I think flakiness of the Craigslist customer is inversely proportional to the price. The lower the price, the more likely is that someone will flake.

I find Craigslist to be pretty hit or miss, both as a buyer and and as a seller.

I went on Craigslist looking for a table and ended up with what would later turn out to be my husband. Now that is good Craigslist karma! :)

I have mostly had good experiences on CL. Clear information and a good price are important. Also good to ask for phone number and location from anyone who responds to the ad (as in, do not reply to anyone who doesn't provide a phone number). It's important to either have someone with you when meeting a potential buyer/seller, or meet at a public location (meet them at your coffee shop before bringing them to your house). Safety and common sense. If I need to get rid of anything right away, putting an ad on the FREE list usually manages to get it gone on the same day.

When I have really nice stuff to sell (e.g. valuable antiques) I found CL to be pretty useless. Consignment stores or eBay are much better if you are willing to wait a couple months to get a good price.

I've had good things and not so good. The good things are as you describe. The not so good were averted by mentioning I would meet them for the transaction in front of the police station in my town. Everyone I ever asked to do this never showed. Fine with me.

I've been both a buyer and seller on Craigs List. And while you hear stories about scamming or worse, my bad experiences have been much more mild. I've never encountered a really bad seller, but have definitely had people show up after email negotiation and then suggest a significantly lower price after seeing the item.

They'll point to flaws that were clearly documented in the post (and photographed.) I don't think these buyers had bad intentions, but I felt like saying, "I turned down other offers, set aside time in my schedule to meet you-- in many cases leaving work earlier than I otherwise would have-- and spent 30 minutes moving my furniture to clear a path to the door, all in expection of the price we agreed upon." I understand that negotiation is implied in a Craigs List-like forum, but buyers should know that aggressive negotiation after a price is already agreed upon can leave the seller with a really bad taste in their mouth.

Unless a flaw isn't disclosed in the listing, you should pay what you agreed to pay before the in-person meeting.

(By the way, I've been on the other end of this and bought something that I later felt I overpaid for because the disclosed "scratched finish" was more scratched than I'd hoped/expected, but I stuck to my end of the bargain and spent the next day buffing out the scratches.)

I've never sold or bought anything on Craigslist. But I did look around for a used car a while back. I found a lot of addresses posted with the cars. When we went to them they were all a bust. Either the people were creepy and the car was no where in sight or the car was there and the people were too creepy to approach. It was back to the traditional used car lots for us.

I have had incredible Craigslist karma. I always find what I want to buy and always find a buyer for what I'm selling. Desk to match my cabinetry? Check. Filing cabinet that's a matched set to my desk? Check. Buyer for my the sports rack on my old car? Cash in hand within hours of the post going up.

I think it all has to do with when I went through my major purge before I moved into the RV. I was at the point where stuff just had to go and I focused on finding the right home rather than getting the right price. The off the grid couple that got my kerosene lamp collection in exchange for updates on how they're doing surely think they were blessed by Craigslist karma. As was the young immigrant single father who got free the TV, VCR, DVD player, and hours of movies for him and his little girl. The gal who got the already assembled computer armoire of her dreams for just $50 could have been me five years prior. I treat people the way I wish people would treat me. Yeah, I sometimes get taken advantage of, but I get more grateful smiles then I do smirks.

You give some, you take some, and it all comes out in the karmic wash. Whenever I tell myself something is too good to be true, I remind myself that's what someone was thinking when they got something amazing from me for cheap or even free.

My best Craigslist story was when I was looking for someone to help me carry home for IKEA billy bookcases that I got for an incredible price. The seller didn't tell me that the reason they were so cheap was that I'd have to bring them down four sets of stairs and that he wouldn't be available to help. The guy I hired quoted me $30 to take the bookcases from the seller to my house. When I realised the work involved, I offered the driver his $30 for his trouble and told the seller to forget it. The driver rolled up his sleeves, said let's get to work, then spent FOUR HOURS helping me get those bookcases into his truck then up the two flights of stairs at my house.

He refused more money or a meal, telling me to pay it forward. Shortly thereafter, I found an ad for a small start-up looking for a French-English translator for their advertising materials. It was a fairly big job, but I did it pro bono as way to pay forward the driver's hard work.

In exchange, the start-up gave me some advertisement and from that I got a nice big project that paid a hefty sum. Karma is a beautiful thing.

Cragslist Karma . . . no such thing. It's all just regular old Karma. You put good energy in, you get good energy back.

I've done CL both as a buyer and seller buy mostly a seller since I too moved recently. In general, the experience has been very positive but high end stuff doesn't move too well. I priced things to move and the buyers always seemed stunned to be getting what I advertised - maybe there are a lot of sellers who overhype their stuff. While I'm happy that my buyers were happy, I sometimes felt that I priced too low. I'm hoping that this results in good karma for me and I'm mindful that I did want to get rid of the stuff. There's a lot of people who just want your email address to send spam so I advise sellers to not respond to any non-specific emails.

I've had basically positive experiences on CL. Be honest in your ad and price things reasonably. If you are a buyer, be reasonable in your expectations about the items you're interested in.

