Craiglist furniture sale

[moksh]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I am dealing with a frustrated buyer of my sofaset. We posted ad on craiglist. Its a sofa in excellent condition and we were selling it for 50% after only use of 1.5 years or so. The sale was due to a move. The buyer came and negotiated hard and got it for 40% of the original price and 80% of posted price. I was happy since this was our biggest remaining item after selling a lot of stuff including a car.

But the buyer called angry saying the sofa had roach infestation. I sent an email but did not get a response. The buyer left and angry message so I called and they are demanding 50% of sofa sale prices for fixing the roaches on the sofa and in their house. I refused to do so and refused to take it back as I don't have the time to deal with this now. I am also a bit scared for my family so don't want to deal direct anymore. The buyer intends to complain to the police and to sue us. I don't have any experience but prefer to go official route now so I said that is fine.

Can you help me understand - Am I in the wrong here? - I didn't know this roach issue in the sofa thing and didn't even come up in the conversation. I have asked my wife to keep the original sofa receipt ready and also craiglist ad in case the police show up. I also have all email exchanges and voicemail from the buyer. She has never challenged anything else wrong with the sofa than the roaches

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I am dealing with a frustrated buyer of my sofaset. We posted ad on craiglist. Its a sofa in excellent condition and we were selling it for 50% after only use of 1.5 years or so. The sale was due to a move. The buyer came and negotiated hard and got it for 40% of the original price and 80% of posted price. I was happy since this was our biggest remaining item after selling a lot of stuff including a car.

But the buyer called angry saying the sofa had roach infestation. I sent an email but did not get a response. The buyer left and angry message so I called and they are demanding 50% of sofa sale prices for fixing the roaches on the sofa and in their house. I refused to do so and refused to take it back as I don't have the time to deal with this now. I am also a bit scared for my family so don't want to deal direct anymore. The buyer intends to complain to the police and to sue us. I don't have any experience but prefer to go official route now so I said that is fine.

Can you help me understand - Am I in the wrong here? - I didn't know this roach issue in the sofa thing and didn't even come up in the conversation. I have asked my wife to keep the original sofa receipt ready and also craiglist ad in case the police show up. I also have all email exchanges and voicemail from the buyer. She has never challenged anything else wrong with the sofa than the roaches

Someone's not taking responsibility for their actions here - and, quite frankly, I think you're BOTH to blame.

How could you NOT know that the sofa was allegedly infested with roaches? For that matter, how could the buyer not have noticed the alleged roach infestation when they looked over the sofa before agreeing on a heavily negotiated price and walking away with their new purchase?

Either the sofa was infested or it wasn't. You know the truth, but the buyer would have had to be blind to notice if the problem was that bad. It's a toss-up on who should take the loss here. If you KNEW that there was an infestation, then you intentionally misrepresented the sofa as being in "EXCELLENT" condition. However, that doesn't negate the fact that the buyer had a duty to fully inspect the item before purchasing it and driving away with their new furniture.

I can honestly see there being some potential liability on both sides. This doesn't raise to the level of a criminal case (I don't think), but I can see a judge having a difficult decision to make on who gets what back from this problematic transaction.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I am dealing with a frustrated buyer of my sofaset. We posted ad on craiglist. Its a sofa in excellent condition and we were selling it for 50% after only use of 1.5 years or so. The sale was due to a move. The buyer came and negotiated hard and got it for 40% of the original price and 80% of posted price. I was happy since this was our biggest remaining item after selling a lot of stuff including a car.

But the buyer called angry saying the sofa had roach infestation. I sent an email but did not get a response. The buyer left and angry message so I called and they are demanding 50% of sofa sale prices for fixing the roaches on the sofa and in their house. I refused to do so and refused to take it back as I don't have the time to deal with this now. I am also a bit scared for my family so don't want to deal direct anymore. The buyer intends to complain to the police and to sue us. I don't have any experience but prefer to go official route now so I said that is fine.

