xrayzebra 

It's fun to joke about CL buyers and sellers, but I'm hoping some other people have some good stories about dealing through CL and other ways of buying and selling bikes. I've almost always had fun and met nice folks when buying or selling through CL.


I bought a $200 bicycle on CL, just because I thought it was cool and wanted to try it out. It was maybe a $600 bike originally, make and model doesn't matter, it looked like a good deal. I had fun riding it for few months, and then flipped it at the same $200.


I had a phone conversation with the buyers before they came to get it, and made clear I like to work on bikes, I did not need to sell this bike so much I'd rip them off, they were welcome to come take a ride, and leave it if they didn't like it - no offense taken.


They loved the bike, and bought it. As I was helping them load it into their truck, they took out an old Free Spirit ladies 3 speed and said "You can have this for free if you want it. We don't know what to do with it. You can sell it or give it to charity, we don't care, we just appreciate that you were nice on the phone."


I sold two bikes to a very nice lady tonight. She came to buy one bike, but I had another that was similar and she bought both. When I started to show her a few things to watch and how to adjust them, she patiently let me explain it. The bike had a creaky crank when I got it, all it needed was about a half turn of the crank bolt to fix it. When I told her she might need a larger Allen key than most people have on hand for the crank nut if it started creaking again, she finally confessed that she was an aircraft mechanic, and she'd be fine.


We had a laugh over that, and as I helped her load the two bikes into her rented SUV, she asked if I knew what a Raleigh Chopper was. I said, "Yeah, classic muscle bike, Raleigh's answer to the Stingray." She said, "I helped design that bike." I knew she was too young to have done that, but I didn't challenge her on it. She laughed and said, "My Dad was the (highly placed executive, I won't name him here) of Raleigh. When Raleigh was first designing the Chopper, he brought home a prototype and told me to ride it. I crashed it, and told him it was not right. He told the design team and they redesigned it for better stability."


She had only meant to spend $200 for the one bike but she dug through her purse and came up with $399 - a dollar short of the $200 per bike "firm" price. After she left she called me again. It was too late to stop at the bank and she just realized there was a $2 toll on the way home. I told her come back, and I gave her $5 back to make sure she could get home. When she got home, she texted me saying that when she gets moved down here, she would show me a book on Raleigh bikes where I could find the story of her dad and his involvement with the Chopper.

(Edited to correct the incorrect statement that she "texted me the name of the book." When I went back to the text to get the name for Bmach, I realized I had mis-stated this.)


So, not everybody on CL is a bike thief, and not all buyers are cheapskates. Feel free to post any good stories you have.

Bmach

xrayzebra 

Oh, man, you caught me in an imprecise detail. Going back to her text it actually says " there's a book that mentions my dad, I'll bring it down," meaning that as she moves her stuff down from NJ to FL she will bring it down and show me. Sorry - I have edited the above post to better reflect the true story. I'm going to PM you a little more info, though, I don't want to mention a real person's name on the forum. Not cool.

Gconan

Cool story! Thanks for sharing.

Brocephus

Yeah, very cool story ! As much wheelin-n-dealin' as I've done over the years on several classified sites (Craigslist,Armslist, TheOutdoorsTrader), you'd think I had something interesting to relate, but nothing's coming to mind. (On the upside, i don;t have any stories of anyone sticking a pistol in my face and leaving with my wallet and my car......or worse. We've had a few horror stories from them make the local news.) Though CL has gotten a bad rap in recent years, I've pretty much had nothing but solid experiences trading on all the classified sites, I think they're a fantastic resource.

Colnago Mixte

I agree, fantastic resource, costs nothing to look. I just wish that people would just give up on trying to earn a living flipping stuff on CL, I think they are the ones that cause a lot of the unpleasantness, because it's so much work and the profits are either small or non-existent, with few exceptions.

I think CL works best when you aren't so concerned about getting every last penny, the stinginess of people can also cause problems.

My best purchases on CL have been from people who just wanted to get rid of something, and the worst, from people determined to get top dollar and "make a killing".

enine

Mine was my Specialized Rockhopper from a guy who was moving. Turns out he worked for the same company I do so we met in the parking lot and I got a new to me bike.

Lakerat

Bought a tandem from a guy who set a relay team faired recumbent record in the RAAM. Hit 80 MPH in Colorado.

Bought a Peugot PX10 and a nice pair of vintage Campy hubbed track wheels from a serious 6 days track bike collector. Very nice guy who you'd have thought couldn't rub 2 nickels together by looking at his rented house. He told me he had little interest in the 1972 Peugot or the cherry 1970 Paramount track bike the wheels came off. (they were a not original road set, he kept the originals) since they were too new for his interest. He showed me a room with 30 pre WW2 track bikes, but the gems were at the foot of his bed: Two bikes and the original travel case for them. He knew who rode them.

Bought a Marinoni in Florida and my brother was cruising nearby and met the seller at a marina about a mile from his house 2 days later. My bike was stripped of its wheels and rested comfortably in the V berth until my brother got to port where his SUV was.

wipekitty

My CL experiences (with bicycles, at least) have mostly been cute and happy.