I definitely believe in Craigslist karma (freecycle karma too!). While I think Craigslist varies vastly depending on where you live I've had almost entirely positive experiences. My dos are: clear pictures, accurate descriptions, include a phone number when replying to buy something, reasonable prices, and pull the ad down after the item has been claimed. I also try to send a bcc:ed mass email to anyone who replied saying the item has been sold but I'll contact people if for some reason it falls through.

@FFB4MD That is great! I could only hope for that kinda craigslist karma.

We've had similarly good experiences by doing the same things: we posted a lot of photos; we were honest about flaws; we put some time into cleaning the furniture (by hand, not professionally), and we sold for slightly lower than average prices.

I wonder if that last one is especially important? A former landlady of mine said she always charged lower than average rent because she found it attracted nicer, more grateful (and less demanding) tenants.

Sorry to be the Grinch but there is no such thing as karma. Bad things do happen to good people as this past Friday's event has shown us. You were lucky and/or you paid attention to your "gut instinct" in ferreting out who is on the up and up and who is not.

I enter into every CL transaction (as either a buyer or seller) assuming the other person will be a flake. When I'm right, I'm not disappointed, and when I'm wrong (like meeting the awesome couple from whom I just "adopted" a great German Shepherd) it makes me feel a little better about humanity.

But I still refer to it as "Flake's List".

I'm in the Harrisburg, PA area and I've never had a problem with a Craigslist transaction, I have done many up to and including buying a car (which I still have, and love 5 years on). I do things the same way every time, no less than 2 emails are sent and phone numbers are exchanged, this weeds out most flakes. I rarely meet at my home. My ads, like yours seem to be, are clear and honest with good pictures and a fair price. All haggling is done in email or over the phone so everyone knows what's what when we meet, and no one is wasting their time. I've only walked away from 1 potential sale because the pictures were blurry and that buffet was BEAT.

Recently I found this great 1940's dresser that had "some damage to the top" and that was one of the times I haggled in person. Not only did the seller take my offer but he delivered it to my house which happened to be close by. That was a great transaction that left everyone happy.

I wouldn't call this karma but rather just being smart and knowing how to pick up red flags early on.

CL has furnished my apt, allowed me to declutter my apartment, found labor to move, found employment, found employees, found cars, and found some activities with people that are best left unmentioned on such a civilized forum as this.
Just ignore the spammers and cheapskates, all is good.

LOL!

I think there are about a billion people in India that would disagree with your declaration, Lynnindc. I think you are outnumbered. Just because YOU don't believe in it, doesn't mean you should disrespect the beliefs of others. For instance, I don't believe that you are a kind person for posting such a comment. Does that mean that I'm right? I hope not.

Oh yes, CL karma all the time. I've furnished apartments and I've shed belongings on Craigslist, and almost all have been excellent experiences. As a buyer, prompt and friendly communication, showing up on time, being decisive, and not haggling with a fair price seem to work in my favor. Just yesterday, someone *gave* me a high-quality dartboard AND a beautiful mid-century desk when I bought his $65 baker's rack! And he helped me load it all into my little car and used one of his bungee cords to tie down the back.

As a seller, I find great descriptions, clear honest photos, and again, prompt and friendly communication all help. Interestingly, I find CL buyers rarely haggle on the price. I've also found good writing -- not just descriptive, but clever or humorous -- is a plus. I once sold an entire living room of furniture to one couple based on my amusing ad -- that's what they told me.

Also, after my last HUGE moving sale, I put the stuff I didn't want to bother taking to Goodwill in my driveway and placed a "free" posting on CL. Forty minutes later I had to remove the post because it was all gone.

I also met my beau on Craigslist, but that was a missed connection and not germane to this thread. ;)

I told someone that I would pick up a "purchase" after work. I drove and hour and a half in pouring rain in rush hour traffic with cash in hand only to see my "purchase" being loaded into someone else's car when I arrived. Nice. Real nice.

@irenes.....the "free stuff" sign by the curb works everytime. Within minutes. LOL

@rainywoods, at the time I lived on a street that didn't get any traffic, otherwise the sign would've worked!

As far as my luck on CL goes, I've gotten a whole ton of responses from people who wanted to pay by check after their "shipper" picked up from me, so I must not be selling stuff people want. I have found though, as a buyer, that when I put myself out in some small way, the seller is willing to come down in price without haggling - and mostly they have out of their own initiative. It's been nice.

@rainywoods, if our society is truly pluralistic, all beliefs should be valid for presentation, which is how I read @Lynnindc's comment - as a statement of her contrary belief. Disagreement is either inherently kind or unkind, and majority belief doesn't necessarily indicate belief in what is true. (Just trying to add a logical perspective.)

*should have been neither kind nor unkind

I've had a mixed bag on CL. Some experiences were fine but a lot were awful. The general problem is that there is no trust model on CL. You don't know who you are dealing with and they don't know you. Because of this I never meet or exchange goods at my home. It's also been my experience that people seem to act less polite and respectful than you would treat your neighbor or your friend.

This same discussion led a friend to tell me about a site called givium. You can buy/sell stuff to your (much more trusted) social network. You can sell to the general public too, but if you are a friend of the seller, you get much lower "friend prices". The best part is you can also donate a % to a nonprofit of your choice. Friend prices and helping your community -- now that's good karma. Check it out at www.givium.com.

