Selling towers - keep getting bad actors/scammers when doing local pickup only.

Like @viridian I've never had a bad experience with craigslist. The worse it gets is those folks who insist on meeting in a supermarket parking lot, which is really annoying because you can't test the gear. But then again that lets you make a significantly lower offer on the item because, well, you can't test it.

From what I've heard though, the craigslist experience varies greatly from region to region. Around here it's pretty great, but one time I sold a truck to a guy who had just moved to town who, as soon as we were done, started gushing about how pleased he was with the transaction and what a great seller I was... To me it had been a pretty normal transaction, definitely nothing special, so I asked what do you mean, and he explained that in NJ craigslist is unsafe, you never go alone to a meetup if you carry cash, etc. Which explained to two guys he'd brought along I guess 😂

Occasionally you'll see some pretty high end components on local craigslist, up to $10K or so sometimes. 

I listed LRS + on a site and I had interested parties but they were giving me flack for wanting cash. $850 is NOT a crazy amount of cash to carry. I paid cash for them and that’s how they will be sold. You’re coming to my house to get them. What are people worried about? I took them offline after 2 guys wouldn’t pay cash. I put the speakers downstairs in the basement. I don’t need them gone that badly.

I have a suggestion. You can ship large items without having to package them using an independent LTL Shipper. You'll get a much better price for your speakers if you can open it up nation-wide.

Several years ago I shipped a large item to big to pack using one of the sites where you ask for quotes. Sorry, it was a while back so I don't remember which one, but there are several to choose from like uShip, Shiply, etc. I found a guy who was already going past me, and my destination, on an upcoming trip. He just bungeed it inside his box trailer and charged me way less than what you would pay to ship via UPS!

Good luck!

Zelle is a bank wire, essentially.  There is no recourse or charge-backs by the buyer.  It's the only 100% safe electronic payment I know of, (for the seller). 

Venmo, Paypal, and the like are backed by a credit card to which the buyer could contact and file a claim/ dispute resulting in the seller losing out.

The other option would be to contact TMRAudio.com and see what they would offer for your speakers.  I've heard nothing but good things about them.

Can't say I have had any issues with using Canuck Audio Mart here in Canada.

I have bought and sold well over 100 items and, except for a couple of idiots, everything has been good. Marketplace is a different story because of the relative anonymity and vast number of users.

I'd be interested it what "details that lead (you) to cancel the arrangements before they happened".