Have you had something stolen from you?

How can i make sure that something I buy on craigslist wasn't stolen?

• I run a small pre-owned electronics company. We advertise ourselves on craigslist. We've had a couple situations where a police officer has come in to inquire about some stolen merchandise that was sold to us. They haven't been terribly helpful in pointing me in a direction to help mitigate buying in stolen property. I'd appreciate any info anyone has on what the protocol is or what I NEED to be doing to limit our exposure to that sort of thing. Is there some kind of database i should be inputing serial numbers into online? Is there someone I inform and wait for a go ahead before i try to resell something. What should I do?

• Answer:

  You have to do that yourself, be alert and be careful who you buy from. Don't buy from Craigslist. Sure things could be stolen. There is no easy way to protect grown up people from buying stolen merchandise. You have to get smarter and make sure you know who you are dealing with. You are worrying about something that has not happened. If you got stuck with stolen property that is life. And your bad judgment. Dont expect someone to bail you out. Get grown up and use your head.