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Ashyukun
Ashyukun UltraDork
12/7/17 7:57 a.m.
NickD said:
spitfirebill said:

If anybody asks if the item is still for sale, ignore.  

Why? I ask people if the thing they are selling is for sale, because people on craiglist are too lazy to delete the ad after they sell things

I'm far more likely to ignore it or proceed with more caution if they literally just say, "your item" or quite obviously just have verbatim copied what the title of the post is, "Is you 2001 Park Avenue NEEDS WORK OMG SUPERCHARGED still for sale?" such that it looks like it was generated by a script and not a person.

It's why whenever I send an email or text about something I try to make it obvious I'm NOT a script/bot (Do you still have the supercharged Park Avenue?).

It's somewhat context-specific though... for example, far and away most people on LetGo will just hit the "Hi! Is it still available?" button in the app- but I've also not really encountered any scamming there yet...

Chris_V
Chris_V UberDork
12/7/17 11:38 a.m.
NickD said:
spitfirebill said:

If anybody asks if the item is still for sale, ignore.  

Why? I ask people if the thing they are selling is for sale, because people on craiglist are too lazy to delete the ad after they sell things

It's the words, "the item" or "your item" No one but scammers use "item" when asking about a car for sale.

Advan046
Advan046 UltraDork
12/7/17 11:51 a.m.

I also try to make sure I don't sound robotic in my initial response. I don't use "item" or "deal" or other vague words. I don't repeat anything in their post word for word.

And also in my initial reply I ask them how far they are from some local to them address, usually a bank or police station. That tends to weed out most everyone/everything scammy. If I get a similar human written reply I used to offer my phone for texting. Never do that anymore, I have often gotten as far as talking to someone on the phone only to start getting blasted with text spam and the email and number they gave me is unreachable. 

ihayes
ihayes New Reader
12/9/17 7:12 a.m.

Maybe this is a tangent... But as an infrequent Craigslist seller, my thoughts on receiving payments on Craigslist sales, is to call to verify a cashier's check and cash in person at the bank the check was written from (vs depositing in my checking account).  I always figured (maybe naively) that it would eliminate my risk of the cashier's check getting returned/cancelled/reported stolen after the fact and me being out funds and puts it on the bank.  They likely write off as fraud and/or  at worst escalates to authorities (whom would be ultimately interested in buyer hopefully).

In the case of a scam or stolen check how would that approach backfire?  

 

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93gsxturbo
93gsxturbo Dork
12/9/17 8:53 a.m.

I wouldnt trust a cashier's check on anything.  Cash money or wire transfer or go away.  If you want to pay me with a check, we will meet at your bank and you will withdraw cash.

 

 

Daylan C
Daylan C SuperDork
12/9/17 4:04 p.m.

I got 7 of these texts today. I might be officially done with craigslist as a seller.  I'm trying to work out if it's 7 different people or one guy spamming the E36 M3 out of me. Neither answer makes sense.

M3Loco
M3Loco Reader
12/10/17 7:32 p.m.

LOL.. I read this post a few days ago and laughed. Made me want to list something to sell again on CL.

I'm selling a set of Porsche 944 Turbo wheels for $800. Listed them yesterday. In the evening I get and email asking what the FINAL PRICE is for the ITEM. I reply $2500 (I tripled the cost). I immediately get a reply saying "Great, please send me your address, etc.... and I will also include the shipper's price so that you can pay them in cash. 

This is too cool!

I can see how people can fall for this stuff.

Daylan C
Daylan C SuperDork
12/10/17 10:09 p.m.

By the time I got the 10th one of these from the same ad I decided to try the above FBI address suggestion.

Phone numbers and the fake name I gave have been removed. No idea what I expect to come of this but whatever.

I think I'm gonna try LetGo now.

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