Has your Craigslist wanted ad ever worked?

introless

Browsing craigslist you see all sorts of wanted ads that often have more than just a few repeated entries. I look at these and wonder what the chances are they've ever gotten anyone that was looking to sell on there to instead just contact them with their generic looking ad that feels like some sort of spam mail (why would anyone voluntarily choose to make their WTB ads look like this btw...).



Has anyone ever got a response from someone that was looking to let something neat go but they decided to contact you instead because of your ad on craigslist? Tell us if this happens or if those ads are only there just to spam the site!

Holy_Ostrich

It's the lazy way to do it, hence why everyone does it. At this point I wouldn't bother personally.



Make actual printed out ads and post them in popular locations (community boards, bus stops near colleges/schools, farmers markets, etc.)... and marvel at the amount of stuff that turns up as people call looking to trade their stuff into hard cold cash.



If I didn't work a full time job (that forces me in on Saturdays) I'd be doing just that as it's worked AMAZINGLY well for me in the past.

Jerbilly

I haven't had any luck at all. I have not scored one Traci Lords videotape. WTF.

empire

Those ads always reek of desperation. "Have any old games laying around collecting dust?! I'd be happy to pick them up!" Sure ya would buddy, so would every other collector in town. I make the odd ad looking for specific things, but they're not of the type looking for anything.

JenniMAC

Originally posted by: Holy_Ostrich



It's the lazy way to do it, hence why everyone does it. At this point I wouldn't bother personally.



Make actual printed out ads and post them in popular locations (community boards, bus stops near colleges/schools, farmers markets, etc.)... and marvel at the amount of stuff that turns up as people call looking to trade their stuff into hard cold cash.



If I didn't work a full time job (that forces me in on Saturdays) I'd be doing just that as it's worked AMAZINGLY well for me in the past.

Wow that's a great idea I live in a college town so this might work well for me.

 

TheToxicCollector

I place wanted ads a few times a year. Every time I post I get several responses and have scored some killer deals.

attakid101

Short answer--yes. Big time.

LutherDestroysTheGond

I used to but only ever got one good score, most people reach out wanting $60 for jankity PS2 consoles. Around here, people report wanted ads anymore so its not worth bothering

rootab29

Ha, only once and not exactly what I planned either. Basically when I was into collecting more I would see "L@@king for retro games" daily, with shitty stock images of chromo trigger, mario 64 and pokemon, along with a brief list of more expensive titles people were looking for, so I took the opposite approach and went super specific. I made a post just looking for any sega dreamcast related item anyone may possibly be holding onto for whatever reason --an old VMU, controller, game, cables, whatever. Long story short I get an e-mal from a guy claiming to be holding onto tons of rental copies of dreamcast games he doesn't know the value of or what to do with. After a few back-and-forths I got the guy to meet me at a super market parking lot, just to go over what he had and possibly buy a few games. He seemed very nervous and anxious about the whole thing. So the day finally arrives and I meet the guy. First off, never judge a book by it's cover because I was anticipating some white nerd in his 20s or 30s, instead it was an islander who seemed to be in his mid-sixties. He was sweating a lot and even though it was hard to understand him with his accent, I managed to buy several great games. I got four copies of Shenmue 1, the shenmue guide book, marvel vs capcom, a few copies of powerstone, the fishing controller, and about 10 third party VMUs. When I gave him the cash his small eyes widened and he smiled that yellow-toothed smile only a foreigner can. He said his name was "Claw X" on the internet and that the money would help his family as I guess from the e-mail exchange we had, he spent a lot of the inheritance his Grandfather left him on old horror VHS tapes. I spent only $40 and only felt bad because the car he drove was I believe a Geo Metro.

zombi

Has worked for me on many occasions. My best scores have come from wanted ads.



The physical ads that are posted aren't a bad idea, but wouldn't you be concerned about putting your phone number out there? I've had a couple of bad experiences with trolls calling my cell at all hours of the day (and the middle of the night).

empire

Originally posted by: attakid101



Short answer--yes. Big time.

Isn't this how you met your wife?



"well hung stud looking for love"

 

gutsman004

No. It was a waste of my time.

Astor Reinhardt

Nope...mine kept getting flagged by local reselling scumbags...so I started up a flag war with them...I have all the time in the world...might as well get some petty revenge in lol.

tubeway

I've not bothered with those. I have, however, posed as a little old lady selling off her grandkids's NES collection. I strung a bunch of resellers along to see how blatantly they would lie to me, lowball me, and otherwise try to take advantage of someone that didn't know any better even when DIRECTLY ASKED if they knew the value of the stuff. I used their names and email addresses to track them back to their accounts on ebay as well as here.

K3VBOT

I used to have to turn down people offering me games off my craigslist ads. That was back in 2010-2012... After that it went down hill

Fryer64

In the past yes, not anymore. Word of advice, don't tell any other local collectors anything about negotiation or sales tactics, will likely stab you in the back.

