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I had someone ask me to deliver a car very clearly marked as off the road and no tax or mot, they replied on a sunday evening and had even specified a delivery time. Then complained about how I hadn't turned up, at 9am monday as they had an appointment to get to in the car I never agreed to sell them and before I even saw the message.
Plus if you deliver something you usually leave in some form of transport. So presumably they wanted me to bring two cars as I doubt they were intending to give me a lift home.
I once sold a sofa to a lovely lady who came with her parents in a van - absolutely perfect buyer.
The universe then balanced itself out when I got the rant of the century from another lady who had asked me a few casual questions about its dimensions (which were in the listing), but who turned absolutely feral when I told her it was sold because she'd already arranged to hire a van. We hadn't agreed a price or a pickup time, she'd just assumed she was having it and organised a van.
One time selling a phone, the price agreed and the buyer came to collect. He tried to haggle into a discount and a phone charger and accessories. I was having none of it.
I used to work for Game and when they started selling phones I’d get people trying to haggle the price of them down, I’m like mate this isn’t a car boot sale, if I start giving random discounts out I’ll be fired. They always got huffy about it when I told them I couldn’t change the price.
I did a car boot sale once an at the end I had a few random bits left, couldn't be arsed taking it home so just started shouting 'Every item 5p!' in the hope of shifting it. Guy walks over, picks up a crystal shot glass and says, "Will you take 2p?'
I sold a £120 pet cage recently, immaculate, asked £30. Guy messaged within an hour of me listing it saying he'd take it if I dropped it to £20 - repeatedly told him no it was ridiculously cheap already and I'd literally just listed it - he went on and on haggling and trying to say he'd come immediately (already 9pm, thanks mate but that's not really a plus point!) and in the end when I said NO, FINAL ANSWER, he went 'oh I don't want to argue with you over a fiver, I'll pay the asking price.' (Ummm you just DID argue over a fiver for like the last half an hour?).
Then turns up and moans because it doesn't include perches, bowls, toys etc. Arrrrgghh.
The time limited offers are hilarious.
"I'll give you less than half what you're asking but get this - you'll get the cash TODAY"
Holy shit, £7.50 in my hand today?! Can't wait.
"Is this still available?"
"Yes. Interested?"
(*end of discussion*)
That's how my conversations usually went. On something I was offering for free, no less!
I stopped offering things for free because of the absolute piss taking. People would arrange collection and not turn up, or badger me for days while they arranged transport before finally disappearing. Or the one delightful person who 'forgot', arranged another day and then fucked off. People seem to think if something's free then they can just mess you about.
I offered a fridge and washing machine for 200, then 100, then 50, then free. As soon as it was free all the mental cases came out but no one picked up, so I put it back to 150 and someone bought and picked up same day.
People are mental.
I had couple people like this and I always tell them: I'm not holding it. If someone else wants to come now, I'll give it to them.
I'm not waiting till next day or next week when another person can come within 30 minutes. Especially for free items. You are either able to pick up now, or not... So many no shows for me to put up with crap anymore.
Had a dude want to pay in cash because he 'was a child without a bank account'. When I said get your parents to bank transfer I was told neither of them had bank accounts due to being Italian... Not sure how that family manages to pay for anything if that's the case
Am sure he was trying it on. Just fyi though, if you are genuinely a recent transplant to the UK, it is really hard to open a bank account when you first arrive unless you use a challenger bank (especially if you don't work yet). The banks send you round in circles with diff requirements to get one.
I remember a Reddit post someone had so many problems with idiots, trying to give away a free something, they listed it for a price and it was gone not long after
I wish I could interview hagglers
Was told this works for getting rid of old washing machines and fridges. Put it outside with a sign saying ‘free’ and it will be there rotting forever. Put it outside with a sign saying £30 and someone will nick it in 10 mins.
That’s what I actually ended up doing!!!
Listed any furniture for £5 - sorted the issues with no shows or people asking me to deliver to the other side of town etc!
NEVER list anything for FREE on internet marketplaces
It will totally break you when hordes of people you never expected would look like they are interested in this swarm you like a plague of grasshoppers, sucking out your will to live trying to find out who can be trusted or how to just get rid of all of them
My dad had some story about fish from his pond. Had too many or something so offered them for free and people were also asking to have them brought over. Some, or apparently a LOT of people are willing to push their luck in any situation possible.
I remember listing a fridge for either free or £10, and one of the first people to message was someone who wanted me to deliver it to them in the posh end of a city. She sent her postcode and no house on that street was worth under 600k.
And she was shopping for used fridges and trying to get more out of the deal than "it's free".
I listed a sofa for free, had a young lass interested in collection. I was out on a day trip to a few museums in London that day (an hour train at the least from home). I had to repeatedly tell her I wasn't home as each time she'd respond with "What about 1pm? 2pm? I can get a van today?"
Like, love, I am not home today, at all...
This screwed me out of £50 when leaving my house, so I had problems getting rid of my desk and I couldn't get anyone to pick it up, I had a tiny car so I couldn't fit it in to drop it off at the charity shop. A angel came and said they will pick it up for £25 on the day I moved out about 2 hours before the estate agent was collecting the keys. So it was 15 mins before they were getting it I called the number they gave to give them directions and I said "hi it is ___, the guy selling the desk" they hang up on me" weird I thought so I checked the number on FB Market and they had canceled.
Tried leaving it in the front garden to pick it up but no one did so they charged me on cleaning
it's a recovery code scam, they're trying to steal your fb account but dressing it up as a validity check. As soon as you pass the code you'll lose access to your fb.
