Everyone has heard of Craigslist by now I'm sure. Many have used it to buy or sell things. It's an alternative to Ebay as it is geared more for the local area that you are in and you don't have to mail things out.
Of course the bubbler.com has a better classified section that is free (yes, I wanted to make sure I shared that part), but still craigslist is an option.
Anyways, after having a very bad experience yesterday with someone I met from craigslist I wondered how many other people have had a good/bad experience using this means of selling/buying items?
Well here goes. . . sometime before Christmas I listed a used snow blower, brand name, size etc for sale on craigslist for only 125.00. I had a call from a guy wanting to know about it. I was honest and told him that it sat for several years as I could not use it as it was to big for me. Also that there was something wrong with it that MAYBE a tune up could fix but I did not know since I know nothing about snow blowers and he would have to come and see for himself. (hence the very cheap price compared to all others on at the time).
Anyways, he showed up, saw that with a pull it would start right up but when engaging in gear it would stop. It started up again easy enough. Sounded to him that it could use a tune up. Again we stressed we did not know for sure what was wrong, it was just an extra snow blower we did not need, haven't used it for years, it was his call if he wanted it. He offered a little less and paid in cash and it was sold. No papers, no receipt, heck we did not even know his full name.
OK, story goes on...he acknowledged there was something wrong with it but thought the price was worth having it fixed. He asked if it could sit at our house until the local hardware store could pick it up. They were running several days before they could get to it. We agreed. Left it sit where it was.
The hardware store picked it up days later and that was the end of it. Right?
No!
We got a call from the nasty guy last night saying that the snow blower was junk and he demanded his money back. Say what?? I told him no, I spent the money on Christmas of which I did mention that to him that I was selling so I could get some Christmas money besides the fact that we did not need it.
He became quite irate saying the money was going to be returned and how he was a disabled vet and he wasn't healthy blah, blah....of which the conversation turned to him giving me veiled threats of, 'Oh baby, you don't want to mess with me." "I'm a disabled vet, I know how to do things", "you will be VERY sorry if you rip me off"....etc. etc... I finally asked him straight out...'Are you threatening me??' 'What are you saying, that you are able to burn my house down or worse?' And he kept saying baby, you don't want to mess with me etc. And we needed to work this out because he WAS going to get his money. Told me that I could start making 10.00 payments back to him, something, anything because I WAS going to pay etc.
I ended up hanging up and calling the Police but they had no idea when they could come out to the house and we had a b-day party to go to in Illinois in an hour so I told them we would get back to them today if I heard anything more.
I did get 2 messages on my voice mail before I called the Police but they were simply messages for me to call him back.
So. . what is correct here when selling something on craigslist? Is there a return policy? I was told that things were sold with no returns. You bought it, you keep it. I told him that I was not a store and it was the same as buying from a Garage Sale.
The sad thing is that I actually held onto the money until the hardware store picked it up since I felt we should while it sat at our house. Nothing touched the snow blower while here and I felt good when it left that we could then use the cash.
So that's my experience.
And my message is...never have someone come to your house! Now my kids think this crazy guy will come back here and do something. If you have to sell a larger item, use the newspaper I guess. I'm sure you can get the same weirdo's but what is the alternative to selling something you can't put in your car/van and meet someone somewhere??
Any suggestions to how to handle this and how to sell things without having the crazies come to your house?
My husband has sold things on craigslist and bought things as well. He never had a problem.
He's also bought things that turned out to be junk or cost more to repair (ebay, rummage sales or craigslist). Usually he just eats the cost since with anything used, that is the risk you take. In the end if you buy and sell enough things, you always come out ahead overall.
He already knew there was something wrong with it when he bought it. You didn't try to cover that up or lie about it. You weren't out to rip him off. I wonder how many others he threatens with I'm a vet when he doesn't get his way.
Just tell him maybe he'd like to meet your pit bull for lunch.
Really, you could tell him if he threatens you one more time, he'll be talking to the police.
I'm not sure about refunding some or all of the money. That all depends on what was wrong with an item.
I always state in my ad Sold As Is - No Returns. I don't know that there's a policy that you have to refund the money and would guess it's unenforceable anyway.
That said, it sounds to me like you gave him every option before the sale to decide for himself and in any case, he is breaking the law (a felony) by making threats over the phone and could go to jail for it.
It's up tp you but I wouldn't feel obligated to return the money and I'd let the Police handle it.
I haven't had any bad experiences (knock on wood) and have both bought and sold on Craigslist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pk
Well here goes. . . sometime before Christmas I listed a used snow blower, brand name, size etc for sale on craigslist for only 125.00. I had a call from a guy wanting to know about it. I was honest and told him that it sat for several years as I could not use it as it was to big for me. Also that there was something wrong with it that MAYBE a tune up could fix but I did not know since I know nothing about snow blowers and he would have to come and see for himself. (hence the very cheap price compared to all others on at the time).
