I've had very few problems buying things on CL. For the most part I have dealt with decent people. Last year I sold my Jeep and tractor just by setting them out by the road with a sign on them.
I got a call yesterday on something I posted last week - guy was going to meet me this morning, calls at 7am and can't make it till this afternoon. Hopefully he comes through - really just want the stuff out of the garage. Went through this a few years ago trying to sell a bunch of stuff from remodeling, everything was super cheap - got call after call I want this or that. No one ever showed. Finally re-listed as FREE, because I was going to have to load it up and donate to a thrift store - a guy was here within an hour
I've never listed on CL. We don't care to have the phone ringing or have strangers in the driveway. I usually give away everything we don't want to our four kids who usually will take stuff off my hands. At some point we need to get the attic cleaned out. Bunch of stuff up there not even looked at for several years.