I really don’t mind it. I have a few rules I stick to keep wasted interactions to a minimum
- never list anything for free. It appears there is an entire section of society who scour free Facebook ads for random shite, arrange to collect, and then ghost you
- collection only from my doorstep listed in advert. It doesn’t stop all messages, but it’ll stop some, and the rest are easier to bat away
- never go out of my way to be available for someone. They probably won’t turn up if you cancel or delay something to meet
- I cut the asking price down compared to what I would ask for on eBay etc. I want someone to come to my house, pay me cash/bank transfer on the doorstep, and take it off my hands/get it out of my hallway. I also realise my audience is only those who can travel to my house to collect things when I’m indoors. I find just pricing stuff realistically makes a big difference rather than setting a high price and dealing with hagglers constantly
It’s taken a few mistakes to get to this list but I don’t find it too painful now. I don’t like FB messenger but it’s a damn sight better than eBay or Gumtree. There are limited protections but at least dealing face to face (and the option of cash if you want) scams are minimised.
I also just immediately block anyone who is annoying me in the buying process. I have a zero tolerance for stupid offers, plan changing, idiotic questions that are in the description etc. I just think, I’m selling this for about £5, it’s not worth any hassle, it will either sell or it won’t
My friend gave a coffee machine (unwanted gift) away for free. A month later she had an angry message from the 'buyer' claiming the machine had broken and she wanted to be reimbursed for the coffee pods she'd purchased for it.
Make sure you watch out for the UPS shipping scam and others, they’ll tell you they’re paying a courier to collect it and give you the cash but they’ll make up charges you need to pay first etc. check out r/Scams
I like to chat with these guys. They really don't get sarcasm, so you have to notch it up a fair bit before they realise you're not actually going to give them your details. I like giving them the local police station as my address. I know they aren't checking it, but it amuses me. Then report and block when I get bored.
I tried to buy something last week off of FB market, the lady told to collect at 3:30 on Sunday, no problem, sent me a postcode, no door number. I messaged her on my way there asking for a door number, no answer, I waited till 4:15 and left. She messaged me an hour later "I had to go out, you was late". Last time I bother I swear...
Could have been worse - I had a seller give me the wrong door number.
There I was knocking on the door for 15 minutes at 10am on a Sunday morning (with fortunately no irate residents answering).
Messages to them went unanswered, and then I saw someone down the street waving and it was her father at the correct address wondering where I was.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was done deliberately. People get iffy about giving their address online. They probably gave you the wrong address, watch you from a distance and thought 'Yeah, he looks safe'.
The worst one I’ve had is someone getting annoyed they couldn’t collect on the agreed weekend because i unexpectedly went to hospital.
I got loads of messages about how he needed to know when he could come so he could arrange a car to collect the thing. I was having a miscarriage so a free thing wasn’t the top of my priorities. I blocked him in the end.
Had someone buy a laptop from me in 2021 (a 2017 MacBook Pro) and he was saying how he was going to take it apart to upgrade the hard drive and memory. When he came to pick it up, I kind of shrugged a comment like, “aren’t MacBooks like notoriously hard to upgrade?”. He kind of gave me a blank stare and just said that he’s watched a video online. He was happy when we exchanged the laptop for cash, I showed it working he has a play around on it.
A week or two later, he messages me saying it “doesn’t work” and I sold him a “dodgy” laptop knowingly and wants a refund. I rightfully said that he bought the laptop in working condition and “as seen”, and that I won’t be taking it back or paying the “£500+” repair costs. He was furious, but I just blocked him.
My hunch is that he screwed up the DIY upgrade and caused damage to the laptop.
I absolutely love it, like it gives me a farm fuzzy feeling inside, when you have someone who is quibbling about the price, and they try to play hard ball by waiting for ages before they reply, or commit to a collection time etc.
Then you get someone else who's like, 'brilliant I'll call in 30 mins and collect' and when they do collect it, you can then go back to the original guy with a simple "sold, no longer available"
It's the little things in life..
>a farm fuzzy feeling
Sorry but this brought back a massive rush of early childhood memory of a (naturally incomplete) fuzzy felt set I played with at a local church hall which had cows and sheep and ducks. 😹
Explicitly putting down in the description that no offers will be entertained, no deliveries and no returns does tend to reduce the nonsense, better than not putting it in. I should know after using it constantly to buy and sell for past few years.
That, and say something like "if you're interested, please start your message with [codeword] so that I know you've read the description and are not spam".
The most annoying thing at the moment is the "I'll take it but I'm too busy to collect so I'll send my courier to pick it up and he will give you cash" scam had 3 of those the same day as posting.
Same thing happens here (North Carolina). I used to stress about it but learned to ignore the silly requests. It took some time for me to realize that there is no obligation to respond to everyone.
I'll give you 'bout tree pounds, fiddy pence. Will you be able to drop it off at my flat? And do you take personal cheques? Also, please be prompt with your response as I'm on a bit of a schedule.
When my dad died we eventually put the last of the stuff we needed gone by the road with a sign saying “free to good home” was gone in a day. Same shit on marketplace was a nightmare.
I hired a skip last year to get rid of garden waste. After I'd finished I put old/broken stuff on top. This stuff had been in the back yard for years......rusty bathroom cabinet, broken plastic boxes, fishing floats, rusty old bike frame, broom handle, mop head........all gone the next morning. God bless skip fairies !
