ya im dealing with that right now... freaking craigslist... selling my mustang.. listed at a parts car or restore.. 400$ its got a brand new top, body great.. int junk and motor shot..
yep i get some goon emails me and asks me to call him.. so i do.. hey ill give you 400$ for it.. but i cant do it for like 30-60 days.. you can hold the title and the keys... ya right..
next guy came to look at it.. offered me 250$ i told him 3.. next guy sends an email saying ill bring 100$ and a towtucks and take it tongiht... wtf ppl... im not giving the car away.. it has an aftermarket hood on it that was 400$...

sorrry if i sorta highjacked ya stuff... but they tick me off too....

x2 and if you tell them it was in a fast and furious movie you can get atleast 3k

I wonder what'* up with everybody all interested for any price that isn't the listed price. If you listed it at $1100 firm, would you probably get scores of offers to buy it for $800? I think the mentality of a lot of car buyers is "the seller always lists it for more than they expect to get for it" because this is typical at auto dealers. But geez, that'* why you use the word "firm" in your ad, right? People. Bleh.

Yeah, never put your phone number in Craigslist. I use Craigslist to get rid of junk without making a trip to the dump. People will come to your house and pick up practically ANYTHING for free. We're remodeling our kitchen and I needed to dispose of the old electric range that was 28 years old. I listed it on Craigslist and had a half dozen people who seriously wanted it.

My best advice for Craigslist:
Use the Craigslist email forwarding feature so as to not broadcast your actual email address.
List stuff with a firm price along with "first person to show up with $$ takes it". -That can weed out a lot of the "Can I make payments?" people, and the "I can pick it up in 5 weeks" people.
Ignore or just say no to any offers of payment plans, lame bartering, promises, sob-stories, etc.
Pull down ad as soon as item is gone.
Do not respond to "I want it, please call my cell"replies. It'* not your job to call them. If they want your stuff, it'* their job to contact you!
If you're just getting rid of stuff free, just put it outside and list your address and post it as "first person to take it away gets it."
Again, pull down ad as soon as item is gone.
For things other than cars, I've had good results listing my cell number on a weekend, with "call me for directions". You get mostly replies from people who are serious.

Cars though, -that'* a whole `nuther ball of wax. Crazies.

I listed a full-size VHS camcorder that had the color circuit out, so it only worked in black and white. I had over a hundred people wanting it, with every sob story you could imagine. Insane.

Craigslisters are scary! There are Craigslisters that do nothing all day but sit in front of their computer refreshing the Craigslist postings, looking to be the first to nab your car, computer, camera, etc. Often people who take it all to a flea market and resell it. You have to watch out for those crazies, there are LOTS of them!

Funny how I have 6 offers so far from people that haven't even SEEN the car, much less driven it.

Are you going to sell it..or just keep the ad listed forever?

So I've had 2 more offers at $800, including two that looked it over very carefully and drove it.

I updated the ad (then it expired this morning) stating multiple offers of $800, and the first person to show up with $850 drives it away.

5 minutes later I get an email:

Keep in mind, he hasn't even seen the car, and obviously didn't full read the ad.

Bathturd better show up with more than 700 in his wallet. I have another guy that drove it Friday that said he'd pay 800 if it didn't sell for more before the weekend was over.

Not bad, considering I paid only $500 for this 5 months ago, and have put nothing but gas in it since. This money will pay for two new front hubs and brake lines for the Zilla.

New ad:

http://corvallis.craigslist.org/car/348920186.html

Let'* see how many people try to lowball me again without even seeing the car.

Why couldn't I live closer to you Wren? I'm in need of a car right now and I'd take that off your hands. But then again if I lived closer to you, Id probably still have my bonne...

Group of 5 college students showed up, took one look at the engine, and offered 800.

I made him drive it first.

Back to two cars, and a full wallet. Final mod money for the Zilla is in hand.

Congratulations, go have some booze.