what kind of scam is this?

The local po po just busted several, er, ladies of the night who hawked their wares via the local Craigslist.

I guess that means you can get some pretty good deals there.

Tim Baxter wrote: I've had no luck selling on CL either. Both the Subaru and the go-kart I listed are still sitting here. I think it has to do with how established CL is in the area. In California it's been around forever. Here in KC, I think there's still a lot of folks who've never heard of it.

Tim,

It's really taking/taken off here in the smaller town two hours over. I think it is still in it's infancy, to some degree...but it really has established itself well here. I've bought and sold a LOT of stuff. I don't even look at newspaper classifieds anymore.

David S. Wallens wrote: The mileage was a little hight, but the car had its engine replaced at the dinner a little while back.

At the dinner? What? I'm sorry, I am confused.

I put a trailer in the local Want-Ad-Digest yesterday, my very first email came this morning....

Scammer said:Message date: 10/7/2008 9:42:27 PM Message: Below are the information i need to know. (1) I will like to know the present condition of this item. (2) I will also like to know if this item will be available for pickup. (3) Would also like to know the final asking price. (4) I will want you to understand that the pick up of this item will be handled by my Mover. (5) Payment of this item would be made via personal check or a Certified Check.

trying to sell a ring for my bro-in-law... we've gotten a few scammers like that also... silly scammers

I have had great success on Craig's List, buying and selling. People are often generous with their descriptions as pictures are often limited as compared to e-bay. I have seen several items that looked good in the pic, but bad in person!

I also notice items that sit for a LONG time. For example, guy lists a boat or ATV or whatever, and wants to get rid of it ASAP, asking $5K. It keeps reappearing month after month, so I make an offer of $4K. "No way, it is worth $5K". OK, perhaps in your world, but you have had it listed for 2 years and no one wants it buddy! That means it is worth $4K. But hey, your loss.

So a 1976 $3200 Mini Cooper appears on Chicago craigslist and now disappears. I bite and drop an email: where can I see the car? Here is what I get back:

First of all I want to thank you for your interest for my car. I sell it at this price $ 3,200 because i just finished the divorce with my husband. When the divorce has finished i own this car. Now as a women i don't need it. This car is in excellent working conditions, no scratches, flaws or any kind of damage, slightly used in 100% working and looking conditions and comes with a clear title, 3 months transferable warranty. From the beginning you have to know that for the payment I request only secure pay, I prefer the payment to be done using eBay services.(ebay purchase program) We will use a safe payment method because I am affiliated at eBay and I have a purchase protection account for $20.000. The final price that I want for this car is $ 3,200 including shipping and handling. If you are interested in buying it please provide me your full name and address so I can initiate the deal through eBay purchase program. Diane Stefany

Then this appears next:

The car is already at the shipping company in Frankfort, IL sealed and ready for the shipping.I have a contract with eBay so this deal must go through them. I'm very busy with my job and I'm left out of the town so I can't meet in person with you so this is the reason why I chose to sell my car over the internet. According with the eBay you have 5 days from the time you receive the car to inspect it and decide if you want to keep it or not.My brother in law works at DAS,and he promised me that it will cost me nothing to ship it to you Here is how it will work: 1.First of all I will need the following details from you: - Full Name - Full Shipping Address 2. After I will receive the details from you, I will forward them to eBay. 3. After they will process your info, they will send us both invoices. The invoice will send you the details on how to make a refundable payment. 4. eBay will contact me and I will ship the car to you. After you receive the car you will have 5 days to test, verify and do whatever you need to the car. If you will buy, then I will receive the payment details from eBay so that I can pick up the money. 5. If you will decide that you will not buy the car, eBay will refund the money and I will have the shipping company come pick up my car. If you wish to make the transaction, please send me the necessary info so that we can proceed. I look forward to hear from you. Thank you

All this MINI for $3200?

Yowza, that's a nice Mini for $3200.00. Yeah, right.

I sold the WR on Craigslist, I got several Emails saying 'I'll give you $_____' and it was always a stupid lowball offer like $500 under the asking price. No questions about the bike like when can I see it, how many hours, stuff like that. I'd replay that the bike was worth what I was asking and they really needed to look at the bike, never hear anything else. I sold it to a guy who called me from the ad.

The last time I sold a car on CL, I got fourteen replies before the end of the working day. No scammers, shockingly.

What I did was completely ignore the people who were too dumb to read the ad ("is it a stick shift" NO that's why it says AUTOMATIC in the headline and in the description and the interior shot shows two pedals and a T-handle shifter) and told the rest, it's at X location, I'll be there all day, first come first served. Around 11am, someone showed up with a trailer, handed me the amount of money I wanted, and loaded it up. Didn't even ask to hear it running.

The funny: I inquired, casually, what were his plans. He said he was going to "grind off the rust and repaint it and sell it." The rust wasn't really something you could grind off so much as push your thumb through in unimportant areas like the strut towers and such, and you could open the doors from the outside without using the handle due to the convenient access holes, but what the hell. He was happy, I was happy...

Other stuff I sold went the same way. Everything I bought went that way too: Here's the part, it's X amount, hey that sounds fair, here's the cash, thank you have a nice day.

the more important question, WHAT KIND OF WATCH ARE YOU SELLING, and HOW MUCH?

Jensenman wrote: I sold the WR on Craigslist, I got several Emails saying 'I'll give you $_____' and it was always a stupid lowball offer like $500 under the asking price. No questions about the bike like when can I see it, how many hours, stuff like that. I'd replay that the bike was worth what I was asking and they really needed to look at the bike, never hear anything else. I sold it to a guy who called me from the ad.

I love these types and always vowed to have some fun with them. I finally got my chance last year. We had a 92 honda civic 4 door with 180k on it, ugly as hell, burned a quart of oil every 100 miles and was smoked in so much that the dash was stained and it made me want to gag (and I smoke) It was a BABE rally reject and I was into it for $200. Never did a thing to it from the time it pulled in my driveway.

So I put it on CL for $800 and just said yes to every lowball that came along. But when they emailed or called with an offer I said "Yes, but our negotiations just ended since you didnt want to see the car first. You can come get it for the price you offered but I won't renegotiate when you get here" Sure enough first guy with the cash shows up and tries to rengotiate. He offered $500 on the phone and wanted to give me $400 when he got there. As he's arguing with me over it the next guy shows up with $400 cash which is what he offered on the phone and I looked at the first guy and said "now or never" He paid the $500 and took the car :)

I swear one could probably make good money doing this if you could round up enough junkers to just post and let sell to any lowball offer that comes along.