I have some furniture that I want to sell on Craigslist but I live in a rich area and I’m concerned this will paint me as a good victim for a home invasion. I don’t feel very safe letting strangers from Craigslist into my home. The furniture is heavy and on the second story so they would probably have to bring 2 guys. Am I being unreasonable or is this a unsafe situation? What kind of track record does craigslist have for being robbed or set up for a home invasion?
I’ve done it, but my situation has always been that I was moving out in a few days anyway.
In your situation I would be as frank and detailed as possible about the size, weight, and condition of the furniture, include as many photos as craigslist allows, and only invite a person over if they are highly likely, if not certain, to leave with it.
The above suggestion is very good. I wouldn’t give a street address until you have an appointment for them to come over. You might want to invite a friend or relative to hang around at the time also.
I sell lots of things on CL (sold a camcorder yesterday), and I sometimes get the worry vibe you mention. Everyone I’ve met has been pretty classy. I must admit I conduct nearly all of my CL transactions out on my front porch. No reason to come in unless I have furniture.
It would be as safe as any newspaper ad would be - putting it on craigslist is ‘no different’ in the respect that you are placing info in a public space and allowing the general public to come visit your home.
If you are that worried about it - cart the crap off to a second hand store or store it in a storage shed and invite the people that want to buy it over there.
This is better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I’ll echo the ‘don’t give your address’ sentiment; give cross streets when asked where you are and if they want to pick up, tell them that’s where you’ll meet them. But phrase it as, “I’ll meet you downstairs in front of building #__teen, it’s much easier to find.” That way you also know for sure you’ve alerted them to there being a staircase they’ll need to navigate w/ the stuff.
I’ve never had a problem w/ anyone I’ve dealt w/ via CL and then in person.
I live in a house not a apartment. Also my concern is when I mention the suburb I live in (rich suburb) it will set off red flags for victimizing me.
Then don’t advertise the furniture.
I sold some furniture this way before I moved a few years ago, and while the people were there, I was always between them and the door. They were the only people who purchased anything, and they had the furniture they needed and I had my cash. 
If you’re really concerned, call a store that sells used furniture, and if they want it, they will pick it up, although you may have to pay for that service.
Do you have a garage? I use Craigslist a lot, and one common practice is for people to put the furniture they are selling in their garage. When someone is coming to look at it, they just open the garage up. That way the potential buyers never really see/enter the main part of the home, and are more in plain view of the street and neighbors.
That won’t work for the OP - he lives in a ‘rich suburb’ and he’s afraid that they (craigslist buyers) will victimize him with only that much information.
Yes I like the garage idea but I don’t have a way to get it into the garage I live alone and the furniture is very heavy.
Ask a couple friends/relatives or hire someone (teenage kids of your neighbors?) to move the furniture to the garage.
I asked around no one knows anyone who can do it
Well, then they already know your house is likely to contain nice stuff. I’m not sure what other information they could glean from knowing the person in that nice neighborhood also has some furniture for sale.
The only particularly realistic craigslist burglary scenario is that the thieves find ads for some sort of expensive, relatively portable and easily fencable item like electronics or jewelry, reply to the ad to get the address and then burgle it later. They’re not going to try to come back and steal your heavy furniture nor are they going to just randomly reply to furniture ads in hopes you’ve got something else stealable in your house.
Just don’t leave anything tempting out in plain sight and you should be fine. I’ve let all sorts of craigslist people into my house/garage, although I do live in a somewhat smaller city.
Go to your local Home Depot or Lowes or the like. U-Haul works too. If yours are anything like mine, there will be a whole bunch of dudes just standing around in the parking lot. They’re not hanging out for fun, they’re waiting for work. Pick up 2 or 3 of them, bring them home, have them move the furniture, pay 'em $10-15 bucks a head, then drop them off where you found them.
It’s really not as sketchy as it sounds (well, no less sketchy than having craigslist strangers come to your house, at least).
You’re being overly paranoid. Just sell the damn furniture. Criminals already know where the rich suburb is, how will this increase the likelihood of crime? It won’t.
If you cannot bear to allow the lower classes near your home, call a place like Goodwill or the Salvation Army. They will send people to load up stuff.
You seem to have an excuse for everything - you come here, ask for advice/answers, don’t like any of the information given you and then argue any and every possible answer.
Simply put - if you’re afraid - don’t advertise it - if you can’t move it, hire someone that can, but that requires advertising to ‘strangers’ and you’re right back at square one.
You need to figure things out - and to answer the OP again - it is as safe to let ‘craigslist people’ into your home as any other group of people you do not know.
Thieves may scan craigslist - but like another post said - they already know where you live and don’t need your invite to ‘break in’ - they are not frackin Vampires.
If you’re wealthy enough to live there, you probably don’t really need the money. It’s probably better for your mental health to give it to charity and write off the value. Of course, then you have to let the charity workers into your home such carries risks of its own.
You might worry less about people ripping you off and more about allowing non-professional, strangers carry heavy furniture from your 2nd story to the their vehicle. They could easily damage your house or, worse yet, injure themselves. If the latter, they could sue you and your insurance company.
As others posted, find/pay someone you trust to haul the furniture down to your garage.