Craigslist - is it just for laughs? has it worked for you?

[ReSomething]

We bought the Ford, the pony, two fixer upper carts, a harness suitable for sacking out type work, a saddle with QH bars to fit the pony, and DH has bought the pigs, lumber, lots of shop tools, the finish mower, and lately we've bought some really nice furniture at bargain basement prices.

I've heard before that some people are self appointed pricing police but haven't seen it here, generally stuff is inexpensive but not free. The ads take a certain amount of wading through though - nothing like someone selling furniture without a picture, and calling it oak when it is particle board with an oak faux finish.

Now I do have to say we've had some duds too - DH made an appointment and drove two hours to a farm to look at something and the guy wasn't there, so DH found what matched the pic and he said they must have taken the pic when it was brand new five years ago. It was a small grain bin and still had about 50 pounds of moldy cement-like feed in it, clogging the ports and causing corrosion inside. DH came home mighty disgusted after that one.

And the pony, well, I guess the guy didn't really want to sell him but the wife did, because it took forever to get together and look at him, then they wanted to sell him without a Coggins and it took forever for that too, we weren't giving them money or putting him in a trailer to go anywhere including the vet until we had it, meanwhile the ad kept getting refreshed every two weeks. Maybe they thought somebody would just show up out of the blue, bring their trailer and pay cash, no quibbles?

Ah yes, and one of the bookcases the lady hadn't taken the books out of either. I hope DH didn't just tip it and let them all hit the floor, but I'm sure it ran through his mind.

I'd guess that is the biggest problem with CL, is that people put an item up for sale without getting it ready for sale. The finish mower was cheap and needed about an hours worth of work - the seller gave up about $250 because he parked it messed up and wanted it gone. The Ford we met at the bank(s) and the guy was still cleaning out his stuff (another wife wanted it gone deal, she was setting in the car saying go clean out the truck, honey) - I had to spend about two hours scrubbing out the interior.

The pony, advertised as a horse with no height to start with, became 14.2, and when we got there he came up to my bra line or maybe 13 hands, but from what I read here all horses shrink as soon as you come to look at them, LOL!

So yes, give it a shot, put up good pix, some people break up their phone numbers or spell one number if they put it in the ad and don't use the auto reply feature, which I believe is to protect your privacy from number harvesting programs, and good luck!

[shawneeAcres]

I do post some of the less expensive horses that we sometimes have on Craigslist, with some success, but also tend to get a lot of people inquiring that are either not serious (i.e. tire kickers) or who don't know much so have to weed thru them. I have gotten some good deals (not on horses but on equipment) thru CL's so I scan it frequently! GOt a great deal on a disc harrow a few months ago and have gotten a few other things, so it can be a good resource!

[VanEq]

I've had TONS of success using CL for both buying and selling. I got both my horses off CL, bought and sold lots of tack, found my boarding stable and even found my current (non-horsey) job-- by far the best job (and the best salary!) I've ever had.

[Chief2]

I adopted my cat and sold a saddle off of CL. No problems. If you follow the CL safety guidelines for meeting people for transactions you should be fine.

[gieriscm]

maaaaaaan how do you all keep your ads from getting flagged?????

I posted a Lovely warmblood cross at a very decent bargin price (but not kill buyers), and got flagged off with nasty reply telling me to stay off craigslist unless I am giving my horse away?? The same thing happened to my friend every single one of her boarding training or for sale ads were flagged while others stayed up untouched.

It was really weird every ad thereafter for anything I put up, even unrelated to the original, was flagged off. I started to wonder if someone was just Po'd at me (paranoid much who me?? )
And YES I read carefully the terms of service and violated none.. while other ads for local trainers with 5 to 10 K ads stayed up for weeks.. it was all very surreal and I gave up on craigslist!

I read elsewhere that in some areas where the economy isn't so good, local businesses will register with 2-3 accounts and then flag the ads for their competitors. So, your ads may have been flagged by other sellers whose horses weren't quite as nice, and were more expensive.

While I haven't bought or sold a horse on CL, I did sell my house.

[TheHorseProblem]

maaaaaaan how do you all keep your ads from getting flagged?????

I posted a Lovely warmblood cross at a very decent bargin price (but not kill buyers), and got flagged off with nasty reply telling me to stay off craigslist unless I am giving my horse away?? The same thing happened to my friend every single one of her boarding training or for sale ads were flagged while others stayed up untouched.

