Why buy anything off craigslist?

submitted by trident765 from self.AskSaidIt

Every time I look for something on Craigslist (e.g. a bike or a kayak), the available items are priced at or above what it would cost me to buy the same thing but new from Amazon or Walmart. Why do people think their used junk is worth so much? And why would people pay so much money for used junk?

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[–][deleted]  (5 children)

[deleted]

    [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

    Bike people, for whatever reason, think that their 20 year old steel giant with 200k miles on it is worth more than a new top of the line cannondale.

    I'm not sure, but I'd speculate its the same issue I'm going through with trying find US steel for my cookware. The value is in the metal being a higher quality than what is available today.

    [–][deleted]  (3 children)

    [deleted]

      [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

      Chinese steel has always been shit, that's not new. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/4b5jir/people_say_chinese_steel_is_poor_quality_what/

      [–][deleted]  (1 child)

      [deleted]

        [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

        Probably, like I said I don't really know bikes, but I have issues with Chinese steel. This is my hand shovel, that's not dirt, that's pitting and corrosion. It's kept clean and dry when not in use, still happened. My Chinese vegetable cleavers get little spots sometimes too despite being babied and indoors. A stray drop of moisture falling into the knife drawer will do it. But I don't see any problems on my German steel chef knife kept there too.

        [–]iamonlyoneman 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

        You buy off craigslist because you haggled the price down to something reasonable. You don't buy from the overpriced sellers, obvs.

        [–]J2Kerrigan 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

        The things I buy from craigslist aren't for sale at retail stores or amazon. Amazon sucks now anyways, every other listing is by a chinese vendor selling garbage. You just need to know what to look for on Craigslist, just like shopping at thrift or antique stores. There are many deals to be found, and you can always haggle with the seller.

        [–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

        Most people are going to aim a bit high when posting their stuff and can be negotiated with.

        [–]Brewdabier 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

        Yeah I'm seeing the same thing here in So Cal, greed is the issue. Just this morning saw a Trek fx 1 for $300, bluebook say's $250 and a new one is $599.99.

        [–]IkeConn 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

        You skip the troll ads.