True stories from the trenches of Craigslist.

[F For Fake]

99% of the posts on CL are garbage or grossly overinflated, but that 1% of gold makes it worth going back. On the handful of purchases that I actually completed (i.e. the guy actually had something worth buying) I have made very good profits. You just have to keep looking, and in very short order you'll figure out how to separate the from the stuff worth calling about.

[Chip Cataldo]

Watching your successes this year was what prompted me to put together my Craigslist ad. But it sounds like you literally have to make scanning craigslist your job or else there will be 10 other guys in line ahead of you for the books. I'll re-new my ads to see what pops up before the holidays but with 10 people already posting ads in the Cleveland area its gotten ridiculous.

No, you don't have to make it your job. I just give myself 5 minutes in the morning to do my searches and then repeat in the evening.

 

That's all. 10 minutes a day, tops. The trick is to do it every day. Even though there are 3 comic/collectible stores in the area, multiple pawn shops, 2 big flea markets and tons of thrift stores I usually am the first responder to an ad.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[ft88]

How is Craigslist different than any other method of finding comics/collections in the wild?

 

Overgraded

Overpriced

Overhyped

Newer than expected

Won't come up with a price to sell at - but want you to tell them what they are worth

Always has more "back home" or "in storage" or "at my brothers house"

Always has a relative that has _____________ (Action Comics 1, Batman 1 Spiderman 1 etc)

Gives you the evil eye when you make an offer, even though they know nothing at all and you offered 60% of value.

Tells you they got an offer twice yours and then ask you to bump up your offer 10%

 

After you offer $1000, they ask if you can offer more. Without a counter-offer. Maybe this is a lesson in negotiations but never ever ever negotiate with yourself.

 

"$1000"

"can you make it higher?"

$1100"

"can you make it higher?"

.... infinity.

 

And last but not least always has the Death of Superman sealed, bagged, and boarded with a $25 price tag on it. Always.

 

[Columbia Comics]

Abt 2 years ago, met a guy for lunch who was interested in buying some books from us. Lunch went well and we managed to arrive at a deal.

 

Fast forward til today, he's one of my best friends and we probably hang out 2/3 times a week for lunch. We go to each others kid's birthday parties and go to movies and everyone gets along very well. He even searches CL from time to time and has alerted me to deals, some that have included nice BA runs and some OA.

 

You never know what you'll find or who you'll meet!

[RCheli]

 

And last but not least always has the Death of Superman sealed, bagged, and boarded with a $25 price tag on it. Always.

 

If it were Death of Superman, it wouldn't be that bad. But it's usually dozens of copies of the die-cut covers introducing the new Supermen. Or the funeral issues.

 

Ugh.

[shadroch]

I advertised some modern books on CLs. Met a guy in a bar and he bought about half the books I bought. We talked awhile and we had some mutual friends. He asked about SA books and I ended up inviting him to my house( I didn't keep my books there) and sold him about $3,000 worth. He mentioned he'd had told a friend of mine that we had met and the guy told him I owned a couple of cases of Spidey 300. He made me what I thought was a very fair offer and to my shock, pulled out a wad of cash from his sweat pant legs and gave me an $8,000 deposit for them. Picked them up the next day.

As far as I know, he is sitting on them.

[1Cool]

Watching your successes this year was what prompted me to put together my Craigslist ad. But it sounds like you literally have to make scanning craigslist your job or else there will be 10 other guys in line ahead of you for the books. I'll re-new my ads to see what pops up before the holidays but with 10 people already posting ads in the Cleveland area its gotten ridiculous.

No, you don't have to make it your job. I just give myself 5 minutes in the morning to do my searches and then repeat in the evening.

 

That's all. 10 minutes a day, tops. The trick is to do it every day. Even though there are 3 comic/collectible stores in the area, multiple pawn shops, 2 big flea markets and tons of thrift stores I usually am the first responder to an ad.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

 

Myrtle Beach must have a different mind set compared to Cleveland. I've yet to see anything posted that I was interested in and there are literally 5 want ads for every couple for-sale ads.

[mrwoogieman]

Craigslist is pretty good for me, I usually find some drek to go take a gander at. I don't have a wanted to buy ad, just looking at the comics for sale listings (garage sales and tag sales as well when they mention comics).

 

I have one guy who keeps listing 700 10c12c15c comics in Nassau County, but when I contact him he only says he still has them, but won't let me come and see them. Most recently he said he needs $5 each for them. I responded and said let me come and take a look, but no response. What a flake! Shadroch, are you trolling me through Craigslist??!!

[mrwoogieman]

Craigslist is pretty good for me, I usually find some drek to go take a gander at. I don't have a wanted to buy ad, just looking at the comics for sale listings (garage sales and tag sales as well when they mention comics).

 

I have one guy who keeps listing 700 10c12c15c comics in Nassau County, but when I contact him he only says he still has them, but won't let me come and see them. Most recently he said he needs $5 each for them. I responded and said let me come and take a look, but no response. What a flake! Shadroch, are you trolling me through Craigslist??!!

 

I got one more email from this guy. Turns out he is a flea market seller at the local flea at the railroad parking lot on Sunday mornings. When he said he was going to be there this Sunday, I knew I could close the book on him and his 700 10/12/15 cent comics for $5 each.

 

[Diamonddave]

Had a good morning on Saturday, answered an ad on CL, went to an indoor flea market and searched through about 12 long boxes of mostly . Found a few good books, Catwoman 51 AH Lost numbers cover, Man of Steel 18 x 2 one newsstand and one direct, BatGirl Adv 1, Action Comics 685 and more. They had some Silver locked in a case but it was all Classics Illustrated and Bugs Bunny.

