Strangest or Best or Worst deal on Craigslist/Armslist (or similar site)

[Joe13]

Let's leave NWFA out of this as we all know 99% of the deals go well.

So what's a good story you have to share?

I'll add mine soon as it will take a bit to write up.

Have fun

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[BlackRyder]

I've actually had pretty good luck selling stuff on Craigslist- one time a guy paid me for a surfboard with $500 all in nickels! I accepted them since they were all rolled up in those $100 bricks you get from the bank. He said that getting his cash all in nickels prevents him from impulse buys since it's pretty inconvenient to carry around giant bricks of coin with you. I thought it was pretty funny. Those things were heavy!

 

[Joe13]

A buddies dad is into crotch rockets and said (this was 15 years ago) that he went to sell a bike and the guy paid all in $100 bills that 'reeked' of pot lol.

He was a pastor at the time as well but thought it was kinda funny.

 

[Joe13]

I bought a ridged 16" chop/miter saw off CL at 6pm one night and the lady wanted to do the sale that night, like right now...

Met in a well lit parking lot and she and a maybe an 8 year old kid get out and open the trunk.

She tells me her BF used it to cut the trim for a bedroom and they just needed the money.

Then this kid starts going thru the saw like I've never seen one before but was very curtious so I just listened and nodded.

Came with the original blade and a $90 fine toothed blade. Looked like her story, barely touched and just a hint of dust on it and a bit of sawdust in the catcher.


After deciding it wasn't stollen from a shop or something, I happily gave her the $20 for a $300 saw + $90 blade.

I still use the daylights out of that saw.

 

[Medic!]

Dude!

That's my saw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[STUKA]

I have so many craigslist stories,it's impossible to tell them all, but here are a few-
Bought a couple of 16th century Japanese swords from a guy, and he mentioned some old rifles; I didn't have the money after buying the swords, so I didn't show much interest. After getting home and researching the guns he was offering, I couldn't get back there fast enough-paid $425 for a Spencer carbine and and old muzzleloader.Sold/traded them shortly afterward for around $4100.
Bought 4 old 1930s Ford artillery wheels for $100,sold them later for $800
I've bought about 100 cars and motorcycles on CL (no joke)
Sold close to the same!
Furniture, yard tools,clothes, collectibles, on and on.
Not a week goes by that I don't buy something from there.
And the free section!!
Met so many weirdos and wasted so much time on flakes, I can't even begin to remember.
I think Craigslist is the best thing ever invented- although I sure miss the old Nickel Ads. Used to wait impatiently for every Thursday morning..Now I just grab handfuls of them at the store to use as fire starters.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I am a C/L junky! I found all my hotrod's and most of my cool parts on C/L My 46 Dodge W/C 30 PowerWagon from C/L for $1200, My 1950 Studebaker Commander for $600, My 1980's Tucker SnowCat for $4000. I find all sorts of cool deals this way! I just found a 1968 Mercury Cougar se with 390 engine, $950 in cash today!

 

[jbett98]

I responded to a CL ad listing a like new Ruger SP-101 .22lr for half the going price.
The return phone call from the seller sounded like a 14yr old was talking to me.
Come to find out, it was a 14 yr old.
The poor kid had a fatal inoperable brain tumor growing in his head and his Grandpa had bought the gun so they could go plinking with it.
The kids liberal parents freaked out and made gramps sell the gun.
I met the whole family when I came by to pick up the gun and you couldn't have met a nicer kid.
I paid gramps what he had originally paid for it as I felt it was the right thing to do considering what was going on with the kid.

 

[nwwoodsman]

Long story, bear with me...Few years back, times were tougher financially, wife was about 8 months pregnant and we were in need of a new washer and dryer. Wife found a set in far SE Portland on craigslist for free. We are about an hour and a half away and the wife through email said we couldn't be there until about 10:30pm. The lady said no problem as she was moving the next day and needed it gone. We arrived about 11:00pm and the wife goes up and knocks while I wait in the car. I watch as she knocks on the door again and again and finally goes over to the window and taps on it over and over again before waving for me to come to her. I get to the front window and there, through all the knocking, was a lady laying on the floor with her phone but who would not respond to us at all. We go back to sit in the vehicle and scratch our heads trying to figure out what was going on. We are at the right address, at the right time but figured this was too weird for us and it was time to go. Just was we start to pull away a cop car with it's red and blues going shines a spotlight on us and orders us out of our rig. About that time the lady that was on the floor comes busting out of the house screaming "they're not taking my f***ing washing machine". After a very confusing conversation with the cops it turned out the lady my wife had been communicating with through email was a room mate who was leaving, couldn't take all her stuff with her and rather than leave the washer and dryer she was giving them away out of spite. She left before we could get to the house. The lady on the floor was pissed and called the cops saying we were trying to steal her stuff even though she didn't own them.We left and made the long midnight drive home empty handed.....The next day we get a phone call saying if we wanted them they were still ours and everything was cool. My wife, not one to give up on a good deal said okay and we made the drive again. We arrived to a house with a dozen or so chain smoking rednecks in the front yard who were friendly as can be, except for the one who called the cops who just glared at us, and were able to load them up and drive them away.

