.  But if someone was like "Who makes your bike?" to my Ducati Monster ad I'd probably be like "Oh, I had it custom built by a guy named Miguel Galluzzi, he lives in Italy and normally makes superbikes for world class racers."




Now that I'm thinking about this, I do have an interesting Craigslist adventure.

I was selling a fairly rare paintball gun called a Lapco Grey Ghost.  These were of a classic style and operation, and hand build and custom tuned by one guy at Lapco, Sergei, over the run of like 5 years.  Nice guy, I've spoken with him directly when I was sending mine in for some minor warranty work.  Mine was, IIRC, number 360 out of probably like 500 that were ever made.  Real "enthusiast only" type guns.
Anyway, these were only like $350 new but they were extremely hard to obtain since they were made in small batches, and just as difficult to find used, so they held their value very well.
Mine had some one-off accessories (like a shorter "feed tube" that I had Sergei make me while he was fixing a stripped thread), some spare parts, and came with a lot of general accessories like reloading tubes, some small air-tanks, belts, etc.

So I was asking $350 for the whole package, and had it listed on several forums and on CL with hardly an inquiry.
After probably like 3 months of trying to sell it with no bites I dropped the price to $250 just to get rid of it.  Kid hits me up on CL, comes by the house, wants to know how it works and everything, sell it to him, he leaves, I pocket $250.

The next day I get an inquiry on one of the forums, and the guy is the kind of buyer who's like "It's perfect!  Exactly what I want!  I won't even negotiate!"  Too bad, too, because I hadn't dropped the price yet on that forum, but I tell the guy the bad news.
The next day I'm on CL and I see my Ghost for sale.  Yes, my Ghost!  Number 360, same accessories, same little anodize wear under the pump arm, same custom feed tube, it's literally the one I just sold.  And it's listed for... $350.

So, I hit the guy up.  Basically was like "listen kid, you think if I could have got $350 for that thing I wouldn't have?  It's a cool gun but I had it listed for literally months with no luck.  You only were interested in it for $250 so you could flip it, but you were the only bite I even had for $250!  You will not make money on this one, believe me.
Tell you what, if you want to cut your loss and avoid the BS I'll buy it back off you for what you paid.  You won't have the hassle of the overhead with no chance of profit, and I'll have a gun back in my collection that I'll actually use once in a while."

Guess what, he actually agrees!  He's like, "yeah, ok, sounds good, come by and get it, here's my address."  Pick it up, was like "Yeah man, it's an awesome gun if you're into that play style but there's no demand for it on the market."  He's like "Yeah, I saw it for that price and figured I could flip it quick," to which I replied "I even had it listed on all these forums for old-school style guns and nobody wants it.  You'll have better luck flipping broken or neglected {insert common gun here} if you aren't afraid of turning a wrench.  You can make a lot more money that way, too."
"Hey, maybe I'll do that, are they hard to fix?"
"Nah man, super easy.  Usually new o-rings and a proper cleaning and you're done.  Maybe at most a new valve seal or hammer, but those are fairly cheap and easy to get.  Buy a gun for $100, put $20 into it, sell it for $200!"
"Cool, thanks for the advice."

Hop on that forum, hit up the guy who was all stoked to pay $350 for it, "Hey man, you're not going to believe this..."

Bought it that day, boxed it up and mailed it, and he sent me messages and photos for like a month after he started playing with it.
Good, that's a customer that deserved it!
"The point of a journey is not to arrive..."

-Neil Peart

qcbaker

Quote from: Watcher on July 05, 2019, 10:04:44 PM
The amazing thing about your person is presumably they were on the internet browsing Craigslist, and instead of copy/pasting the title of the ad into Google, which is on the internet they wasted your time with such a mundane question.



Quote
...
Now that I'm thinking about this, I do have an interesting Craigslist adventure.
<story>

Now THAT is a Craigslist adventure lol.

So the guy I was supposed to show the Blast to this weekend was a no show. After I got home from our meeting spot, I got a text that was basically "Yeah, sorry should've told you but im in NJ for family issues right now, we'll have to reschedule" :icon_rolleyes: So now, I sent a follow-up to Comic Sans guy and we'll see how it goes.

mr72

maybe it's a sign you should keep the Blast and convert it to an adventure bike...

qcbaker

#5
Quote from: mr72 on July 08, 2019, 07:22:24 AM
maybe it's a sign you should keep the Blast and convert it to an adventure bike...


qcbaker

Comic Sans guy didn't reply in time, so I rescheduled with the guy who flaked on me before, and was all set to go meet up, then out of nowhere he texts me saying he's "not interested in downgrading to a 500" :bs:

Comic Sans guy eventually replied saying he got another bike, so that's that on that.

