Craigslist (your stories, etc.)

[Steven]

I heard a lot about this site in the past; finally checked it out around February of this year. I assume many here check it daily as well, but for those few who may never have checked, I advise you do so. I have had some awesome deals off CL. In case you don't know craigslist.org is basically a buy and sell website based on every region in the US. You go to your region and find who is selling what, get their number give them a call and meet up. So far I have done 4, 5 deals off CL. 0 flakers and these people are some of the nicest folks I've met. Most are older males who once TREASURED these items, but are letting them go (for cheap, as well!) to someone who would use it.

This past weekend I met a cat who sold me a ton of guides for $25. Including Chrono Trigger guide which I saw go for about $40 the other day on eBay! Before I took it he said "Hold on let me see the Zelda guide one last time... man check out these colored maps how can you get lost!"

Including tons of obscure old school NES guides and whatnot, this is all stuff he bought originally back in the day. Amazing.

Another time I sold 23 crappy US Saturn games for $130. Guy saved me a ton of trouble, since with their bulky cases it's a bitch to ship.

One of my favorite deals was picking up Ghouls N Ghosts, Thunderforce III, Dynamite Headdy, Contra: Hard Corps and Vectorman 2 all complete for just 20 measly bucks. I drove in the pouring rain to meet him outside an Albertson's. Good times.

[Jibbajaba]

I couldn't agree more. I LOVE craigslist. I haven't found a gaming deal on there in a couple of months, but some of my best game buys came from CL sellers. It is also a great place to look for anything else you might need for the room of doom. I got my A/V furniture from a craigslist seller, and I paid about 1/3 what I would have paid if I had gone to Ikea. IT is a great resouce for furniture in general, especially around moving season (summer around there parts).

It's like thrft store/flea market shopping from the comfort of your own home/office.

Chris

[Kuros]

I've gotten good deals with Craigslist also. Just make sure you meet the person in a very public place, never know what freaks will try to mug people over Craigslist.

[Steven]

I've gotten good deals with Craigslist also. Just make sure you meet the person in a very public place, never know what freaks will try to mug people over Craigslist.

Agreed! I always wondered when someone will make a horror movie regarding Craigslist. I'm not kidding. There are some sick folks out there.

The guy I picked the lot of guides off lived in this crazy looking 2 story blue house. It looked like the house of a horror movie. Needless to say my imagination was running wild. They did look like decent people but you just never know.

His dad and the seller asked me if I wanted to come in the house upstairs to help left the box of guides down. I, of course, said I'd hang out here on the porch.

Turned out everything was OK and they weren't chainsaw weilding maniacs but it was my first real "let's meet at my house" meetings off CL. I usually meet outside a Hollywood Video or Albertsons or the like.

[Kuros]

There have been a couple of reports of people using Craigslist to mug others.

It's rare, but it happens. That's why I will only meet in public places.

[Vinnysdad]

Picked up some great videogame deals on Craigslist. I always ask to meet in a public place though and never go to someones house.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

I bought my car off CL. Granted, the sale went fine even though the guy was an ass and knew he was giving me a car that needed a lot of work, thats not CL's fault. I've seen some gaming posts on there, but nothing I went after. I almost went after an Excitebike vs. arcade machine for $250, but I just didn't have the cash for it.

[heyricochet]

Craigslist is amazing, my king find was 100 bucks for a virtual boy complete with blockbuster case, a tg-16 with cd attachment, y's books 1&2, and a sealed jaguar system with 15-20 sealed games. Good stuff.

[Steven]

^ Nice! Yeah also, the key is to be fast! These good deals get offers FAST so if you ask even 2 hours after the posting, forgetabutit! I remember one time I saw a posting for FREE Zelda: Awakening of Link for the GameBoy, I emailed her to claim it like 4 minutes after the posting.

She replied later that night "you were the 1st but would you believe it in 4 hours alone I received about 25 emails asking for it."

One time I went game hunting in the real world came home and found a posting for

secret of mana, uniracers, lost vikings 2, etc. for $50. It was an incredible deal but I was a few hours too late as it was claimed. Ironic huh, and on that game hunting trip (visiting random local Game Crazys I never been to yet) not only did I waste gas but I came home zero-handed.

Yeah, that one stung for a while...

[Sosage]

One of my best arcade finds was off of Craigslist. A place in downtown SF was getting out of the arcade business. I got down there early the next morning and scored a dedicated double monitor PlayChoice 10, Taito Double Dragon, Chase HQ and a badly converted Centipede (was a WWF Superstars) for 25 bucks each. I later discovered one of them had 30 bucks in quarters!

Otherwise, arcade stuff is waaay over priced on CL in this area (raggedy ass SF2 conversions with 600+ price tags...bleh). Good console deals do pop up, but they seem few and far between to me (Maybe Norcal just has too many buyers compared to sellers...*shrug*).

[ClubNinja]

I also <3 Craigslist. It takes a little practice to weed out the scum, but after a while, the deals are easily spotted.