I redecorate so I buy and resale often. I would guess for every 4 things I try to buy maybe 1 person will actually reply to my email. I haggle and have lost things I really wanted because I was being cheap. However, if things are priced realistically I don't try to haggle. I've flaked once or twice, and once I drove to see a chair that looked way worse in person than in the picture. I didn't buy it because the seller did not adjust the price, later I saw it listed for what I offered. Know I'm waiting for craigslist to reveal an Eames lounge chair within driving distance that is below retail.

I had an interesting experience with purchasing a sectional on craigslist recently! The seller who was the most polite, courteous, helpful and reassuring (I was planning on picking it up myself) and who was the most accommodating, actually flaked out on me minutes before I was going to pick up the Uhaul and my friend who'd agreed to help me. Frustrated and not wanting to waste my day, I called back the (rather shady) seller whose offer I had just declined in favor of "the dream couch", feeling terrible that I'd wasted his time and also slightly apprehensive that it wasn't a good idea. Our communications had been weird and difficult at best, but my friend and I agreed that we'd at least go check it out and leave if anything was fishy. He turned out to live in a very nice part of town, was so patient as we arrived nearly an hour late after getting lost, and helped us carry a VERY heavy and HUGE couch down three flights of stairs! He was also sweet and very friendly in person. And now I sit on my gigantic, comfortable and perfect couch.

What I really dislike is when you email someone that you are interested in their item, set a date and when you email them to confirm, they don't reply because they sold it from under you to someone who was willing to come the same day.
I was interested in a blue dresser and emailed the seller. Never a reply I got so I figured they sold it. A week later, she wrote me and said "come pick it up". I was so pissed off that she assumed I would run off to buy the dresser. This tells me that the person who was going to buy it either never showed up or decided against it. I wrote her back telling her that since I did not hear from her, I took it that it was sold and I was NO LONGER INTERESTED. I think in Karma's way, when things don't work out, there's a reason.

I don't believe in karma, but I do believe that you get what you put in. If you're respectful and polite when replying to people's CL ads, most people are going to respond accordingly. There aren't a lot of people who are rude or terrible for the sake of just being rude or terrible; they play off the reactions and behavior of others.

@selandroid........." if our society is truly pluralistic, all beliefs should be valid for presentation".....uh, you're preaching to the choir, Selandroid. It is Lynn that believed without a shadow of a doubt that karma does not exist.

I recently had a very disappointing experience with attempting to sell a higher end sofa at a very fair price. Seems like any price over $500.00 on CL automatically attracts the scammers and most of them are very clever in their early emails, making it appear that they are local. Once you respond, then the scammer has your email address. Ugh.
Trying to weed out the serious versus not was exhausting. The sofa went to my local consignment store. I won't go the CL route again.
I consider myself to be a very honest, caring, loving and intelligent individual. Just sayin'...

I didn't find lynnindc's comment to be disrespectful. Not that I agree with her. I personally believe in Karma, but I'm not opposed to hearing other views.

I don't necessarily think Karma is the belief that nothing bad ever happens to good people. I just see it in a more common sense sort of way. If you treat people kindly, you are making it more likely that treat you the same. You're helping create more positive interactions which in turn encourages others to do the same.

While I haven't sold much or bought much off of Craigslist, my boyfriend has. He has had pretty great experiences with Craigslist until recently.

He put up the latest iPad for sale in hopes of getting some extra money to buy the new one that will be released next year. Well the guy he met up with agreed to a price of 380 or so, they exchanged product and money and my boyfriend went to the bank to deposit it. The ATM refused to accept the cash and turns out that all but $55 of the $380 was counterfeit.

I feel terrible that that happened to him and don't know how someone could do that to another person right to his face. My boyfriend emailed the man and told him he'd be turning him in to the secret service and police. The man never responded and then proceeded to delete his Facebook page after that. My boyfriend managed to get screen shots of the fb page, which has pictures of him. He did report it to the secret service and police, however, they are less than motivated to fight this crime as they have yet to call him back since this happened 2 weeks ago.

Just please be careful and aware that there are people like that scum bag out there and make sure to verify that the money is not counterfeit.

Just sold a $350 sofa on CL, and the transaction was smooth. Had good pictures, exact dimensions and flaws, clear terms. For kids stuff, I've had more flakes. Finally found a single mom with a toddler who I've "adopted" and just call her up to see if she wants my kids stuff (free to her). One of the most annoying things on CL is when potential buyers e-mail you asking "do you still have _____?" Um, yes or I'd remove the post. All of my future ads will include the "I will remove the ad when the item sells...." Best advice from a CL pro was to get a "disposable" e-mail address to use for CL, thus protecting my primary e-mail. I've only had to change it once, but that was easy.

We use Kijiji mostly here and I like it a lot. Yes, I've been flaked on many a time, and often miss good deals (dealers here snap up a lot of the vintage furniture right away, so I often see a piece I coveted in a shop with a big markup on it), but the absolute WIN feeling of a great find more than makes up for it. Including the two fiberglass egg armshells I literally bought out of the trunk of a dude's car last year! I do less well selling, pretty unmotivated, and tend to let my stuff go at yard sales unless it's really nice.

