OT-selling a car on Craigslist

[bobbygt]

Story: I’m trying to sell my late father in law’s car on Craigslist. I’ve sold a few things on CL over the past few years without a hitch.

Now, it is a fact that I have pristine copies of Brothers Karamazov and Anna Karenina on my bookshelf, and I do display old New Yorker magazines on the coffee table. I’m not normally an e-mail snob.

Below are the four (so far) replies to my posting. They have not been edited one bit for the sake of faithfulness and integrity to the original.

· HI do you take offers? im a serious buyer John

· please call me XXX-XXX- (deleted real number)

· I want the car. Plz call me now XXX-XXX-

· Has it been tobacco smoked in? Your pic of the speedometer is too close, it does not show other gauges, & whether it has a tachometer??? I have cash & interest and need a car, Thanxxx

So, my questions are:

Would any of you respond to these potential buyers?? I'm not totally desperate, but I want to sell the car soon.

Don't people use salutations and complete sentences, even on CL?

I’m feeling more and more out of touch with the rest of the country.

 

[BUConn10]

Seem pretty standard. Most people buying cars on CL are scrolling down the listings and are casting a large net so they will email maybe a dozen listings so the emails tend to be brief. I've sold two cars on CL and both were pretty uneventful experiences.

 

[August_West]

Story: I’m trying to sell my late father in law’s car on Craigslist. I’ve sold a few things on CL over the past few years without a hitch.

Now, it is a fact that I have pristine copies of Brothers Karamazov and Anna Karenina on my bookshelf, and I do display old New Yorker magazines on the coffee table. I’m not normally an e-mail snob.

Below are the four (so far) replies to my posting. They have not been edited one bit for the sake of faithfulness and integrity to the original.

· HI do you take offers? im a serious buyer John

· please call me XXX-XXX- (deleted real number)

· I want the car. Plz call me now XXX-XXX-

· Has it been tobacco smoked in? Your pic of the speedometer is too close, it does not show other gauges, & whether it has a tachometer??? I have cash & interest and need a car, Thanxxx

So, my questions are:

Would any of you respond to these potential buyers?? I'm not totally desperate, but I want to sell the car soon.

Don't people use salutations and complete sentences, even on CL?

I’m feeling more and more out of touch with the rest of the country.

It's a new world. For better or worse. I wouldn't get hung up on syntax as an indicator of a serious buyer. All forms of electronic communication even in the business space have devolved into informality and its own syntax a in a very fast manner.

 

[husky99]

I sell a ton of things on Craigslist. My only words of advice his meet in a public place and don't have them show up at your house. Local grocery store or Library works really well for big ticket items

 

[bobbygt]

Makes sense- this is what my wife is telling me, too.

I guess I was expecting, 'Hello, I'm interested in your car. Can we set-up a time to talk or test drive the car? Thank you. '

 

[Dove]

Be careful...

 

[Robertelamin]

I sell a ton of things on Craigslist. My only words of advice his meet in a public place and don't have them show up at your house. Local grocery store or Library works really well for big ticket items

The police chief in my town told people to meet in the police parking lot.

 

[husky99]

The police chief in my town told people to meet in the police parking lot.

Great idea. I have only had one shacky Craigslist experience and probably sold 50 plus items. Guy changed time and days a few times and was texting from different numbers. I told him my minimum i would take and he said fine. When we meet he tried to low ball me close to a 100 dollars

 

[nomar]

I've sold furniture and electronics. Stupidly or not, I've had the buyers all come to my apartment. (Often, in the case of something like a table, I wasn't going to bring it somewhere. And I live in NYC and don't own a car.) Only one guy was sketchy but I think he was just a weirdo.

Yes, those are common CL messages. As BU said, people are often sending a bunch of messages. Also, I suspect, people tend to freak out when they see something they want, and tend to write as quickly as possible so they won't get beaten to it.

And yes, some people are normal and write normal messages, in complete sentences.

 

[JMick]

I've bought and sold a few cars on CL. If they ask questions, answer. If they don't just reply "the car is still available I would be willing to meet on xx-xx are you available to see it?"

If they want to pay by check meet in a bank parking lot and watch them get a cashiers check.

 

[superjohn]

Story: I’m trying to sell my late father in law’s car on Craigslist. I’ve sold a few things on CL over the past few years without a hitch.

Now, it is a fact that I have pristine copies of Brothers Karamazov and Anna Karenina on my bookshelf, and I do display old New Yorker magazines on the coffee table. I’m not normally an e-mail snob.