Anyways, he showed up, saw that with a pull it would start right up but when engaging in gear it would stop. It started up again easy enough. Sounded to him that it could use a tune up. Again we stressed we did not know for sure what was wrong, it was just an extra snow blower we did not need, haven't used it for years, it was his call if he wanted it. He offered a little less and paid in cash and it was sold. No papers, no receipt, heck we did not even know his full name.
OK, story goes on...he acknowledged there was something wrong with it but thought the price was worth having it fixed. He asked if it could sit at our house until the local hardware store could pick it up. They were running several days before they could get to it. We agreed. Left it sit where it was.
The hardware store picked it up days later and that was the end of it. Right?
No!
We got a call from the nasty guy last night saying that the snow blower was junk and he demanded his money back. Say what?? I told him no, I spent the money on Christmas of which I did mention that to him that I was selling so I could get some Christmas money besides the fact that we did not need it.
He became quite irate saying the money was going to be returned and how he was a disabled vet and he wasn't healthy blah, blah....of which the conversation turned to him giving me veiled threats of, 'Oh baby, you don't want to mess with me." "I'm a disabled vet, I know how to do things", "you will be VERY sorry if you rip me off"....etc. etc... I finally asked him straight out...'Are you threatening me??' 'What are you saying, that you are able to burn my house down or worse?' And he kept saying baby, you don't want to mess with me etc. And we needed to work this out because he WAS going to get his money. Told me that I could start making 10.00 payments back to him, something, anything because I WAS going to pay etc.
I ended up hanging up and calling the Police but they had no idea when they could come out to the house and we had a b-day party to go to in Illinois in an hour so I told them we would get back to them today if I heard anything more.
I did get 2 messages on my voice mail before I called the Police but they were simply messages for me to call him back.
So. . what is correct here when selling something on craigslist? Is there a return policy? I was told that things were sold with no returns. You bought it, you keep it. I told him that I was not a store and it was the same as buying from a Garage Sale.
The sad thing is that I actually held onto the money until the hardware store picked it up since I felt we should while it sat at our house. Nothing touched the snow blower while here and I felt good when it left that we could then use the cash.
So that's my experience.
And my message is...never have someone come to your house! Now my kids think this crazy guy will come back here and do something. If you have to sell a larger item, use the newspaper I guess. I'm sure you can get the same weirdo's but what is the alternative to selling something you can't put in your car/van and meet someone somewhere??
Any suggestions to how to handle this and how to sell things without having the crazies come to your house?
Laws are different in every state & here at my job we have these company paid sites where we can get answers from lawyers of any state, when doing background checks. I asked your question on the site & was given this response from a WI attorney...
Quote:
It is not a felony to make verbal threats by use of telephone or otherwise in the state of Wisconsin. You can't be charged with a felony if there was no harm to someone during these threats. The act of making verbal threats to a person, as you described in your question, may be a misdemeanor crime of disorderly conduct or misuse of a telephone at most. That conduct is not a felony in the state of WI.
That's what I got for ya... It goes on to say the fine for disorderly conduct or misuse of a telephone in WI can be anywhere from $200-$500 for a first offense.
Sadly, this person would have to harm you or your property before it is taken too serious.
I have shopped craigslist for furniture & such, but never anything that I was told had problems or needed repair. Basically because you never know if you will end up having to put big bucks into it, until its too late. I refuse to go to someones house and look at stuff unless my brother or another big tough guy is with me & never would I have someone come to my house from Craigslist... I have read way too many horror stories too close to home, especially while in Madison. Someone was always being robbed or worse!
Craigslist killer (the true story of Philip Markoff) airs on January 3rd... I have my dvr set.
Thanks, Latina.. I was going by the fact my younger brother was charged with making a threat to his girlfriend over the phone years back and faced a possible year in jail over it (in NY state). She had let him borrow her car but when her mom saw him driving it, his girlfriend said he had stolen the car and my brother got stopped by the police. He called her back and simplay said, "Next time it's you turn" and she had him arrested for making a threat over the phone. Luckily he never married that girl tho they have a child together.
My other brother had a girlfriend who beat him with the heel of her shoe and fractured both his arms.. he didn't marry her either but they are still friends.
Bad luck with women seems to run in our family.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Latina
Laws are different in every state & here at my job we have these company paid sites where we can get answers from lawyers of any state, when doing background checks. I asked your question on the site & was given this response from a WI attorney...
That's what I got for ya... It goes on to say the fine for disorderly conduct or misuse of a telephone in WI can be anywhere from $200-$500 for a first offense.
Laws are different in every state & here at my job we have these company paid sites where we can get answers from lawyers of any state, when doing background checks. I asked your question on the site & was given this response from a WI attorney...
Wow, thank you Latina for finding out this information. That is sad to see that there has to be harm in some way before anyone can do anything.
So far we have not heard back from the guy himself but we did just receive a call from the hardware store wanting to drop the snow blower back off at our house. It is not ours, we sold it, we did not call the hardware store in the first place, we should not have it back here. Guess they thought it came back here since they picked it up. Hope they take it to the guys house but then I'm sure that will just get him mad all over again. Guess I won't be surprised to hear from him later today.
