Craigslist war stories

[justapilgrim]

Someone in Seattle nabbed 78lbs of lego that included: PC, pR, DO, MF recent one, R2 and DS. I contacted day he listed it and offered more. He wanted $500

[jaylay]

Someone in Seattle nabbed 78lbs of lego that included: PC, pR, DO, MF recent one, R2 and DS. I contacted day he listed it and offered more. He wanted $500

Damn

[justapilgrim]

I know. I messaged him day he listed, told him I would be there in a day (traveling for work) and toldm him I'd pay him more to hold and he didn't respond

[jaylay]

I know. I messaged him day he listed, told him I would be there in a day (traveling for work) and toldm him I'd pay him more to hold and he didn't respond

First with Money in hand talks I guess.

[Pedilego]

First with Money in hand talks I guess.

Craigslist deals fall through all of the time. A bird in the hand...

Would've had to knock his socks off for him to consider.

[tonysbricks]

Edited October 9, 2015 by tonysbricks

[oskietn]

Fortunately,  Nebraska has the "Castle Law" or whatever it's called to protect your property if broken into.  They come in, they don't come out.

Seriously though, I have had nothing but good luck with CL when meeting people, whether it be for Lego sets or selling landscape block.  For the most part, good people around here, but I know that can't be said everywhere.  I have no issue with anybody that has a conceal/carry to bring it with them on a deal involving money.  People have died for less than a $400 Lego set.

Castle doctrine isn't going to work in a parking lot. Some states will extend to another place other than your home (or vehicle), but they are an extreme minority. 

Edited October 13, 2015 by oskietn

[HappyHawkeye]

Ugh. Had a $100 listing for 3 small Star Wars sets up on CL. This price, admittedly, was a bit high but I knew no one was going to pay my asking price so this was figuring in a drop. A guy contacted me saying he would pay $60. Since I'd be losing money at that point I said no, but I could come down to $85. A week went by & he emailed again offering $75. I said no, $85 still. The guy agreed to $85 and we met yesterday to make the exchange.

I am not home more than 10 minutes and the guy calls me back saying he thinks he got ripped off. He did some "research" and thinks he could get all of the sets I sold him for $75 (he can't). He either wants his money back or for me to come down in price.

Two of the sets are still available and have MSRPs of $25 each - with sales you could probably get both for $45 before taxes. The other set is retired and originally sold for $40, but the cheapest you can find it now on Ebay/Amazon is $50. So best case scenario, this guy could get these sets for $95-$100 somewhere else. The sale price was still below total original MSRP for the 3 sets! Meaning that he has saved at least $10 by getting them from me, and worst case scenario he paid about what any average Joe would have paid getting these in a store. So I am confident that I in no way ripped this guy off like he seems to think. I sent him an email explaining this to him (in fact, I even told him the approximate price he could get these for right before he paid me in the parking lot, so there was no trickery involved here at all), but he says he still wants his money back.

What I think happened is that he did not do his research, assumed he was getting some kind of super-great deal, and then had buyer's remorse when he found out he just got an ok deal. He did not strike me as the type of guy that would knowingly pay $10 more for a retired set just because it's retired - I think he was just looking for a great deal. Or - is this a thing people do on CL? Some kind of buyer's bait & switch where they try to squeeze you for a slightly lower sale price? I dunno...

So my dilemma - I was fair & honest with this guy & sold him some legos at a very reasonable price. He feels duped anyway and wants his money back. In the end this was just a $15-20 profit, so the money is not really the issue - it's the principle. A deal is a deal, and if I didn't do anything wrong should I in any way be obligated to return his money just because he didn't do his research ahead of time? Plus who knows if this guy might have done something weird like raid the sets for minifigs...doubtful but another reason to consider sales like this final.

Do I return the money & get this guy off of my back or tell him sorry & thanks for playing?

 

Edited October 19, 2015 by HappyHawkeye

[Bold-Arrow]

CL = no refunds . All transactions are final . Unless you want to be generous and hope to gain a loyal buyer ( which doesn't sound this guy will be ) 

[outatime]

Hawkeye, its Craigslist, even if he paid you double your asking price he knew what he was buying, the balls on him to ask you for a refund, tell him as long as he has his receipt he can return for upto 90 days  

Deals done, I presume you drove to meet him so your gas and time.  I know people save money on fees and Paypal but this CL stuff is just a waste of time and possibly even dangerous from what I have of late.    Tell him to jog on!

[Huskers1236]

I met up with a guy yesterday as I was selling a couple Star Wars sets and couldn't have gone smoother.  Sorry you guys have to deal with all the wackjobs in the world.

[oneknightr]

Refund on a CL transaction? That guy's on crack! You have no obligation to do it. Unless he knows where you live, tell him you can't do it.

[sharky1999]

Hawkeye, its Craigslist, even if he paid you double your asking price he knew what he was buying, the balls on him to ask you for a refund, tell him as long as he has his receipt he can return for upto 90 days  

Deals done, I presume you drove to meet him so your gas and time.  I know people save money on fees and Paypal but this CL stuff is just a waste of time and possibly even dangerous from what I have of late.    Tell him to jog on!

Totally agree.  Craigslist is like any garage sale kind of deal. All sales final, cash only, buyer beware.  It's his own loss for not doing any kind of research.  It seems he had plenty of time to look into the deal.  The seller doesn't owe him anything at this point.  I also agree it's just not worth the hassle.

