Small town living and Craigslist Fail

I absolutely love Craigslist. I have purchased the following awesome items for cheap in the past year:

• A wood dollhouse
• A mini trampoline
• A fireplace gate
• A giant red dresser (free!)

And I have sold the following unwanted crapola:

• An oversized chair ("Finally, a realistically priced brown microfiber chair")
• Some hand blown glass bowls (from a girl that was ecstatic to have something from the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma)
• A giant red dresser (free!)

This week, during a typical household purge (I hate clutter) I found an old Henckels bread knife which was a wedding gift. After eight years, I was certain we would never use this knife. Since it was still in the packaging, I put this up on CL:

seattle craigslist > kitsap co > for sale / wanted > household items

Henckels Bread Knife - new in original packaging - $25 (Bainbridge Island)

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Date: 2012-01-23, 7:48PM PST
Reply to: your anonymous craigslist address will appear here

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Hi there,

This is a brand new knife in its original packaging. We love this brand - very sturdy and sharp. We have two, so I am finally selling this one.


I was so excited to hear back almost immediately from someone who was interested. We met up, made the transaction, and I had $25 in my pocket. He didn't haggle at all. (As a side note, my personal CL strategy is to ALWAYS make a counteroffer in person. I have never been turned down because --honestly--what is better, me hauling away your crapola now, or you having to connect with another stranger at a later date?)

And then today, I get an email. It turns out the buyer was very disappointed. The knife is "smaller and more lightweight than I thought and is on sale for $12 on amazon!" (I checked, it is.)

My first reaction was:
A. Do your homework before buying anything on Craigslist
B. Too bad
C. That 25 bones is loooong gone

But we live in a small town. I can't turn around without running into one of Jason's students, parents, former students, co-workers, etc. And now that I work on the Island too, our world is even smaller. And I just had this weird feeling - that this guy is neighbors with my boss. Or he goes to our church. Or his kids will have Jason when they reach the 7th grade.

And I did the unthinkable.

I offered him his money back.

WTF Mairead?

It is his fault! He did not do his due diligence! He bought the knife! There are no returns in the Craigslist universe!

(He was super super nice about it, and did not ask for his money back . . . )

So now I am waiting to hear back from him. And I will let you know when I do.