Are all craiglist used ads scam?

I have no experience regarding CL ads in Europe; however, I've had great success with purchasing audio equipment on CL in the midwest of the USA. I don't think I've sold anything on CL so I can't comment on the selling experience.

I understand that common sense is not always so common, nevertheless, I think that if you exercise common sense when responding to CL ads, you can have excellent experiences. The bottom line (IMO) is that you need to know what you are looking for, you need to be patient, and you need to be observant.

Most of what I have purchased via CL has been speakers and none of them have been local. On one occasion, the seller drove three hours to deliver the speakers to my house! All of the prices have been excellent, much better than anything I've found here on AudioGon. In fact, if you don't know what you are doing, I'd suggest that you are just as likely to get scammed right here on AudioGon as you would through CL. Some of the ads here on AudioGon humor me. I used to be puzzled by the crazy ads, now I just laugh when I see them.

I only deal with craigslist if I am close enough to pick up whatever I am buying.

I find there are more scammers who are buyers rather than sellers. I have been trying to sell a pair of aftermarket wheels on CL for the past few months and I have been contacted by 5 different scammers. I'm not sure who the people are that are biting on these phishing scams, but for the most part, they deserve to be ripped off.

And as for Ebm. Learn how to make a complete sentence, even if you can't put two of them together. Spellcheck is your friend.....

Shakey

I use Craigslist all the time and find good deals regularly.

If you consider all the effort involved in selling something to a party you have never met, packaging, shipping, PayPal fees and the rest, it often makes sense to sell something for significantly less and avoid all that hassle.

The buyer comes to you, pays cash, no packing, no shipping, no returns or feedback hassles..

Especially if the item is heavy or delicate, Craigslist is a viable option.

The seller will often take less for an item since they are not reaching the widest audience and just want rid of what ever it is without giving it away.

What you need to watch for is e-mail address harvesters who sell your address to spammers for 5 cents. Instruct them to include a word or phrase in their response to filter out the bots and insist on a phone number.

Craigslist is great. The whole point of it is to deal with local people where you can meet the buyer, see and inspect the merchandise and then fully commit to a purchase.

I have had tremendous success countless times on CL--but that's mainly with musical instruments. I haven't done much audio equipment buying there. I don't see why it would be any different.