My First Craig's List Purchase. (And I Survived.)

 I had been looking for quite some time for new chairs to replace the originals of our golden farmhouse style kitchen table.  (You know, the one everyone has?)  My plan was to refinish and paint the table and then replace the chairs.  I envisioned an upholstered chair on each end of the table and then something different for the four remaining chairs.  

I had been perusing Craig's List (the virtual garage sale) off and on to see if there was anything I liked (dirt cheap) that fit my vision.  Two weeks ago, I saw an ad for two blue leather office chairs offered at $75.  There was only one chair in the tiny picture but I liked the way it looked.  The ad had been posted the day before which meant that the chairs were most likely already taken.  I responded to the ad anyway and not hearing anything back, just forgot about it for the rest of the week.

Almost a week later I received an email from the seller of the chairs that stated she had been out of town and that the chairs were still available if I wanted them.  (Ah, yes!)    I did want them but was a little hesitant to agree to meet some stranger for a money transaction.  I mean, I didn't want to end up being the headlining story on the 6 o'clock news.  (And not in a good way.)

The seller and I emailed and spoke on the phone a few times beforehand so I ended up feeling comfortable driving downtown to meet her.  The woman was pleasant and worked at a law firm.  They had moved office locations and didn't need the chairs anymore.  Since it was Spring Break I had my kids with me (free labor) to help with the chairs.  They were happy to come.  (After I promised we would go out to eat afterwards.)

In the office building, after I purchased the chairs I somehow became mixed up with directions to the service elevator.  We ended up on the opposite side of the building from where I had parked the minivan.  And of course, once we exited the building and carried the chairs up the steep ramp the doors locked behind us.  So instead of lugging the chairs around the perimeter of the building, I left my teenagers in the alley guarding the chairs (it sounds worse than it was) while I jogged around the whole building to reach the van and then navigated a few one way streets back to the kids.  (It was quite an adventure.)  The chairs miraculously fit into the back of the van and we were soon on our way, surviving our first Craig's List purchase.

The chairs are great in my kitchen.  I like that they are big and blue and were only $37 a piece. They do make it more obvious though that the table needs some work.  I hope to get to it soon.  (Along with the legion of other things on my to-do list.)

Have you ever purchased or sold anything on Craig's List?  Good experience or bad?