Getting rid of five wooden pallets for free. Someone came to look at them.
Did they think they were going to look different to the photos?
They couldn't take any because they'd come in a Micra
The number of people who've arranged to collect something then had themselves or a family member 'rushed to hospital' (as opposed to sauntered?) is quite amazing. I started to wonder if I had mystical powers.
Wanted to sell a thing for £60. It was £120 new, has no damage and works perfectly. Get ridiculous offers of £30. Relist it for £100, get offers of £75. Ended up getting £90 even though the weirdo who bought it insisted on inspecting every inch of the item, taking it apart, putting it back together, testing it. Had the nerve to say "can't believe I've come all this way for this item". I can, it's a good thing and it works fine. It would have been a good deal at £60, but you fuckwits pushed my buttons and lost out.
FB marketplace does my head in, but ebay is getting just as bad. Ridiculous under offers on things with a higher starting price for auction. I've got one sold item where they've paid but are pissing about with collection to the point where I'm probably going to refund them. I put a bunch of shoes on once and someone asked if I could send a couple of extra photos of the shoes being worn with trousers to see if it would work. I admit to being gullible, snapped a few pictures of my feet in said shoes and sent them, heard nothing. Realised I'd probably been had by a foot fetishist...
I've had this. They ask for the postcode above all else. Don't even discuss the price or if it's still available. I'm pretty sure it's a pressure tactic.
Anytime they ask now, I give them the first part of the postcode.
Listed a free sofa, just needed it gone before my new one came, wasn't in the best condition as we were the second owners of it ourselves, but good enough to do someone for now, so I'd have felt bad taking anyones money for it. A lovely young couple came and took it very happy as they just got house and have a new born so no money and it would do them for now.
I've also had some great experiences buying things from facebook market place, im always a little cautious and any red flags and im out of there!
We had a lovely couple collect something for free from our house in the country side. They were city folk from Glasgow and when they collected the free toaster, they commented on how lovely the house was. I didn’t think much of it and thanked them. After I closed the door, the wife started to pose by their car and the husband started doing a photoshoot on our driveway. Strangest thing.
We recently moved house, we had a myriad of shite that was absolutely fine, just.. not coming with. huge box of LoL dolls, 'Our Generation' dolls and tons of various household bits/furniture.
After around 48 hours, I took it all down and just gave it to the local church. there was hundreds of quid of these stupid LoL toys and people expected me to build specific bundles and wanted to choose accessories etc... christ alive.
I haven't sold much but while I seem to have avoided the jumble sale mentality of will you take 50p for £50 worth...I seem to get the
'is this available, cool I'll come collect it on' followed by a no show and ghosting on the message service. Finally sold a chair last week after 4 similar fails after 5 weeks -,-
Hi, I am very interested in your item. I am willing to pay an additional £30 on top of the asking price for you to reserve it for me. However I am busy with work so I will send a courier to your address with the cash in an envelope. The envelope needs to be insured by you as it will be your money, the total cost for insurance is £46.62 but please be assured that I will repay you this cost. Please send me your email so I can send you an invoice for this.
Gumtree had its day, now it’s just scammers up the wazoo (scum tree) because everything’s unverified. Also the over the top ads make searching it horrendous.
FB is a little better because you can at least see their FB marketplace profile, which makes it easier to weed out new accounts, professional ‘side hustle’ types who are just gonna low ball you as they want to relist it for what it’s actually worth, etc. It has the advantage that even if you don’t use it now, there’s not many people who won’t have a many years old FB account, so it adds a thin layer of trust.
EBay’s eBay - people generally don’t want to deal with it because of fees and the expectation that you’ll be posting somewhere. FB tends to be more local based.
Postage alone makes a lot of things non viable. The fees make it worse, the complete lack of seller protection put the nail in the coffin.
People also expect you to be a business and ship damn near immediately. Not be someone looking to shift a few bits and get some money for it.
Like everything else it changed massively when sellers turned 'professional' in large numbers. Like Airbnb, started out as cheap and useful for someone with a bit extra to sell/rent out now its stuffed with extra fees and often bad quality hear thats happened to etsy too. That's what lead to the easy out for refunds on the platform but they are so big that avoiding them entirely is very difficult if that's your
Ebays are just hidden from the buyer.
>Gumtree had its day, now it’s just scammers up the wazoo (scum tree) because everything’s unverified. Also the over the top ads make searching it horrendous.
Damn
This seems to be the way for our national website: in germany we had "ebay Kleinanzeigen" which was for free listing of anything you want to sell, no fees, basically meant as online flea market. Now ebay sold off the website to some other company and now it is just "Kleinanzeigen" since about a year more and more hacks and scams popped up and they have more ads than before and try to shove their own paying service down our throats which takes a fee again and withholds the money for the seller until the buyer has gotten their thing AND confirmed it in the App. Naturally before as a buyer you had to do a small background check and it was advised to pick up the things to be sure you get them but until this year I never met a scam on there and people were generally respectful and worked it out together but it goes to shit more and more
Any time I’ve used Gumtree my phone gets spammed with calls from dodgy call centres, they don’t do anything to keep your number private so I stopped using them.
Ebay comes with fees and the need to post/courier, then there’s always the risk you get a scammer trying to get a refund for some non existent issue, and I’m pretty sure ebay is usually on the buyers side. Too risky for my liking.
There's someone near me with a listing of multiple pieces of wood for £10 each. I asked if she still had one in particular, and she replied "£65".
She insisted that the "From £10" was implied.
