Getting even with Craigslister "taking bids".

[bgadow]

Among my CL experiences: my wife had a large area rug that she wanted to sell for $50. I told her she'd never get it, but I went ahead and listed it. Sure enough, a guy contacts me. I could tell he was a little "off". He is 45 minutes away, wants it delivered. Well, we do get down that way from time to time. So I took it to him, the guy was obviously very lonely, wouldn't let me go. He was an accomplished artist and he showed me some very nice things he had done in the 70s. He had a decent 40s table radio that we chatted about. He ended up calling me a couple times just to chat-felt sorry for him. I'm pretty sure he just bought the rug to have somebody to talk to.

Advertised a large piece of equipment I have at work. Guy is very interested and asks he can come over the next day to look at it. I spend a couple hours pulling this thing out and cleaning it, gathering up all the accessories that go with it, the paperwork, etc. He shows up, right on time, and looks at it in awe. He then lets me know that he had no intention of buying it, he just thought it would be neat to see! That was almost 2 years ago and nobody ever has bought the thing.

Last year I spotted a very nice black-dial Zenith that was poorly advertised; it was obvious the seller didn't know what she had. I emailed her and gave her lots of information, gave her some price ranges, did what I could. I knew I couldn't offer her what it was really worth. We exchanged several cordial emails but then she sent me a last one telling me I was way off base on my pricing. (too low) Apparently a bidding war had opened up on her set. Not sure what the final result was, but I thought she was extremely curt in her reply, considering I had no interest in the radio.