Can you help me understand - Am I in the wrong here? - I didn't know this roach issue in the sofa thing and didn't even come up in the conversation. I have asked my wife to keep the original sofa receipt ready and also craiglist ad in case the police show up. I also have all email exchanges and voicemail from the buyer. She has never challenged anything else wrong with the sofa than the roaches

If the buyer inspected the sofa prior to purchase, and agreed to purchase it, he has no case against you that he could win.

I suggest you hang on to all receipts and emails, but I would not respond to the buyer by phone or by email or in person again. Ignore him. And do not give him your new address.

His threats to sue or contact the police appear to be idle threats. You do not have to respond to anything but an official notice that you are being sued.

Call the police if this buyer becomes more threatening and you fear for your safety or the safety of your family.

 

[swalsh411]

Classic craigslist scam. You would know if there was a roach "infestation". If there wasn't, then the buying is lying and you can ignore them. The police won't care. He is just trying to intimidate you.

 

[RRevak]

Classic craigslist scam. You would know if there was a roach "infestation". If there wasn't, then the buying is lying and you can ignore them. The police won't care. He is just trying to intimidate you.

Not necessarily on the bolded. OP didn't say whether they have roaches or not, just that they didn't know the couch was infested. There is little to no evidence in furniture when it comes to roach infestations and just because someone didn't see them upon inspection doesn't mean they weren't there. Lots of people don't know roaches can travel with furniture. Op didn't say "I don't have roaches so I know they are lying", just that they "didn't have time to deal with it". I'm fully aware of how some people can REALLY be blind as to the magnitude of roach problems. I know this because I lived the same situation. Was given a baby swing and several other items from a friend. Said friend had a MAJOR roach problem but told me the items had always been kept outside so me (not knowing roaches moved with items) said ok. Well low n behold 2 months later guess what I had? A roach problem! I had NEVER had roaches prior to bringing the items home and suddenly had them not only in my house, but in the car they came home in since I left the swing in the back for a couple days! I also found out that the school had complained of roaches in the classroom after this persons child began attending. They complained that they came from the childs backpack so I know it wasn't just me. The friend denied everything all the way down to having roaches in the first place. Well, she denied the problem was serious and said she was just laying traps and that would fix things. She also told me she had actually stored the items in her house but "not for very long". It took me over a year to get them out of the house and even longer out of the car.

 

[RRevak]

Someone's not taking responsibility for their actions here - and, quite frankly, I think you're BOTH to blame.

How could you NOT know that the sofa was allegedly infested with roaches? For that matter, how could the buyer not have noticed the alleged roach infestation when they looked over the sofa before agreeing on a heavily negotiated price and walking away with their new purchase?

Either the sofa was infested or it wasn't. You know the truth, but the buyer would have had to be blind to notice if the problem was that bad. It's a toss-up on who should take the loss here. If you KNEW that there was an infestation, then you intentionally misrepresented the sofa as being in "EXCELLENT" condition. However, that doesn't negate the fact that the buyer had a duty to fully inspect the item before purchasing it and driving away with their new furniture.

I can honestly see there being some potential liability on both sides. This doesn't raise to the level of a criminal case (I don't think), but I can see a judge having a difficult decision to make on who gets what back from this problematic transaction.

I'm thinking OP was well aware of the problem which is why they allowed the price to come down so much. And its nearly impossible to see a roach infestation on furniture (this was also told to me by my pest control service) so its entirely plausible for the buyer to not know when purchasing. I'm thinking OP knows they're to blame and either doesn't agree due to being blind to their problem or just doesn't care. Roaches just don't come out of nowhere and if the buyer started having a problem right after buying the couch, well then its easy to see where the problem originated from.

 

[swalsh411]

You're right. They don't appear out of nowhere. Which supports my statement that the OP should have known about them if they were present.

And remember the buyer is just claiming roaches.

 

[LdiJ]

You're right. They don't appear out of nowhere. Which supports my statement that the OP should have known about them if they were present.

And remember the buyer is just claiming roaches.

Yeah..its far more likely to be a Craigslist scam than a real problem. Its not impossible that its a real problem, but its not as likely.