[HappyHawkeye]

Refund on a CL transaction? That guy's on crack! You have no obligation to do it. Unless he knows where you live, tell him you can't do it.

This factors into it too - he doesn't know where I live but if he wanted to he could figure it out pretty easily through public records because he does have my name. That's one thing I feel stupid about & will be changing right away - using an email with my name in it for stuff like this. I have what's probably an irrational fear of people getting irate and doing something dumb.

Anyway - thanks everyone for the responses, I had planned to tell this guy that the sale is final and now feel better about that decision.

[California92563]

Ugh. Had a $100 listing for 3 small Star Wars sets up on CL. This price, admittedly, was a bit high but I knew no one was going to pay my asking price so this was figuring in a drop. A guy contacted me saying he would pay $60. Since I'd be losing money at that point I said no, but I could come down to $85. A week went by & he emailed again offering $75. I said no, $85 still. The guy agreed to $85 and we met yesterday to make the exchange.

I am not home more than 10 minutes and the guy calls me back saying he thinks he got ripped off. He did some "research" and thinks he could get all of the sets I sold him for $75 (he can't). He either wants his money back or for me to come down in price.

Two of the sets are still available and have MSRPs of $25 each - with sales you could probably get both for $45 before taxes. The other set is retired and originally sold for $40, but the cheapest you can find it now on Ebay/Amazon is $50. So best case scenario, this guy could get these sets for $95-$100 somewhere else. The sale price was still below total original MSRP for the 3 sets! Meaning that he has saved at least $10 by getting them from me, and worst case scenario he paid about what any average Joe would have paid getting these in a store. So I am confident that I in no way ripped this guy off like he seems to think. I sent him an email explaining this to him (in fact, I even told him the approximate price he could get these for right before he paid me in the parking lot, so there was no trickery involved here at all), but he says he still wants his money back.

What I think happened is that he did not do his research, assumed he was getting some kind of super-great deal, and then had buyer's remorse when he found out he just got an ok deal. He did not strike me as the type of guy that would knowingly pay $10 more for a retired set just because it's retired - I think he was just looking for a great deal. Or - is this a thing people do on CL? Some kind of buyer's bait & switch where they try to squeeze you for a slightly lower sale price? I dunno...

So my dilemma - I was fair & honest with this guy & sold him some legos at a very reasonable price. He feels duped anyway and wants his money back. In the end this was just a $15-20 profit, so the money is not really the issue - it's the principle. A deal is a deal, and if I didn't do anything wrong should I in any way be obligated to return his money just because he didn't do his research ahead of time? Plus who knows if this guy might have done something weird like raid the sets for minifigs...doubtful but another reason to consider sales like this final.

Do I return the money & get this guy off of my back or tell him sorry & thanks for playing?

 

heck no all Craigslist sales are final with me, for all you know he could have tampered with the boxes 

[sharky1999]

This factors into it too - he doesn't know where I live but if he wanted to he could figure it out pretty easily through public records because he does have my name. That's one thing I feel stupid about & will be changing right away - using an email with my name in it for stuff like this. I have what's probably an irrational fear of people getting irate and doing something dumb.

Anyway - thanks everyone for the responses, I had planned to tell this guy that the sale is final and now feel better about that decision.

My feeling on it is that the average Lego collector is a huge nerd first and foremost. He seems like a jerk (keeping it PG for the forum) for sure, but generally I wouldn't worry too much about any follow up repercussions.  I wouldn't even respond to say the sale is final.  Thst will just enable further replies and discussion.  Just ignore his emails and block them if you can so they filter to the trash or spam.

[justapilgrim]

People all over the Christmas train set here, but are all surprised when it is smaller than they thought

[HappyHawkeye]

Update - told the guy I would not be giving him his money back. Was very polite about it. Here's his one line response:

"Yeah it's a**holes like you that give c/l a bad rap."

 

[California92563]

Update - told the guy I would not be giving him his money back. Was very polite about it. Here's his one line response:

"Yeah it's a**holes like you that give c/l a bad rap."

 

[Migration]

And that's why you use a burner email for all CL transactions. 

[HappyHawkeye]

And that's why you use a burner email for all CL transactions. 

for sure, lesson learned

[boxofcorey]

for sure, lesson learned

Doesn't craigslist filter both emails through their craigslist mail so neither party sees the real email source?

[sharky1999]

for sure, lesson learned

Quite honestly, he seems like the type of jerk that would not be satisfied unless you were the one that was getting screwed.  It's not like he was getting screwed in any case.  It seemed like a fair deal at the very least.  I know how these people think.  He's got nothing to lose by continuing to pick at you until you give in and give a significant deal.  I honestly don't know why cheapskates even get into Lego.  It's an expensive hobby.   Tell him to go collect Hot Wheels.

[HappyHawkeye]

 

Doesn't craigslist filter both emails through their craigslist mail so neither party sees the real email source?

yes & no - I have my real name on the account:

 

craigslist has implemented 2-way email relay to help stop spam and scams.

When replying to a post you'll see an address like:
[email protected]

When answering an email you'll see an address like:
[email protected]

Use your email program as you normally would.

PLEASE NOTE: The “real name” field (e.g. Jane Doe) in your email program is passed through to the recipient. Any contact information in the body of your message will pass through unaltered.

[dcdfan]

Update - told the guy I would not be giving him his money back. Was very polite about it. Here's his one line response:

"Yeah it's a**holes like you that give c/l a bad rap."

 

He didn't preface it with "other than the murders..."?