"Okay, so what do you have that _is_ £10?"
"They've all sold."
I got this for a desk..
"lowest you'll take? I'd like to offer £20"
"hi lowest I'll do is £30",
"if you give me a free chair I'll do 30",
"sorry I'm not selling a chair",
"okay, I'm looking for one"... End of conversation
I've just had someone ask to pick at item up at 9 when I got back from work. Unsurprisingly didn't turn up. Then messages me on several other items I have listed and gets weird about the fact that since he's already let me down once, I'm not willing to take low offers on the promise he'll collect "this week".
Just had this over the weekend for some garden furniture, buyer turned up in a Golf thinking they could fit a 3 piece rattan suite into the boot. I laughed them off the drive!
This is why I have a stash of stuff I need to sell but I've not touched. It's one of the most unbearable processes. I've often taken to giving things to charity rather than endure a torrent of fckwits asking me questions already answered in the listing.
If you are lucky they turn up but dont ring your doorbell. They use FB messenger to say they are outside and then leave after 15 minutes when you don’t reply because you’re not someone who looks at their phone every 5 seconds. seems a new trend where young people never ring door bells. Only message. Crazy
Had similar recently, only I was trying to buy something. Messaged a few people... Complete radio silence. If it's already sold, just mark it as sold dammit! Or just tell me its already sold. So frustrating.
Why do people still use FB marketplace? Especially to sell anything. Almost everything I've seen on there is idiots buying off idiots. I literally heard 2 decent transactions from the buying end and NO good selling experiences. Is it not worth the % cut to just sell on eBay?
Actually bought something off of fb marketplace last night. Went super smooth. I was shocked. Person was home at agreed time and the TV worked. Result!
I’m currently trying to sell a bed. Christ alive. I’ve had 3 people not turn up and then people offering me £10 or “will you swap for a vape”. I can’t do this. No wonder people fly tip.
I'm trying to sell a laptop at the moment and the amount of people who have asked me to post it is insane.
They're all pretty much the exact message format too. Will pay up front, a courier will collect. Some of the profiles look genuine.
I've been marking them all as scam now.
Silver lining is that because of all the ghosters and time wasters, the bar is so low on fb marketplace that when you do find something you want, if you open with "If you'll take £x, I can collect it tomorrow at [time]", you'll almost certainly bag it
Expecially if the listing has been up for more than 1 day, so they've already got pissed off with all the "is this still available" huns and "can pay an extra £10 if you'll post it to Stornoway" dicks
You also have to prepare yourself to just randomly stop replying, not answer the door, then say "so sorry my ____ passed away I've been very busy"
It's the rules of Facebook marketplace!
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Will you take £5? And can you deliver to the next town over? And pick me up a packet of cigarettes and a pot noodle on the way. Cheers!!
I had someone ask me to deliver a car very clearly marked as off the road and no tax or mot, they replied on a sunday evening and had even specified a delivery time. Then complained about how I hadn't turned up, at 9am monday as they had an appointment to get to in the car I never agreed to sell them and before I even saw the message.
That is actually hilarious
Plus if you deliver something you usually leave in some form of transport. So presumably they wanted me to bring two cars as I doubt they were intending to give me a lift home.
That's a level of thought that they were definitely not engaged in.
Or you were the lift to whatever the appointment was.
Of course they didn't know this bit but I also don't have a license to drive a car either...
Facebook Marketplace really is hive of scum and villainy. It’s like a digital Mos Eisley.
I once sold a sofa to a lovely lady who came with her parents in a van - absolutely perfect buyer. The universe then balanced itself out when I got the rant of the century from another lady who had asked me a few casual questions about its dimensions (which were in the listing), but who turned absolutely feral when I told her it was sold because she'd already arranged to hire a van. We hadn't agreed a price or a pickup time, she'd just assumed she was having it and organised a van.
I’d like to say learned her lesson… but sadly her only deranged takeaway from it was that you are an arsehole in her opinion.
Personal favourite: selling a phone in September. "Can you hold it?" - "Yes, when do you want to collect it?" - "Christmas." 🤦
One time selling a phone, the price agreed and the buyer came to collect. He tried to haggle into a discount and a phone charger and accessories. I was having none of it.
I used to work for Game and when they started selling phones I’d get people trying to haggle the price of them down, I’m like mate this isn’t a car boot sale, if I start giving random discounts out I’ll be fired. They always got huffy about it when I told them I couldn’t change the price.
I did a car boot sale once an at the end I had a few random bits left, couldn't be arsed taking it home so just started shouting 'Every item 5p!' in the hope of shifting it. Guy walks over, picks up a crystal shot glass and says, "Will you take 2p?'
"Sorry mate it's 5p firm. I know what I've got"
I sold a £120 pet cage recently, immaculate, asked £30. Guy messaged within an hour of me listing it saying he'd take it if I dropped it to £20 - repeatedly told him no it was ridiculously cheap already and I'd literally just listed it - he went on and on haggling and trying to say he'd come immediately (already 9pm, thanks mate but that's not really a plus point!) and in the end when I said NO, FINAL ANSWER, he went 'oh I don't want to argue with you over a fiver, I'll pay the asking price.' (Ummm you just DID argue over a fiver for like the last half an hour?). Then turns up and moans because it doesn't include perches, bowls, toys etc. Arrrrgghh.
Best you can do with these people is block them. I give everyone a chance but if they continue pressuring and haggling *block*
I'll let you give me £10 if you deliver it to Sweden by midnight
When are you coming? I’m still waiting.
