Seller Beware!!!

[Max Capacity]

Wanted to let all sellers know of a scam going on.

I have my kayak listed here, and only here. I got an email asking if it was still for sale, and yes it was. Next email was asking price and photos. Well, price and photos are in the listing, which is what I told the potential buyer. Next email was would I accept a certified check. I said yes, that or PayPal. Next email said he had to look into freight costs. Freight costs? Well, I did sell a canoe to a guy in CA so it's possible. Next email was my name and address to send the check. I gave him that information. Next were several emails that the check was on its way, tracking number, let him know when it arrives, etc. 

Now it gets good. Check arrives. I'm asking $650 for the boat. The check is for $1775. Check looks legit, but there's a stamped signature on the front that doesn't look right. Supposedly the extra money is to pay or the shipping. But nobody buys a $650 and then pays almost twice to have it shipped. I ended up telling him I'm cancelling the sale and not depositing the check. Next email was:

The issuer of the check made a mistake with the amount as shipping fees shouldn't be as much as that.He mistakenly issued out another sellers payment to you and yours to the other seller.With the way things are,you can't cash a check on the sellers name and the other seller cant do the same on your name.i will like you to look into this and see that the best you could do is to get the payment deposited and get back to me when it clears.

Oh yeah...riiiight. A mistake was made and would I please deposit the check and get back to him when it clears. My last email to him was this was a scam and send me $10 and I'll return the check.  So far silence.

A number of red flags here: all communications were very brief, asked for price and photos even though they were in the listing, certified check-lots of scams using certified checks, although you like to give someone the benefit of the doubt, check amount greatly in excess of the purchase price, and finally the explanation was that a mistake was made and would I kindly deposit the check to help clear it up.

So be careful out there...

[Jim Snyder]

This is typical on Craigslist, you let it play out farther than most. I would stop at the "is this still available?".

[Max Capacity]

I've been selling off quite a bit of stuff on another forum and sometimes I forget to go back and say it's sold, so asking if it's still available is OK. I should have stopped when he asked the price and for photos.

I gave up on Craigslist. Last time I used it I kept getting emails from people in NYC wanting to buy camping equipment and would I meet them somewhere on I684.

[prudenceb]

I will now only sell stuff for cash.  That is put directly in my hand.

 

[Dave M.]

I listed a boat on Craigslist a few years ago and got the same type of response. I don't remember exactly what it was that tipped me off that it was a scam. Three things that made me suspicious were poor grammar, poor spelling and questions about obvious information.

i notified Craigslist complaint department.

dave

[prudenceb]

2 hours ago, KayakNH51 said:

I listed a boat on Craigslist a few years ago and got the same type of response. I don't remember exactly what it was that tipped me off that it was a scam. Three things that made me suspicious were poor grammar, poor spelling and questions about obvious information.

i notified Craigslist complaint department.

dave

Everybody knows that no real kayaker is a bad speller or poor grammarian! ?