[jsilverjanet]

Had a good morning on Saturday, answered an ad on CL, went to an indoor flea market and searched through about 12 long boxes of mostly . Found a few good books, Catwoman 51 AH Lost numbers cover, Man of Steel 18 x 2 one newsstand and one direct, BatGirl Adv 1, Action Comics 685 and more. They had some Silver locked in a case but it was all Classics Illustrated and Bugs Bunny.

 

Palatine?

[Topnotchman]

Craigslist is pretty good for me, I usually find some drek to go take a gander at. I don't have a wanted to buy ad, just looking at the comics for sale listings (garage sales and tag sales as well when they mention comics).

 

I have one guy who keeps listing 700 10c12c15c comics in Nassau County, but when I contact him he only says he still has them, but won't let me come and see them. Most recently he said he needs $5 each for them. I responded and said let me come and take a look, but no response. What a flake! Shadroch, are you trolling me through Craigslist??!!

 

I got one more email from this guy. Turns out he is a flea market seller at the local flea at the railroad parking lot on Sunday mornings. When he said he was going to be there this Sunday, I knew I could close the book on him and his 700 10/12/15 cent comics for $5 each.

 

 

The 10 centers are almost always Looney Tunes in good condition, followed up with a few Porky Pigs in vg to round out the 12 centers.

 

 

[loadstone]

Responded to 2 cl ads 2 years ago. 1. Guy had almost a complete run of Thor, xfactor and xmen minus the oldest sa keys. I snagged the bronze keys for a buck each. Flipped on eBay for a net of $850. 2. Guy had about 110 sa ASM and Xmen with a few ff and hulks ranging from gd to fn. I offered him $200 expecting to negotiate up. He started looking them up on his phone and saw eBay, cpg and cbr online pricing for NM and suddenly let out a combination shout/laugh like he had won the lottery. He refused without a counter claiming he got an offer of $500 from a shop, I told him to take it and left. I waited 2 days then emailed him my final offer of $325 and he immediately responded. We met and I bought the lot from him for $325. Flipped them on eBay for $1300. Used the funds to bankroll a $10k cash purchase of an oo collection of asm from 1-111 ranging from Vg- Vf after negotiating down from $14 k.

 

Since then every ad since then has been drek, drek, drek. 2 comic shops have opened in the area since and I'm now competing with them and other investors that have wised up in the area. My area seems to be saturated so it's a matter of who responds first and for how much. I was working locally 2 years ago, now I'm on 100% travel so I don't have the luxury to respond quickly to every ad. The LCS's I've frequented have seen a drop in quality collections come their way.

 

 

[cujobyte]

Abt 2 years ago, met a guy for lunch who was interested in buying some books from us. Lunch went well and we managed to arrive at a deal.

 

Fast forward til today, he's one of my best friends and we probably hang out 2/3 times a week for lunch. We go to each others kid's birthday parties and go to movies and everyone gets along very well. He even searches CL from time to time and has alerted me to deals, some that have included nice BA runs and some OA.

 

You never know what you'll find or who you'll meet!

 

[slym2none]

Nothing good I've found here, just wanted to share this with all:

 

I had a reply via CL about one of my items I have listed there, and while the person asked to be replied to with their gmail addy, I just replied through CL and heard nothing for two days. They seemed interested, and it didn't read like a scam (plus, I really need to get rid of the stuff I am selling) so I replied to the gmail addy. Not 5 minutes later, I receive a reply to that message, but from a completely different email address. This is what it states:

 

"Thanks for the swift response, and I'm okay with the price and the

conditions. I'm ready to make instant purchase. My mode of payment

would be in Bank Certified Cashier Check or money order and i will

arrange for local pick up as soon as you get the payment,Concerning

the pick up, I will arrange for it soon as you receive the

payment.Kindly get back to me with below information so that i can

proceed with the payment immediately if you are selling to me.

 

Full Name :

Mailing Address:

City:

State and Postal Code:

Total amount:

Phone number:

 

And as soon as this is provided, the check will be

issued overnight to you and i will let you know when its mailed out.

Best regard.

God Bless"

 

NOW the alarm bells are going off. Unfortunately, they have my real email address (not a huge problem, but still) but they are getting no further info from me. I did reply (since they already have my email addy) that "due to other unfortunate experiences with CL, I only accept payment via Paypal or cash on the spot." I sent that off 15 minutes ago, and have yet to get a reply.

 

Anyone want to bet that they reply? I say they won't.

 

 

Oh well...

 

 

 

-slym

[Transplant]

http://classroom.synonym.com/craigslist-overpayment-scams-14039.html

[kav]

Craigslist-You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy

Sure you might find someone to take you to Alderaan but most likely you'll find guys who have the death sentence on 12 systems.

[slym2none]

http://classroom.synonym.com/craigslist-overpayment-scams-14039.html

 

Yup.

 

(thumbs u

 

45 minutes, and no reply to my request of Paypal or cash - what a surprise!

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Bill1]

My 24 year old son just sold his $5000 car to a person that contacted him from CL by text, and wanted to meet him and see it in a Wal Mart parking lot. They said they were bringing cash and to be sure he had the title. When he went, I went to in another car and sat a few rows away to watch. Turns out, it was a 25 year old woman, and while she didn't have the cash on her, her met her a few days later (Rural King this time) with a local bank check, and all was well. This was about 3 weeks ago, so the check was good. BUT, this could have easily gone another way....

[slym2none]

FTR - here are the two email addys I was given; I don't expect they will use them for long, but still, if anyone sees these in a response to your ad, just ignore the scammers:

 

geraldinebrewer123@gmail.com

 

mjohn1861@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

-slym