...But the frustrating part is I'm stuck in an economically depressed land of overstuffed sofas, fake antiques and mdf dressers, so not a lot comes up that's really choice. Plus how hard is it to find a vintage walnut finish night stand? They're like unicorns around here! I've been looking for about five years!

When living in the Philadelpia, I always had good experiences with Craiglist.

Now I live in NJ and my last buying experience 3 years ago was HORRIBLE!! I was sold something from someone that was not cheap, extremely crappy and not what I expected (didn't notice until months later...)! I was ripped off but eventually I learned to chalk it up. I actually told the seller KARMA is a bitch in one of my emails to them. I learned my lesson and will never buy off of Craigslist ever again!

Hopeful no one else has to go through that horror... shivers*

I've had really good experiences with craigs list, it's all relative though.

However, one situation I would be remiss if I didn't share involved not cl, but AT classifieds/ KRRB. I posted a chair I wanted to sell and received a response from some random guy named Aaron. He asked me if I can email him more pictures as he was interested, and after taking time to consider my price point, he agreed to purchase it.

As he was in a different city/state, he asked for my mailing address and name so he can have his "accountant" send a check over. Then he mentioned how the check will include my portion for the chair and then also extra for shipping. He wanted me to send that extra money to his shipper and keep the rest for myself.

Already a sketchy situation, but because I've never sold anything except for cash only, I honestly did not know what was going on exactly.

After researching and reading about cashier check/check fraud, it was without a doubt a scam. He was going to send over a fraudulent check with an amount over what I had asked, I would deposit it into my bank, which would clear as a real check, transfer "legitimate" funds over to his shipper then after a few days/weeks the bank will let you know that the check was a fake and that there is no money available.

Angered at this punk, I diplomatically let him know that I can only take cash, and never heard from him again. And then he deleted his profile so he's in the wind...

Apparently happens all the time, so be careful AT/krrb readers! If it smells fishy, it's a FISH!!

My last Craigslist experience left me pretty bitter. I bought Lady Gaga tickets for her concert in New York in Feb 2011. Mind you, I've purchased tickets to other shows and bought and sold plenty of furniture off of Craigslist so I didn't think anything bad would happen. I communicated with the seller and told him I could meet him and pick up the tickets. Instead, he came to my work and dropped the tickets off and I paid him. They looked like regular tickets and I didn't think to inspect them closely. I should have though - because on the night of the show, as we tried to get into MSG, we couldn't because the tickets were fake. So humiliating and embarrassing. I hope that seller is paying the price for this.

living in los angeles city proper, buying mid century or hollywood regency on CL is almost impossible competing with those who buy for their vintage shops or showrooms. if the seller is not a vintage store owner, you must show up as soon as the ad comes up. if you wait until the work time is over, the piece would most likely be gone (especially the ones priced low).

the above said, i still believe in "first come first serve". when i sell on CL i don't "reserve" my items for anyone but insist on FCFS. this way no one's feeling is hurt and i can weed out flakes.

when i buy, i try to be judicial, only respond to the pieces i truly want to buy, not just "interested". this way i won't waste anyone's time and trouble. and when i say i'll show up, i show up on time.

knowing that people can be flakes, i am not often mad at the flakey behavior if i came across one. i just try to be a good person and hoping that others would do the same, as often as possible.

That's adorable!! :)

We sold a nearly new car on CL last year. After dealing with several rude or crazy emails and one lookie-loo who made an insultingly low offer, we ended up selling it to a very nice couple who paid our full (fair) asking price. Being up-front and honest, and going the extra mile (we had recalls taken care of, oil changed, and thoroughly cleaned it) are usually how we end up with good people and fair deals.

I think you just had a string of good experiences. That's something I could say in years past, but lately I've had a string of bad experiences, despite employing the same tactics you suggest.

Unlike what some other commenters have said, I do believe there are many on CL who want to hassle with people: make plans to meet but never show, ask you to donate the item to them because they're disabled (even if it's an advanced fitness DVD), offer to "haul that away for you for free," or just send weird, argumentative emails to practice their creative writing skills.

Despite meeting in public places, we also narrowly avoided being robbed in one CL transaction. That's why I'm taking a long break from the site.

We bought all of our furniture off of Craigslist when we first got married. We have since sold all our furniture, bought more furniture, sold everything again, and bought all 'new' stuff again, all on Craigslist. I bought my winter coat, winter boots, two computers, tickets to shows (not scalped!), bicycles and more on Craigslist. Most experiences have been what you think they would be - someone selling something they didn't need anymore to someone who needed it living closeby. We've only had one person lie to us about what we bought and one person take advantage of our kindness.

My husband and I once spent an entire day helping a guy set up a Mac he was buying from us for his kids. He had no idea where to start with it and we walked him through installing the OS to installing Openoffice, to updating the software, etc etc etc. He came back the next day with some homemade smoked sausage and wine and told us that we should have kids. It was an awesome experience.

