Why I Dislike Buying from a Private Party

Most of us have bought something from someone off of Craigslist or now the ever popular Facebook Marketplace.  You know, where someone posts a 1994 Chevy Silverado with 248,000 miles that somehow needs nothing, runs mint, and the ad is written with zero thought to punctuation and grammar.

Whether buying or selling on those platforms or others I rarely have a positive experience.  I end up posting something for sale and have more details than I even should and clearly state with pictures that the item is blue and seventeen feet long and then get a message asking what color it is and how long it is.  Then you set a time to meet and either they don't show or are incredibly late.

On a selling note, I recently went to purchase a 1995 motorcycle from a private party so my lady can learn to ride.  While they were nice, it was one thing after another.  The tabs were two years expired, that would have been good information as a buyer.  While they aren't expensive it means getting said motorcycle home is going to be more of a challenge.  The front brakes were shot, and I mean grinding metal, again not expensive but advertise your item properly.  As I was testing the bike out I didn't realize the seller signed not only the "Seller Signature" line but also the "Buyer Signature" line.  So when my significant other went to transfer the title and get tabs, that was not possible.  We now had to get an affidavit, have the seller fill it out and sign it, and of course he left Duluth to go back to the Twin Cities right after the sale.  Now we have a bike we can't ride because of tabs and can't even title.

Almost 2 weeks later after waiting on our mail system everything was ok and the bike title was transferred and the tabs are up to date.  I'll take 10% of the blame as I should have looked at the title before we left, but I made the mistake of assuming people know what the hell they are doing.

The thing is though, this happens all of the time when I purchase private party.  Or at least something similar does.  It's always a pain and a hassle.

Am I the only one this sort of stuff happens to?