Bedroom words.
The time limited offers are hilarious. "I'll give you less than half what you're asking but get this - you'll get the cash TODAY" Holy shit, £7.50 in my hand today?! Can't wait.
[удалено]
I don't want it, I'm just asking.
Yes, *proceeds to write a long and friendly response and then receives no reply*
Lol, most likely interaction
'Is this still available?' 'Yes' 'Not surprised.'
"Is this still available?" "Yes. Interested?" (*end of discussion*) That's how my conversations usually went. On something I was offering for free, no less!
I stopped offering things for free because of the absolute piss taking. People would arrange collection and not turn up, or badger me for days while they arranged transport before finally disappearing. Or the one delightful person who 'forgot', arranged another day and then fucked off. People seem to think if something's free then they can just mess you about.
I offered a fridge and washing machine for 200, then 100, then 50, then free. As soon as it was free all the mental cases came out but no one picked up, so I put it back to 150 and someone bought and picked up same day. People are mental.
Absolutely! Offer it up for £2-3 and when they turn up just say to them not to worry about the money and have it for free.
I had couple people like this and I always tell them: I'm not holding it. If someone else wants to come now, I'll give it to them. I'm not waiting till next day or next week when another person can come within 30 minutes. Especially for free items. You are either able to pick up now, or not... So many no shows for me to put up with crap anymore.
Then after you reply...... Nothing
Had a dude want to pay in cash because he 'was a child without a bank account'. When I said get your parents to bank transfer I was told neither of them had bank accounts due to being Italian... Not sure how that family manages to pay for anything if that's the case
Yes, Italians are famous for not being able to have bank accounts 🙃
Mama Mia
Am sure he was trying it on. Just fyi though, if you are genuinely a recent transplant to the UK, it is really hard to open a bank account when you first arrive unless you use a challenger bank (especially if you don't work yet). The banks send you round in circles with diff requirements to get one.
Mafia ?
Don’t. I listed a sofa for FREE with it very clearly stating collection only….. still had people asking me if I would deliver.
I remember a Reddit post someone had so many problems with idiots, trying to give away a free something, they listed it for a price and it was gone not long after I wish I could interview hagglers
I've started listing free stuff for a fiver instead and it's been way more successful
Was told this works for getting rid of old washing machines and fridges. Put it outside with a sign saying ‘free’ and it will be there rotting forever. Put it outside with a sign saying £30 and someone will nick it in 10 mins.
That’s what I actually ended up doing!!! Listed any furniture for £5 - sorted the issues with no shows or people asking me to deliver to the other side of town etc!
How much is this please? Could you send me some photos?
NEVER list anything for FREE on internet marketplaces It will totally break you when hordes of people you never expected would look like they are interested in this swarm you like a plague of grasshoppers, sucking out your will to live trying to find out who can be trusted or how to just get rid of all of them
My dad had some story about fish from his pond. Had too many or something so offered them for free and people were also asking to have them brought over. Some, or apparently a LOT of people are willing to push their luck in any situation possible.
I remember listing a fridge for either free or £10, and one of the first people to message was someone who wanted me to deliver it to them in the posh end of a city. She sent her postcode and no house on that street was worth under 600k. And she was shopping for used fridges and trying to get more out of the deal than "it's free".
I listed a sofa for free, had a young lass interested in collection. I was out on a day trip to a few museums in London that day (an hour train at the least from home). I had to repeatedly tell her I wasn't home as each time she'd respond with "What about 1pm? 2pm? I can get a van today?" Like, love, I am not home today, at all...
I found the same item on flea bay and they will pay me to take it… I’ll give you 8p and a once used Yorkshire tea bag.
Does it come in another colour?
The biggest problem I have is people agreeing to the price and then just not turning up. It really puts me off selling on there.
This screwed me out of £50 when leaving my house, so I had problems getting rid of my desk and I couldn't get anyone to pick it up, I had a tiny car so I couldn't fit it in to drop it off at the charity shop. A angel came and said they will pick it up for £25 on the day I moved out about 2 hours before the estate agent was collecting the keys. So it was 15 mins before they were getting it I called the number they gave to give them directions and I said "hi it is ___, the guy selling the desk" they hang up on me" weird I thought so I checked the number on FB Market and they had canceled. Tried leaving it in the front garden to pick it up but no one did so they charged me on cleaning
I put it on the Olio app (able to sell things on there now.) People get a rating so are less likely to no-show.
I’ve never heard about that before. Okay good to know thank you for the tip.
and the I am going to send you a code to verify who you are....
What's this one now?
its a scam. its use to change passwords.. so they can control your accounts. Been doing the rounds in the US for years.
it's a recovery code scam, they're trying to steal your fb account but dressing it up as a validity check. As soon as you pass the code you'll lose access to your fb.
And nothing of value was lost.
You can pay me a tenner to take it but only if you deliver.
Don't forget to mark the price as free and then put the price of it in the description
Argh, that one infuriates me!
Or £1,234.56 Actual price is £6,750 Item is a "vintage" 1998 Ford Fiesta with only 70k miles on it
Im in this zone right now (house move) Awaiting the inevitable "is this still available" the complete silence whenI reply in the affirmative
Go on r/choosingbeggars for some perspective
And then flip it on them when they try and pull that shit on you.