Had another hit, asking about trades. Not really interested in trades but was curious enough to entertain it. "Any interest in handguns?" Sigh... maybe if I still haven't sold it in a month or two I'll reply back and see. Maybe a handgun would be easier to sell than Erik Buell's redheaded stepchild...

qcbaker

Just got another message about it. Here we go again :icon_rolleyes:

Watcher

Haha, seems like more and more people want to trade for firearms these days.

Got more than a few here.  My ad said "or trade for similar motorcycle" so every time I got an "interested in a trade?" I was expecting a bike offer.
Then it's like "I've got two AR15s."
...
"Can I ride an AR15 to work?"
"... No..?"
"Then no."
"The point of a journey is not to arrive..."

-Neil Peart

qcbaker

Yeah, when the trade thing came up, I was thinking along the lines of a similarly-valued bike. Or something weird but sellable, like a Ruckus lol.

qcbaker

The bike is sold!

Sold it to a younger dude who was gonna learn to ride on it. He brought his dad who was licensed to come ride it home, but the dad hadn't ridden a bike for something like 4 years. He stalled it out like 5 times trying to test ride, then when restarting it, held the starter button for way too long and nearly burned it out, causing a little bit of smoke to come off the side of the bike. The starter still seemed to work fine though so :dunno_black: . @Watcher, I did end up selling the bike to them, but while the dad was struggling to test ride it, I couldn't stop thinking about your sketchy experience with that dude who wanted your old Monster lol. I kept thinking "What if I sell this kid the bike and his dad ends up wrecking it on the way home...?" After the dad was able to successfully ride the bike around a bit, I felt a bit better but it was still a very strange interaction.

Watcher

Quote from: qcbaker on July 29, 2019, 06:52:49 AM
@Watcher, I did end up selling the bike to them, but while the dad was struggling to test ride it, I couldn't stop thinking about your sketchy experience with that dude who wanted your old Monster lol. I kept thinking "What if I sell this kid the bike and his dad ends up wrecking it on the way home...?" After the dad was able to successfully ride the bike around a bit, I felt a bit better but it was still a very strange interaction.

Yeah.  Part of you is like "they're gonna ruin this bike!" and part of you is like "they're gonna KILL themselves on this bike!" and you have to kind of suppress your conscience a little and just trust that everything is going to turn out ok.
Imagine, as an instructor, if someone like that just barely passed the riding exam and was given a license.  Like, he can barely not stall it and doesn't quite understand the concepts of operation, yet he's just good enough to be granted permission to be on the roadway.
Talk about suppressing your conscience...

Wrong topic for it, but when that sketchy guy found out I sold my Monster to someone else he threatened me over the phone.  I filed a police report with the local Sheriff and that solved that little debacle.
"The point of a journey is not to arrive..."

-Neil Peart

qcbaker

Quote from: Watcher on July 29, 2019, 08:06:38 PM
Wrong topic for it, but when that sketchy guy found out I sold my Monster to someone else he threatened me over the phone.  I filed a police report with the local Sheriff and that solved that little debacle.



Just another reason to NEVER give my address to craigslist people...

Watcher

#13
Quote from: qcbaker on July 30, 2019, 06:35:05 AM
Just another reason to NEVER give my address to craigslist people...

Yeah.  It's tough.

In most cases I don't like meeting people at home, but getting geared up and having to walk back sucks and I don't trust getting driven back by the buyer, so vehicles you're kind of stuck unless you have a partner that can drive with you.  Same with large objects and living the bike life, can't really sell furniture elsewhere, for example.

My solution is usually to be visibly armed, let any would be assailant know that would be a bad idea.  It's worked for me so far as 99.9% of people I've dealt with were polite and never came in contact with me again after the transaction, or there's been zero correlation at all and I've just dealt with kind and genuine people all this time.  But I like to think it keeps the honest honest at the very least.

At least he came at night and being in an apartment complex he couldn't pick out landmarks nor did he know specifically which apt I lived in, so the chances of him actually coming back to my home were slim.  But he knew where I worked (that's where he first saw the bike) and that's where I was more worried.
Come around my house you're gonna get shot.  I've got enough voicemails and texts saved that he's been threatening me, I'll win any court case or whatever legal proceeding and he'll be in the ground, end of story.
But if I get in a physical altercation at work, in uniform, even in self defense, that's a larger can of worms.  I can't carry my gun on the clock, of course, so if he decided to bring a weapon I'd be SOL, but getting in a fight with someone in this way would be hard to explain away to the company and the potential to lose my job would be fairly high.  The company was very clear that anything you do outside of work that has a negative affect on your job is grounds for dismissal, especially social media and such.
Suffice to say, if they learned a guy came to my work to fight me because of a sour Craigslist deal they would most likely say something like "why was he even aware of your job?  He endangered other employees and even other customers.  That's unacceptable."
Then I get at best a written reprimand and at worst just fired on the spot.  Don't want that chance.

Luckily, a phone call from the Sheriff calmed him down.


