Joys of running wanted ads

Just a rant....I've run various wanted ads locally over the years. Some of them result in responses with over priced items cuz I need them. Lately a couple of them have resulted in responses from supposed sellers who have what I need but then vanish. One guy sent a pic and price that I agreed to. Another liked to have long conversations :rolleyes: Four years ago I had one old guy tell me he was going to sell me his car as soon as it got out of metal work (was located a few hours away) and then after 3 years of communicating back and forth sold it to a relative. They might have the best intentions but I wish people wouldn't get my hopes up and then ghost me. I got to get better at screening.