It was really weird every ad thereafter for anything I put up, even unrelated to the original, was flagged off. I started to wonder if someone was just Po'd at me (paranoid much who me?? )
And YES I read carefully the terms of service and violated none.. while other ads for local trainers with 5 to 10 K ads stayed up for weeks.. it was all very surreal and I gave up on craigslist!

If you put your ad in Pets, it will get flagged because there is no selling of pets on CL. Most horses are listed in Farm and Garden.

My horse came from a CL ad. A friend of a friend was trolling ads looking for an OTTB to buy cheap, retrain, and sell. She passed on my horse, Lord knows why. He is a gem, but he came from pretty poor conditions. They just needed to get him off the payroll quick and had no facility for showing him properly. That CL ad was my dream coming true.

I have also sold paddock boots on CL. A lot of sellers have become disenchanted with eBay, and use CL instead. It's a great way to find local sellers/buyers.

[Mtn trails]

DH and I did buy one horse off CL but it was a horse we used to own and bought him to rescue him as he was in extremely poor condition and about 150 lbs under weight. However, I have bought and sold a bit of tack - got a nice Pessoa t/o blanket for $50.00, an Equigel pad for $20.00, and some other stuff. I regularly peruse the site and have seen some decent horses on there that I would go look at if I were in the market but there are some doozies as well.

[Mtn trails]

I adopted my cat and sold a saddle off of CL. No problems. If you follow the CL safety guidelines for meeting people for transactions you should be fine.

Here in WA, a man was selling an expensive ring on CL and set up a meet AT HIS HOUSE with the "buyers." The man opened his door to three thugs and he ended up shot to death when he went to protect his son who they had pistol whipped and his wife had had a gun held to her head before they left with the ring. Such animals.

[kypeep]

Have bought nice tack as well as some good ponies and horses for resale. Sold a few things too. And found my stall cleaning crew via Craigslist. Definitely has worked for me.

[Rubyfree]

I read elsewhere that in some areas where the economy isn't so good, local businesses will register with 2-3 accounts and then flag the ads for their competitors. So, your ads may have been flagged by other sellers whose horses weren't quite as nice, and were more expensive.

This is a common theory but it doesn't work in practice. Only one flag per ad per IP address counts, and it takes MANY flags for an ad to come down the first time. However, every time an ad is flagged off it makes your account more "brittle", meaning that it takes fewer flags for an ad to come down.

Some communities are pickier about where ads go- properly, horse training or boarding ads should go in farm & garden services rather than farm & garden sales. If your (sportncurls) friend was posting frequently in F&G and getting flagged off by folks who thought she should be posting in services, her account was probably pretty brittle.

I've had great luck using CL for all manner of sales and purchases. The same common sense rules you'd apply to any internet transaction stand; use good judgement and trust your instincts. I simply don't respond to emails from obviously crazy people or those who can't type out complete sentences. There's usually another buyer right around the corner.

[Hip]

I have bought things off of CL but never had any luck selling anything. Then I got the generic responses to my yard sale ads, such as "I would like to help you, where do you live?". Hello? I posted my address for the yard sale! THAT made me suspicious, but I never had any problems. Probably due to the fact I lived out in the country and we own mucho firearms with lots of ranchhands abounding...just sayin'....

I have been flagged extensively too about horses. I have several accounts with different free emails (hotmail, yahoo), which all work off the same IP. Once I posted about how one ad was so badly written/spelled, I asked if they had been to school in their lives. Someone posted back that if I didn't quit reposting, I would be banned. Go ahead, I said, I have several accounts and let 'em rip. Wasn't banned either.

But, I knew of one lady who sold many horses off CL. About 3-4 a month!

[hb]

I posted a saddle earlier this week and have had no response. But there are so many ads it was probably on the second page within an hour. I'm going to try posting again on the weekend.

[Samotis]

I just found 27 MD panels, 10 of them sliding doors for $150 each in fantastic shape.

So yes, there are deals out there!

No shopping for horses? That could be a whole other issue! But then again I have been to top trainers barns where there are jokes as well. Sometimes people like to stretch the reality of what a horse or pony actually is.

