I rely on my two trained attack cats.

And a special home security service.

I have never sold on CL, but I have now made several purchases. In each case, the seller pretty much demanded that I come to their house to make my purchase. The last visit I made was to view a guitar and an amp - I ended up buying both. It turned out that the seller and I had quite a number of mutual friends, we'd just never come face to face before. All turned out well.

If I was selling from home, I would NOT invite a stranger into the Music Room. Instead, I would have them meet me in my garage/shop to look at my wares.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

I started out buying at peoples houses and selling at my home. Now that I'm a dad, I only meet in a public place and usually have some form of defensive weapon tucked away in the car.

I have only had great experiences with Craigs and even kept in touch with a few that I've bought/sold with.

I am constantly cruising Craigs and love when I snag a killer deal. Freecycle is great as well, scored 2 free guitars and a nice amp on there.

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Oooops didn't know that, i take it all back. I'd never heard of anyone ever talking about it here so thought it a US thing only.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

I haven't met any person with a good ending to a craigslist story. I have read some good reviews on-line, but in person not one good story. With that information in mind I would not recommend craigslist to anyone. If you are curious, look at the website, just don't call any phone numbers or e-mail anyone. As Martian would say, IMHO, YMMV.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Thanks for the input guys and galls. I guess it's pretty unanimous. After posting this forum, I googled "safe craigslist transactions". Just about every list of tips suggested meeting at a public place.

The story is actually kinda funny.

I posted an item on Craigslist. When a potential buyer contacted me, I told them I do not do Craiglist transactions at my home and told them we could meet at a public place.

They responded "No offense, but" they were suspicious because I didn't want to meet at my home, and believed the real reason was the item was stolen.

I responded that I wasn't offended, but told them FYI, about half the people on Craigslist prefer a public place as a meeting place. After all, they could be a serial killer for all I know, haha. ( "haha"-meant I was exagerating, but you get the point.)

Well she responds back calling me crazy and lecturing me about how the reason 50% of people prefer a public place, because they are selling stolen items, and she knows this too be true because her sister is an LAPD police officer, and they call Craigslist, Crookslist.

Now why is this a funny story you ask......because I'm a Police Officer.

And I was so tempted to put this "public safety expert" in her place because she got under my skin, but I decided to save myself the headache and sell to someone else instead.

I'm surprised no one mentioned the Craigslist Killer.

I have never done it but I would definitly say a public place. I would also bring my 6'6 buddy just to be safe.

It depends for me. I've done both. It depends on how the person sounds on the phone to me. If I'm selling, I definitely don't let anyone come to my house.

Man, I'm kinda bummed right now. I missed out on two great deals in the past couple of days, People are fast on the good deals. You basically have to be the first caller. But there was a nice Japanese made Matao Tele copy from the mid 80's that I JUST missed out on.



If you look closely, you can install a what would be a typical Bridge pickup in the neck. Talk about smokin!! I could have made this thing scream!

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I've done both. It's hard to bring an amp to a public place and actually crank it up to make sure it sounds good or even works well. If I'm dealing with folks an hour north of me, we try to go to a local guitar center, but otherwise, we just meet at homes. Never have been in someone's house, nor have they been in mine. Have always brought equipment outside. I've never had a bad transaction with Craigslist. Fingers crossed I never do.

Weird..This subject came up at my house last night.I have a 19 year old son that still lives at home and he repairs computer equipment and things of that nature as a side job.Last night I am making dinner at 7:00 pm and he walks out to the kitchen and says ."Hey dad,I have somebody coming over to the house right now to drop off a hard drive that responded to his craigslist ad".Now my very first thought in my head was....What? and immediately after that was, do I have time to get the .357 out of the safe fast enough.I'm am a mellow dude ...but that action by my son really pissed me off.My wife immediately said call the guy back and tell him you cannot complete this transaction tonite.Needless to say ....my son got a little pissy with me and my wife and we had to explain to him that we don't know this person and they are coming to our house at night-time and it is freakin pouring rain out.I had to have a serious talk with my son about safety and home invasions.I am not super paranoid, but I do not invite people to my home ...especially at night time that I have never met.It just is not gonna happen.My son got a major $@! chewin for that knucklehead maneuver.We had to explain to him that we were just robbed a few years prior and that I do not want to go through that experience again.There is nothing like coming home and your guitars are gone My twin amp was spared because it was too heavy for them to take...I could tell they tried but decided to leave it behind.I say that a neutral place to meet is the way to go with craigslist ads.One can never be too careful...my .02
I did happen to pull the tazer out just in case to neutralize anything at the front door in case my son could not get a hold of the guy in time.I would not hesitate to use it either.

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1986 Fender Sidekick Reverb 35
1990 Fender Red Knob - "The Twin"
1992 Fender Newporter - Acoustic
2000 Fender American Series Strat - Natural ash
2010 Fender Mustang 1
2011 Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster -Sunburst
2012 Fender Champion

I've done both home and meeting. But i have confidence my home is safe. I've also usually had a lot of communication prior to sale. Also based on where i live, and most of the people i deal with live on the other side of the city, so the only central meeting spot would be downtown Detroit, after dark, in the middle of the winter.

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89-90 Squier P, '00 MIM P w/fretless J neck
Wishlist: Kingman Bass

I have bought and sold many items on CL over the last year or so. When selling I have only had two people come to my house. One met me outside in my driveway for a strat body, the other met in my garage when I sold my starter practice amp.
But when buying, it seems everyone else want me to come to their house, which I don't mind although I do try to be careful if its an apartment

A friend of mine went to meet someone in an apartment once to buy a laptop, and while going up the elevator he asked to count the $, then the door opened (not on his floor i'm sure, if he was even a resident of the building) and he grabbed the money and ran out, down the stairwell never to be found again..... be careful and a little smarter if you are meeting in an apartment

I had one big transaction (well big to me that is) where I traded my Godin LGXT for a Gisbon LP studio and some cash
With that transaction I reserved an hour at a local rehearsal space. It cost me $10 and were were both able to test the guitars on loud amps making the entire transaction great

Usually though for smaller items including MIM strats i try to meet in a public place and I bring my pignose amp with batteries to test out any guitar

But I highly recommend just renting a place for an hour for larger items that way everyone feels safe