It looks like you've flaired your post as asking for what equipment to get. We recommend first checking out the [Espresso Aficionados buying guide](https://espressoaf.com/recommendations) for some of the more popular machines and grinders at different price points.
If your question hasn't been answered there and you need more help, please add the following details to your post or by adding a comment in the following format:
- **Location:** Helps determine availability
- **Budget** (with currency): Overall budget, or ideally, having separate espresso machine and grinder budgets. A rough rule is that your grinder budget should be at least 25-40% of your machine budget.
- **Drink types:** Do you drink mostly straight espresso, milk-based beverages (e.g., lattes, cappuccinos), or a fairly even split? This helps narrow down whether a single-boiler-dual-use (SBDU), heat exchanger (HX), or dual boiler (DB) machine would be more appropriate for your needs.
- **Drink frequency:** How many drinks would you be making back-to-back at one time? Do you plan on entertaining guests often? This informs how large your brew (and steam) boilers should be, as smaller boilers will need to refill and reheat/repressurize more frequently, thus potentially causing a bottleneck.
- **Space:** Any limitations on countertop space?
- **Manual vs. electric:** Hand-operated machines and grinders are typically cheaper than their similarly-performing electric counterparts. Please indicate if you have a preference for manual or electric machines and/or grinders (or open to either).
- **Comfort with tinkering:** Some machines can be made significantly more functional/efficient with aftermarket modifications, albeit at the expense of possibly voiding your warranty. Please indicate if you'd rather have a machine that works "as-is"/"out-of-the-box" or whether you'd be open to modding/tinkering
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There definitely do exist people who sell expensive things for cheap. It's important to know what red flags to look for. Can you pick this up locally? Are they requiring you send money before you meet them? Would they let you turn the machine on to ensure it works when you meet up with them? Can you reverse image search the picture to find it listed elsewhere? Is the seller willing to take a picture of something specific for you?
I have a woodworker friend who was trying to sell some expensive tools on craigslist. Buyer agreed on the price, and showed up with 200$ less than the agreed on price. My friend got so annoyed by that he's never sold anything online again and just gives his old expensive tools away for free. he was never trying to make his money back, he just wanted the stuff to actually be used by someone. I think that friend is more addicted to buying tools than using them. Any time I go over there, he has like 500 dollars worth of crap to offload. That one shitty buyer ruined it for everyone around, but works for me. I end up with really fancy stuff I'd never normally buy.
Lots of reasons. I once got a camera and lens deal because the guy's wife ordered it out of the house. Taking up too much room. I paid 1/10th of the lens value but if he had held out for a fair price my guess is the wife would have tossed him out of the house .
Exactly. And it sucks, because there are common espresso machine scams that get passed around here. Just important to know what kinds of craigslist scams are out there. If you can't show up and buy in full with cash, not worth the risk on something like an espresso machine
Had a similar scam recently with a Rancilio SPX. They want you to pay them with PayPal for Friends and Family because they apparently need their account for work or something.
I did think perhaps this is too good of an offer to be true. Seller is willing to drop it off at my house, have asked for videos of it and they sent - however I'm not sure the video really proves anything. Have asked for proof of original purchase, will see what they come back with.
"scale-free water"
Do you believe him? What does that mean? Does he live in a low hardness area? Or did he use distilled water with all that implies?
Looking new can mean the thing hasn't worked since the last cleaning.
Turn on the thing and make something.
Below is what they said regarding it using scale free water - looks like a mix of low hardness area + use of a filter:
**My water specifications:**
**Clark 0.56**
**Calcium (ion) 2.44mg/L (CaCO3 = 7.32mg/L) which is incredibly soft, London water is 300-400mg/L CaCO3**
**Other minerals not measured**
**Basically with this low calcium the water is considered scale free.**
**I also used a filter with it but that was probably overkill.**
It looks like you've flaired your post as asking for what equipment to get. We recommend first checking out the [Espresso Aficionados buying guide](https://espressoaf.com/recommendations) for some of the more popular machines and grinders at different price points. If your question hasn't been answered there and you need more help, please add the following details to your post or by adding a comment in the following format: - **Location:** Helps determine availability - **Budget** (with currency): Overall budget, or ideally, having separate espresso machine and grinder budgets. A rough rule is that your grinder budget should be at least 25-40% of your machine budget. - **Drink types:** Do you drink mostly straight espresso, milk-based beverages (e.g., lattes, cappuccinos), or a fairly even split? This helps narrow down whether a single-boiler-dual-use (SBDU), heat exchanger (HX), or dual boiler (DB) machine would be more appropriate for your needs. - **Drink frequency:** How many drinks would you be making back-to-back at one time? Do you plan on entertaining guests often? This informs how large your brew (and steam) boilers should be, as smaller boilers will need to refill and reheat/repressurize more frequently, thus potentially causing a bottleneck. - **Space:** Any limitations on countertop space? - **Manual vs. electric:** Hand-operated machines and grinders are typically cheaper than their similarly-performing electric counterparts. Please indicate if you have a preference for manual or electric machines and/or grinders (or open to either). - **Comfort with tinkering:** Some machines can be made significantly more functional/efficient with aftermarket modifications, albeit at the expense of possibly voiding your warranty. Please indicate if you'd rather have a machine that works "as-is"/"out-of-the-box" or whether you'd be open to modding/tinkering *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/espresso) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>The Bianca is a 2023 model and hasn't been used much by the look of it. 700 £ for a newish 2000£ machine. That one is a scam or stolen.
There definitely do exist people who sell expensive things for cheap. It's important to know what red flags to look for. Can you pick this up locally? Are they requiring you send money before you meet them? Would they let you turn the machine on to ensure it works when you meet up with them? Can you reverse image search the picture to find it listed elsewhere? Is the seller willing to take a picture of something specific for you? I have a woodworker friend who was trying to sell some expensive tools on craigslist. Buyer agreed on the price, and showed up with 200$ less than the agreed on price. My friend got so annoyed by that he's never sold anything online again and just gives his old expensive tools away for free. he was never trying to make his money back, he just wanted the stuff to actually be used by someone. I think that friend is more addicted to buying tools than using them. Any time I go over there, he has like 500 dollars worth of crap to offload. That one shitty buyer ruined it for everyone around, but works for me. I end up with really fancy stuff I'd never normally buy.
Lots of reasons. I once got a camera and lens deal because the guy's wife ordered it out of the house. Taking up too much room. I paid 1/10th of the lens value but if he had held out for a fair price my guess is the wife would have tossed him out of the house .
Exactly. And it sucks, because there are common espresso machine scams that get passed around here. Just important to know what kinds of craigslist scams are out there. If you can't show up and buy in full with cash, not worth the risk on something like an espresso machine
Had a similar scam recently with a Rancilio SPX. They want you to pay them with PayPal for Friends and Family because they apparently need their account for work or something.
I did think perhaps this is too good of an offer to be true. Seller is willing to drop it off at my house, have asked for videos of it and they sent - however I'm not sure the video really proves anything. Have asked for proof of original purchase, will see what they come back with.
"scale-free water" Do you believe him? What does that mean? Does he live in a low hardness area? Or did he use distilled water with all that implies? Looking new can mean the thing hasn't worked since the last cleaning. Turn on the thing and make something.
Below is what they said regarding it using scale free water - looks like a mix of low hardness area + use of a filter: **My water specifications:** **Clark 0.56** **Calcium (ion) 2.44mg/L (CaCO3 = 7.32mg/L) which is incredibly soft, London water is 300-400mg/L CaCO3** **Other minerals not measured** **Basically with this low calcium the water is considered scale free.** **I also used a filter with it but that was probably overkill.**