One time we were buying a pony for a pretty timid kid. He tried out great and a month after they had the pony the pony bolted in the show ring and literally the kid almost fell off from a heart attack. They sent the pony back and the people said, oh ya, he does that sometimes. Ok, that is a key point I think!!!! And not just a little spook and run, this was a tuck the butt and take off as fast as you can darting around jumps while the kid on top of you is screaming bloody murder!!

[dressagetraks]

I've had some success with Craigslist regarding other things. The one time I listed a fairly low-priced horse there, I did get several nibbles, but nobody bit. The main complaint on the people who did come out was that she was 16 hands. Um, I said that very clearly in the detailed add, just a smidge over 16 hands. But most people around here consider that "large," and I had people tell me that since all horses shrink when you go actually see them, they hadn't figured she really was 16 hands. Since she actually was as advertised, she was bigger than they wanted.

I once was looking at a chainsaw, had an appointment, and had something come up (transportation calamity) beyond my control. I called the guy to apologize and reschedule for the next day, at a point when I wasn't even due there yet, and he nearly had a heart attack. Somebody actually CALLING to postpone/move an appointment instead of just being a plain no-show?

I did get a few obvious scam mails on the mare. Things along the "I want her (still hadn't seen here or asked many questions), and my agent will send you a check for more than shipping, and you then deposit it, pay the shipping company yourself, and return the overage by wire transfer to us. Uh huh.

[mkevent]

I've had great results with CL for selling/giving away our compost.

I've sold some nice breeches (Pikeur) on CL to a lady in MA-and I live in NJ. That surprised me.

I haven't had luck selling an older Passier, Hottwash or Laube clippers. I'm not sure why. I guess I could put the saddle and clippers on EBay, but the Hottwash would be too darn heavy to ship so I was hoping to sell it locally.

It does seem the most responses I get are right after I post the ad, so I guess I could keep re posting until the items sell, but that's too much work!

[Chief2]

Here in WA, a man was selling an expensive ring on CL and set up a meet AT HIS HOUSE with the "buyers." The man opened his door to three thugs and he ended up shot to death when he went to protect his son who they had pistol whipped and his wife had had a gun held to her head before they left with the ring. Such animals.

And therein was the problem. The man did not read the guidelines, and did not use common sense. Who would advertise valuable jewelry and then handle the transaction at home, where there could very possibly be more loot to be had and put his family in danger in the bargain? In this economy?? [edit]

I've got relatives who go on and on about all the terrible things they heard of associated with CL, and have never once used it for anything. They have never even gone up to look at the site on the computer. Follow the guidelines. Take portable goods to an independent location for the transaction and take a friend to that transaction; or have one with you when folks come to view your pony, and the odds on safety increase on your side.

[VanEq]

This is a common theory but it doesn't work in practice. Only one flag per ad per IP address counts, and it takes MANY flags for an ad to come down the first time. However, every time an ad is flagged off it makes your account more "brittle", meaning that it takes fewer flags for an ad to come down.

I was told it only took one flag to bring down an ad... that CL's policy was "better safe than sorry". Or at least-- once it's flagged once, it's taken down for review.

I don't recall that I've ever been flagged but I had a friend find out that her ad (not horse-related, but nothing wrong with it) was repeatedly being flagged by the same person as she re-posted it. She just perservered and eventually they left it alone...

[Jaideux]

I found my new barn via Craigslist. I haven't moved there yet, so only time will tell, but when I visited it seemed nice, and my interactions with the owner since then via phone and email have been positive.

It's a good resource for places that haven't joined the modern world of making a website (for better or worse).

[ADM7040]

And therein was the problem. The man did not read the guidelines, and did not use common sense. Who would advertise valuable jewelry and then handle the transaction at home, where there could very possibly be more loot to be had and put his family in danger in the bargain? In this economy?? [edit]

[edit]

Certainly the man displayed poor judgement, but that does not make him a bad guy and does not excuse the thugs who murdered him.

[Samantha37]

Never sold or bought a horse on there, but have bought a lot of books and some furniture. Love it!

That said, I am very careful about meeting people. The books I have usually met the person at a public place or one time they just shipped them to me. I always go with someone else to pick up furniture (party because it is usually too heavy for me to lift alone, lol) or anytime I am going to a seller's house. Everyone I have bought from has been extremely nice and their items well represented.