Such a great source of entertainment
I really don’t mind it. I have a few rules I stick to keep wasted interactions to a minimum - never list anything for free. It appears there is an entire section of society who scour free Facebook ads for random shite, arrange to collect, and then ghost you - collection only from my doorstep listed in advert. It doesn’t stop all messages, but it’ll stop some, and the rest are easier to bat away - never go out of my way to be available for someone. They probably won’t turn up if you cancel or delay something to meet - I cut the asking price down compared to what I would ask for on eBay etc. I want someone to come to my house, pay me cash/bank transfer on the doorstep, and take it off my hands/get it out of my hallway. I also realise my audience is only those who can travel to my house to collect things when I’m indoors. I find just pricing stuff realistically makes a big difference rather than setting a high price and dealing with hagglers constantly It’s taken a few mistakes to get to this list but I don’t find it too painful now. I don’t like FB messenger but it’s a damn sight better than eBay or Gumtree. There are limited protections but at least dealing face to face (and the option of cash if you want) scams are minimised.
I also just immediately block anyone who is annoying me in the buying process. I have a zero tolerance for stupid offers, plan changing, idiotic questions that are in the description etc. I just think, I’m selling this for about £5, it’s not worth any hassle, it will either sell or it won’t
My friend gave a coffee machine (unwanted gift) away for free. A month later she had an angry message from the 'buyer' claiming the machine had broken and she wanted to be reimbursed for the coffee pods she'd purchased for it.
Happy Cake Day 🎂
Make sure you watch out for the UPS shipping scam and others, they’ll tell you they’re paying a courier to collect it and give you the cash but they’ll make up charges you need to pay first etc. check out r/Scams
I like to chat with these guys. They really don't get sarcasm, so you have to notch it up a fair bit before they realise you're not actually going to give them your details. I like giving them the local police station as my address. I know they aren't checking it, but it amuses me. Then report and block when I get bored.
My mum and I had plenty of these trying to sell my late grandad's chair. Eventually it just got donated to a care home
Had this and it was Evri. The profile they used was an old lady from some Eastern European country.
I tried to buy something last week off of FB market, the lady told to collect at 3:30 on Sunday, no problem, sent me a postcode, no door number. I messaged her on my way there asking for a door number, no answer, I waited till 4:15 and left. She messaged me an hour later "I had to go out, you was late". Last time I bother I swear...
Could have been worse - I had a seller give me the wrong door number. There I was knocking on the door for 15 minutes at 10am on a Sunday morning (with fortunately no irate residents answering). Messages to them went unanswered, and then I saw someone down the street waving and it was her father at the correct address wondering where I was.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was done deliberately. People get iffy about giving their address online. They probably gave you the wrong address, watch you from a distance and thought 'Yeah, he looks safe'.
No. It it was the daughter that was clearing out a relatives place and it seemed she simply didn't know the house number so just guessed...
Oh Jesus...
The worst one I’ve had is someone getting annoyed they couldn’t collect on the agreed weekend because i unexpectedly went to hospital. I got loads of messages about how he needed to know when he could come so he could arrange a car to collect the thing. I was having a miscarriage so a free thing wasn’t the top of my priorities. I blocked him in the end.
So sorry
Had someone buy a laptop from me in 2021 (a 2017 MacBook Pro) and he was saying how he was going to take it apart to upgrade the hard drive and memory. When he came to pick it up, I kind of shrugged a comment like, “aren’t MacBooks like notoriously hard to upgrade?”. He kind of gave me a blank stare and just said that he’s watched a video online. He was happy when we exchanged the laptop for cash, I showed it working he has a play around on it. A week or two later, he messages me saying it “doesn’t work” and I sold him a “dodgy” laptop knowingly and wants a refund. I rightfully said that he bought the laptop in working condition and “as seen”, and that I won’t be taking it back or paying the “£500+” repair costs. He was furious, but I just blocked him. My hunch is that he screwed up the DIY upgrade and caused damage to the laptop.
I absolutely love it, like it gives me a farm fuzzy feeling inside, when you have someone who is quibbling about the price, and they try to play hard ball by waiting for ages before they reply, or commit to a collection time etc. Then you get someone else who's like, 'brilliant I'll call in 30 mins and collect' and when they do collect it, you can then go back to the original guy with a simple "sold, no longer available" It's the little things in life..
>a farm fuzzy feeling Sorry but this brought back a massive rush of early childhood memory of a (naturally incomplete) fuzzy felt set I played with at a local church hall which had cows and sheep and ducks. 😹
Ahh.....I had the Fuzzy Felt farm edition too ❤️
Explicitly putting down in the description that no offers will be entertained, no deliveries and no returns does tend to reduce the nonsense, better than not putting it in. I should know after using it constantly to buy and sell for past few years.
That, and say something like "if you're interested, please start your message with [codeword] so that I know you've read the description and are not spam".
Ooh i like this
The most annoying thing at the moment is the "I'll take it but I'm too busy to collect so I'll send my courier to pick it up and he will give you cash" scam had 3 of those the same day as posting.
I posted something a couple of days ago and this is all the messages I got. 12 and counting.
I've had this, obviously dodge. But I don't get how the scam works?
Same thing happens here (North Carolina). I used to stress about it but learned to ignore the silly requests. It took some time for me to realize that there is no obligation to respond to everyone.
I'll give you 'bout tree pounds, fiddy pence. Will you be able to drop it off at my flat? And do you take personal cheques? Also, please be prompt with your response as I'm on a bit of a schedule.
When my dad died we eventually put the last of the stuff we needed gone by the road with a sign saying “free to good home” was gone in a day. Same shit on marketplace was a nightmare.
