Any near-misses on Craigslist that stung?

Saw a $40 Dual 1229 on CL last night that was described as being in good condition. The plinth was chipped in one corner, but everything else just looked like it needed a good wiping. Came with a M91ED with Hi-Track stylus too. Ad posted at 8 PM, email sent at 1 AM, "already sold" reply sent at 12 PM. I thought I had a chance. Worst part is that I read and watched so much about the model last night that I kinda fell in love with it. Never gave much consideration to Dual idlers before due to their complicated issues.

Any other sad Craigslist stories out there?

 

If it makes you feel better, it almost certainly needed a tear-down and re-build.

 

Earlier this year I happened across an ad for an estate sale that had several photos attached. In the pics was a Fisher X-101-B amplifier that had a $75 price tag on it. So of course I got the address and made my way over to the sale (which had already begun). Unfortunately the amp was gone by the time I got there. However, tucked away in a recess behind a large flat screen TV was a pair of Mirage Omni 260 speakers which I promptly snapped up for $60, so the day wasn't a total loss.

 

Had a chance to buy a mint Sansui G8000 receiver for $275 from an original owner elderly gentlemen getting ready to downsize into retirement. I wanted to think about it overnight so did not pull the trigger and lost it when I contacted them the next morning as it had been sold.

 

There's always a chance that you end up with is different than for what you bargained. Any repairs and such would eat through the cost of the deal. Personally, I rarely had deals through CraigsList (or Kijiji in Canada). If it's too good to be true, it usually is.

 

I’ll never forget the email from the lady in San Rafael selling a Lenco L70 for $20 - “I did not anticipate the popularity of the turntable”.

 

Somebody looking to sell their late grandfather's record collection gave me his notebook with all of his records listed to look through, as is often the case with mainstream collections from the fifties and sixties there was pretty much nothing of interest, then I turn to the end of the book and on the last few pages are listed every UK Hi Fi gem of the period along with date purchased and cost; Garrard 301, Thorens TD-124, Ortofon and Decca arms, an SPU, Wharfedale and Tannoy speakers/drive units and maybe Leak and Quad amps, the best single haul I've ever seen documented. I told the person that although the records were of no interest the equipment was and had considerable value depending on condition, "oh we put that in the skip last month" came the reply, I really hope somebody rescued it, that one really hurt, more for the waste than me personally missing out.

 

Here's another one I totally forgot about!

One winter morning, on trash day, I picked up off the curb a c.1956 Dynaco MKII monoblock loaded with Mullard tubes. I made several hundred dollars selling the tubes alone!

 

Craigslist is chiefly known in this country as a dating, i.e. "hookup" app. Hence I did a bit of a double take on seeing this thread title. I thought this was a family board!

 

Missed out on "Towers speakers - $20". The picture was something like Klipsch KG4.5.

 

While some use it that way here too, it's primarily a virtual yard sale.

I used to walk by Craigslist HQ in SF all the time in the '90s; it's just a small storefront operation.

 

An AR-XA turntable listed for $40 just a few minutes away. It looked to be in good cosmetic condition, I would've loved a project like that for this winter.
I emailed the seller the first day the ad appeared but never got a response. It was marked "sold" pretty quickly so maybe I wasn't first inquiry.

 

About 15 years ago, I happened upon a recently posted ad for a Gibson Byrdland guitar and Fender Deluxe Reverb amp for $800, called the number and after a brief conversation, I said I'd buy the gear and less than 20 minutes later, I was at the lady's front door. She opened the door but when I introduced myself, she didn't invite me in and told me to wait. Next, her son(?) comes to the door and tells me the gear has been sold to which I said I'd just spoken to the woman and she had agreed to sell to me. She'd obviously given me the address and I had cash in hand. To that, he just shrugged and said someone offered more... I was pissed but didn't have much of an argument. I asked how much more was offered and suggested I may match it but the gent became irritated and said he was going to 'hold off' and do some research before they sell. I gave him my # and asked him to call but of course, never heard from anyone. I called a few days later but the lady said the gear had been sold... Oh well.

On a happier note, a few years later, I saw a 'fresh' ad for a 1971 Gibson Les Paul Custom, again for $800. I sent an email and the fella called me a moment later. I said I was interested and "on my way". He said it was getting late (9:30pm) and we could meet the next day but I basically begged him to let me come by knowing full well the guitar wouldn't be there if we waited. When I arrived 15 minutes later, he said he understood my hurry as he'd gotten dozens of emails with several folks offering a lot more but he said "...a deal's, a deal" and stood by his asking price. Good Karma and great timing this time around!

 

While I've never bought anything on Craigslist, I had a memorable experience on Audiogon. I bought a pair of Canton bookshelf speakers (I don't remember the model) for my brothers birthday. I had them shipped to me in NY in error and had UPS pick them up and re-deliver to my brother in Richmond, VA. The cost was about $135 or so. When my brother received them I learned from his description they were not what I ordered! With further research they were NOS and were once $1000 list!

 

That's exactly how much I paid for my c.1963-64 AR-TX (early AR-XA) about 10 years ago. It wasn't in operational condition, but Marc Morin turned that ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.