Below are the four (so far) replies to my posting. They have not been edited one bit for the sake of faithfulness and integrity to the original.

· HI do you take offers? im a serious buyer John

· please call me XXX-XXX- (deleted real number)

· I want the car. Plz call me now XXX-XXX-

· Has it been tobacco smoked in? Your pic of the speedometer is too close, it does not show other gauges, & whether it has a tachometer??? I have cash & interest and need a car, Thanxxx

So, my questions are:

Would any of you respond to these potential buyers?? I'm not totally desperate, but I want to sell the car soon.

Don't people use salutations and complete sentences, even on CL?

I’m feeling more and more out of touch with the rest of the country.

The Brothers Karamazov has been mentioned around 5 times today. Big day for Dostoyevsky on the boneyard.

 

[superjohn]

August thinks I need a new car, are you willing to ship it out to Illinois?

 

[bobbygt]

August thinks I need a new car, are you willing to ship it out to Illinois?

"I got a cow that went dry, and a hen that won't lay."

But you can pick it up in California!

 

[bobbygt]

The Brothers Karamazov has been mentioned around 5 times today. Big day for Dostoyevsky on the boneyard.

I stole that line from some Dostoyevsky post . . . .

 

[boog204]

seems pretty standard... I've mainly sold guitar gear on CL and I'd say 75% of the emails are people who say they want the item and then never materialize again. Pretty annoying.

 

[August_West]

August thinks I need a new car, are you willing to ship it out to Illinois?

Unless he is selling a 73 EL Dorado, take a pass

 

[Devland]

The police chief in my town told people to meet in the police parking lot.

I read an article a couple of months ago that said some towns in CT have put in reserved parking spots for internet transactions in their police department parking lot. I believe it also said that most of these spots had video surveillance.
[URL='http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2016/04/forks_police_offer_safe_place.html']
[/URL]

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I posted my old car on CL and got some blah blah responses. I finally agreed to meet this dude in the Price Chopper parking lot. He never got out of his vehicle and rolled by saying my car "didn't match the pictures" and drove off. Made me uneasy that he had sinister intentions and didn't like how crowded the lot was or something. Bugged me but I forgot about it pretty quickly. UNTIL NOW THANKS A LOT

 

[Robertelamin]

I posted my old car on CL and got some blah blah responses. I finally agreed to meet this dude in the Price Chopper parking lot. He never got out of his vehicle and rolled by saying my car "didn't match the pictures" and drove off. Made me uneasy that he had sinister intentions and didn't like how crowded the lot was or something. Bugged me but I forgot about it pretty quickly. UNTIL NOW THANKS A LOT

Was it this guy?

 

[Calhoun's Court]

Bought 2 cars on CL and sold one.

No problems.
But meeting in a public place is key. Love the idea of the policestation parking lot.

 

[Deepster]

I sold a car sight unseen there. It was an older Honda with about 180,000 miles on it. The guy was a Honda guy and bought it for the parts. Not everyone is buying the car for their daughter who's shipping off to college. They may just want it for junk, parts, dirty work purposes.

 

[IMind]

I read an article a couple of months ago that said some towns in CT have put in reserved parking spots for internet transactions in their police department parking lot. I believe it also said that most of these spots had video surveillance.

That right there is pretty cool. Low stress.. probably actually saves the police money and frustration in the long run..

 

[bobbygt]

Geez- I was just pissed about the syntax. Now I'm worried my life could be in danger.

Might not be up for this task.

 

[3rdbass]

Geez- I was just pissed about the syntax. Now I'm worried my life could be in danger.

Might not be up for this task.

Have you thought of selling it on the phone apps OfferUp, LetGo and Close5? I have found in this age that you get more serious responses then Craglist which whose internet site is so outdated. I get a lot more traffic on those applications when I sold stuff for the home and car audio equipment than Craiglist. Of course you still need to weed through the scams and meet in a safe place. Though those apps have a seller and buyer verification(offerup has it) and rating systems.

 

[CL82]

I posted my old car on CL and got some blah blah responses. I finally agreed to meet this dude in the Price Chopper parking lot. He never got out of his vehicle and rolled by saying my car "didn't match the pictures" and drove off. Made me uneasy that he had sinister intentions and didn't like how crowded the lot was or something. Bugged me but I forgot about it pretty quickly. UNTIL NOW THANKS A LOT

My theory is that he is still watching you and biding his time. The good news is that you will likely live on as a popular snuff video.