All I want to do is sell a PSP. The scammers got so bad I had to place this at the end of my ad:

If you're a scammer please don't bother emailing me. I won't accept anything other than cash for this item. I won't ship it overseas, you must live near enough to me that we can meet face to face. I can tell when you're a scammer before I even enter a dialog with you because your grammar and punctuation show that you have a lower grasp of the English language than most second graders. That's not even the most glaring give away. I'll let you in on a little secret; the traditional way to barter for an item in a private exchange is to offer the seller LESS than what they are asking for. So as soon as I see "Im give you $200 for your item" or "i will be adding $100 for the shipping cost..because i will be shipping the item to my son in oversea" a red flag goes up and I either delete your email or send you an absolutely absurd response that has nothing to do with anything.

I'd like to legitimately sell this PSP. I feel that it is a good bargain and hope that someone will get more use out of it than I have. So please unless you're serious about actually meeting me and paying me for it don't waste my time trying to scam me out of it.

Surprisingly it has worked so far. Although I have had no actual takers.

I will offer you $50 more to ship it to me if you are willing to take payment in Subway stamps.

I am pleased to be offer you the sum of 20 goats for you send me PSP

Many thanks and blessings!

Soki Mobutu
Lagos, Nigeria

quote:

Why won't you sell to people overseas?

Because I can set up a location to meet someone locally and exchange it for cash. The scammers won't use a wire transfer or anything like that. They send you "certified" checks that you deposit in your account hoping that you will ship out the item before the check bounces.

The emails that I get from them make it very apparent that they're scammers here's an example:

Hi, I really appreciate your response to my mail.I'm very interested in purchasing the item from you and i can't come by to see the item because i'm a very busy man.I will instruct my bank to issue out a Certified check to you and i have a shipping agent that will come for pick up of the item at your place upon you received the confirmation of the check cleared from your bank.Kindly get back to me with your Full Name,Contact Address including your Zip Code and your Phone Number i can reach you on so that the payment can be mail out to you.I will be looking forward to hear from you asap...

There is nothing legitimate about that email.
1) He doesn't mention what the item is
2) It's obvious due to the mangling of grammar and spelling that English is not his first language
3) He's too busy to buy it himself, but he has the time to get a certified check from his bank, address it and mail it to me, and then send someone else out to pick it up

It's not that I wouldn't ship it overseas, it's just that I won't ship something overseas that I know won't be paid for.

quote:

I am pleased to be offer you the sum of 20 goats for you send me PSP

Are they the fainting kind? I'd take you up on that trade. I get such a kick out of those critters.

Have you gotten any eBay spam yet?

The last time I put up some electronics for sale, I got replies from three different names all leading to the same fleabay page. I was a bit miffed to say the least.

My wife tried six or seven times to sell a laptop on eBay and every time a scammer was the top bidder. She ended up losing so much in fees by the end that she gave up trying to sell it.

I got the same crap on Ebay awhile back. I was selling a TV, a REALLY cheap TV btw. My grandfather had it. Like a 6" screen in B&W (B27 you would have loved it). The ONLY cool thing about it is that it would run on 12V or 110V. Anyhow, I listed it for like $20. Some guy sent me an email said he was going to give me $650 for it if I would ship it to his electronics store in Nigeria. I told him I would be glad to. If he would send me the check with the address he wanted it to go to. I would gladly ship it for him anywhere he wanted it to go. But, it would not ship for 30 days after the check was deposited.

He never replied....

I haven't used Craigslist much, here in rural south GA I didnt even know anyone used it.

Nothing BUT scammers on the craigslist.

I have seen many, many exotic birds where they want "deposits" for illegal pets.

There you go! Let them know how to scam better! But, I DO understand your frustration. I recently sold several items on craigslist and had a few scammers e-mail me. I just ignored them and they never sent e-mail back. Dont give up on craigslist, I think it is a great service. Better than e-bay in a lot of ways IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
Nothing BUT scammers on the craigslist.

I have seen many, many exotic birds where they want "deposits" for illegal pets.

Not true at all.

I've sold a fair bit of stuff on CL, and so has my wife. You just have to set the rules at the outset. Every deal is face to face on neutral ground (one or two exceptions made).

Heck, when I sold my motorcycle, the guy didn't even negotiate, so I got a hell of a deal. Well above blue book since I expected to negotiate a bit.

My wife and I have sold a bunch of stuff on craigslist in the past. I think that because I am selling a PSP that the scammers are paying attention to this particular posting.

BTW, I finally got a legitimate response yesterday and I think it's sold.

quote:

Originally posted by SirP:
My wife and I have sold a bunch of stuff on craigslist in the past. I think that because I am selling a PSP that the scammers are paying attention to this particular posting.

BTW, I finally got a legitimate response yesterday and I think it's sold.

Good deal! I started a craigslist thread you may be interested in in the lounge.