Camille is the Craigslist wizard. She managed to find a set of six chairs for sale in Bellevue that are an exact match for the Ethan Allen dining room table we have.
Years back, when she bought the dining room set, she purchased lower quality chairs because Jason and Bob were young, so she calculated that she would buy a better set of chairs after they had grown. Well, they’ve grown, and Camille has been searching ever since for a an affordable replacement set of Ethan Allen chairs.
Camille found a set for sale on Craigslist, and set an appointment to see if they actually matched the image in the ad. They did, and were in better condition than we expected.
The thing I find most remarkable is that we came from New York, and Robin (the woman who sold the chairs to us) came from California. In spite of all the things that had to line up for this match to happen, it did.
Robin was surprised that we did not try to bargain her down (her asking price was very reasonable). I have come to the conclusion that many people feel a compulsion to argue down the sale price because they need to feel that they have “conquered,” or gotten the better of, the seller, so they have something to brag about to their friends.
On the other hand, I’m happy to tell my friends a story of an fortunate meeting of strangers that allowed everyone to come away feeling enriched.