Looking to sell some OT stuff (XBOX One and Thrustmaster Wheel / Pedals) I looked at selling prices on ebay, worked out what I thought was reasonable and stuck it on 4 local Facebook selling groups. Gone in 15 minutes with one being collected tonight the other tomorrow. Cash sales. No fees. Certainly seems to be the way forward for general interest stuff.

EDIT. Sorry, just and an old person in “haven’t things changed” shocker..

Yeah, our village has a local Buy and Sell FB page for local people.

It’s great for passing stuff around as we often end up buying from or selling to people that we know. So negotiations often end with “Okay I’ll pop round for it in five minutes” or “Alright I’ll see you at the school gates when we pick up the kids”.

Much less faff than eBay and no fees. Good way to pass on stuff that is still perfectly functional but not worth actually selling and would normally just end up in landfill or hoarded in a garage.

I really like the facebook “free up and reuse” pages.

Before this i’d find myself binning a perfectuly useable frying pan/toaster/kettel that was no-longer needed.

Now I like the fact another family in need can take it, and use it.

I’ve passed on Sofas, fridges, dishwashers etc etc through there.

You do get some odd things though.. “5 plastic straws” anyone??

DrP

one being collected tonight the other tomorrow

Chickens counted? 🙂

I’ve found it good for buying a few things, not sold anything on it yet. Perhaps because you use your real name and photo that people take it a bit more seriously?

Saying that, all the platforms seem to start off well but then the idiots and scammers find them. Ebay seems to be the home of the idiot at the moment.

I’ve found it really useful – stuff sells quickly, albeit at a lower price than I’d usually like. The flipside of that is you can find some great deals on there.

The only problem seems to be that 90% of people using it are unbearable oafs who can’t spell, or even really interact with other humans over the internet. Quite often you’ll get a message that’s just a number, which is supposed to say “would you take £40 instead of £50 for this?”.

You can vet the people you buy from easily, though. And sometimes who you’re selling to – I advertised a load of office furniture from my work for free and loads of people were interested it, so I offered it to the people who didn’t have any Britain First or Vote Leave stuff on their wall.

The main downside from me is seeing local people, that I previously held in some esteem, selling “a chess of draws” or “bike peddles and breaks”. 

I’d like to know if the people who advertise “rubble/hardcore/broken bricks, free, collect only” ever get anyone to take it off their hands?

The main downside from me is seeing local people, that I previously held in some esteem, selling “a chess of draws” or “bike peddles and breaks”. 

If I was a serial killer, this is how I would choose my victims.

You’re all swingers aren’t you.

If I was a serial killer, this is how I would choose my victims.

I can see the ad now:

Free, to a good grave, a personal termination service. Specialising in serial misspellers and grammatical numpties An ideal gift to give to members of Britain First and Brexiteers.

Classifieds but with pictures? No thank you I much prefer decoding someone’s email address so I can  ask for pictures then have to write a polite email response explaining why the item is not quite what I am after.

I think it’s great. I’m a bit addicted to it at the moment. God knows why. I like to look at tools and motorcycles mainly.

I just can’t actually believe how lazy some sellers are though. They write a half sentence description that tells you nothing, and take an astoundingly shit photo, blurred, dark and failing to capture the whole item in the back of their shithole of a shed with garden hoses and rubbish all over it…

Still, brings the price down a bit I suppose.

Nedrapier.. the thing is..if you’re after THAT, then for free..it’s a steal!!!

A few years ago I spent (not a lot, but some) money on buying cheap hardcore to fill an old pond I was turfing over.
If someone had ‘a shedload’ for free, I’d have had it in a flash!! Winner for me and them!

DrP

I’ve had some success in the past with it, but also much weirdness.

I advertised a fancy item, with a price to match. Someone asked about it, I told them the price and got a load of abuse from them for “selling something that’s so expensive — can’t believe anyone would pay that”. My jaw figuratively dropped open when I read the responses. It was 25% of retail!

Funnily enough, a nice person off STW bought it and was very happy with it!

Another time, I was selling a bike. The guy tried to negotiate, then pulled out, and then started sending me messages about his life. Not sad lonely stuff, but stuff like “I went riding today, the woods were beautiful and I drank deeply of the solitude…

.

.

20 more pages”

That sort of thing.

Again, someone from STW bought the bike. Even couriered it up to where they lived.

These days I’m not on Facebook anymore. Too creepy.

I’ve found it useful a few times. The only negative experience I’ve had was selling a recliner for £15, lady wanted it and turned up with her husband. He started doing the old ‘ooh it’s a bit tatty, got a few scrapes’ – yeah it’s £15… Came to a deal at a tenner, I was moving so wanted rid asap. Said they’d be back with a bigger car the next day… never showed up.

“Is this still for sale”

“Yes still available”

<silence>

.

.

.

“How much?”

“Repeats price on advert”

<silence>

.

.

.

“What’s your best price?”

“Gives them a price with a bit knocked off”

<silence>

.

.

Maybe I’m just not very good at selling stuff.

Same **** as Gumtree, I don’t see the attraction.

They are giving me the money  I want and collecting,

i likey.

