[Closed] "Free to collector"

I sold a sink basin on Facebook marketplace recently (not tat, actually quite nice), very cheaply as I needed it out of the way asap (ha!), for £15 with a retail price of a couple of hundred. Three separate people "bought" it, I took the listing down etc., before one actually managed to turn up and collect it.

And people moan about eBay 😮

Offering stuff free for collection can be a whole world of pain if you aren't prepared. I've got rid of a few billy book cases over the past few months and despite being explicit about not delivering, folk always ask. I now just tell them where it is - outside and say its first come first served.

13 off 6 foot tree stumps. On e-bay before FB marketplace was a thing, the bloke even insisted on giving me the 1p Buy it Now value!

There's a sofa near me up for £200 but must be collected by tomorrow, seems to me that if you're that desperate to get rid of it then you should just give it away.

Try Freecycle if you want to be astounded by the brass neck of some people.

Then there's the optimistic people putting 'Wanted' ads on Freegle for things like 'Dyson, must be in good working order', 'Apple MacBook (seriously)' and my favourite 'Motorised go kart and trailer'. All posted on the Harrogate group.

It also pisses me off when I get responses to some of my 'Offers' saying things like 'Hi yes' and 'Hi, can I come and collect this.' – I recently gave away a Flymo mower and strimmer and they had lot sof interest but only one person actually took the time to ask nicely so guess who got them...

Any adverts I put on marketplace say COLLECTION ONLY to make it (I thought) fairly clear they are for collection only. Sure enough every response is "will you post?" Having said that I have sold a few things to some decent people who have turned up on time and paid without fuss. It's just a shame the wollopers stick in my memory more.

Free shed. Shed free since 1987.

We’ve just got rid of a shed on marketplace. It was nice enough but a bit rotten on one corner. The guy came with a recovery truck and literally pulled it onto the bed using the chain!
Everyone was happy.
(We had 50 responses saying they wanted it but first to respond took it)

Is the shed behind that skip ?

I thought I was being optimistic when I offered an ancient oil tank with a busted lid up for free if collected.

Could have sold it 10 times over

Apparently there's a market for that sort of thing.

Fella was army house in the house with a flat bed trailer and it was gone.

We gave away an old shopping bike of my wifes on Freecycle as we were about to move house. The potential new owner came round and asked if he could have my 6 month old Bandshee Spitfire for free instead, he really thought it was a possibility that I'd give him a £4k bike.

If I had a 4K bike lurking about I wouldn't be leaving it on display when people came round. That would have been well hidden.

Facebook Marketplace is a bit mad. I recently put a kid's garden playhouse on there for free, to save me taking it to the tip. I thought listing it as free would minimise the hassle but the opposite was true - I got 170 messages about it, including a bit of abuse when I didn't immediately reply to some of them. It would have been less hassle to have marked it up as £20.

We gave away an old shopping bike of my wifes on Freecycle as we were about to move house. The potential new owner came round and asked if he could have my 6 month old Bandshee Spitfire for free instead, he really thought it was a possibility that I’d give him a £4k bike.

WTF did you let some internet random catch a glimpse of your main MTB.....

NOOOOO

I think you would be surprised how many people are happy to take up and collect a patio etc.

My brother and a neighbour both moved house in Sheffield recently. Both houses paid for skips and filled them with rubbish, both skips were emptied and the contents taken in the night. They should have just put everything on the road and saved the skip hire cost. It used to be the case that you had to fill your skip before someone else did

Marketplace seems to have taken Gumtree's target audience and really ran with it.

Mad shit, and quite a bit of dubious and downright illegal.

FOR SALE, CAN OF PEPSI MAX £5 and you wonder, why £5 for a can of Pepsi Max, is this some 'rare' collectors item? No, the pic is surrounded by packets of probably counterfeit Drum tobacco.

USED UNDERWEAR, not illegal, but yuk...

Lots of those dodgy garden trampolines that used to be popular, £100 (buyer to dismantle and collect) yeah right, I 'dismantled' one once... they aren't made to be taken apart and reassembled.

What brasses me off is when people press the button that’s says ‘is this available?’ You say yes it is & you never hear another thing.
I put a sea fishing rod on a while back & got that message, when I looked it was from some woman with a Russian sounding name in London, even though I’d said ‘pick up only, North Yorkshire’.
Having said that, I’ve sold a fair bit on there without the fees of Fleabay.

