Buying on Craigslist... such a pain.

Why is it that buying on Craigslist is such a pain? I found a bike that I am interested in in N. Carolina but the person selling it has not left their telephone number on the listing and the only way to reach the seller is email. I have sent a few messages and got nothing in response. It is so frustrating! I really think I might buy his bike too.

Anyone else have trouble like this?

All the time, both buying and selling. It is really hit or miss.

I guess the reason that it is such a pain is because of the scammers. Here's the bike that I was trying to get...turns out that it's a fraudulent listing.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/mcy/4880249646.html

And here is the listing from the UK a couple months ago that the scammer copied. You can clearly see in the Craigslist listing that the scammer photoshopped the car with the British plates out of the picture. What a dickhead.

http://www.bike4sale.co/detail/omFuoeom ... er-REDUCED

Johnnymac said:

?... Here's the bike that I was trying to get...turns out that it's a fraudulent listing.

Click to expand...

So, you were probably lucky that you got no response to your emails.

To your original question: Yes, I have had problems both buying and selling. But also, I have sold stuff successfully on CL. There are wankers and crooks everywhere, I guess. Recently, I tried to sell a Triumph. I got some really abusive email from some prick, which I ignored. Soon after that, my ad was flagged and I was blocked from CL. After a few weeks, my CL access was restored. No explanation was given for either blocking or unblocking. So, yeah, CL is a pain. And so is eBay, for that matter.

When in California last year I attempted to look at three Triumph Daytonas listed on Craiglist, all at what appeared to be pretty fair prices.
Triumph Daytona #1 turned out to be incorrectly advertised, it was actually a lesser powered and unfaired model, the Speed 3. On Top of that, the bike did not function( not mentioned in the ad) because the 20 something owner had destroyed the clutch by doing multiple stationary burnouts with it to impress his friends. "I guess I shouldn't have done so many burnouts, but a new clutch is cheap!" he explained. He also informed me that he did not have the title for the bike, but that should be easy to obtain!

Daytona #2 belonged to a really unfriendly young lady who expected me to hand over the full asking price without first test riding the bike. The bike was advertised as pristine but the bodywork was scratched all over and the clutch cover had been ground off on asphalt. Not pristine at all.

Bike number three was sold before I got to it, then crashed within thirty minutes of purchase and returned to the original owner. The 18 year old buyer decided it was too much bike and the seller agreed. They negotiated a price for repairs and the young buyer left. The seller was at first willing to sell me the damaged bike for the reduced amount (he would not be out of pocket) then changed his mind mid deal.

After all of this Craigslist crap I glady purchased for a truly pristine 05 Daytona for sale at a Portland Ducati dealer.
I could test ride it and it even came with a wee bit of warranty . And of course proper paperwork.

RE;

worntorn said:

When in California last year I attempted to look at three Triumph Daytonas listed on Craiglist, all at what appeared to be pretty fair prices.
Daytona #2 belonged to a really unfriendly young lady who expected me to hand over the full asking price without first test riding the bike. The bike was advertised as pristine but the bodywork was scratched all over and the clutch cover had been ground off on asphalt. Not pristine at all.
quote]

Oh come on :!: -you can hardly expect a complete stranger to come up to you and ask for a ride on your bike before they might buy it or are they going to steal it :!: :shock:

Click to expand...

Bernhard said:

Oh come on :!: -you can hardly expect a complete stranger to come up to you and ask for a ride on your bike before they might buy it or are they going to steal it :!: :shock:

Click to expand...

I'm inclined to agree, but there are ways around this - keys to your car, or the price in hand to the seller on the understanding that it's returnable if there's an issue.

I don't allow test rides until a deal is done and money handed over, and if the buyer isn't happy after riding it then they can have their money back - never happened yet.

As the aforementioned bike wasn't as described by the seller it hardly matters... :wink: