Comments on: Is Your Stolen Stuff on Craigslist? Here’s What to Do

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:58:14 +0000

This article should be pulled, it’s just plain wrong. The advice of the writer telling potential buyers that if someone wants to meet at a place other than their home means that the item they’re selling could be stolen is WRONG. Meeting at a public location protects both the buyer and seller from a potential robbery or worse. The advice that if a person spells out their phone number? What? How can that be a tip-off that the seller is a thief? I spell out my phone number and email address (using dot com or ‘at”) to keep from getting spammed by scammers who try to get information from me using vague terms like “your item” and broken English diatribes about how if I want to make money at home, I should click on some stupid link.
Maybe the writer should try selling and buying stuff on CL. I buy AND sell, and better advice would be to be wary of a seller who can’t recall how they got the item, how long they’ve had the item or how much they paid for the item originally. Feel them out, and if it seems fishy, just pass on it. There will be others. Another big tip-off is if the seller is pricing their item at less than 1/3 of the actual value for big-ticket items that are used or at less than half of the selling price for new. Beware if the item is a “hot” commodity – like jewelry, flat-panel TV’s, small electronics or tech stuff like laptops or game consoles – especially if the price looks low compared to other similar units on CL or Ebay. Ask questions like whether the item is still “within warranty” and see if the seller blows you off. (a stolen item is usually not researched much, and the seller probably won’t know offhand what the manufacture date is, but it’s easily found on the item without much searching to verify if the seller is full of it.)

By: Pamela

Pamela — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:31:05 +0000

we called the local sheriffs in Poway, CA to give them the name, address, and phone number of the man who had three of our four stolen bicycles on Craiglist, and they would not help us. they advised us to go there and get our own bicycles back as we had no proof the man who currently held our bikes, stole them. when i called both them and the San Diego Police 45 minutes later, to report that the man had called and had told me that he was bringing the bikes back to me, (proof that he had stolen the bikes, he KNEW where we lived!), the Poway Sheriffs and the San Diego Police told me that they could not help me unless he actually harmed me. When he harmed me, I was to Call Them Back For Help.

Fortunately it ended fairly well as the man and his friends were more afraid of me at this point, I got three of the four bikes back. many months later, we got the forth one back as well and found out who brought the thief to our home in the first place. Meth people suck.

Moral of the story. Law Enforcement Suck too.

By: mitt perry

mitt perry — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:36:58 +0000

Do not have Craigslist buyers come to your house, meet them at the grocery store down the street.
If you post a phone number spell it out and pull your ad as soon as the item sells.
If you see your stolen stuff on CL pretend to be a buyer and steal it back, if you can’t get it away from the thief THEN call the cops;

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:54:00 +0000

Step two in the town of Spokane……skip it since our mayor and police chief decided that property crimes where not worth worrying about. So if you find your stuff in Spokane.

By: tinkerbelle

tinkerbelle — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:50:27 +0000

I couldn’t agree more! These yahoos showed up at my house! Made crazy accusations! Invaded the privacy and compromised the rights of myself and a couple of guests! Slandered me loudly in front of my neighbors and warned me of the evils of craigslist! By the way, no one got arrested at all at my house! They were barking up the wrong tree! And the only really terrible experience I’ve ever had with any interactions through craigslist was with them! Wasted my whole day! So I recommend use every tool at your discretion at the least to keep over eager police dudes from violating your rights!

By: glacia

glacia — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:44:13 +0000

I don’t know whose advice this is but #5 is simply ridiculous. Spelling out your email address is just a way of keeping bots from skimming your email address. Looking at that photo these look like your average clueless cops who are seriously technologically challenged.

By: Devin

Devin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:08:43 +0000

I agree that this is horrible advice, especially with being leery if the seller wants to meet away from their home. This is always the smart thing to do as many people do not want to invite strangers into their homes or to their homes where they could potentially be robbed. Meeting in public mitigates many safety concerns.

Many people also spell out phone numbers and email addresses because they think it will keep their number from ending up in the hands of marketers, not because they’re shady sellers.

By: eman

eman — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:38:15 +0000

What HORRIBLE advice!!! Be Leary if “Seller wants to meet somewhere away from their residence”.

Most experts recommend that you DO NOT have a potential buyer meet at your home…especially if you are female or have children. Do you think it is worth the risk to invite a stranger into your home just to sell some unused item for $50? Conventional wisdom says to meet in a public area, so you don’t get raped, murdered or robbed. What if they are unhappy with their purchase and come to your home looking for retribution?

In these times a smart/responsible person will NOT want to meet at their residence.