Can't really see much issue. Ive had plenty of free stuff that I'm sure some people think is rubbish. No problems lifting a patio to get free slabs (assuming it isn't overly stuck down), or digging up a shrub. A lot of the materials from my workshop came from Freecycle, and a lot of the waste was given away to collectors including quite a bit of the clay soil from the foundations. I've also had a fully working Dyson vacuum so why not ask for one? It's good recycling and very little effort to offer or ask.

I just leave stuff out the front of the house if I need it gone. In the last month an old dishwasher and desk chair have been taken.

Had experience yes. My little brother bought some tatty old fibreglass kayaks about 30 years ago. They were old even then. And battered. He used them a couple of times before they ended up on the beams in one of the sheds here. I have recently cleared out that shed so stuck an advert on FB market place. 2 old kayaks, free to collector. Loads of pics and honest description of the state of them. For 2 days my in box was full of people wanting them, probably 100 enquiries. one of the first to ask turned up with a saloon car and no roofrack and was happy to take them stuck on his roof tied on with string through the open windows of the car! I was happy to see them gone. He seemed happy with his free kayaks. I have no idea if they survived the journey home 🙂

Facebook Marketplace, well FB in general, is downright maddening. If not occasionally funny. Recently saw a listing for what appeared to be a sofa, but on one of the cushions were stacks of strips of Viagra. Blatant 🙂

Yeah Freecycle, next level audacity. But I used to use it years ago and had some cracking stuff from it. Including a great little car that I wrote off on the same weekend ;(  It was also awesome when I was moving out of a large rented house that was chock full of stuff accumulated by me and various housemates and girlfriends over the years.  All of it got put on Freecycle and the first guy that came along literally took everything. I remember him starting the standard spiel about "starting a community centre..." before I cut him off. Heard that one many, many times.

@Jakester wasn't this one was it? Popped up on a local buy/sell group yesterday

Frankly he'll be lucky if he gets £15 never mind £150

you wonder, why £5 for a can of Pepsi Max, is this some ‘rare’ collectors item? No, the pic is surrounded by packets of probably counterfeit Drum tobacco.

Recently saw a listing for what appeared to be a sofa, but on one of the cushions were stacks of strips of Viagra. Blatant

I hadn't twigged any of this! Clearly not the target market...😑

My recently experience was equally maddening - agreed to buy a bit of studio recording gear, agreed the price and then started to discuss collection. All good, then a couple of hours later, I get a message saying actually he wanted £50 more for it. I said jog on - I'd agreed to pay the advertised price, no more - he said "its brand new, excellent condition" etc etc.

I agreed to go up a tenner, and when I got there he reiterated it was brand new. Just looking at it - evidence of liquid stains, the grime and filth on it was far from brand new. Thankfully it all worked and at that price a bargain, but it took a really deep clean to make it look respectable again, and it still smells of weed. If that was what he though brand new was, I dread to think what used might be!

wasn’t this one was it? Popped up on a local buy/sell group yesterday

Lol no - but that's exactly the sort of thing I mean. Stuff you'd think people would pay to have taken away in fact they want paying for someone else to get rid of it!

doomanic
Full Member
Try Freecycle if you want to be astounded by the brass neck of some people.

I stopped using Freecycle after we had a bloke turn up & not utter a word.
He knocked on the door, I opened it & said something like 'Hi, have you come about the freecycle item?'
Grunt....
"OK, it's just round here - the gates open. Did you want to come & have a look?"
Grunt....follows me round, picks it up & walks away without a word. Literally just picks it up, turns around & walks back to the car.
I said something like "Thanks for coming. Hope it is OK & suits what you were after" while he was loading it into the car.
Grunt...

It crossed my mind that he might be deaf or have some kind of illness affecting his speech, but when he got back in the car I heard him immediately start talking to his family.

I saw a FB marketplace ad yesterday for a mattress that looked like it had been the scene of several murders & it was described as something like 'well looked after with a little wear'. I assume it was a joke.

I’ve also had a fully working Dyson vacuum so why not ask for one?

There's no issue in asking for a vacuum cleaner if you need one (I got a great little one for doing the cars) but it pisses me off when people don't *need* a vacuum cleaner, they *want* a Dyson.

Ohh, and another one I saw recently - someone asking for a working petrol lawnmower 'because there are none in the shops'. I told him I had just been to B&Q and they had loads on the shelves. He didn't reply.

