So, this guy posted on CL that he was selling a pair of 2000 silver proof sets. After thinking about it for a bit, I offered $90 (given that they're listed for $47 on Southern's website). The guy countered at $100, and I declined. That was yesterday. Anyway, so he accepts my $90 offer today, and I agree to meet him at his work-site. Upon reviewing his post, I notice that the picture he used was a 2001 set (New York quarter). I call to ask him about this, and he states that he just used a picture that he found which looked like his set. After driving in traffic for about 40 minutes, I get to his site and tell him that I'd like to see the coins in his office. So, he pulls out the coins... And I set up my verification station (Kleenex brand two-ply tissue paper)... And he hands me a... 2000 clad mint set. At first I was irritated that I wasted a net 1 hr 15 min of my life, plus unnecessary damage to the environment, but then I realized he probably didn't know any better, so I showed him the side of the coins and pointed out that silver isn't brown/red.
I used to buy and sell stuff on Craigslist, but then I realized that the number of people who were sorely uninformed or outright clinically insane made it unpractical. Always good to get your stuff from within the coin collecting community.
That's to bad you had to waste your time and energy. Hopefully the guy was straightened out. Also another real good reason not to use stock/borrowed photos when selling coins.
Yeah sometimes Craigslist is nuts. I've learned to talk to sellers over the phone to make sure they know what they have. Most of the people I have dealt with have been to a dealer already and want a price closer to retail then whole sale.
Everything on craigslist.com is listed for that very reason. The seller has been to a dealer/pawnshop and was lowballed, and they want 10x more than actual value.
