SUPER shady. I'd say cash only for all CL transactions.

I forgot that Craigslist themselves advise against this:
https://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

Scam.

Cash only.

What about PayPal?

Nope. The buyer can file a SNAD complaint and get a full refund.

Yep, this. Using PayPal, the buyer can get their money back too easy: then you're left without a bike and without money.

The two answers above are specific to PayPal's "Paying for an item or service" option. That tends to protect the buyer more than the seller. Or not protect the seller at all.

If somebody sends you the money with the option reserved for friends and family (Send to a friend - used when sending money to a friend or family member.) they buyer gives up their right to file a complaint. If you can do the friends and family payment in person and verify on your account that the money was sent to you, I'm not aware of any risks to accepting Paypal payment that way. I have only done that a few times in the last year and there's probably people around here selling a few things in a day though.

If they can pick it up then they can hand you cash.

Craig’s List must really suck. I had 3 folks with exactly the same “check” offer

I sell about $80K on craigslist every year and get the check offer at least five times a day.

It does. I've sold stuff online and the most common scams are:

1) I'll send you a check for the full amount plus a bit extra for your trouble (check is fake)
2) I'll have my freight forwarder pick it up for me and send you a cheque which ends up being for too much so you have to give some to the freight person (again, fake check)
3) I just need your email for PayPal...so I can send you a fake but real looking email that the money has been sent and is in your account

Craigslist is for cash in hand only. That's it. Anything else is most likely a scam, and not worth the effort of even considering.

Scam for sure.

If you have Facebook, the marketplace is a great place to buy and sell.

CL can be really sketchy. I always ask to meet at a local police dept and will only accept cash.

Thank you all

Craigslist is cash only.

I have a side business I run on CL that generates a fair bit of income a year so I get a LOT of scam attempts... 2-300 check/PayPal scam replies a month in my inbox.

Cash only, meet in person, NOT AT YOUR HOUSE. pick a place with cameras. Bank parking lots are great