Another Day, Another Jerk (buying from private individuals)

[ShortJohnSilver]

So last night on Craigslist I find a guy with 6 ASEs for sale, $24 each. I email him, he calls me, I agree to buy them and we will meet at 630 in the evening.

Then he calls about 4:30 PM, says "someone else offered me $26 each, but I thought I would offer them to you at the same price first" - I say no and am curt with him about it - after all he agreed to sell them to me.

Then he says "well I really need the extra money (I'm thinking: 6x $2 = $12 bucks!?!?)" as a justification for why he is going back on his word.

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Let this thread serve as a "WTF" or "jerk" thread if the mods approve ...

[Neuro]

May god give him syphilis, pox on his wife and scurvy for his children!

[gunDriller]

the Craigslist generation is WAAAAY different from the USENET generation.

selling on USENET was fun, e.g. ba.computers.

i NEVER had anyone low-ball me (probably because i always posted computer stuff for the lowest price i was willing to sell), very few no-shows. did a few hundred transactions in the early 90's.

i tried that again in 2006, using Craigslist, to do some housecleaning. met one or 2 mellow people but the dick/mellow people ratio is way higher on Craigslist.

and ... Google bought USENET (or it was given to them) about 10 years ago.

[madfranks]

The worst craigslist experience I ever had was when I agreed to drive downtown to meet this guy who was selling some silver pretty cheap. I drove the 45 minutes to get downtown and when I got there I called him and he ever so cavalierly explained that he sold them to someone else (it hadn't even been a couple hours since I initially called him). I asked why didn't you even call me so I wouldn't have driven down here to meet you, and he hung up on me.

[milehi]

The last time I used craigslist, I was half an hour into a 45 minute drive when the guy called and told me he had sold the stove I was going to pick up. I was so freaking mad. I had his address so I sent him a demand letter by certified mail stating he had broken a contract and I was willing to go to small claims court to make it right. He ended up sending me a money order to my PO box for $200; the cost of the stove.

[hoarder]

Most craigslist deals go well. But since a man's word means little in the third generation of teevee culture, you have to be the first one there even if they made a deal.

Still far better than newspaper ads.