Haha, in one of his messages he was like "I already spent like $40 on stickers for that bike..."  You were gonna put stickers on my Ducati!?  Also, who buys $40 worth of [i[stickers[/i]!?
Yeah, in a year's time my nice and clean classic Monster would have been as neglected and straight up trashed as that Blast he came riding in on.

No regrets, threats and all.  He didn't deserve that bike, the buyer who ended up with it was a much nicer guy who seems like he'll treat it right.
"The point of a journey is not to arrive..."

-Neil Peart

qcbaker

Quote from: Watcher on July 30, 2019, 09:11:35 AM
In most cases I don't like meeting people at home, but getting geared up and having to walk back sucks and I don't trust getting driven back by the buyer, so vehicles you're kind of stuck unless you have a partner that can drive with you.  Same with large objects and living the bike life, can't really sell furniture elsewhere, for example.

Yeah, meeting at home isn't ideal but I totally get it in your situation. I do always try to bring someone with me and insist on meeting in a place that has high public visibility and/or cameras or something. Luckily for me, the main office for our state's DOT is like a 5 minute drive away. Its basically perfect for buying or selling a vehicle on Craigslist since you can do the title transfer right there and not have to pay extra for a notary, there's almost always a cop or two hanging around to deter any sketchiness, and it has cameras everywhere.

Quote
My solution is usually to be visibly armed, let any would be assailant know that would be a bad idea.  It's worked for me so far as 99.9% of people I've dealt with were polite and never came in contact with me again after the transaction, or there's been zero correlation at all and I've just dealt with kind and genuine people all this time.  But I like to think it keeps the honest honest at the very least.

That's probably a pretty good deterrent, and good peace of mind if you're alone. Thankfully, I haven't really had any really sketchy meetups. Strange ones for sure, but nothing I'd consider malicious lol. But, I still always try to bring another person so I'm not alone and I usually have a knife I can draw pretty quickly on my belt. I don't really carry it for self-defense purposes, since it almost definitely wouldn't save me if the other person has a gun, but similar to what you said, I think it probably keeps the honest honest at least. It sends a subtle message of "Yeah, you might succeed in taking the bike from me, but it ain't gonna be easy" and that's probably enough to stop them from trying.

Quote
At least he came at night and being in an apartment complex he couldn't pick out landmarks nor did he know specifically which apt I lived in, so the chances of him actually coming back to my home were slim.  But he knew where I worked (that's where he first saw the bike) and that's where I was more worried.
Come around my house you're gonna get shot.  I've got enough voicemails and texts saved that he's been threatening me, I'll win any court case or whatever legal proceeding and he'll be in the ground, end of story.
But if I get in a physical altercation at work, in uniform, even in self defense, that's a larger can of worms.  I can't carry my gun on the clock, of course, so if he decided to bring a weapon I'd be SOL, but getting in a fight with someone in this way would be hard to explain away to the company and the potential to lose my job would be fairly high.  The company was very clear that anything you do outside of work that has a negative affect on your job is grounds for dismissal, especially social media and such.
Suffice to say, if they learned a guy came to my work to fight me because of a sour Craigslist deal they would most likely say something like "why was he even aware of your job?  He endangered other employees and even other customers.  That's unacceptable."
Then I get at best a written reprimand and at worst just fired on the spot.  Don't want that chance.

Luckily, a phone call from the Sheriff calmed him down.

That's a fair concern about your job for sure. Even if it isn't technically your fault, I wouldn't really fault them in that situation. Hopefully nothing more comes of it.

Quote
Haha, in one of his messages he was like "I already spent like $40 on stickers for that bike..."  You were gonna put stickers on my Ducati!?  Also, who buys $40 worth of [i[stickers[/i]!?
Yeah, in a year's time my nice and clean classic Monster would have been as neglected and straight up trashed as that Blast he came riding in on.

Stickerbombing a Ducati should be a crime. But yeah, who buys $40 worth of stickers? Much less for a bike they don't even actually own yet... :cookoo:

Quote
No regrets, threats and all.  He didn't deserve that bike, the buyer who ended up with it was a much nicer guy who seems like he'll treat it right.

I think you made the right choice too :thumb:

qcbaker

This isnt technically a cragislist adventure, but its in the same genre at least:

I emailed a dealership about a bike they had for sale, and I inquired about whether or not they accept R-titled bikes as trade-ins. The salesperson's response was "WHAT IS R TITLE"

Am I wrong for assuming that a dealership would know "R title" means Rebuilt? :dunno_black:


Watcher

Quote from: qcbaker on August 16, 2019, 08:51:54 AM
Am I wrong for assuming that a dealership would know "R title" means Rebuilt? :dunno_black:

When I switched insurance providers I asked if they offered an additional discount for MSF instructors and got asked what MSF was.

They didn't, but did offer a discount for having taken a course.

I can't be too upset since they were still way cheaper than the competition.
"The point of a journey is not to arrive..."

-Neil Peart

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk