I was wondering if anyone else has used Craigslist to sell something.

I posted an ad a few days ago to sell some X-Men comics.
The next day, I received 5 e-mails from people who were interested. But, three of them had the usual signs of scams: "i want to be paying with certified check so pls hold the items", "I am want to have my shipper pick up", and "from your advert, this items look like exactly what i want".
Yes, the e-mails actually used bad grammar and bad spelling, which is typical for scam e-mails.

I replied to the 2 "real" e-mails, but the next day I received the same response as the 3 scam e-mails: the people want to pay by certified check and have their shippers pick up the item.

It all five e-mails, not one person asked about any specifics about the comics. You would think that an actual customer would want to know about the condition of each issue or at least ask if they could come over and actually look at the comics to see the condition of each one... and to make sure I'm not scamming them by giving them something other than what I've listed for sale.

The point of using Craigslist is that you're advertising to a local market, which would make it very easy for someone to come over and look at the item before buying. This isn't like eBay, where you could be shipping halfway across the country.

Craigslist itself says to be wary of certified checks since these kinds of checks can seem to clear the bank, but after you've shipped your items, the bank tells you that the check is no good. So, you're charged a fee for the bad check, you've lost the items you've shipped, and you never received payment for the items!
(Here's a link for a Google Search search result for certified check scams.)

My question is this: are e-mail scams common at Craigslist? For now, 100% of the responses I have received have been scam e-mails. Is this to be expected? Has anyone had better luck?
Is there any point in reporting these scam e-mails to Craigslist? Can they even do anything about it, especially when people don't have to be a member of Craigslist to buy and sell?

VanishingPoint... Advanced 3D Modeling Solutions

I tried to use Craigslist the other way around, to locate a nearby home-repair
contractor.   Had the same impression ... 90% of the ads that looked local
actually led to a scam site.

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My ShareCG freebies

I have sold and bought on Craigslist and have had only one person try to scam me.  What I do is will accept cash only in the classified. This way anyone emailing me with can pay by another means I reply, CASH ONLY.

Your best bet to sell comics is Comic Connect, my brother has been selling and trading comic there for a few years

Poserverse The New Home for NYGUY's Freebies

I have accepted checks but will only ship the item AFTER the check has cleared and I make sure they know this before I accept a check. Tends to weed out the scammers.   8^)
I put it in my ad so there is NO confusion, if you want to use ANY kind of check certified or personal the item will not be shipped until the check has cleared.

Like nyguy, I always sell only local and cash only on Craigslist.  Has worked for selling guitars and guitar equipment every time - and quickly too!  Sure beats the issues (and cost) with eBay and the low returns from resellers (buy-and-sell shops).

C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes it harder, but when you do, you blow your whole leg off.

 -- Bjarne Stroustrup

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I used craigslist several time, for selling and buying appliances, to find a contractor to mount a flatscreen - and did a beautiful job very reasonably),  for garage sales, and my friend whom is HR recruiter for a local engineering firm uses it to post jobs and read through resumes, and to find roommates.

For comics and things that happen via mail, instead of face to face money exchange, I would probably go with ebay.

Hi, my namez: "NO, Bad Kitteh, NO!"  Whaz yurs?
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Around here we call Craigslist "Tweakers Warehouse".

Free men do not ask permission to bear arms!!

I advertised my garage sale and used Scuba gear this summer. The Garage sale was a success and the scuba gear is no longer being tripped over in the basement.

I've bought a few things off of Craigslist, including my new (to me) waterbed...and am still unable to find a real buyer for the bed frame we're TRYING to get rid of, lol.  I haven't even had any scammers, just a bunch of people who are uninterested after finding out that it's just a frame, even though we're pretty clear on it.  :p

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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.

Well Craig's list helped me find my dog that was lost for 3 months so I can't say anything bad about it. We lost her in Sacramento and we lived in a little town in the hills so she would never have found her way home. She was on the news and in a major motorcycle mag and a kid recognized her and called us 20 minutes after they found her. Got my number from Craig's list.

That's awesome, Marque! 

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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.

Yup and she still loves to ride the motorcycle...lol
We lost her on a toy run, I left early and when my husband went into a portapotty she slipped her collar and ran. All 3 of my Queenies are chipped now.

That's a definite good idea.  LOL, motorcycle?  Do you have her in a sidecar, or some special riding seat ? 

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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.

Dogs on motorcycles look so darn cute, especially if they have their goggles on.

Free men do not ask permission to bear arms!!

She has her own goggles called doggles and she has a special seat so she can ride behind my husband on his bike.  She's a good-sized Queensland Heeler and she actually snugs up to him like a human and leans into the corners with him. She loves to ride, you say or spell the word motorcycle and she jumps up on my husband's legs so he can put her goggles and special harness on. I have my bike set up for the bed too but I don't usually take her on mine...she barks too much when she gets excited. She thinks she has my husband trained to go when she barks, and I guess she does because as soon as the light turns green and he goes she stops barking...lol

lol, that's awesome!  If you get a chance, I would LOVE to see a photo of that.  That sounds so adorable :) 

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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.

nyguy- thanks for the link to Comic Connect. I'll give them a try.
If I post a new ad on Craigslist, I'll make sure to say "cash only".

Marque- I'm surprised you didn't get e-mails from scammers who saw your ad for a missing dog and offered to pay you by certified check "for your items that i really need". :lol:

VanishingPoint... Advanced 3D Modeling Solutions

No but I got a lot of scammers who offered to look for her if I would pay them.   8^(

Yeah, I'm currently trying to unload all my musical equipment and bookshelves on Cragslist. We had one person try to pay with a check from the Bank of Ireland (which turned out the be bogus; the check, not the bank) We've used Paypal once or twicet to make some long distance sales. But people try to beat us down on price, and occasionally offer dodgy payment schemes.

You get an initial flurry of the most 'pickable' offers, then it just...sits...there...;) 

I wish I'd said that.. The Staircase Wit

anahl nathrak uth vas betude doth yel dyenvey..;)

I use craigslist to get rid of junk: old fridges, old ACs, computers, lumber, logs et al.
craigslist is also very popular with pimps running networks of skanks, according to the
local newspaper.  they've busted quite a few underage ones in this area.  I checked with
the cops and one of 'em said that "tweakers" is what they call rockheads or meth freaks,
but maybe "tweakers" also means something else.