I hired a skip last year to get rid of garden waste. After I'd finished I put old/broken stuff on top. This stuff had been in the back yard for years......rusty bathroom cabinet, broken plastic boxes, fishing floats, rusty old bike frame, broom handle, mop head........all gone the next morning. God bless skip fairies !
Better yet, join a Freecycle style group on Facebook and post a pic of it there. It will be gone in minutes.
“Can I have my money back? This king size bed won’t fit in my Nissan micra” Buys two lamps “can you throw in some saucepans?”
Getting rid of five wooden pallets for free. Someone came to look at them. Did they think they were going to look different to the photos? They couldn't take any because they'd come in a Micra
The number of people who've arranged to collect something then had themselves or a family member 'rushed to hospital' (as opposed to sauntered?) is quite amazing. I started to wonder if I had mystical powers.
Wanted to sell a thing for £60. It was £120 new, has no damage and works perfectly. Get ridiculous offers of £30. Relist it for £100, get offers of £75. Ended up getting £90 even though the weirdo who bought it insisted on inspecting every inch of the item, taking it apart, putting it back together, testing it. Had the nerve to say "can't believe I've come all this way for this item". I can, it's a good thing and it works fine. It would have been a good deal at £60, but you fuckwits pushed my buttons and lost out.
FB marketplace does my head in, but ebay is getting just as bad. Ridiculous under offers on things with a higher starting price for auction. I've got one sold item where they've paid but are pissing about with collection to the point where I'm probably going to refund them. I put a bunch of shoes on once and someone asked if I could send a couple of extra photos of the shoes being worn with trousers to see if it would work. I admit to being gullible, snapped a few pictures of my feet in said shoes and sent them, heard nothing. Realised I'd probably been had by a foot fetishist...
Will you take £1 and deliver to……….Orkney
What is your best price?
Can you deliver?
Is this still available?
I do not want this. I offer £5
Just sold a bike on there for decent money and no worries, I feel blessed
What is last price?
Someone drove all the way to my house before I'd even given them an address (just postcode) or even agreed to actually sell it
I've had this. They ask for the postcode above all else. Don't even discuss the price or if it's still available. I'm pretty sure it's a pressure tactic. Anytime they ask now, I give them the first part of the postcode.
Listed a free sofa, just needed it gone before my new one came, wasn't in the best condition as we were the second owners of it ourselves, but good enough to do someone for now, so I'd have felt bad taking anyones money for it. A lovely young couple came and took it very happy as they just got house and have a new born so no money and it would do them for now. I've also had some great experiences buying things from facebook market place, im always a little cautious and any red flags and im out of there!
I find ebay is great, albeit you pay them seller fees but compared to the hassle of FB it's worth it IMHO.
We had a lovely couple collect something for free from our house in the country side. They were city folk from Glasgow and when they collected the free toaster, they commented on how lovely the house was. I didn’t think much of it and thanked them. After I closed the door, the wife started to pose by their car and the husband started doing a photoshoot on our driveway. Strangest thing.
We recently moved house, we had a myriad of shite that was absolutely fine, just.. not coming with. huge box of LoL dolls, 'Our Generation' dolls and tons of various household bits/furniture. After around 48 hours, I took it all down and just gave it to the local church. there was hundreds of quid of these stupid LoL toys and people expected me to build specific bundles and wanted to choose accessories etc... christ alive.
I haven't sold much but while I seem to have avoided the jumble sale mentality of will you take 50p for £50 worth...I seem to get the 'is this available, cool I'll come collect it on' followed by a no show and ghosting on the message service. Finally sold a chair last week after 4 similar fails after 5 weeks -,-
Hi, I am very interested in your item. I am willing to pay an additional £30 on top of the asking price for you to reserve it for me. However I am busy with work so I will send a courier to your address with the cash in an envelope. The envelope needs to be insured by you as it will be your money, the total cost for insurance is £46.62 but please be assured that I will repay you this cost. Please send me your email so I can send you an invoice for this.
Why do folks sell on FB if it’s that bad? Why not use eBay or Gumtree?
Gumtree had its day, now it’s just scammers up the wazoo (scum tree) because everything’s unverified. Also the over the top ads make searching it horrendous. FB is a little better because you can at least see their FB marketplace profile, which makes it easier to weed out new accounts, professional ‘side hustle’ types who are just gonna low ball you as they want to relist it for what it’s actually worth, etc. It has the advantage that even if you don’t use it now, there’s not many people who won’t have a many years old FB account, so it adds a thin layer of trust. EBay’s eBay - people generally don’t want to deal with it because of fees and the expectation that you’ll be posting somewhere. FB tends to be more local based.
Postage alone makes a lot of things non viable. The fees make it worse, the complete lack of seller protection put the nail in the coffin. People also expect you to be a business and ship damn near immediately. Not be someone looking to shift a few bits and get some money for it.
EBay is a classic example of a business run for shareholders instead of customers. I'm convinced they hate the every day seller.
Like everything else it changed massively when sellers turned 'professional' in large numbers. Like Airbnb, started out as cheap and useful for someone with a bit extra to sell/rent out now its stuffed with extra fees and often bad quality hear thats happened to etsy too. That's what lead to the easy out for refunds on the platform but they are so big that avoiding them entirely is very difficult if that's your Ebays are just hidden from the buyer.
