Craigslist robin hoods?

[willy431]

This is a new one....for me anyway. Some parick is emailing people with good deals that they are "being ripped off" and to check eBay and bricklink. I've had it screw up 2 of my most recent deals...and pretty sure 2 others. The 2 I know about...I actually had an agreed upon deal and was awaiting directions to address. Once the lady flat out said someone emailed her that her Matt was worth 200 not 20 and she refused to sell! I asked her if the other person was buying it and she said no...it was a Good Samaritan. She did email me back and we worked a deal because I still wanted it for 125.

Next deal was a pet shop, passenger train and 2 new lego houses for $100! I emailed her that I would take it and head right over. She emailed me back 2 hrs later saying someone told her it was worth 3x what she was asking and she raised it to 250 now. 2 other times this week...listings had prices raised dramatically after I emailed seller for pick up details at their full ask

Another last week was both potc ships for 120. I emailed the person that I could come with cash in 30 mins for the full ask. Never heard back. Then the next day they were listed for 225--same pic.

Between these Craigslist deals vaporizing...and my local savers and Salvation Army sending their Legos away..my cheap hits are getting thin. There used to always be bulk at donation centers...then last month it stopped. I asked about it...and at savers at least..they were told to ship all lego to central processing center. Looks like goodwill and Salvation Army are doing this as well

Anybody else run into this?

What could have been:

[MartinP]

I have never run into this problem in my area.

[Huskers1236]

Never had it happen that I know about, but a much smaller metro area here.  I've had sellers that I want to email and tell them their $300 lot of Lego is junk when it's worth about $25, though, but I just let it flounder on CL for a month before it disappears.

[willy431]

We have plenty of those too! I wish the jerk would email them and tell them to lower prices..or dump in trash. Megablocks aircraft carrier 80% complete for $200? Sure sweety...checks in the mail.

[willy431]

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/tag/4083387524.html

That was $100 Saturday morning. Now 250. Still probably a good deal...but I already told the lady where she could stuff her Legos...and it wasn't under her feet. Plus I was a little (porno) graphic with the light brick and green tree suggestions...so even with the Craigslist email anonymizer I didn't want to try to salvage that one. She was the idiot who accused ME of taking advantage of HER for paying what she was asking. She must work at the Braintree store...same mindset.

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

set up a sting operation and find out who done it.  Rather who is doing it.  Try listing something like the lots that attracted your got third wheel.

[remy1492]

If a craigslister wants to know the value cant they use ebay or google? Wait....YES they can.

I cant see how you scam somebody by paying what they ask if theyre too lazy to research its value.

Id piggy back on the robim hoods and send out emails sayin the item is priceless and Belongs in a museum. And demand it be turned over.

[sadowsk1]

Nothing wrong with people helping people.

[Diabolos80]

The funny part is that even the 'corrected' prices are still pretty good deals, even for CL. A pet shop, passenger train, & 2 creator houses for $250 won't entice many resellers, but that's a decent price to a builder.

[Polkaking]

Nothing wrong with people helping people.

True. But what if the prospective buyer is a collector with little disposable income or a reseller trying to make a few bucks because he/she has fallen on hard times? What if the seller doesn't really need the money and is just trying to get rid of some "old junk"? I know this is a huge overanalysis, but I guess I prefer "good semaritains" stay out of other people's dealing as well. I'm a small scale investor/reseller who puts every last cent of profit into sets for my son and/or my children's savings. I definitely feel the OP's frustration.

[exciter1]

Sorry about that. Fingers doing the talking.

[Huskers1236]

We have plenty of those too! I wish the jerk would email them and tell them to lower prices..or dump in trash. Megablocks aircraft carrier 80% complete for $200? Sure sweety...checks in the mail.

 

I actually sold one of these at a garage sale and was happy with the $15 I got for it. 

[leaningjowler]

This is a new one....for me anyway. Some parick is emailing people with good deals that they are "being ripped off" and to check eBay and bricklink. I've had it screw up 2 of my most recent deals...and pretty sure 2 others. The 2 I know about...I actually had an agreed upon deal and was awaiting directions to address. Once the lady flat out said someone emailed her that her Matt was worth 200 not 20 and she refused to sell! I asked her if the other person was buying it and she said no...it was a Good Samaritan. She did email me back and we worked a deal because I still wanted it for 125.

