So I have to let off some steam guys!

Ive been trying to buy a boat for 4 weeks now. (14-19ft Either jet Boat or bowrider)

So I have been looking on craigslist and found a few. I cant say how many ad's i have replied to. Its easily in excess of 200.
Very rarely do I get a "boat is sold" or "Call me and we can discuss it.." Infact I havent had either of those in 200 attempts.

My standard message is "Have cash; Willing to buy please call me @ 404....... or reply with a number and ill call you; Cash is no problem.

So a $8000 boat; I talk to the guy because he posted his number. He wants cash so i go to the bank.. get cash and drive from marietta to cumming.
I get there and the SOB wont come out of his house; i can see him in there but he isnt replying to knocks on the door or his cell; No boat to be seen.. Thanks ass! :( Back the cash goes to the bank...

Another day or 2 later i find one for $3400; Talk to the guy it sounds ok. I get cash and he calls me on the way. He sold it.. Well thanks... ass!

Then on friday I call another person. He wants $2500 for his boat with a blown motor. I said thats fine; if the hull is OK ill take it; We agree and both say the word "Deal"..Will he take a check? "Id prefer cash"... fine i go get cash... 2 hours later he calls me back and someone offered him more money; I said what happened to our "deal".. well do I want to match it? No I dont play that game.. another ass.. :(

At this point I think its time to give up on craigslist. ... What REALLY chaps my ass is the next day the same frikken boat will be relisted..I just dont get what the hell is wrong with people

Thanks for letting me vent..

Screw Craigslist.   Try www.BoatTrader.com   Type in your zip code, tell it what type of boat and what length range  you want, and click search.   Great deals on boats there, and you have pictures most of the time too.

Well,

I had just the opposite happen as a boat seller on Craigslist.....

Had a 2005 23' center with twin 4 strokes ETC console boat listed FS on Craigslist.

I had it priced way below market value just to move it since my work schedule didn't allow me to use it as much as I would like.

A "buyer" looked at the boat and we agreed on the price and he was to pick it up 2 days later on a Friday.

He called me the night before and asked me if I would take a check and I told him I would not.

Well, he never showed and I still have the boat.

It's getting tuned up right now and I guess I'll relist it when I get it back from the boat mechanic.

TD

PM sent to Impact-Vector

Craigslist is full of retarded fucking assholes.  And the people who run it are no better.  To them, it is fine to solicit a gay threesome with a donkey, but damn you straight to hell if you try to list something gun related.

There are definitely a bunch of flakes on Craigslist.  I've sold a few smaller things on CL, and it's hit and miss on what kind of person contacts you.  Bought something listed on there yesterday, and the guy related a few stories of the nut jobs that replied/didn't show up/etc.

wanna sue someone

It sounds like to me SOMEONE is trying to tell you DON'T BUY A BOAT.

The two happiest days of a boat owners life:

The day they buy the boat.... and the day they sell it.

Yeah? I went to look at a childrens 4 wheeler for my son and the guy met us at the local wal mart in Canton. He's in a early 80's beat to shit Cadillac.

We start following him to his house and the neighborhood looks like methville U.S.A. My wife starts getting nervous and says "he's gonna try and rob us", about that time the phone rings and it's the guy, still driving the car in front of us and he says out of the blue "I'm not gonna rob you dude" (I guess he knew the locale looked like shit. We ended up not buying it and him adn his wife were tweakers.

I have sold a  few things things on  CL. probably had 300+ inquiries about them and a few real people showed to purchase as agreed. I sold a truck 2 years ago to a fella, he paid cash and he told me he would be back the next day to pick up the truck. It is still in my parking lot. I may have it towed as an abandoned vehicle since i never got his phone #

I've had great luck on Craigslist.  On the selling side:  I sold my Triumph Speed 4 the day I posted it for cash at full asking price.  I've gotten rid of all sorts of car parts on there, as well.

As for buying, I picked up my weight bench, plates, bars, stand, etc for <$200 from a guy 15 mins away.  Just yesterday I bought a used Trek 2300 for $250 in awesome shape.  

I've never had anyone stand me up or back out on a deal - hell, noone's ever even been late to a meeting.  Maybe it's something about boat owners.