What fascinates me about that advert is what is going to happen to the slabs after 11th May? Why do they need to go today?

Ohh, and there is another guy who constantly reposts saying 'Hiya, I collect comics: American Marvel and DC comics, the ones with a glossy cover and colour pages' - obviously a collector who will sift through and bin 99.999% of them in the hope he'll get the odd rare find.

What brasses me off is when people press the button that’s says ‘is this available?’ You say yes it is & you never hear another thing.

Usually because they never meant to press the sodding thing.

From FB market place, I took down and moved a 7m sandstone wall the 3 miles to my house, then rebuilt it at the end of our garden.

Was pleased as it'll stop the neighbours using the old, now rotten fence as a retaining wall fence

It used to be the case that you had to fill your skip before someone else did

😀

Turn your back for two seconds and some swine would have dumped an old back boiler, used tyres and a mattress that looked like someone had died on it in your freshly hired skip.

My dad's currently trying to sell (well he only wants £20, mostly for the time he spent building it up) a bitsa kids MTB.

Built from garage spares to make space. Gears works, brakes work, has air in the tyres, but it's not aesthetically great.

Apparently he's had about 60 'is it still available?' messages, only about 4 replied to his answer of yes.

Some donger came to buy it last night and said, 'oh it's a bit old, I'll give you £5 for it'. Then got shitty when he told them no it's £20 or nothing.

He's said if it doesn't sell in the next couple of days he'll give it to a local bike charity.

With the "Is this still available messages" Its often an automatically generated facebook type response....when I was on fb I both sent and received a load of them unwittingly.

I gave a greenhouse away from the house that I'm rennovating. Took about 5 minutes to get a response for someone to come and get it. He arrived at the agreed time and I was only half paying any attention as I was tiling a floor....when I went into the garden later I realised the ****er had only taken the metal frame and left the glass ffs! I assume he took it for scrap! I think the glass may still be there, I somewhat lost motivation and direction with the project!

With the “Is this still available messages” Its often an automatically generated facebook type response….when I was on fb I both sent and received a load of them unwittingly.

This is true, it is easy to accidentally send when scrolling. Also it is a valid question.

Greenhouse glass goes pretty well on freecycle/facebook. I was after some and what there was of it seemed to go pretty quickly.

If you think those listings are bad, you should have seen the state of our old VW Touran that someone travelled 100 miles to pay me £1200 for...

I've picked up paving slabs and even a old garage off Facebook, but only for free. For the garage the guy was actually trying to sell it but just messaged and said I would take it down but I am not paying to take it down. Still a good deal for him as it is was about 6 van + trailer loads!

I think you would be surprised how many people are happy to take up and collect a patio etc.

I got half the bricks for my bike shed from someone who's garden wall I demolished for her.
Just been given a washing machine by a chap on Freecylce, and I recently gave away some kitchen worktop. Someone somewhere can use most stuff

 

We've given quite a bit away recently on FB. Mainly use a local "bargains" group and cross post to marketplace.

Seem to get lots of (fast) replies from eastern European sounding names (always ladies) whose husband then turns up within a couple of hours in a battered old transit. I'm not sure whether I'm cross about them reselling it, or not. But at least it's not going in a landfill.

Mind you, when we moved in here 11 years back, we had a single opener patio door taken out. Advertised it on eBay, someone won it for £80 ish. His wife hadn't checked where we were so he came from Nottingham to wirral for it. In a rented van. Which had about 10mm of clearance in it for the door. Very lucky it went in at all. I did feel sorry for the poor bloke as he was so close to an epic fail.

That reminds me, I need to keep an eye out for the next old roof slates ad...

Someone has flytipped a load of slates near me. I get a bag full whenever I walk passed, tidying up and getting some slates I need.

We have a very weird thing in Australia: "council clean-up"

Council-run tips charge regular punters to get rid of stuff, but (presumably as some sort of concession to this) every 6 months your street will have a council clean-up day: everyone just dumps all their shite on the verge outside their house, and the council come along and collect it all for free.

This has spawned a cottage industry of people roaming the streets picking through the piles of stuff awaiting collection. The only thing weirder than seeing what people are throwing away, is observing what people are pouncing-on the moment it hits the verge. Some stuff is obvious like scrap metal (there is a bloke who goes around removing the stators from anything with a motor) - but have seen people walking off with all manner of absolute tut.

