I Can’t Take Your Money
When I broke up with my ex-girlfriend, I inherited a pair of Chinchillas, which were her pets that she summarily abandoned upon the end of our relationship.
I put a post on Craigslist advertising them for sale ($250 for the pair with everything they came with including a GIANT cage and all their supplies). I did this not because I needed the money, but rather because I didn’t want one of those people who picks up every little free item they can find to swing out and get them.
A woman calls me and asks if she can look at them, her son is dying for a chinchilla. So they came out and the kid instantly fell in love with them. He picked them right up (they are still kind of skittish, but we were religious about holding them) and he proceeded to tell me all about Chinchillas (as if I had never seen them before…gotta love kids).
So she hands me the money, and I walk over to the kid and say hey man, tell you what, you take this money and spend it on toys for the Chinchillas, and then I hand him back his mom’s money. I didn’t need the money, and seeing that the chinchillas go to a home where they would be played with as opposed to living in my spare room alone was more than I was looking for.
So far it has been my best experience selling or buying anything on craigslist.