This same exact thing happened to a buddy of mine when he was looking for a skidsteer. Except he found the guy on CL saying he was in Athens, upon emailing him the guy said hes in New York, but the bobcat is at the shipping yard his brother works at. The guy wanted the transaction to go through eBay, and also refused to meet up in person. The skidsteer was also priced about 10k less than it was worth.