I've had great luck as a seller. But then, I post clear descriptions and photos, and I don't bother to try to sell the more junky stuff I wouldn't want to buy, I just donate that, or put in on the curb in Brooklyn where it gets taken by someone glad to have it for free. People have been great. But then, I do it when moving for a quick sale, so my prices are low to move stuff out fast. Ok, that gets me great karma as a seller. Ikea stuff sells for a reasonable percentage, considering some wear and tear; antique dressers I have to sell for way less than I paid for them to move them, even though there condition hasn't deteriorated at all while in my possession, and they have gotten more antique. I think generic, where people know the quality before they come over, sells better than unique, where they need to come to see it to make a decision on whether or not to buy.

As a buyer, I expect people to be like me, and that is only sometimes the case. I once asked someone if a bookcase was solid oak, she said yes, and after I drove all the way out to the burbs, it turned out to be particle board with brown plastic over it. I don't think she was scamming me, necessarily, I think she possibly didn't understand the difference in furniture materials (or perhaps I'm being too kind - perhaps she just didn't care to answer correctly.) Once I encountered someone like me, good pics, flaws disclosed, good price.

Other times, I have expected people to be like me, and as a result I didn't fully scope out the underside of things (the wood dining room chairs that had a sort of still cardboard as the seats). I don't regret having them, though I need to get new seats made, instead of just covering the existing "seats" with fabric, but I wish the condition had been disclosed - I might have bargained the price, or not driven out to the burbs - as new seats are very expensive, and the need for them changed the value of the price. I need to remember not everybody is like me and be more skeptical. My experiences have made me no longer drive out to anything by very close, very urban burbs, where my experiences have been good. I think there may be different shared values in different places.

Preparing for an upcoming move, picking up boxes and packing material from craiglist, I found an interesting urban/suburban difference. People in the city and close in burbs just want someone to use the boxes and packing paper again, and not have them go to landfill or recycling; in the further out suburbs, people want to sell the boxes and packing paper, and the further out you go, the more they want to charge. Makes me think there's something to the urban people I buy furniture from being more on my wavelength, and the surburanites having a different view of direct sales online entirely.

Buying and selling, almost always very positive. I think CL is awesome!

i had an excellent experience purchasing a specialized bike for our daughter ... it was so filled with good karma and excellent, honest communication that even driving to a potentially sketchy neighborhood (the seller's furniture shop) was worth it. i have also received excellent communication from craigslist givers in the free section, and we have reciprocated in kind.

I don't know if I believe in Craigslist karma, but I have only had good experiences as both a buyer and seller. Selling always concerns me the most, especially if it's an item I have to sell from home. But so far everyone has been normal and has paid what we agreed before they showed up.

I did have one interesting resell experience. I sold a rip off of the Anthropologie High Wire table that I had originally bought at Homesense (Homegoods). It took months for anyone to show interest. A couple of months later I saw the table I had sold listed as a "Pottery Barn" item for twice what I sold it for, and more than I had paid new! I don't know if the guy got what he asked for it, but considering I had to drop the price about 4 times before I sold it to him, I doubt it.

So yeah, lesson from that is don't just take brand names at face value. Always check to see if the store in question actually ever sold anything that looks like what's for sale!

I have bought and sold tons of stuff on craigslist. I do believe in craigslist karma. I have had mostly good experiences over the years. I have purchased furniture, toys, washer and dryer, a car, and even our dog! We have sold tons too and gave lots away. Kinda cool. Full disclosure and good photos are key. My husband and I won't even look at a listing without a photo.
This year, though I bought a mid century couch that looked awesome. After about a day and a half of being in my house, it started to have a very strong smell that my allergies reacted to. So sad...I really liked it, and the seller mentioned nothing. We ended up getting rid of it for free, but of course disclosed the smell and the need for a steam cleaning. That lady might be experiencing craigslist karma as I write. If she didn't know, that's one thing, but if she did, that is just rude. We even had our sons with us when we picked it up. rude.

There's even a documentary about it: http://www.craigslistjoe.com/

Which is now available on Netflix and other services....

Namaste

I have bought and sold on Craigslist for the past 7 years with transactions ranging from 1 to 20 per month. I'm not sure Karma has much to do with it. Expect the worst and hope for the best. Be a knowledgeable and cautious buyer / seller and be honest always. If you are perceptive you can spot a shady sale within the first couple of minutes.

On a side note, If you live in Arizona, I post a few good Craigslist Finds every week @

http://diligentdesigner.blogspot.com/

Since moving to Los Angeles, my boyfriend and I have engaged in a lot more CL transactions than we ever did in NY. He marveled recently at how positively the majority had gone, and I realized that this is probably because we (and most folks, I'd bet) seek out ads that sound as though you could have written them yourself. Subsequently, we've met a good many friendly, well-intentioned people with good taste!

I've only ever had one bad experience with Clist and I'm always shocked since I've sold maybe two dozen pieces of furniture over maybe 7 years that way.

My friends have horror stories and not counting the spam emails you get (which I think are pretty easy for most people to distinguish from real actual real, interested locals) I just had one person who swore they wanted an item and just never showed up to buy it. When I sold it three days later after repeatedly trying to contact her to make sure she knew it was back on the market, she was furious and had her husband call and read me the riot act for "promising" it to her and selling it "out from under us."

