Put my brothers bike on there for £800, and had a couple of enquiries. Just wondering, as this is my first time selling on Gumtree, if there is anything to be aware of in the ways of scams etc, when selling?

…excluding accepting post dated cheques or magics beans, obvs.

Just steer clear of any paypal shananigans, cash only is the way to go.

yep you will get atleast one along the lines of ‘I work overseas/offshore so would need to pay then have a courier collect’….it’s obvious because their use of english is terrible!

also if you have listed your mobile number be aware of any text which comes up with a sender’s name instead of number even though you don’t have their number saved (you also can’t reply)
they usually try and get you to email them

then the usual fake ‘paypal is holding payment until you prove you have posted’

make sure you take your time to construct a suitably abusive meme filled message in response 😀

post up their numbers/emails too….I love leading them on a merry dance or boxing turds for their ‘courier’ friends to collect 🙂

to avoid any hassle refrain to selling local to cash paying punters who come and collect the bike, it will of course mean that nobody will turn up or be interested but then that’s free ads for you. had numerous stuff on gumtree but find a complete waste of effort, the odd occasion I did get any response I never heard from again after the timely reply?? the search function is terrible and probably restricted by the site owners “ebay” thus directing to their “paid” service ..or ebay!

If you get a viewer meet them somewhere in case they’re casing the gaffe

If you get a viewer meet them somewhere in case they’re casing the gaffe

Thing is, I have always looked at that from the other person’s point of view. As in, if I was going to buy a bike, I would be a bit suspicious if they wanted to meet in a car park.

When selling you may have to accept that a buyer will want an address so do what I do maybe and make sure that the bike is in the house or the garden and don’t give them a chance to see your garage or security arrangements.

I always give a detailed description, good photographs and generally don’t dumb down my descriptions. I also insist prospective buyers email me first with any initial questions and if they provide a mobile number I can text or call them if I want to do so.

This allows me to filter out illiterate **** ****s and general riff raff. As a result I’ve never had face to face dealings with anyone who wasn’t polite, punctual and genuinely keen to buy.

There’s no doubt in my mind it’s a slower process this way as opposed to via text, but it limits risk and certainly eliminates most time wasters.

We sold quite a lot of baby stuff on Gumtree – never had problems. Either Paypal or bank transfer. Posting a complete pushchair/travel system to Devon takes a lot of bin bags and brown paper, btw!