First time user trying to sell old car. Within 10mins of posting I have had 6 calls from Indian call centres asking me about a minor accident I haven’t had…started by being polite. Now just ignoring calls but likely to miss genuine buyers. Anything I can do about this….not happy I am now on some calling list. Kicking myself for being dumb

Yes. Sell it on eBay. At least that way you can see who is messaging you. I did the same. Gumtree just brought idiots. EBay was far more painless.

When I use Gumtree I just use email. Easier to filter out the time wasters and I can do it in my own time. Maybe miss a few potential buyers but I think its worth it.

I got offered a really good torch and some fishing gear in exchange for a bike the last time I used Gumtree. I strung them along for a while asking needles questions regarding the power of the torch.

Best thing to do with those “your cars been in an accident” calls is to pretend to freak out because your wife / dog / child is currently driving it or claim to only have ever used a gyrocopter / jetpack as transportation. I’ve done both of these and it confuses the hell out of them 🙂

nickjb
When I use Gumtree I just use email.

This right here. Never put your phone number up there. I had the most hilariously annoying experience trying to sell and old Hilux….if you ever want to send out a giant bat signal to every crook, gypsy and scam merchant in the world just stick your mobile number on a used Toyota ad. If someone can’t send an email you really don’t want to have to deal with them. Email messages also allow you to gauge if the person has some basic intelligence, genuinely interested, sane etc. It helps.

On a couple of occasions where I’ve thought my item wasn’t going to sell I considered putting my phone number up but eventually you will get that one serious buyer who can construct basic sentences with semi decent spelling.