tenngal

I also have an email address just for CL and post my name as something similar to mine - but not quite. And, I never meet them at my house. I have actually had a sewing machine brought to me from 50 miles away and we met at the Hampton Inn breakfast room (in the afternoon) so I could plug it up and try it out. I asked first, of course.

ptquilts

I meant the ones where you buy it sight unseen and they ship it to you. Local car sales where you can kick the tires are usually fine.

But it is a common scam on CL to advertise a great car at a low price and it will be "shipped" to you after you wire them the money. Of course there is no car and your money is gone forever.

lalaland

I have successfully sold and purchased a lot of stuff on CL with no problem. What irks me is when people don't remove their ads after the item is purchased. CL asks you to do that but most people don't. I don't give out my number until the person has made an appointment to come see the item and then I use my land line, not my cell. I really don't like people I don't know having my cell number on their phone. It amazes me how many scammers there are out there. I could be selling an item for $5 and a scammer will respond to the ad. It's nuts!

miriam

I buy and sell on CL A LOT, too. I give out my phone number but I don't put in in so that it will automatically come up. That way I don't miss a call but they can't just pick up my number - they have to type it in. They never do. I do not answer email from anything that comes up with the same title on the ad. If they want to meet in a public place I find one. Some times they do sell out from under me. I make sure and be ready to pick something up right away or let them pick up asap. I don't go alone after 6pm. I have been fairly successful selling and buying that way.

jaciqltznok

wow,,I will NEVER call an seller on CL! I deal via email only! I don't my number showing up on their caller ID if the seller is a scammer! If you can't answer the emails, don't put up the ad! AND what you seem to not know is that when a person does reply via email, it only comes up as CL email addy? [email protected] YOUR actual email does not show up! IT goes to your addy as being from me, so in reality YOU could scam MY email addy!

Besides that, from my area, most GOOD buys are down in the city, which is long distance and I only have that on my cell phone, and I will NOT use my cell for CL stuff...again...Caller ID being what it is, I don't care to have my number OUT THERE like that!

Another way to look at it is like this, you placed an ad via the internet, I found said ad via the internet, I am going to respond via the internet!

Havplenty

i have had this happen to me quite often when posting things for sell. yep you get bombarded with lots of spam mail. i both sell and buy from CL. if someone emails me with interest i ask for a phone number so we can talk. i do the same when i'm looking to buy something. i bought all 4 of my vintage singers off CL with no problems (knocking on veneer covered particle board aka wood substitute).

ptquilts

"AND what you seem to not know is that when a person does reply via email, it only comes up as CL email addy? [email protected] YOUR actual email does not show up! IT goes to your addy as being from me, so in reality YOU could scam MY email addy!"

This is true when you reply to an email ad - you reply to CL. But then when I get your email, I have your email address, and then when I reply to you, you have my email address. I wish it could all go through CL, like a messaging system.

Sometimes I put in, reply by email with your phone number and I will call you. Then they never get an email from me, so they don't have my email address. I have Google Voice, so all long-distance calls are FREE!! (yay!!)

AshleyR

Wishing we had a "Like button" I could "Like" this!
Jacquie, I agree 100% with you! I'd much rather someone get their hands on my "Craigslist-only" email address than my phone number! Did you know that you can google someone's home phone number and potentially get their home address?! Crazy!

LynnVT

Not just their address, Ashley. You can then Google the address and get a picture of the house. Yeah, scary stuff. If you watch the TV crime shows, most savy criminals buy cheap disposable cell phones that don't reveal owner. Maybe we "good folks" should do that for stuff like this.

ptquilts

remember when people used to put a classified ad in the newspaper, with a phone number, and you called it if you wanted the item?

I think we have unnecessarily complicated things lately.