I met my husband on craigslist and he is just perfect! I don't believe in kharma. Just good luck.

I do believe in Craigslist Karma. Having moved into a new apartment with my son, our dog, a few toiletries and 2 changes of clothes apiece, we have set up a cozy and complete home thanks to many amazing people - all on Craigslist.

Most memorable was a bike my son purchased with his own money. He did the research, bargained reasonably to stay within his budget, and asked me to drive him to meet the seller to pick up the bike, which he now rides to high school daily. The seller was patient, gave tips on the bike, a record of repairs and part changes, and contacts for a local non-profit bike cooperative that deals in inexpensive parts, etc. The seller could not have provided a better life lesson for a young teen if he'd tried.

As a buyer, I like to think of Cragslist as Trustlist. I respond to well written and clearly photographed ads that project the same level of care and attention to detail I'd put forth were I placing the ad myself. I treat each seller the way I'd like to be treated, try to buy in (or close to) my neighborhood to avoid added fuel consumption and trust in the best. All transactions have fallen nicely into place with great people willingly doing the right thing every time.

Soon I'll be a seller too - I look forward to paying forward the kindnesses we have received.

I have had great success in offering Curb Alerts in the Free Section as a means of getting rid of lots of items quickly that I did not want to bother to sell. My husband and I called many of the local charities that offer pick-up of items, and many either didn't call back or didn't ever pick up the items. We have listed 3 Curb Alerts in the past 2 weeks, each time a full box of random items, and the box is usually gone within 30 mins.

That being said, I think you have to be very specific in your CL ads. I put up an ad for our yard sale, with photos and a overview list of the items we were selling. Suddenly I had emails from people asking me to hold items or asking me to take photos of specific items so they could decide whether or not to come to the yard sale. It took a fair bit of time to respond stating that it was first come, first serve. Since then, I have been very specific with details in our listings and it has prevented most of the random questions.

Amen, brother or sister. This is my biggest problem with CL. I say "NO" frequently if people try to haggle when they show up. I say "take it or leave it. I have several back-ups"

Unfortunately CL in our area is just full of people who want things for a ridiculously low price. I got rid of a $5000 DWR sofa. First advertising it for $500 bucks. Got tired of the scammers and low ballers so just threw it on their for $75 bucks before throwing it out because I had to move. Then I had people coming out of the woodwork-mostly dealers that were demanding my address and then mad at me when it was gone. The sofa was in perfect condition as it had been in an office. I found it ridiculous that dealers were so greedy they wouldn't pay $500 bucks for it when I knew they'd be reselling it for $2500 and then acted entitled to it when it was $75.
I try to be incredibly nice to everyone who buys anything from me on CL...giving them whatever extra I'm going to be getting rid of, even offering to move it in our truck for them. Even then, it seems people still want more, asking if I'd move it to a location three hours away. Frankly I'm tired of it. In the future everything will go to a consignment store or a dump. I used to think about landfills, etc, but the Goodwill is charging so much lately and not passing on the karma, I don't feel inclined to donate to them either. Everyone's greed has just worn me out.

When I CL, I always use the proceeds as a charitable contribution. I state this on my posting, "the proceeds from this sale will benefit Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. www.ethiopianorphanrelief.org" This helps weed out scammers it seems. I think people feel guilty about about taking advantage of orphans. More than once, the person who has picked up my item has made a separate donation to EOR, so it's an even bigger win.

I am always bringing new things into my house - I love scrounging flea markets and yard sales. That means that I always have to move old things out. So, I sell a lot of things on CL.

The worst experiences I have are when I give something away for free. I had a 30-lb bag of expensive dog food once. New flavor, made my dog constipated. So, essentially, $40 of dog food free to a good home, during the height of the recession. I told CL readers that it was going to be in a bag on the curb. Some woman e-mailed me, telling me that she had to drive up from the city and would be here in an hour. I responded (when I got the e-mail) saying the bag would go to whomever came to get it first. It went in 10 minutes or so. An hour later, the woman showed up at my door, and started YELLING at me for not holding the dog food for her. Literally, I had to close the door in her face as she stood there yelling at me. (Luckily, the dog whose food I was giving away sound much scarier and more threatening than he is.) And the woman e-mailed me and yelled some more after she got home.

In my experience, the giveaway stuff somehow gives people a much bigger sense of entitlement than the sold stuff - even if the price is just $10, it changes the nature of the transaction, somehow.

As for karma, I would like to believe in it, but don't really. I do think that people who go through life with good and honest intentions tend to see goodness and honesty as the norm - or maybe seek out goodness and honesty - while those who lie, cheat, and steal see lying, cheating, and stealing everywhere they go, whether it exists or not. Or, perhaps they populate their lives with others who lie, cheat, and steal? Sort of "create your own reality."

One reader's stating that karma doesn't exist is not more hurtful or close-minded than another reader's stating that karma DOES exist.

@Rainywoods: consider that one reader posted her belief about the absence of karma - the framing question around which this post is centered - whereupon you posted a personal insult ("unkind") about that reader. Consider the possible karmic fallout of that behavior! Or, in the absence of karma, consider whether "You don't agree with me so you're mean" is a useful and constructive point of debate, going forward.