 

[P7M13]

I responded to a CL ad listing a like new Ruger SP-101 .22lr for half the going price.
The return phone call from the seller sounded like a 14yr old was talking to me.
Come to find out, it was a 14 yr old.
The poor kid had a fatal inoperable brain tumor growing in his head and his Grandpa had bought the gun so they could go plinking with it.
The kids liberal parents freaked out and made gramps sell the gun.
I met the whole family when I came by to pick up the gun and you couldn't have met a nicer kid.
I paid gramps what he had originally paid for it as I felt it was the right thing to do considering what was going on with the kid.

We've all come across sad situations, but that one is very sad, hence I can't 'like' it.
Good on you for being fair.

 

[P7M13]

Bought two motorcycles and two cars, beat the tar out of each of them and sold them for nearly what I paid.
During the craze 3 years ago, bought 3K rounds of 223 brass and projectiles, enough powder to load them, plus (10) 50 ct boxes, full of loaded rounds, $200.
I've done the ride share, giving people lifts to other cities I've had to drive to - great conversations and no weirdos.
I've planted thousands of dollars in plants (if purchased from a nursery) that people gave away.
And the best was my experience with the personals: met 4 girlfriends there, the fourth became my wife. Yes, there were a few freaks too. I used both eHarmony and Match dating sites, and between the three, the ones on CL were the least uptight, most genuine women.

 

[jbett98]

Part of the story that I didn't elaborate on in my initial post was my feeling that gramps might have had an ulterior motive in buying the pistol, as in using it on the grandson, then himself after the kid entered the last stages of the cancer.
You could tell that the kids sickness had devastated the old man.
The gun purchase was made in secrete and only by accident did the parents find out, hence the quick sale.
The kid told me that he had quit school, as it was too weird to study for something that didn't matter in the long run and also to spend as much time as he could with his Grandfather.
It really made me appreciate how lucky I've been so far in my life so far and not having to deal with anything like that with my family.

 

[Max713]

Funny that I came across this thread... Just picked these up off Armslist tonight, for a grand total of $200. 1986 Manufacture 10/22, New England Sportster break action 17 HMR.

 

[robertg]

I sold a car to a Russian who was buying specific cars for buyers in Russia. We made the deal then he asked me if cash was ok then opened a briefcase and started counting out $20,000 in hundreds. It was like out of a movie. I might have been skeptical except he had all the proper paperwork for selling a car to a dealer. It was fun to show my wife when she got home this huge pile of cash.

 

[Kruel J]

I had a deal struck with a "seller" for a Macbook Pro with low hours and only a tiny dent. After agreeing to a meet-up location and time, I sat and waited. After an hour, I received a text from the seller that read "mermaids are real". Funny, my wife and I still say that out loud as we pass the intersection of the meet-up.

Second was a deal for a cell phone and I was the seller. He was a small guy with a very loose fitting arm sling (apparent skateboard accident). My phone was an iPhone. He then said he had to get the money from his girlfriend and ran off to get her. I circled the parking lot after he left a few times then gave up and left. He was walking down the main drag about three blocks away minus the sling. Good choice by him.

 

[Brutus57]

I am a C/L junky! I found all my hotrod's and most of my cool parts on C/L My 46 Dodge W/C 30 PowerWagon from C/L for $1200, My 1950 Studebaker Commander for $600, My 1980's Tucker SnowCat for $4000. I find all sorts of cool deals this way! I just found a 1968 Mercury Cougar se with 390 engine, $950 in cash today!

We had a 1964 Country Sedan with the 390! One FAST station wagon.

Brutus Out

 

[Fjordforder]

M28/30 for $100, Swede Mauser sporter for $100, Spanish Mauser sporter for $50, and coming soon to my armory, my AKS-74 for $375 plus my 5.56/.223 ammo and mags. Thanks again to notbrodie! Cutting me a serious deal!

 

[Ura-Ki]

We had a 1964 Country Sedan with the 390! One FAST station wagon.

Brutus Out

Love that 390 motor, Not quite the Police Interceptor, but DAMN, She really screws! Had to bring her home!!! The wife is gonna kill my Azz when she gets off work!

 

[Joe13]

Last fall I helped my daughter look for a mackbook air for her first year in college.

Her only stipulation was that she really didn't want to spend more then $500.

Air's are cheaper then some of the models but not dirt cheap. I called a guy after a couple weeks of keeping an eye on the for sale area on CL about 8 min after it was posted. Said I'd take it, had cash and would head to the other side of town (Oregon city) to meet up ASAP.

When I got there he said he may have listed it a little too low as he had over 15 emails, texts and voicemails all wanting this laptop.

It was less then a year old and a total custom job, including partitioned SSD with Windows and OSX on it with a bunch of software - not even a ding or mark on it plus all the original packaging and an extra travel cord.

It would have cost me $1500-1700 to buy the same thing still used on CL at the time.

The kid was happy to get a laptop but I still don't think she quite understands what a great deal it was.

I was proud of myself though.

Kids lol.