I wonder if you could find out what the law holds for selling something on a website and then have the guy come back at you for his money back. What really gets me is his acknowledgement of the fact that he knew it needed work and called the hardware store from here to have them pick it up. Duh...doesn't that seem as if he knew he was taking the chance on something being wrong??
Don't take re-possession of it or you might then be liable to return his money. He bought it despite the caveat.. some states might make you give back the money, some won't. I don't know about Wisconsin but I'm betting not.
Safest thing is to always put Sold As Is in your ads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pk
Wow, thank you Latina for finding out this information. That is sad to see that there has to be harm in some way before anyone can do anything.
So far we have not heard back from the guy himself but we did just receive a call from the hardware store wanting to drop the snow blower back off at our house. It is not ours, we sold it, we did not call the hardware store in the first place, we should not have it back here. Guess they thought it came back here since they picked it up. Hope they take it to the guys house but then I'm sure that will just get him mad all over again. Guess I won't be surprised to hear from him later today.
I wonder if you could find out what the law holds for selling something on a website and then have the guy come back at you for his money back. What really gets me is his acknowledgement of the fact that he knew it needed work and called the hardware store from here to have them pick it up. Duh...doesn't that seem as if he knew he was taking the chance on something being wrong??
Wow, thank you Latina for finding out this information. That is sad to see that there has to be harm in some way before anyone can do anything.
So far we have not heard back from the guy himself but we did just receive a call from the hardware store wanting to drop the snow blower back off at our house. It is not ours, we sold it, we did not call the hardware store in the first place, we should not have it back here. Guess they thought it came back here since they picked it up. Hope they take it to the guys house but then I'm sure that will just get him mad all over again. Guess I won't be surprised to hear from him later today.
I wonder if you could find out what the law holds for selling something on a website and then have the guy come back at you for his money back. What really gets me is his acknowledgement of the fact that he knew it needed work and called the hardware store from here to have them pick it up. Duh...doesn't that seem as if he knew he was taking the chance on something being wrong??
Quote:
THE RETURN POLICY FOR ANY GIVEN WEBSITE WOULD DEPEND ON THAT WEBSITE RETURN POLICY. IN YOUR QUESTION YOU REFER TO CRAIGSLIST AND IN FACT CRAIGSLIST ASSUMES NO RESPONSABILITY FOR ANYTHING SOLD ON THEIR SITE & THEREFORE HAS NO RETURN POLICY. IT IS ALL BASED ON THE AGREEMENT MADE BETWEEN THE SELLER & PURCHASER. I HOPE THAT I UNDERSTOOD YOUR QUESTION CORRECTLY AND THIS WAS OF SOME HELP.
This is what i got back... not sure why she responded in all caps.
I wouldn't allow them to drop it back off by you, I didn't ask, but as Dave said if you have possession of it you could be responsible to return dudes money.
Patti, even if the cops don't charge the guy with making threats over the phone, you should still have them come out and take a report so you can get it on record. That way if the jerk does try to do something, you have evidence of previous problems with him which would come in handy if you should you end up in court or something. Also, if he does leave any kind of threatening message on the machine, be sure to keep a recording of it and also write down what was said and when in case you lose it or it gets erased. You can use a recording in court as long as it was on the answering machine because he was aware that he was being recorded. However, you can't use a recording of a conversation with someone in court unless you tell them they are being recorded during the conversation. But you can still record the conversation and then write down everything word for word that was said to use in court. We did that with a person we were doing business with and it worked out in our favor because of it. Hopefully, the idiot doesn't try to do anything though. I would keep some kind of weapon handy at all times just in case though...
We've only used Craigslist once and that was to buy a big welder. My hubby's had quit on him on a Saturday night and he needed one by Monday morning so my BIL suggested checking on Craigslist. I found exactly what he was looking for there and we called the guy and then we drove to LaCrosse on Sunday afternoon to check it out. The guy had only used the air compressor part of it at car races so the welding unit was like brand new. We got it for about fourth the cost of a what a new one was and it's still working great. That was about four or five years ago I think. That's the only time we've had any dealings through there and we don't usually check out their for sale items since I wouldn't want my hubby to find something to buy that he doesn't really need just "because it's a good price." He does that enough at auctions!
My experience with Craiglist has been almost completely positive. The people I've bought from have even shared their lives and interests with me. On only one occasion have I been dissatisfied when a person unintentionally misrepresented what they were selling (and I'd driven an hour to get there). On the other hand, one couple I bought my couch from delivered it to my garage for free while I was at work. Truly great people.......
I guess like everything else in life, you have to take the good with the bad.
My son likes to sell and buy games, trade etc. and we have run into a few good people and had a couple of bad experiences too.
But this guy had to be the worse. But so far we have not heard anything else and I guess the hardware store decided to leave us out of it since I heard nothing more from them either. Let's hope it stays that way now.
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