I have had much much good luck on Craigslist and I love it. I've sold about 100 items.

Being in a dense part of the city helps. I have no worries because I meet people out in front of my building, and there's always foot traffic etc. This is key. I'm not sure i would be doing this if I lived in a suburb. It all works out here - it's pedestrian to pedestrian, and nothing warms my heart more!

Lately, it's been a bit slow. I've gotten two responses, though, but they come from an anonymizing email address, and this is the first time this has happened. I've never seen it before. Usually the email is from that person's account (be it Yahoo or gmail or whatever). This anonymizing thing is new and me no like-y.

That was a fantastic story. Thank you for sharing and thanks for paying it forward, as you did! Good people are out there.

Hear hear Parnassus.

One thing about antiques, I wonder if people listing something as "antique" know what the definition is: over 100 years old. I doubt it!

It is a bit more difficult to sell more expensive things on CL (with possible exception of cars), but that's what AT is for.

osugirl - thanks for the heads up. I CL a lot, and also yard sales. Good to know all this. I might get a special pen. And then there is a way to look at the bills to detect counterfeit ones.

BTW, I just googled how to detect counterfeit money, and got this:

"The U.S. government estimates that less than 1/100 of 1 percent (that is, 0.01%), of U.S. paper currency in circulation is counterfeit. Considering recent advances in printing technology and the obviously vast incentive to counterfeit bills, that is a small number. ***In part, that's because the U.S. Secret Service thoroughly investigates all reported counterfeiting cases***, and because there are criminal penalties for counterfeiting or passing fake bills. Perhaps more than anything, though, counterfeiting is difficult because of the bills' security features, which are hard to reproduce but easy to use to verify your money's authenticity. "

So there may be hope for justice yet. Watch out for the postal service too! I've been a victim of theft at their hands twice in the last year.

But overall, my experiences on CL have been excellent. I've sold about 100 items.

Speaking of Ikea, I find more of their stuff on Craigslist than anything else. And whenever I sell Ikea stuff it goes fast. This tells me that people buy a lot of Ikea, but they also don't truly value (or maybe even like) it.

I'm with you anavarrette - in my early days of CL'ing, I would have raved about Karma, too! Now, not so much. Just hard work, logic, and honesty.

Portlandrules - don't let other people's greed be a reason to put material into mother earth that should not be put there!

When I had a job in another city, I had a part-time apartment. I bought a number of items on craigslist for that apartment: a microwave, a bed frame, a couple of carts for TVs, a bookcase, a TV, even a mattress set (I probably wouldn't do that again given recent articles), maybe another item or two. I sold many of these items via craigslist after I got rid of the apartment (gave away and kept a couple).

In the small city where I live there is a University that has a classifieds that is very popular here. I have made many transactions that way (mostly selling). You do not have to have an edu e-mail address to be a member, but I have found having one (I am an alumus) helps with credibility and response times. In the larger city with the short-term apartment, I worked for another University that also operated a classifieds. You could only sign up for it if you had an edu address for that college. I do not remember if you could see it if you were an outsider. I did only a few transactions that way and more via craigslist.

I've had generally good luck buying on CL, including furniture and even a car. I've had GREAT luck giving away free stuff, but one negative experience selling, when a buyer offered less than half my asking price on a table, after being significantly late for the appointment. I had pictured, described and priced the table well, so I was annoyed enough to turn him down and offer it free to a friend instead. Take that CL karma, lowballer! Now I rarely sell stuff - it's just not worth the work to me.

I find Craiglist for both buying and selling to be wonderful!
I have had scammers but they seemed easy to spot. And easy to bypass.
I do go by photos and good descriptions, I sell online so that is why I gravitate
towards those postings as it seems people who describe well, include photos are good people to buy from....so far so good.

Craigslist is great in NYC, where people take things seriously. In flakey cities like Los Angeles and Miami, people on Craigslist flake out all the time.

I've had great luck on Craigslist. I find that when I want to buy something, if I put something personal in the email (how I want to use the item) I always get a response. People like to know their stuff is going to a good home and someone will get a lot of use out of it. One retiring gentleman was selling a compound miter saw with a stand for only $125. I wrote to tell him I'm a single woman who has a lot of crown molding to install and I won and he had a LOT of responses. The human element goes further than just saying "I'm interested. Please call me."

Has anyone tried that thing in Facebook where you can sell to your friends? Does that still exist?

Well, rainywoods, you don't believe what I do yet you disrespected my belief. Maybe you should practice what you preach.

Thank you, Mary B C. You said it much better than I could.

I love and hate Craigslist. Scored a genuine Moeller table and 5 chairs and have sold several items without a hitch. BUT I guess I was due a bad experience. My last sale was the queen Mandal bed from Ikea. A person put a deposit on it, but it sat disassembled in my living room for 3 days, because he could not find a way to pick it up. I insisted he come or the bed would be sold to someone else. When he finally did show up, he came in a Mini Cooper packed with his mother and brother-in-law!! He expected to tie some of pieces to his roof rack, but the rope he brought was barely better than dental floss. There was no way he would get down the block without something falling off. And here's the kicker: he asked if we had the original box the frame came in. Um, no...we didn't keep the Ikea box! I just gave him back his deposit and sent him on his way. This is why I hate Craigslist.