Most recently, I was in the market for a new winter commuter (low-cost older MTB). I found a really nice one on CL, and went over to the seller's house. I recognized his wife - it turns out that we'd been on a couple of group road rides together! And, the seller had just come back from a road ride with one of my co-workers! The bike was just what I was looking for.

dedhed

I sold a lower level Raleigh USA frame & fork I had left from a parts donor bike on CL.
Some young lady was so smitten with the purple color, she paid me $20 rather than the $15 I was asking even though I had change.

Mitkraft

I've been lurking on this and other bike forums off and on for a while now. Starting to get significantly more into cycling and have been meaning to join. Seeing this topic after seeing the absolutely ridiculous one trying to tell everyone not to use craigslist for fear of supporting bike thieves I just had to chime in here for my first post. Craigslist is no different than any other used goods market. There will be some bad apples but if you use common sense you will generally be fine.

I have had a ton of successful buying and selling transactions on CL and met some very nice people in the process. In addition to bikes I am into vintage audio, vinyl albums, arcade games, and vintage computing. Between all those categories I have bought and sold TONS of stuff over the years with no issues to speak of. Off the top of my head here are a few Craigslist stories I can remember:

A while back I answered an ad for some Texas Instruments TI 99/4A stuff (that's a Commodore 64 era competitor computer for those who don't know) which I have a lot of nostalgia for since it was my first computer and my uncle used to work for TI back then. I ended up having a long chat with the the guy who also used to be a TI employee. Most of the stuff was purchased through the work program or company store and had been sitting in his attic forever. Most of it hardly used and in pristine shape. He ended up giving me a TON of stuff that wasn't even listed and later called to give me more. He was super nice and fun to chat with about old TI.

While picking up a CRT TV to use with vintage console systems the seller asked what I was going to use it for. I told him how I was into vintage computing and consoles and he told me that he had his sons old Vic20 system (predecessor to the Commodore 64) that didn't sell in a garage sale a while back in storage somewhere if I was interested. It took a long time before he got around to digging it out and then for us to coordinate a time but I did eventually buy it. Then we got to talking and his son works for the same company that I do so we chatted about that. Then a short while after that his son was moving back to this area and and interviewing for positions at my location. I was able to meet him, chat about the old systems we played as a kid and then introduce him around to some of the people I work for to give him some contacts here.

More recently (and bike related) I bought a full set of Topeak MTX rack, bags, and basket from a guy for my commuter bike. Turns out the guy was retired, had been really into biking (mostly mountain) along with his kids, had accumulated a lot of stuff over the years and was now downsizing. He also had a Topeak beam rack which I was also interested in but we never could coordinate on that. Not too long ago I contacted him because I really wanted a beam rack and was going to buy one retail if not his. He said there was a "large rolling box of bike parts" in his storage shed that included the beam rack and ton of other parts that I could have for $100. Knowing this guy, how nice he was and that he sold his stuff for way less than it was worth in an effort to get it into the hands of someone else who could use it I agreed even without knowing all the contents. What I got was HUGE Husky rolling lock box with a TON of miscellaneous bike parts including cages, helmets, seats (including a Brooks B17), tubes, tools, all sorts of things. I was in the middle of finishing my carbon road bike build, about to build my CX/gravel/commuter build, as well as a FS 26er for my brother, and refreshing my wife's Trek comfort bike. That batch of parts has been a treasure chest of items I've needed for all these bikes. And to top it off, when i was leaving to meet the guy he offered up a vintage kids bike if I had a kid or nephew who could use it. It tuned out to be a WAY cool little 1981 Schwinn Mini Scrambler in great shape which I'll leave over at my mom's for all her grandkids to ride.

That's really just a small sample of the great experiences I've had. I have had so many occasions to meet up with great people that shared an interest and share stories.

One small caveat though: If something seems "not right" then it probably isn't. If you have a buyer or seller that seems questionable then just don't deal with them. It's that simple.

Tape2012

Mostly good experiences. Bought a great condition Specialized Allez for $300 and put a ton of miles on it.

My only marginal experience was when I saw someone selling Amazon Fire TV sticks for more than retail. Out of curiosity I emailed him asking why. He said he installes software on the sticks that allows you to get a ton of programming for free, including PPV and movies still in theaters. I pointed out to him that what he was doing was illegal but he insisted that since all of the software he installed was available on the internet that meant it was perfectly legal.

Kids these days....

jefnvk

I didn't really want to sell my Peugeot PH10, as it was the first "real" bike I bought when I got back into cycling. It was really just a touch too big tho, and I had bikes I rode far more. Someone called me up asking for a bike for his wife, and could I meet her at the shop she worked at with it when she got off her shift? So I did, and when she walked out her face just lit up with excitement. She took it for a ride around the block, and when she came back she had the biggest smile I had seen on anyone in a while. Turns out they had moved up from Louisiana for one of them to go to UM for grad school, and while she loved old French bikes, she had to sell her couple when she moved, and was ecstactic to get another. Made me feel a lot better about letting it go!

My Miyata 610 also went to a guy who had recently got his girlfriend one, and he wanted a matching option for a tour they were doing.

manapua_man

Sold some spare parts that had been collecting dust. Ended up tagging along on a photography club thing since I also had one of my cameras on me. I still join them every so often on some of their outings.