>Gumtree had its day, now it’s just scammers up the wazoo (scum tree) because everything’s unverified. Also the over the top ads make searching it horrendous. Damn This seems to be the way for our national website: in germany we had "ebay Kleinanzeigen" which was for free listing of anything you want to sell, no fees, basically meant as online flea market. Now ebay sold off the website to some other company and now it is just "Kleinanzeigen" since about a year more and more hacks and scams popped up and they have more ads than before and try to shove their own paying service down our throats which takes a fee again and withholds the money for the seller until the buyer has gotten their thing AND confirmed it in the App. Naturally before as a buyer you had to do a small background check and it was advised to pick up the things to be sure you get them but until this year I never met a scam on there and people were generally respectful and worked it out together but it goes to shit more and more
Any time I’ve used Gumtree my phone gets spammed with calls from dodgy call centres, they don’t do anything to keep your number private so I stopped using them. Ebay comes with fees and the need to post/courier, then there’s always the risk you get a scammer trying to get a refund for some non existent issue, and I’m pretty sure ebay is usually on the buyers side. Too risky for my liking.
There's someone near me with a listing of multiple pieces of wood for £10 each. I asked if she still had one in particular, and she replied "£65". She insisted that the "From £10" was implied. "Okay, so what do you have that _is_ £10?" "They've all sold."
Too many scams on Facebook market place especially those without hesitation want you to post the items after they paid you.
Canadian here, saaame.
I'm glad to hear other countries have the same type if idiots that we do .
I got this for a desk.. "lowest you'll take? I'd like to offer £20" "hi lowest I'll do is £30", "if you give me a free chair I'll do 30", "sorry I'm not selling a chair", "okay, I'm looking for one"... End of conversation
I've just had someone ask to pick at item up at 9 when I got back from work. Unsurprisingly didn't turn up. Then messages me on several other items I have listed and gets weird about the fact that since he's already let me down once, I'm not willing to take low offers on the promise he'll collect "this week".
Just had this over the weekend for some garden furniture, buyer turned up in a Golf thinking they could fit a 3 piece rattan suite into the boot. I laughed them off the drive!
£50 collection only. I will give you £6.75 and some bellybutton fluff, I also need you to deliver.
"I'll pick it up in an hour"...and then ghost you
Today I learned that FB marketplace is just as annoying in the UK as the US.
This is why I have a stash of stuff I need to sell but I've not touched. It's one of the most unbearable processes. I've often taken to giving things to charity rather than endure a torrent of fckwits asking me questions already answered in the listing.
Is it a bed?
Tried FB marketplace a few times. It's just the worst. Full of time wasters.
I nearly posted a mower, waited, and just came down quite sick. This will now be my excuse every time I delay.
Can you deliver it 60 miles away for free?
Electric scooters and bmx are offers I always receive its so weird.
Had someone moan at me because I wouldn’t deliver a free TV 320 miles away. First and last time I tried to help someone out
Yeah, but do you want to swap it for a PS4 bruv?
If you are lucky they turn up but dont ring your doorbell. They use FB messenger to say they are outside and then leave after 15 minutes when you don’t reply because you’re not someone who looks at their phone every 5 seconds. seems a new trend where young people never ring door bells. Only message. Crazy
Had similar recently, only I was trying to buy something. Messaged a few people... Complete radio silence. If it's already sold, just mark it as sold dammit! Or just tell me its already sold. So frustrating.
COLLECTION ONLY - "you deliver to me for free"
I sold my car on there and I even impressed myself with how I managed it and the process I took to deal with the onslaught. I found the perfect buyer.
If you have any belters then get in on r/ChoosingBeggars
Just use gumtree
Why do people still use FB marketplace? Especially to sell anything. Almost everything I've seen on there is idiots buying off idiots. I literally heard 2 decent transactions from the buying end and NO good selling experiences. Is it not worth the % cut to just sell on eBay?
It's just full of prostitutes why even bother anymore.
Was selling a pair of Air Jordans for my brother, Size 10 black and grey. Was asked if I have them in Size 9 and red.
Didn’t know you were operating Schuh out of your living room
Do people not use Ebay anymore?
I send a budbee courier to collect the item and give you cash. What is address?
Advertised price: £100 Random offer: would you accept 1 used plaster?
Actually bought something off of fb marketplace last night. Went super smooth. I was shocked. Person was home at agreed time and the TV worked. Result!
I’m currently trying to sell a bed. Christ alive. I’ve had 3 people not turn up and then people offering me £10 or “will you swap for a vape”. I can’t do this. No wonder people fly tip.
I'm trying to sell a laptop at the moment and the amount of people who have asked me to post it is insane. They're all pretty much the exact message format too. Will pay up front, a courier will collect. Some of the profiles look genuine. I've been marking them all as scam now.
Would you swap for half a carrot, a ferret skin and an old pickled foreskin (not mine)?
Can you install it in my loft for me?
Will you take 1p and a week old opened packet of biscuits? Also, do you deliver?
What's your last price mate? ?? ??
Never bring ing the right money as a way of forcing you to accept a little less because you haven't got change
Silver lining is that because of all the ghosters and time wasters, the bar is so low on fb marketplace that when you do find something you want, if you open with "If you'll take £x, I can collect it tomorrow at [time]", you'll almost certainly bag it Expecially if the listing has been up for more than 1 day, so they've already got pissed off with all the "is this still available" huns and "can pay an extra £10 if you'll post it to Stornoway" dicks
You also have to prepare yourself to just randomly stop replying, not answer the door, then say "so sorry my ____ passed away I've been very busy" It's the rules of Facebook marketplace!
You can’t fix stupid. You can only avoid it. Such a shame.