[fishsandwich]

I've had some fine luck on Craigs List...

An X'Eye with a bunch of com-plete Sega Cd games (a few rarities, too) for $100... the guy thought it was a karaoke machine (the X'Eye is, in fact, a karoke machine.)

A SNES with Mario RPG & other games + a nice Sega Nomad + N64 with a few games + old Gameboy with various games, all for $100. Ebay for all except the Nomad.

I huge pile of various stuff (most 2600 era with some 16-bit mixed it.) $140. Kept a bit, sold a bit, gave the rest away. Made a profit and kept some stuff. Sweet.

The only thing I missed was a very nice collection of boxed NGPC games (lots of UK clamshells)... someone beat me to it.

I sold 4 barstools that someone gave me free for $120... I have about 10 people e-mail me.

[Beefy Hits]

I've never really more than glanced at Craig's list but a quick glance of it makes it seem like a crowded clusterfuck of a site. Seriously, its design is horrible amature and tough to navigate.

[orangest]

the "garage sales" catagory is very useful for sure...


oh, and someone in the pacific palisades are of L.A. is selling a vectrex and a multicart, btw. ;)

[jeannerocket]

I've gotten good deals with Craigslist also. Just make sure you meet the person in a very public place, never know what freaks will try to mug people over Craigslist.

I'm not kidding. There are some sick folks out there.


If you think that now, wait 'till you check out the Personals: NSA section, it's gnarly!

[WanganRunner]

I've bought a few gaming items on craigslist, not in awhile though.

I've sold like 5 cars on there, and bought more than that. It's great for cars, I check it like 8-10 times/day, literally.

I've found wacky things going through the "general" category too. Intellectual Property Rights, patents, businesses, wierd "personal services", rofl.

I <3 craigslist.

[Vroomfunkel]

I've had absolutely crappy experience of craigslist. Tried to sell my friend's PS2 for him on there.

Got about 600 nigerian scammer emails, and not a single genuine enquiry. It stank.

I'm sticking to gumtree from now on.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I've never really more than glanced at Craig's list but a quick glance of it makes it seem like a crowded clusterfuck of a site. Seriously, its design is horrible amature and tough to navigate.
In my opinion Craigslist is among the most easy to navigate sites of its size that I've ever seen. A hell of a lot easier than eBay, for example. And that ease is mostly due to its amature (read: simple) design, in my opinion. Aside form just the browsing, Craigslist is also much much easier to *USE* than eBay since there's no registering, credit card authorization, bidding, fees or any of that other bullshit. God I hate eBay.

Anyway, I've actually never bought any video game stuff on Craigslist, but it's a great place to pick up a kayak. I was looking for DS games on there about a week ago and did notice someone selling one of those Sharp TVs with the built in NES for $30, which seemed like a great deal if I had wanted such a thing. That was on the Bay Area site in case anyone wanted to check on it, though I'm sure it's sold by now.


...word is bondage...

[Goblin]

I just used Craiglist for the first time last weekend for something other than games. I think it works real well for items that are too heavy to ship or otherwise would be a pain to unload on ebay. I've noticed a bunch of people trolling for games. I've debated trying to use it to unload a bunch of stuff, still might.

[DeputyMoniker]

Yeah I threw my motorcycle up on CL & it sold the next day. The guy said it was his first time visiting the site. CL is awesome.

[Flack]

My first two deals on Craigslist I got a 3ghz computer w/monitor, keyboard and other extras for $100, and a milk crate full of CDs for free. I also bought my upstairs entertainment center for $30 (probably half off) and sold my car on there. Overall I've been very pleased.

I think comparing it to garage sales, thrift stores and pawn shops are accurate. You have to be patient to find the deals, but every now and then you find a gem.

[Steven]

Thought I bump this and say, if any body here does a new transaction off CL, why not find this topic and let everyone know? I understand it's sort of walking the line with "new stuff in" thread, but since this is strictly CL -- I feel those face-to-face meetings warrants its own topic and stories... b/c face to face meetings w/strangers is a lot more interesting than what I won off eBay.

Anyway, I'm leaving the house now to go meet a kid (I was shocked when I heard his voice on the phone, I thought he would be like 30). He's selling me TMNT 3 and Final Fantasy for $10 total. I haven't bought an NES game in almost 2 months, but these two are on my want list and at $5 a piece (they can go for as high as $15 each), I can't pass it up.

---

Just returned, for a change I didn't get lost following the yahoo map directions (I usually miss a turn or two in unfamiliar territory)

Waited outside a Game Crazy for about 5 minutes. Then I see this Asian kid walking toward me with his middle-aged mother and little sister. He had to be no older than 12.

"Steve?"

And he handed me TMNT 3 and FF as I gave him $10 cash. Surprisingly, the games were mint-new. I did not expect them to be mint. He didn't want to hang around long but his mom was very talkative to me, almost fascinated that someone was still interested in "old Nintendo." She said her son is in PlayStation and she still couldn't believe I was into Nintendo still.

