Question…anyone ever use Craig’s List for selling model railroad equipment?
I have always dealt with folks in the hobby for sales, mainly at shows and sometimes eBay, but I heard Craig’s list works well for selling many things.
Any thoughts or experiences?
Thanks,
HZ
I was selling stuff from my mom’s house. I would get a response, saying the buyer would like to see it as soon as possible and to email them at a gmail addy. If I emailed them or not, I would not hear anything for a day, day and a half and then they write to say they had to leave town for a family emergency but would wire me the money the next day if I just gave them all my bank account info.
We made only one purchase (not model railroad) on Craig’s List, and it turned out to be a very bad experience. We have not tried to sell on Craig’s List, and probably will not do so.
I don’t sell anything on Craig’s List. I don’t like strangers in my house seeing what I have. It’s eBay, website and train shows for me. If I had a store front then that would be different.
My experience with Craig’s list was getting “hired” as an undercover shopper and I was supposed to deposit a cashiers check for $900 into my bank account and immediately withdraw my cash and then use it to by phone cards and send them to the thieves, whose check of course won’t clear and I will be out the money. I figured it out right away because I saw that it wasn’t a cashiers check, just a regular one that looked like it was printed at home, so I knew it was a fraud. The tellers at my bank laughed when I showed them the check. They wouldn’t let me deposit it if I tried. I go to a very small credit union where the tellers know everyone by name.
Personally, I’d avoid selling ANYTHING on Craigslist. You have NO seller/buyer protection. I like the peace of mind that eBay/Paypal affords me.
Just out of curiosity, I look at the HO scale offers on the Tampa- St Pete Craigs List every few weeks. While there are a few who are seemingly getting out of the hobby and selling an entire layout and inventory, they are asking for $ well above swap meet prices; same seems to go for those selling small lots. A lot of swap meet toy train content- the type that would be in boxes under the table at a swap meet. The fact that these offers are widely dispersed geographically (usually more than 20 miles apart) also makes it not very attractive.
There are usually about 5-10 offers on Craigslist at any one time; they tend to linger for 2 months or so.
You can do better by seeing more at one place at one time at a train show/swap meet than CraigsList.
Cedarwoodron
For what its worth, I would avoid it like the plague.
I use craigslist for a lot of things the experiences vary depending on who you deal with not everyone’s a bad guy. I’ve made multiple car purchases some good some bad all depending on how much you know about what you’re looking at. I’d buy things like rolling stock and track off craigslist but for a loco I’d want to see it moving. If you have access to ebay sales and can ship you’ll have better luck it reaches out to more people vs just who is local
Everyone seems to have these horrible experiences. Hmm. I had a spare set of tires and wheels from my previous car, listed them on Craigslist, got a call a few days later, guy came by, looked at them, said he take them, handed over cash, loaded up the wheels, and away he went. No problems.
I have several pieces of furniture that were purchased from Craigslist ads. Even my one dog - sad case, woman bought her as a present for her daughter, daughter did not want her (how you could look at that face and not want her, I’ll never know), GF saw the ad on Craigslist, went to check it out, came home with a dog. I have a car I want to get rid of, first place I’m trying is Craigslist. Once I get rid of the car I can move all the stuff out of the basement so I can start tearing out and rebuilding the walls.
–Randy
I’ve never had a bad Craigs List transaction, and I use it alot for tools, and my summer time hobby, rebuilding old garden tractors. The worst thing that has happened, is sellers that agree to old an item until you get there, usually sell it to the first person with the cash. That annoys me, and I usually let the seller know.
As far as train stuff, I’ve never seen anything that looked like a deal, most of which is old train set type quality.
Mike.
I have bought and sold several vehicles and lots of tools on Craigs list without problems. Occasionally I check the toys section for HO stuff, but never saw anything worth crossing the street to see. A few months ago, the local police announced they would make their lobby avalable during normal hours so buyers and seller could meet in a safe location. I understand many police across the country are doing the same.
Most folks who sell on CL want to do that in bulk. As such, they’re not interested in selling stuff piece-meal. I also notice that many sellers have really old cars (read 40+ years), which is often problematic b/c of horn hook couplers, etc…
I figure that a swap event or train show is a better marketplace.
I’ve never sold train-related stuff on Craigslist, but I have sold quite a few other things. Overall I’ve had good experiences. My main complaint is that I’ll get emails from people expressing interest, I’ll email them back, but then I won’t hear from them again. I’ll have to email them back to see if they still want it. I don’t like doing that because if they know you’re desperate to sell, they’ll start trying to talk down the price.
Right now I’ve got some unused insulated coveralls for sale. I got emails from two people last week, but neither one has returned my responses.
Steve S
I have had good and bad. I have bought several entire collections for a great price and then most of the items I see are junk that the lister thinks is a some great treasure. ie Tyco horn hook rolling stock that they think is worth $30 a piece because it belonged to grandpa. When in reality it is worth about $3 if that and they think the old brass track is worth a lot too. They look like a deer in the headlights when I tell them no one will buy that brass track.
Yes, same thing here in southeastern Pa.
I’ve not tried Craig’s list, but my wife has a friend who has used it without problem, but as a buyer, not a seller. If I were a seller I would never invite any stranger to visit my home. The police would not be offering the use of their lobbys if there wasn’t a potential issue.
Craigslist is great for things that are too big or heavy to sell on eBay. Such as a car ot tires like the post above.
Over the years I have bought and sold numerious cars on Craigslist, That’s pretty well it. Craigslist has driven newspaper ads, Pennysaver, Recycler etc out of buisness.
If you place a ad follow their instructions to renew your ad and check that its there, I have had trouble with that.
I sell a lot of car parts and such on Craig’s list. Whenever possible I meet them at the police station and only during daylight.
No reason to have them come to house unless the item is to large to move.
We don’t have a Craig’s list in our smaller Canadian city, but do have Kijiji which appears to be the same idea; it’s operated by eBay, no charge. I don’t see model railroad items very often, did buy a large plastic tote full of scenic material and 6 pieces of flex track last fall for $20.00. I didn’t need it, but it was such a good deal that I couldn’t pass it up. It was even delivered right to our home. Sold it to members of our club and made a few bucks for myself.
I have bought and sold camera gear on the list for quite a few years, got some really good deals and had no problem selling my stuff. I usually meet sellers/buyers at a neutral place such as a coffee shop to do the deal.
The few offerings of model railroad stuff I’ve seen have been of the toy train variety with over the top asking prices. I did see ads for really expensive collections of Lionel/Marx stuff and Large scale items, but the ads went on forever with seemingly no takers. How many people have $3500.00 lying around for such items?
You have to know your prices before buying!
This fine site (sadly, currently dormant) will give you examples on what NOT to do when placing your Craigslist ad: You Suck At Craigslist.
Most CL sales are badly damaged stuff that they want gone, and also want lots of money for. Or it’s stolen.
Having bought a lot of things off Craigslist, I can tell you this is a problem that’s way more common with model railroading items than the other things I’ve bought. I purchased a turntable for vinyl records, and several clasic computers off of there, and it was okay. I think this is a case often times of the seller just really having no idea what they have.