Text 18803, 91 rader
Skriven 2007-08-10 00:48:16 av hap newsom
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE SACERDOTE
Ärende: Re: Breadmaker
======================
Hey Dave!
-> 
-> HN> You shouldn't be surprised! Freecycle and Craigslist are both 
-> HN> populated with people who are looking to keep stuff out of 
-> HN> landfills and to reuse as much as possible, and pass on what's 
-> HN> good and still functional! 
-> 
-> I had a lot of bad experiences with Freecycle - in my area, it 
-> might as well have been a "swap shop" for five or six users who 
-> seemed to trade all the stuff between themselves.
-> 
Our local Freecycle is pretty good, it's heavily moderated and it works well 
enough that I keep an eye on it for the things I'm looking for. There are more 
than a few hundreds in the group (more likely over a thousand but I'm not 
bothering to count them up ) and while there may be some bit of what you 
see, for the most part it works about as well as Craigslist but in a much 
smaller area.

-> The last straw was some asshat who was offering a large lot of
-> stockade fencing - "Enough to fence in a large backyard," as he
-> put it - half of it was rotted and just the pickets only, the 
-> stuff that wasn't rotted had to be taken down for removal.  If 
-> you wanted any of the fence, you had to take all of it.  (He
-> had contracted for a new fence for his horses, and what he 
-> really wanted was free labor and hauling for the rotten old 
-> fence.)
-> 
-> Screw them, I unsubscribed and never looked back.
-> 
Yeah we have those too, looking to unload something and save themselves 
some labor costs. Those bums get noticed pretty soon and the regulars can 
read between the lines enough to know whats what when they read the ads. 
A big one around here is "Firewood"...which usually means somebodys old 
cedar fence or deck that they want removed ...you do the labor and you get 
to "keep" the wood. 

-> Craigslist, on the other hand...excellent, especially if you are
-> willing to follow through with the deals.  Many, many respondents
-> never email back, or never show up, or otherwise flake out on 
-> the deals.  By the time a real buyer shows up, the seller is eager
-> to complete the deal.
-> 
So true! And if you're honest and upfront with people you'll get a fair shake 
from them (most of the time) in turn. A few months ago I was up in Seattle 
to get a mat cutting system from someone I responded to on Craigs'..while I 
was there he mentioned that someone else was coming for some coins he had 
offered on Craigs as well I asked him what he had and what he was getting 
for it...and he was getting screwed because he didn't know the value of what 
he had. He had several commemorative silver half dollars which were in good 
collectable shape...they had been left to him by his father and he was not a 
coin collector and just wanted to convert them to cash...he posted an ad on 
craigslist listing the 4 that he had and one fellow responded (very quickly) 
and offered him $20 a coin for them...I asked him which coins he had and of 
the 4 he had the least valuable one was the 1892 Columbian Exposition coin 
which goes for about $50 or so in uncirculated condition. But what he also 
had was the 1922 Grant half "Star" coin which is worth over a grand itself. I 
told the fellow he was getting ripped off big time and took him on the internet

and showed him the value of the coins he had and gave him the name of two 
good reputable dealers I've worked with in the past and I even waited with 
him to deal with the fellow who was low balling him. The guy was not very 
happy that he wasn't going to get over two grand in coins for $80 and it was 
pretty obvious to me that he KNEW what the coins were worth when he 
made the offer. The gent who had the coins offered to sell them at a more 
realistic price, but not for $20 a coin. After the lowballer left the fellow
with 
the coins asked me to do an appraisal of the entire collection his father had 
left for him, which I did for my usual appraisal fee of 5% for easy collections

(well organized) and 10% for hard collections. 

-> I can't recall exactly how much stuff for the house I've gotten
-> from craigslist, but I can tell you I've picked up all the kitchen
-> appliances for my remodeling from sellers on the list, at pennies
-> on the dollar.  My latest acquisition, in fact, we're picking up
-> in Waltham on Saturday:  a Whirlpool LP/gas cooktop with swappable
-> indoor grilling surface and center downdraft exhaust.  It's white,
-> too, so it will match the double ovens we bought last spring.  Now
-> that we've gotten the cooking appliances, we're working on the 
-> layout so we can get the kitchen remodel started over the winter.
-> (Since we're not doing as much construction as Dale and Gail did,
-> we're hoping that it won't be as disruptive to our schedule.  Yeah,
-> right. [g])
-> 
One of the first things I do each day is look at Craigslist for the items "on
my 
list" 
chat with you soon
hap 
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