We bid farewell and I tell ya, there's no feeling quite like making that sweet drive home after a CL transaction. I can't explain it, but it's a high every time you seal a deal, walk away, get in your car, and get back on that oleeeee road that's a-callin'

Good stuff.

Anyone with any (recent or old) stories they wanna share?

[cyberfluxor]

Well, I'm not sure about other's areas but Craigs List is based out of California and hasn't caught on yet over here so it's pretty bare. They also seem to have a ton of gay guys and old women advertising themselves which isn't down my alley.

On par with games though, nothing much. It sucks for me at this time, I'm hoping for it to pick up later down the road but for the past several months or so, near nothing.

[WSUCougars]

Interestingly enough I just had my second best craigslist "score" last Saturday: a Pioneer Laseractive w/ the Genesis/Sega CD module and a box of games (none being the actual Laseractive games, sadly) for $100. Best part was that it was only 10-15 from my house. My wife and I picked it up at 9AM, and spent the rest of the morning watching laserdiscs and playing Sega CD Jeopardy. :) My best craigslist "score" however came a little over a month ago: working Vectrex + a loose 3D Imager (with the 3D Minestorm color wheel - sadly no game), also for $100. :D

[Perkar]

recently just snagged a neo geo MVS single slot arcade cabinet from a dude on craigslist for $179. guy who had it buys old pinball machines from bars and stuff, and restores them. occasionally he'll get an arcade machine and sell it. his basement was awesome... he had at least 15 pinball machines down there. he's retired, so he has a nice hobby...

[Kuros]

The X'Eye I posted in the Finds topic came from Craigslist.

[MarkMan]

I got this for $23 bucks.

http://static.flickr.com/59/160930840_49baf7cda9_o.jpg

[cyberfluxor]

Thought I'd share this little ad I stumbled across:
http://norfolk.craigslist.org/zip/198566441.html

[aaron7]

Once I got like 50 in box complete NES games on CL. All different, all mint. I think it was like $75 or something :D

[MarioMania]

I never use CL..But my brother has, How do I search for good deals..I been wanted a Genesis Nomad(Mine has a busted screen)..I don't want to pay like $60 for it..I just want it loose with the Battary Pack

[staxx]

I used to have a lot of success on Craigslist (1-2 years ago). I have gotten boxes of Atari games (dunno how many but there were a lot) and 3 Atari 2600 systems for $50. Atari ST and monitor for $40. Super Mario RPG for $10 and so on. These days though I see less retrogames for sale in my area and if there are, it will say things like Rare game, excellent for collectors. Most of those posts have high prices (ebay buy it now high prices). There are also people selling PSPs with a few games for $200-$300. It seems that a lot of people are catching onto Video game collecting and did their homework on game prices. Luckily I started collecting at the right time :D

[Steven]

I used to have a lot of success on Craigslist (1-2 years ago). I have gotten boxes of Atari games (dunno how many but there were a lot) and 3 Atari 2600 systems for $50. Atari ST and monitor for $40. Super Mario RPG for $10 and so on. These days though I see less retrogames for sale in my area and if there are, it will say things like Rare game, excellent for collectors. Most of those posts have high prices (ebay buy it now high prices). There are also people selling PSPs with a few games for $200-$300. It seems that a lot of people are catching onto Video game collecting and did their homework on game prices. Luckily I started collecting at the right time :D

Very true... and why you can't take good deals for granted. You may think there's always "another one lined up" if you miss on a certain game, but that's not always the case. I sold 27 or so US Saturn games (crappy ones, really, like Creature Shock, etc.) for $135 cash or so I can't remember the exact figure. It was awesome I found a guy who collected these games. It saved me on shipping (damn bulky cases are hard to ship) and since they were crap games (OK, not all of 'em, but nothing that would command over $8, many being $2-ish) I would barely make $2 after S&H is factored in.

Thank God for that guy. He drove over with his lady friend, looked a hell of a lot like Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Lady in the Water), and as he was checking the games out on my porch, my parents happened to come home at that time, carrying in I remember the big pizza you can buy at Costo's.

http://www.aristide.biz/images/paul_giamatti.jpg

My mom asked me who he was in private, and I told her my teacher who collects games. Didn't want to tell her the truth because she would just hassle me about meeting strangers at our house. Normally my rule is for CL transactions meet at a public place, but I really didn't feel like lugging the box to my car and whatnot. Plus we talked on the phone a little bit and he seemed really nice.

http://photos.friendster.com/photos/99/54/25954599/33681147817601l.jpg
I just had to take a pic of this for momento's sake... biggest number of games I sold at one time... I was just tired and sick of seeing them cluttering my room, and I never played them anymore, many I never even got around to playing...

Overall though, I wouldn't recommend it (you just never know if you're getting a whack job of a customer so to speak), but it worked out fine for me.