Obviously it's a good thing to re-use anything and everything somebody can find a use for, but part of me is irrationally uncomfortable seeing somebody picking through my rubbish.

I've joined an ebike selling group on Facebook. You see the odd 'proper' e bike, usually with no reassurance it's legit.

But it's overrun with guys churning out BSOs with conversion kits on them, batteries cable tied to Y Frame suspension bikes or on a seat post mounted rack, bikes without a front brake, motor bike headlamps fitted to the tripleclamps on old downhill rigs, twist throttles that will do 50mph and 'fine if you only use them off-road'. It's rare to see anything first less than £1000.

I find the psychology of it interesting. With eBay it was all about winning an item so you had stuff going for crazy prices. The FB marketplace psychology seems to be more about feeling like you've got a bargain even if you didn't actually need it.

Also, people are just chancers. Less spectacular than the guy unthread who thought he'd get a 4k bike for free but my wife advertised her road bike at a really good price. About ten replies within about ten minutes, everyone asking if she'd take about half what she'd asked. Is this a sideline/hobby for some people?

My mate got rid of his ancient sectional concrete garage (with no roof or door) for free on Marketplace. Two blokes turned up in a truck, took it apart, loaded it up and drove away.

I've picked up some really lovely bits and pieces for free of market place.

and sold/given away some stuff too

best not to expect to much and always be polite

my wife advertised her road bike at a really good price. About ten replies within about ten minutes, everyone asking if she’d take about half what she’d asked.

That's pretty much my experience of the most popular Spanish app for selling stuff. Advertised a pond liner for 20€ (it was in perfect condition and probably cost about 80 new), immediately get someone offering me 10... ended up giving it away for free I was so pissed off with the chancers 🙂

Also, people are just chancers

This is certainly my experience. List something for 50 quid, thinking "I'd be happy with 40, but no less than 35".

"I'll give you a tenner"

my wife advertised her road bike at a really good price. About ten replies within about ten minutes, everyone asking if she’d take about half what she’d asked.

That's when it is time to have some fun, I've been known to reply to the message offering me half with a price 50% higher than advertised. It is normally met with "but you cant do that, it is advertised at XX". Followed by a very sarcastic reply that it must be Ok as you've just offered me half...

By then somebody who isn't a chancer has normally taken it for a fair price.

I saw one, where by a kettle was being offered, for free. The prospective collector said they wouldnt come and get it unless the seller "made it worth their time" and included a matching toaster.
For free.
The seller met them halfway and offered to give it to them for half price instead.

Someone posted a garage forecourt canopy for scrap yesterday.
Collector dismantles.

And another common one "cement garage, collector dismantles and removes" (clearly asbestos)

There are always nutjobs who think the world owes them something.

On the flip side weve off loaded loads of stuff on our local site though. Perfectly good bits and pieces that are not worth the time or effort to sell, but also dont want them in the house. I like to see a piece of furniture ive been stubbing my toe on for months go to someone who clearly appreciates it and will make good use of it. Better that than it go in a wood chipper.

Is Kev "Blackhound" still on here? He gave me some chairs that were on their way to a skip around 2007. I moved them on a week or two a go.

I've got some grass and dandelions here, free to collector. You just need to bring your petrol lawnmower to gather it all up.

Then there are the serial 'Is this still available' people – they just try to get first dibs on every single thing they see then go off and look on Ebay to see if it has any resale value. Those are the ones you never hear from again. I have mentally blacklisted all of the people on my local groups that do that.

Love it... My name for is :

"The Virtual Flytip"

We got a nice free sofa, armchair & cushions that a local mum couldn't sell, few years old and from John Lewis or similar I think. They even dropped it off as they had a big van for moving.

Obviously we breached etiquette by sending her a nice bunch of flowers. Should've complained that there was no coffee table instead.

My wife advertised a load of free Christmas decorations before Christmas (no longer her preferred colour scheme).

Woman replied and asked if they could be delivered to her, which MrsB agreed to do. Upon delivery the woman didn't even say thankyou.

We got a nice free sofa, armchair & cushions that a local mum couldn’t sell, few years old and from John Lewis or similar I think

Last name wasn't Symonds, was it?

Ha, I'm guilty of skip/rubbish diving, ended up making a fair bit of money selling lengths of network cable and old IT equipment on ebay back in the day. Rescued a couple of bikes recently as well, use what I need and the rest goes to the bike charity, even if it's scrap they'll get something for it.