BOAT TRADER!!! I t is expensive, but some times that weeds out the flakes!! I just sold my boat in a week, and still get calls today, 2 weeks later. Craigslist is free for a reason!

JMHO
rich

I am batting about 500 w/ Craigslist. My sales have gone smoothly, but my purchases have not. I have learned never to buy electronics unless they are still in the shrink wrap. I have also learned to test every feature before buying. I bought a table that had adjustable legs. Well, the legs didn't adjust. I hate dishonest people. Now, I test everything.

Accountant

Make sure you go through the proper (LEGAL) way of claiming it as abandoned before you have it towed. File a report with local LEO and I think you have to run an ad in local paper for two consec. weeks. I had a friend have a backhoe that was stuck on his hunting property. It wasn't his but a guy's who was contracted to do some work there. It got stuck and made a real mess of the creek that it was near. It sat there for over two years with no contact from the guy. My buddy had someone come dig it out and tow it away after it was sold. A year later, the guy that owned it shows up saying "where the hell is my backhoe?" Sorry bud, it was abandoned and sold. He goes and file theft charges against my buddy. Sherriff locks my buddy up and had to go to court over it. Has the charges dropped and then the guy tries to sue him for loss of equipment and wages. Gets thrown out of court after the Judge finds out the guy was in jail for 3 plus years for shooting his own brother. Could have been avoided by just filing the proper report.
FYI, CYA!
sorry for the thread drift.

I've found great deals on cheap trucks and cars on craigslist that I've bought , owned, then sold for a profit.

Found some mention of guns....never tried.

Sold cheap airsoft to people on there.

Tried to adopt some kittens, all failed attempts.

Biggest thing I've learned is that  85% of the people there are liars, 65% of the people on there are idiots.

But you can find some deals if you hunt it.

My experiences have been on both extremes of good and bad. Take today for example, I see a weight set, call the man make a deal, drive up there and pick it up. Guy was really nice, had a good chat and went on our way.

A couple months ago I spent almost a week negotiating meeting times with some dude who changed his availability all the time and when i showed up called me and said this wasnt the time we agreed upon laughing. Needless to say, we did not do business.

I guess its just luck of the draw.

If you really need to kill some brain cells, or find a way to waste the better part of four days, post your rental property on CL. I literally have an entire email folder dedicated to people that should be used for live shark bait.

Some interesting ones

-Advertised a house sitter gig for six months because I was going to be working on the west coast all summer. Stipulation was single individual no kids no pets. Move in day comes and the lady shows up with three kids and two dogs. Ah...here's your deposit back.

-Was showing a house to a DEA agent one evening. We were sitting around talking guns waiting on the next perspective tenant to show up. Well, he showed up...BAKED . I mean Snoop Dog, smoke rolling out of the car windows, Baked. He didn't get the house, but he did get picked up for having one big ass bag of weed on his front seat.

-Had a lady get a phone call while I was showing a house. Evidently her boyfriend decided to break up with her. Well, she goes absolutely bat shit in my house. Ranting, raving, looking through the cabinets, opening all the closet doors...fuck if I know what she was doing, but it was all I could do to get her ass out the front door and closed behind her.

-Had a tenant leave a mattress one time, so I posted it for free on CL. Just come and get it, it's leaning up against the garage door, just show up and take it. Well, long story short- had a lady threaten to sue me for being a racist if I didn't deliver the free mattress to her in downtown Atlanta. Ah yeah...good luck with that.

WTH?

I don't even know how that works. Can we get the long story?

I'm not sure how it was going to work either. i think it was more a tactic to get the damn thing delivered.

If I recall the email exchange went something like this -

Her: Can you deliver this to my house in Atlanta.
Me: No, it's free, come and get it.
Her: I don't have a car. I need this delivered.
Me: Sorry, It's first come first serve. Who ever picks it up, gets its.
Her: This is racist, you don't want to deliver it because you know I'm black and live in Atlanta. (Not sure how I was supposed to have figured out her race in a few one line emails.)
Me: WTF. I don't want to deliver it because I don't want to spend $15 on gas driving to Atlanta. My garbage man will take it for free...
Her: My brother's roommate's uncles's cousin is a lawyer and we may have to file suit.

At this point I just stopped replying.
About a week later I get another email that says "I've got so and so's truck, can I get directions to pick this up." Needless to say, I didn't reply.

+++1000