MunsonRoyE

A few years ago it worked out really well. I would get a decent haul about once a month. Most of my best items have come from Craigslist ads (Little Samson, Gun Nac, Metal Storm CIB).



Lately I'll be lucky to get anything more than twice a year. I hardly get any responses and the ones I do normally know what their items are worth and want full retail for them. There is just too many competing ads and people who know the value of these games to get a decent score. It's super easy to post them though so I'll just keep them rolling in the hopes another deal will come through again someday.

introless

Originally posted by: tubeway



I've not bothered with those. I have, however, posed as a little old lady selling off her grandkids's NES collection. I strung a bunch of resellers along to see how blatantly they would lie to me, lowball me, and otherwise try to take advantage of someone that didn't know any better even when DIRECTLY ASKED if they knew the value of the stuff. I used their names and email addresses to track them back to their accounts on ebay as well as here.

Haha, that sounds kind of fun. I can't say I blame people for wanting to get something for a good price. I'm not sure if I would be able to outright lie when directly asked if something is worth a lot, but I'm sure a lot of us would try playing coy as much as possible with people if we found a rarity being offered for cheap due to the seller's ignorance. Anyone who would deny so just hasn't been put in the right situation yet.



I'm impressed it's worked for some of you with the ads. I'm consiering my own ad but just not sure if craigslist is the area to do it. Will have to think about where else there is.

killerkobra

I used to do those kind of ads like 6 years ago. They never worked out ever. It was always just junk people already had on kijiji already or for major undesirable items like a lot of loose kids GBA games

Milwaukee_Nintendo

Tried once but no luck. Too much competition. Here is what happens when I search for "Nintendo" on CL:

1 NES with Mario posted for $150

3 WII packages, maybe one at a decent price

10 listings PAYING CASH FOR NINTENDO

AirVillain

Yes, but not so much anymore.



I had some luck the first year or so I had the ad up but now my local Kijiji has been spammed by some other collector(s). There's one person who's had 4-5 ads up (There's only abut 10 in the "old games" category anyways).



I've left the same one up because I don't want to be that douche putting up 10 different ads pretending to be 10 different people.

guitarzombie

I think it depends where you live. In highly or densely populated areas, probably not.

abandoned_account

Noooooooooooooooooooooope. My best stuff has always come from yard sales or friends doing me a solid.

The Questyen

We have like 10+ video game stores in my area so Craigslist is filled with their want ads and people selling Wii's with 5 games and wanting $200 for them.

CT

Yes it has, but only a few times. The emails used to come more regularly, but have dried up this last year.



Scores:



1. $20 for Devil's Crush, TG16 system (no wires) and Keith Courage. September 2014.



2. $20 for Bucky O'Hare, $20 for Mega Man 1 (He had a bunch more games, but with lots of writing and scratches on them. In hindsight, I should have bought everything. He did have Frankenstein but the rest were common games. I could have said any price for those games really, but I had no idea that he was clueless. But I'm glad I didn't low ball him too bad.)

August 2015

NickTLG

Early on I tried one, tried to be non-douchey about my listing and be honest.

The only responses I got were for dirty sports game lots and people would be mad I didn't buy them all their games from them. I took my ad down shortly after. Not worth dealing with these people.

I also don't deal with people on CL anymore on the buying end of things. Too many needy bottom-feeders out there, never comfortable experience to meet up with them.

BingoRingo

I once wanted a free 20" Trinitron and put a Wanted ad on Kijiji (we don't really use CL here) and someone responded, pointing out an ad someone just posted that I haven't seen.



That was a nice gesture, and I ended up with the TV. Its red colours is a bit wrong though, I'd like to find another one...

cma2032

It worked for me a few years ago, but I tried to not be douchey like all the ads I see now ("I'll take your worthless old video games off of you!" that's obviously posted by a dealer or a store). I actually found some really awesome stuff that way, including a huge Saturn lot with some very rare titles like Winning Post for $60, and a large Genesis lot of like-new stuff (Castlevania Bloodlines was one) for really cheap as well. There's no way it would work anymore. 



 

tbone3969

Yes. Recently picked up a Turbo Express with a crappy game for $60. Was it roach filled.... yes. Was it DOA.... yes. However $65 dollars later it is fully functional and roach free thanks to the work of Keith Courage. I'm loving this system on the subway.



I also got a Sega Saturn with about 15 games CIB for $100.  One of the games was House of the Dead which is worth more than $100 alone.

Vectrex28

Well, I got that big lot of SNES games last year for 4 bucks a piece thanks to it IIRC. I lucked out on that one though. Other than that I have a few clowns replying to it from time to time with marios priced at 150 bucks or something

Tulpa

I checked my local CL, and immediately saw someone asking $99 for a gold Zelda.



I think I hurt my soul seeing that.