A recent selection of the joys I've had on FB marketplace:
1. "Don't suppose you're travelling to X (20 miles away) soon and can deliver it to me?"
2. "Can I have it half price because it's all I've got in my account?" (It was advertised at £10 - think this bloke needs to sort his priorities)
3. "I can collect straight away even though you've just told me someone else is already coming for it"
4. Turns up in a Mini and is surprised when the double bed frame doesn't fit inside.
5. "Can you hold it for a week until I can get there to collect it?" Followed 5 minutes after you agree by someone who can come straight away.

On the other hand, we've had some good stuff for free or very cheap. Never paid more than £50 for a decent sofa and got my lads 24" B'Twin bike for £7 because it had been left outside and had a little bit of surface rust on it.

I'm a big fan of Facebook marketplace aka. "the tip that comes to you".

The queue to get in the tip is actually usually longer than the time it takes for someone to snap up my tat.

I'll even slap a price on some stuff - it usually goes quickly and the people seem chuffed eg. old fitted wardrobe doors £20, child car seats that have been through 10 kids already £10-20, ikea bookcase £75(!)

We've been getting rid of unwanted furniture on FB marketplace recently.

Holy sweet mother. Aside from the usual garden variety time wasters, we had:

- Folk turn up to collected massive chest of drawers (6 drawer high and 2 wide). Drove 1hr 30 to get here (looked like the woman had persuaded a friend with a big car to do her a favour). It didn't fit. We gave them a refund and thanked for damaging our furniture. Advice given on tape measures.
- 2nd set of folk drive 1hr to collect. In a Hyunadai i10. Bloke isn't for giving in - I lend him a socket set and he dismantles the trim in the car until it fits. Bungee the boot shut and off he went. An hour of my life wasted.
- Getting rid of a reasonable quality pine wardrobe for £20. Woman comes round. Spends 10 minutes in our house fannying about. She was disappointed it didn't have a solid wood back, and she really wanted a solid wood back. As in very fine quality antique furniture standard for £20. Absolute roaster - wanted us to hold it for her for a week while she "thought about it". I think it's just a hobby for some folk.

One of my neighbours is quite keen. His approach is put a price on everything but say free if you pick up at whatever time suits him. By his reckoning he could give away a skip full of busted asbestos or japanese knotweed so long as he asked for money first then said "free".

Try Freecycle if you want to be astounded by the brass neck of some people.

Yep, I quickly gave up with that. If I want to get rid of something now I just dump it in the nearest woods.

Last name wasn’t Symonds, was it?

Haha, might just have been yeah.

Try Freecycle if you want to be astounded by the brass neck of some people.

MK Freecycle currently has a bag of sugar, free to collector. Was left in her sons new house and he 'doesn't use sugar'.
Or his bin, seemingly.

I've tried giving stuff away on Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace. Its much more hassle than actually selling stuff. Inundated with messages, then no shows and just general hassle.

I either just list stuff for a nominal sum now. If they turn up on time I just give them it, although most of the time they do insist on giving me the fiver or tenner. Or it goes on the facebook curtain twitcher community page for free, at least that way they are local which avoids idiots who have driven 2 hours and seem shocked a kitchen table won't fit in an Aygo

The netherlands have a really good system for this. Every now and then ( can't remember how often) there is a day for clearing unwanted stuff. You put it outside your house in the morning and folk just pick up what they want or you can sell it on the street without a license

I think the free market might be once a year but putting stuff on your step for free pickup is more frequent

The netherlands have a really good system for this.

Think that happens in quite a few places in Europe, to me it makes perfect sense. Surely it's better to have this sort of re-use going on rather than a cycle of tipping and unnecessary manufacture? Plus, you get an insight into the strange tastes of your neighbours without having to specifically befriend them.

That said, I have lots of perfectly good stuff I should get shot of (most of which I wouldn't even want any money for) but the prospect of dealing with the type of zoomer described on this thread puts me right off. Or spending the time getting stuff out and photographing it.

Had a woman turn up to collect 2 free single mattresses in a Golf.  With a bit of effort it’s amazing what you can get in a Golf if you really want shot of it!

The netherlands have a really good system for this. Every now and then ( can’t remember how often) there is a day for clearing unwanted stuff. You put it outside your house in the morning and folk just pick up what they want or you can sell it on the street without a license

Seems to have been really common round here over the last year or so. I think it started in the first lockdown with people putting trestle tables of books, kids toys etc out front after they'd had a clear out with an accompanying note on the Facebook curtain twitches page "free, come and collect on your daily walk".