Next deal was a pet shop, passenger train and 2 new lego houses for $100! I emailed her that I would take it and head right over. She emailed me back 2 hrs later saying someone told her it was worth 3x what she was asking and she raised it to 250 now. 2 other times this week...listings had prices raised dramatically after I emailed seller for pick up details at their full ask

Another last week was both potc ships for 120. I emailed the person that I could come with cash in 30 mins for the full ask. Never heard back. Then the next day they were listed for 225--same pic.

Between these Craigslist deals vaporizing...and my local savers and Salvation Army sending their Legos away..my cheap hits are getting thin. There used to always be bulk at donation centers...then last month it stopped. I asked about it...and at savers at least..they were told to ship all lego to central processing center. Looks like goodwill and Salvation Army are doing this as well

Anybody else run into this?

What could have been:

 

CL in MA is tough I have had this happen to me and I just though it was someone else trying to bump up the price. I also emailed about those POTC ships and she said she received multiple emails and wanted a best offer. Told her if I wanted a bidding war i would go on EBAY. But good deals are getitng harder and harder to find....

[akohns]

This stinks. Gone are the days of "easy" pickin'

I once had a college guy give me his whole bin for free. I even tried to pay him but he said he was good. I ended up making about $300-400 on the lot. 

[lowillsw]

CL in MA is tough I have had this happen to me and I just though it was someone else trying to bump up the price. I also emailed about those POTC ships and she said she received multiple emails and wanted a best offer. Told her if I wanted a bidding war i would go on EBAY. But good deals are getitng harder and harder to find....

 

I didn't hear back on the ship deal.  There was a 4852 for 95 last week that just went dead as well.  

[JoshTX]

The deals that you guys keep finding out there are unheard of in my area, even without the Robin Hood effect. Over here what typically happens is something gets listed for a decent price, 30 people call the seller within 5 minutes, and some of them start upping the offer in order to get the seller to sell them the item even if they weren't the first responder. Then it becomes a bidding war and by the time all is said and done it's no longer a deal worth driving for.

 

The Robin hood thing is an interesting phenomena, though. I wonder if it's some bitter investor that's broke, attempting to prevent anyone else from getting a decent deal. I could see some guy sitting in his Mom's basement, in between rounds of Warcraft checking CL and telling people their Jar Jar Binks minifigs are worth 25 bucks a piece, lol. I kid, but it's still humorous to think about.

[akohns]

I could see some guy sitting in his Mom's basement, in between rounds of Warcraft checking CL and telling people their Jar Jar Binks minifigs are worth 25 bucks a piece, lol. I kid, but it's still humorous to think about.

Or some huge Jake Gyllenhaal fan telling people POP sets are really valuable!

[matt1147]

I would tend to think the sellers raise their price after getting multiple calls and realize oh crap I wasn't asking enough!!

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I would tend to think the sellers raise their price after getting multiple calls and realize oh crap I wasn't asking enough!!

 

Maybe - I wonder sometimes if I have that happen when I post something, but normally I just want to get rid of it so I don't care.

[Bsusanka]

If the lister is competent enough to use a computer they should be able to find out the value of what they are selling.

[willy431]

Looks like robin hood is coming out of the closet.

 

[kerrmando]

Looks like robin hood is coming out of the closet.

Thats funny haha

[justafrog]

Ah, yes, the "for the children!" rage.

 

There are still children actually starving to death on the planet, and these yahoos think they're entitled to special treatment in finding discount toys.

 

I'm a parent, and I've done the whole desperate-for-a-toy search thing for mine over the years, many times. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not. It's part of the process in being a parent OR a kid in our luxurious society.

 

Since I've also been a reseller all but the first three years of my life as a parent, I've never been able to engage in the delusion of despising those trying to make a living at it - often for their OWN children's actual needs, not transient desires for a particular toy.

[remy1492]

Attention stock holders of S&P500 companies. Shame on you for buying stock when its cheap and selling when its high.

You should sell it at what you paid for it or less.

....for the children.

[TheOrcKing]

Attention stock holders of S&P500 companies. Shame on you for buying stock when its cheap and selling when its high.

You should sell it at what you paid for it or less.

....for the children.

This made me laugh probably more than it should. Great comparative statement.