Misty's Mom

I, too, am one of those scumbags. We've sold a lot of furniture on CL and cleared out a bunch of space. I'd rather sll on CL than have a garage sale.

miriam

Around my neighborhood if you do a garage sale you get kids hanging out fingering your stuff. CL works better here. We don't live in a good area. Highest murder rate in the city less than a half mile away.

Sideways

SMILING!!!!!!!

Thanks Joe & Miriam for the shipping information!!

Wanabee Quiltin

I have had wonderful luck with Craigslist and eBay. I bought a wonderful expensive Bernina off eBay and it came in it's original box, all wrapped up beautifully. DH bought me a treadle off Craigslist and when he went to look at it, he asked the man if that was the lowest price. The guy said give me $40 and I will help you load it up, it was originally $80. A very beautiful machine. We have repaired our home with wonderful buys from Craigslist and bought wonderful furniture too at 1/10 the original cost. DH and I always check out the neighborhood and do not go into bad areas ever. I think all the people we have done business with are as leery of us as we are of them at first, but it has always turned out great.

brunswickgirl

In the cleaning out of my MIL's estate, still working on this after 1 yr... I have sold and given away a lot on Criag's list and Ebay. All were good experiences. I am very careful to place the ad on CL only when my husband is in town or when my neighbor can be available to be with me when people come to the house. There have been a few questionable looking people show up but after talking with them it turned out ok. I always make sure that, weather permitting, I have the item outside when they arrive or in the garage so they are not coming into the house. With 5 dogs really no one wants to come in anyway. Most people have been very nice and the deal went well on CL. The sales on Ebay have been good. Purchases of machines on ebay can be expensive --the shipping.

w7sue

I am a SCUMBAG! LOL I have bought and sold on craigslist. All my experiences have been positive - follow the rule of never going someplace uncomfortable or being alone. I have never had to ship anything or have anything shipped to me - I have heard a lot of horror stories on that. I currently have two Featherweights on our local craigslist and am not having much luck. Good thing I am not in a super hurry to sell them. My only bad experience with craigslist was some rather offensive emails I was getting - I pulled my ads and still got them for over a month - was not too sure about posting again, but this time is going well.

Raine54RN

I bought a singer I can't remember which one but one made in 90's I think. Bought it from a woman in New York anyway, she literally tossed in box, no padding, bracing nothing. It arrived in pieces. I knew before I opened it. Got my money back but still had to pay postage to mail back! I was steamed! Then again I have had 3 very good experiences with 2 FW's and a 301. The 301 was sold by a sewing repair person and it was packed awesome and reasonable P/u 1FW, 1 mailed perfectly

miriam

I open the emails that look like they made an honest effort to write a real email. When they reply with a very general sounding email, I delete or report those emails to spam - I've had my same email address for 8 or 9 years so I get a lot of spam but it goes to the filter and I never read it. General sounding email: Do you still have the item? I want to see them name the 'item' in the email not just the title or I delete. Does it work? I have that information in my ad. They can read. I do not reply. If they ask multiple questions: Does it work? Does it have a manual? Are there attachments? I might answer even though I likely have that info in my ad. I have to realize some people are stupid or they have figured out that you have to write a 'real' email. You also have to realize some people want to buy it for less money no matter how you have priced your item. Be prepared for some to want you to come down. I usually price my stuff to sell. There isn't room to go down with my stuff. I have had some real artists come along though. I don't know what they plan to do with the 'item'... LOL Some times when they want to dicker I give in some times I tell them I priced it to sell. We live in a lousy neighborhood. People still come. I do go to some lousy neighborhoods. I have met some very nice people. (DH goes with me there.) A lot of people would prefer to meet - I do that some but I tell them they won't be able to plug it in. I tell them our neighborhood is usually safe during daylight, come on down. (We live very close to a high crime area and it does spill over to our area...)

shasta5718

The one thing I like about buying from ebay is their policy to refund if something is wrong and the seller won't work with you. I have purchased several sewing and embroidery machines there and had no problems. One of the smaller items I purchased I did and the seller wouldn't respond and ebay just sent me a refund.

Stitch124

I have outfitted my whole sewing room with wonderful CL deals. I will check out the address using Google Maps and if i know the area and I've been comfortable with the communication style of the seller. I will go to the neighborhood and if it still looks ok, I'll go through with the deal. This after several phone calls as well. Sometimes I've had to bring my DH to help pick up the item...cabinet, chiffarobe...but every other time...good experiences. I even got a pristine 301A from a fella who was just selling some of his machines. He lived in a nice neighborhood, and since he liked guys, so I know he wasn't a leech....looking for a easy mark. Nice guy and even gave me the sewing machine metal tray that fits in the cabinet of my treadle machine. FREE!