I think it's mostly because Freecycle just ends up with car booters calling dibs on everything, leaving it on the kerb at least cuts the faff.

I think it’s mostly because Freecycle just ends up with car booters calling dibs on everything

Yeah, that's kinda what I said earlier - they just send out blanket emails asking for everything then take their time to decide whether they actually want it and never bother to respond to messages.

Exactly @matt_outandabout! Ruddy chancers.

Had a woman turn up to collect 2 free single mattresses in a Golf. With a bit of effort it’s amazing what you can get in a Golf if you really want shot of it!

We sold a decent Smeg single range cooker a while back after moving house (buyer didn't want it) and the people collecting turned up in an Audi A1. Couldn't believe they got it in!

That said, I have lots of perfectly good stuff I should get shot of (most of which I wouldn’t even want any money for) but the prospect of dealing with the type of zoomer described on this thread puts me right off. Or spending the time getting stuff out and photographing it.

This is me to, my garage and flat are going to qualify for me to be on an episode of Hoarders soon but it's mostly half decent but small/no value stuff (clothes, shoes, pots & pans, misc electronics, garden furniture, tools etc. etc.). I just can't be arsed to try and flog/freecycle it given the hassle involved that this sort of thread highlights but also doesn't seem right taking it to the tip - so it just accumulates argh.

I might pay someone just to cart it all away but then there seems a 50% chance it will just end up fly-tipped regardless if they say they're a licensed waste carrier.

Had a woman turn up to collect 2 free single mattresses in a Golf. With a bit of effort it’s amazing what you can get in a Golf if you really want shot of it!

I put a motorcycle sidecar in a mini once ( just the chassis and wheel and attachment arms - no body)

I see a lot of stuff out now on my recycling round.I think a lot of it is because charity shops have been closed. The current book I'm reading, Ford County Stories by John Grisham was a find on the round and yesterday I read the Lady in The Van and before that All The President's Men. I've a few other books in the to read pile as well. Today I came home  with a Stanley 8m tape measure and I've also brought home quite a few dinosaurs for a friends grandson. I've a couple small wooded chairs in the garden that make great pot stands and last week in one day I came home with 2 bike stands, one a floor mounted wheel stand the the other a folding wall mounted one.

Had a woman turn up to collect 2 free single mattresses in a Golf. With a bit of effort it’s amazing what you can get in a Golf if you really want shot of it!

Amazed/confused by these "free to collector" posts, I stuck 2.2 tonnes of broken up concrete shed base slab up for £1 on the off chance it would save me a £100+ in skippage. I was telling a friend about it, and she said "that's about what I need!" She came back the next day and spent the afternoon ferrying loads back to hers in the boot of her Alfa 159.

With the help of her son. I originally wrote: "spent the afternoon ferrying loads back to hers with her son in the boot of her Alfa 159." but that didn't sound quite right! 😀

I put a motorcycle sidecar in a mini once ( just the chassis and wheel and attachment arms – no body)

Amatuer.

I encountered a proper loon on marketplace last week:

My in-laws are looking to downsize and move closer to us, so we’ve been keeping an eye out for bungalows in the area that might match their very exacting standards.

Up pops a very badly spelled advert for a bungalow that didn’t really describe the place too well, but the pictures of the inside looked ok so well worth trying to find out more…

I asked where it was listed as I hadn’t been able to find it on the usual property websites.
Answer - I’m just selling it on here.

Fair enough thinks I, where is the housedo you have a floor plan or any photos of the outside of the house?

No floor plan and photo 2 (a photo of a window in front of a patch of grass) is the front of the house. No mention of location.

I was trying to work out where the house was located as the description was odd and the price didn’t match up with previous sales in the area, so asked what street it was on and asked again for a picture of the house from the road.

Got ghosted for 24hrs so commented back that she perhaps ought to consider using an agent to sell to ensure prospective buyers can get the info they require…

Apparently I should have known that she wouldn’t pass out her address online! How on earth she was expecting to sell a house I don’t know.

In the interim I had actually managed to find the place on google maps and found the “heart of ‘village x’” actually meant literally the last house in the village and they would never build further than that house as the east coast mainline runs 10yds from the back door!
I assume she’d also valued the property herself too as the asking price was £100k more for the 2 bed semi than the 4 bed detached on the same road sold for last year…