I've had very good luck with Craigslist!
I found my Brooklyn apt on CL, and the movers who moved me there from Manhattan.
I found a guy with a pickup truck to pick up me AND furniture I also bought on CL (two pieces, two different locations) and deliver to my apt.
I found guys who packed the uhaul I drove from Brooklyn to Syracuse NY when I moved there (to a flat I found on CL.) I bought a coffee table in Manhattan that I picked up on the way.
I hired guys from CL to unload the uhaul in SYR.
When i first moved to SYR, I had gotten hooked up with a freelance design gig through a friend there. I needed a microwave, and found one on CL. It had an anonymized email; I got an email back from the seller – who was my friend who got me the gig!

I snagged a Heywood-Wakefield dresser & mirror for $50 on CL. (The guy told me he'd sold the matching chest of drawers just an hour earlier! Why he didn't post as a set – or mention it in his dresser posting – just kills me. I only searched for "dresser.")

I found my next flat in SYR on CL, but ended up breaking my lease & getting sued by my landlord (who was trying for $5k and only won $600.) He was the worst! That was my only bad CL experience.

Finally, I found my current apartment in Skaneateles NY on CL.

I'm sure it won't be the last CL experience!

Darlene –
Same thing happened to me with a mattress & box spring in my 4th floor pre-war Brooklyn walk up (86ish stairs.) Guy showed up in a tiny car w dental floss string & nobody to help him carry it down. He expected ME to do it AND tie it to his car, AND he tried to pay me $50 less than we had agreed on. I made him pay me before the mattress went out the door, then I told him he was on his own!

I sold some furniture but always put it in my carport, never wanted the people inside.
Also I found a couple of lost dogs their homes back.

My husband and I have had very positive experiences with Craigslist, both as the seller and buyer. We have met some amazing people and have exchanged information so we could stay in touch and develop friendships. Craigslist Karma makes sense to me. We always go into it with the intent of, at the very least, meeting interesting and amiable people. We have always come out of it with much more. We have made many purchases through Craigslist. We've sold many items, and have even found wonderful and responsible tenants for a rental unit we own.

I used to get so ticked off by buyers who would flake out on me...then there was one buyer who kept saying she really wanted the item, and would call later to reschedule. I put up with it for some reason...no other buyers, in a good mood, it wasn't taking up tons of space. Three reschedules later and she came. After paying me my asking price and thanking me over and over, she started to cry and said her brother had died suddenly the previous week, and she had been making all the arrangements. Ugh....so glad I didn't blow her off!

I've only sold a couple of items on Craigslist, but always had good luck, which I attributed to the same qualities you listed.

I have used Craigslist for things I am giving away: hundreds of succulent cuttings, plant volunteers, pet stuff. I leave things in my carport off an alley and tell people to stop by, first come first serve. I have had emails sent thanking me afterwards for the plants. I have found handwritten notes left in the carport saying "God bless you". I have had people who did NOT pick anything up thanking me for being so generous. I feel like they're the ones getting the good karma. I'm just getting a nice warm feeling inside.

I, too, ask the person to meet me in front of the local police station (which is next to a great bakery/coffee shop so usually within minutes we're inside warming our mitts on a cup of cappuccino!). Most have NO problem with that- means I want us BOTH to be safe. If they aren't willing to do that then:
1.) there's lots more people selling/offering for free tables & what-not. Go bother them.
2.) there's lots more people who'd be interested in buying/getting for free my tables & what-nots. I'll deal with them instead.
I have encountered those types who answer with "Is it still available? I'll take it." Seems to be a copy & paste response. No name, no telephone #, no "Wow! My grandmother had one & I loved it! To have yours would bring back so many memories..." Give me something! Some kind of response that shows me that you aren't just trying to snag for cheap something that you hope to flip at your own yard sale later! To completely offset the flakes I've been able to pass on unused items, I've received a few totally appreciated items, but most importantly, in the process, I've made 3 incredibly wonderful lifelong friends! The 2nd woman I met we had gotten to talking, then going for coffee, swapping fabrics, art supplies, recipes, life stories... then totally forgot why we had agreed to meet in the first place! (I was selling a painting easel!) Like Freecycle, Craigslist can be a crap shoot. One just needs to be willing to put in the time. More times than not I'm happier just donating things to the animal shelter or the various homeless/group homes, etc. in my town. Less haggle & hassle, more feel good.

I've used Craigslist to sell a couple things: computer, camera, tablet. All met at the specified time. I've never used it to buy anything though...though I do browse every once in a while - especially in the free section, lol.

I had good luck until recently. I have bad karma. I tried to buy a sofa on craigslist. I saw it in person and the seller said he was ok with me picking it up on the weekend. I spent 4 days asking for better pictures of the damage because I forgot to take them when I was there. I could tell he was getting nervous so recruited help to pick it up three days early, but I was running late which I told him. I was still on my way when I got a "I sold it text". I also sold my sofa almost a month ago. The seller paid for the sofa but has made excuse after excuse in not being able to pick it up. I will think twice about buying anything I can't fit in my car.