O.k. I'll admit that "normal" depends on the social norms of your culture and location.

But I've gotta say that there are some really scary folks on these Buy/Sell sites.
I mean bizzare beyond any social norm.

I spoke with one such person yesterday on the phone. I am willing to help those in need; My family says that I am overly kind, but for heavens sake, I am not completely gullable.

Anyone else here, besides me, feel that you don't know who to trust? Even meeting them in a public place didn't work, I got "stood up" three different times! Ticked me off big time!

I'll just keep giving my stuff to the Salvation Army, and other charities. It makes me feel good to help others, and I found out a few years ago that it's a tax write-off.

Any thoughts? I'm just curious. -Julie

Craigslist is like 7-11 or the DMV: absolutely all kinds of people go there, including unbalanced and unsavory. There can be good deals found there, but it also seems to be a great place to run a scam operation.

If you are looking to give away stuff to be used by others, consider http://www.freecycle.org/.

Although Freecycle is a great place, there are also some strange people on there. I have known a few people who had uncomfortable experiences with other Freecycle users.

I used to like craiglist, but then I saw my coworker's situation when selling a ride-on mower, there was a buyer in Maine and he was going to send her a check and then someone else would be there to pick the mower and she was to give him a portion of the check....it was odd. She did not complete the sale.

I had good experiences with Craigs List, before moving last year I sold a ton of furniture. I think with anything you just have to be protect yourself with the info you give out, be alert, and trust your instincts.

That is the oldest Internet scam around. As an artist I get hit with it ALL of the time.

Dear S,

I want to buy your beautiful painting titled "Whatever". I would like to purchase and pay via cashier's check. I will be sending a check in the amount of 1200. Please keep 400 for yourself and remit the remainder to my assistant who will arrange for courier for the painting......blah blah blah

***The way the scam works is that the cashier's check is bogus. But cashier's checks cannot be verified until it is too late. Banks just cash them. But when 6 months later, it is found to be a fake check....you the person that cashed it through your bank will have to pay your bank back for the fraud........

I love Craigslist. I had a lot of success selling all my furniture quickly when I dropped out of grad school (due to undiagnosed celiac!). But you do have to be careful about scams. I got the "we accidentally wrote the check for $1000 too much, just write us a separate check for the excess" once so I cancelled that transaction.

On our news today, a 32 year old man used Craig's list to lure a woman with a free ipod with the intention to rape her. Evidence: it was 80 degrees and in the evening, she was to meet him at a port-a-potty, he was wearing a black stocking hat, he had his lap top(with rape simulations on it), a bb gun and a knife. She drove by with her husband and saw the car, got the plate number and reported it. The police came. Boy is he in trouble now! Be careful! Its on ktvb 7 news

Wow!

I think that in this internet savy world we live in now, it is easy to be lured in by scams.

You start to trust people you really don't know. And, while most people are honest, there are
plenty of nutcases and perverts.

It seems like it used to just be the naive and gullable that were good targets, but now, even computer
"experts" are getting scammed...much more sophisticated stuff going on.

-Julie