I just had a strange Craigslist listing encounter!

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harddriver

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A guy about two hours from me has a guitar at a decent price so I emailed him through the listing. Asked him some questions about it, good enough. The guy tells me he just had a son and needed to thin the herd. I asked to set a day and time when I could come down to look it over. He says the guitar has no case or gigbag and he would meet me half way at a truck stop to save me some drive time. I said since the guitar has no case being we are having single digit cold weather I would prefer to check it out at his house if that was ok. He said no, he would only meet in a public space.

I said ok I fully understand that was his prerogative and that I didn't feel I could look the guitar over well enough at a truck stop and thanked him for his time and politely told him that I was going to pass.

He sent me back this reply.... Thanks alot you F'n scammer I knew you weren't interested in the guitar and thanks for wasting my time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WTF is wrong with people these days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :doh:

I told him he needed to grow the fuck up and good luck with the sale.

Did I just dodge some type of robbery scheme????????????
 
I don’t ever meet Craigslist people at my home. Insisting to meet at my residence is a red flag for me. Truck stop is a public place likely to have witnesses so I doubt it was a robbery scheme.
 
Honestly I bought a Gibson RD from a guy in a shady part of town. He insisted I come to his house. The price was good so I couldnt resist but my wife was scared for my life lol. Turned out to be a really great guy but with that said public places are good for both sides. I notice Costco and Target parking lots are popular where I live.
 
I know you're not a scammer or anything, but I tend to agree, I would NEVER invite or allow a Craigslist buyer or seller to my house or even tell them where I live. Not sure about his over the top reply though, un-needed. I always meet at a local Starbucks or something like that.
 
I told the guy I understood his reluctance and that was fine by me. It wasn't like I was pressuring him to do it my way, I just told him I was going to pass. All he had to say was thanks for inquiring....

Getting all indignant with the childish insults made me not want to deal with the guy at all no matter how good it was priced.

In reality I would never buy an amp without trying it out first how are you gonna do that at a public place I'm mean it's no different than the old classified ads in the paper back in the day.
 
Even though I understand it, it’s still weird how paranoid society seems to grow. It seems not long ago wouldn’t have thought twice about going to someone’s house or having them come to my house with buying selling. Now people act like it’s guaranteed to be some kind of robbery attempt or Cult initiation. If I am selling an amp they can come over to my house. I’ll just put it in a separate area to where my other stuff is.
 
Thinking about it now I’ve probably met a dozen or so people at their houses and only once remember meeting someone in a parking lot which is kind of strange to me cause I’d never let someone come to my house lol
 
The whole email conversation was kind of weird with the guy. Right off the bat he was like are you going to buy it? I don't want to waste your time or mine!!!!! First off... me purchasing anything is contingent on condition and passing my inspection and evaluation of it regardless of what the seller thinks of it.

Even I met the guy at the truck stop I still could have said I didn't want it after he drove all that way, I got the feeling he expected a guaranteed sale. His reaction tells me the guy was either a kid or a crackpot c'mon with a response like that...just move along, thanks for playing.

I've met mostly good people buying stuff over the years but I tend to have a lot of street smarts from traveling the world at a young age, if you get that gut feeling something isn't right you need to heed it and get out or not get into a situation. I usually like to at least talk to people on the phone to gauge their personality and get sense if there are any red flags.
 
stratjacket":w9t787tt said:
I know you're not a scammer or anything, but I tend to agree, I would NEVER invite or allow a Craigslist buyer or seller to my house or even tell them where I live. Not sure about his over the top reply though, un-needed. I always meet at a local Starbucks or something like that.
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+1
 
harddriver":160l9py8 said:
The guy tells me he just had a son
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There is a good chance the guy hasn't slept in however many weeks old his son is. :)
 
Did you ask him if he had an old frozen crab meat in his basement next to a model train set?
 
FourT6and2":sgktkugh said:
Did you ask him if he had an old frozen crab meat in his basement next to a model train set?
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^ LOL WTF ? :lol: :LOL:
 
FourT6and2":3tgd03y3 said:
Did you ask him if he had an old frozen crab meat in his basement next to a model train set?
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There's nothing wrong with it, I just bought too much.

:D
 
There are just some whacky ass people out there in general. Especially when it comes to something free for the general public to use.
Facebook marketplace is taking over for CL in many ways because you can click on a sellers name and snoop em out through their profile, and size them up before deciding how and when to meet.

Sounds like that guy has some serious anger managment issues. I can see MAYBE getting a bit irritated if you drive 30 min+ to meet someone, only to have them pass. However, it should be understood by the seller that is the risk you take trying to sell anything used.

I still meet people kinda "wherever" when it comes to online deals. I've invited strangers over, i've gone into peoples fucked up looking homes, met people in public, etc.
One rule of thumb is not to meet anyone in Detroit proper. Its just not smart. If you're from around here, you know.

The best is selling gear to some one when your buddies are all over drinking with you. I sold a 5150 combo once where this young guy walks into my house with us 4 mouthy drunks all telling him at once how "sweet the tone is on this thing", all fucking around with the settings while the kid was playing through it. Kid seemed shy, and I could tell we were all making him super uncomfortable, but he ended up buying it :lol: :LOL: :no:
 
skoora":twrzsq27 said:
Even though I understand it, it’s still weird how paranoid society seems to grow. It seems not long ago wouldn’t have thought twice about going to someone’s house or having them come to my house with buying selling. Now people act like it’s guaranteed to be some kind of robbery attempt or Cult initiation. If I am selling an amp they can come over to my house. I’ll just put it in a separate area to where my other stuff is.
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I remember many trades back in the day - right to a persons house, or a person right to my house. It's a different world now.
Now - I meet in public places whenever possible. If I'm selling an amp, it's in the garage away from the main part of the house.

And I always have a "friend" with me on my hip. Not paranoid, just prepared.

Sounds like you avoided a major headache. If he has a newborn though, he may be stressed out and lacking sleep as mentioned. Still no need to be a douche to you about it !
 
To be fair, now that I have kids, I really don’t feel comfortable when people come to my house to try out gear. You never know what that person’s alter your motives are if they have any. Especially with a newborn, no need to mess with that stuff. Honestly, it sounds like he was a really doing you a favor by offering to leave his newborn for a couple hours just to show you a guitar. Being a new parent is hard. Cut him some slack
 
harddriver":2lgo3w2c said:
I told the guy I understood his reluctance and that was fine by me. It wasn't like I was pressuring him to do it my way, I just told him I was going to pass. All he had to say was thanks for inquiring....

Getting all indignant with the childish insults made me not want to deal with the guy at all no matter how good it was priced.

In reality I would never buy an amp without trying it out first how are you gonna do that at a public place I'm mean it's no different than the old classified ads in the paper back in the day.
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Meet them at guitar center... or really any place with electricity, it's not that hard.
 
Remember when you're on Craigslist even though YOU KNOW you're not a serial killer to the other guy you're still "Craigslist people," so asking to meet at someone's home is always a red flag. I would have shot you down too....wouldn't have called you a fucking scammer though haha
 
I think the seller is saying the same thing. Some people don't want to inconvenience a wife/family by having over strangers. Maybe his house is a mess. Who knows.

Who's to say you wouldn't come over and waste HIS time? It's not all about YOU, bro. He may think you're just as big a douche, (and it sounds like he may have a valid assumption, to a small degree), but no need for him to have a meltdown. But, I see nothing strange about it, whatsoever, and feel his request to meet was more than adequate.
 
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