Dun no wot u lot r on abot, I got a gr8 deal on a mounting bike wiv a broke bak break that needed ‘the gears lookin at’…. No rear mech 😆

I’d like to know if the people who advertise “rubble/hardcore/broken bricks, free, collect only” ever get anyone to take it off their hands?

I need about 300 cubic meters of the stuff at present – so, possibly, yes.

Maybe I’m just not very good at selling stuff.

thats the good thing about ebay though, broadly. Generally on classified platforms the asking price is something to negotiate down from – on ebay the offer price is something you bid up from.

If you’re selling on classifieds and you people are offering you less than you want the you need to set the price higher in the first place.

I’m all for a bit of haggling, try to include a bit of wiggle room in my pricing without starting it silly high. Seems the yoof of today (and it is very predominantly yoofs) are unable to grasp the concept of haggling, much like spelling and punctuation.

If I was a serial killer, this is how I would choose my victims.

If I were a serial killer, …

– I’m on the list, aren’t I ? 🙁

Facebook and Gumtree just seem to be a way of fencing stolen shit, 90% of the time anyway

“What’s your best price?”

“Gives them a price with a bit knocked off”

I hate that question so much… Usually I list stuff at a price that’s a smidge more than lowest price I want for it to allow for some inevitable negotiation.
My best price would be selling something that is worth £1 for £100, whenever someone asks me for my best price & I increase the price it’s on sale for they get all funny.

It annoys me too, and am often tempted to just give the advertised price or a higher price. The irony is if they entered a negotiation and appeared to be a genuine buyer rather than a speculative time waster they’d more likely get it down to a cheaper price if it looked like I was getting a hassle free sale.

I get the “wots yr bst price” messages on ebay auctions too. Surprised ebay still allow messaging

It’s handy for punting stuff that’s not worth enough to warrant eBay/postage.

Left over bit of stainless steel flue from stove install? £20, collected next day. Someone gets a nice cheap flue, and I don’t have it lying around here forever. Everyone wins.

Edit: thinking about it, it’s pretty much the modern equivalent of what people my parent’s age would use the ads in a local paper or supermarket for.

I use it a fair bit – the selling groups for a particular interest (fnar) are the best i.e used kayaks, used sailing kit etc. Generally get normal people there and if you put stuff up at the right price it goes in hours. The general marketplace and non specialist stuff like kids rollerblades and household stuff on the other hand……mostly bell ends so i’ve stopped using it as I’d rather give stuff away than deal with morons in my free time.

 i’ve stopped using it as I’d rather give stuff away

I’d say about a quarter of the stuff on our local Buy and Sell is “free to anyone that wants it” and quite a lot of the other stuff is a silly cheap nominal amount.

It’s a triumph of middle-class reduce, reuse & recycle.

We’ve picked up some great bargains:
– loads of free clothes, school uniforms, toys and books for the kids
– free piano
– table and four chairs for a tenner
– big roofbox and bars for £20

Recently had a big clear out and got rid of pretty much everything in a day or so.

First item had left my house in 20mins.

Always worth keeping an eye out for local items.

I’d rather give stuff away than deal with morons in my free time.

And yet here you are… 😉

LOL You guys are mensa material compared with the ‘general public’………*shudders*

Love a bit of FB market place.

2018 snowboard and bindings £300 … I snapped his hand of without haggling

Massive roof box and rails £150 … suggested £110 when showing an interest… and got it for that because the lady didn’t want to haggle !!

Not very good at selling though

When you submit an offer on an item on eBay and the seller just declines it without a counter offer.. what?  Why not just respond with a suitable counter offer..

It’s very good for many things, although not higher end bikes. I did pick up a mint Trek hybrid for £50, perfect for the child seat and leaving at the station.

Mainly sell things though, usually not for much but feels good that someone else gets to use it rather than going in to landfill. The only time I’ve been messed around is when offering something for free, must be some psychology behind that.

A quick lunchtime browse has reminded of two bizarre facebook classifieds tactics.

1. Random statements written across the top of pictures of items for sale

Ah yes, this seems like a fine upstanding gentleman. Please, take my money, noble knight of the tat emporium’.

2. Bonus balls

Right, so I give you £35, and in turn you will pick a random name from a hat and give the item to that person?

Yep, completely immune to abuse. Where do I sign, kind sir?

Random statements written across the top of pictures of items for sale

Snapchat screenshots,they’re fencing it for someone else and the item is currently being couriered to him by his manservant Shady Peat.

@mark90 – that was my EXACT experience trying to sell our MX5 on Facebook. One guy eventually turned up and offered us £500 less even tho we’d said we wouldn’t take a lower offer. Stuck it on Autotrader, sold it in two days.

Haven’t used eBay for ages. Sold my Smuggler on there as it wasn’t getting any love here or on PB. Stuck it on at the lowest I’d sell it for, had 50 watchers, sold it for £3 over that price. Then forgot I had to pay PayPal feels and of course 10% of sale price. I should have kept it as wall art!

We’ve loads of stuff to shift. Used to use freecycle but I guess it’ll all end up on a FB page…

I would just **** love it if clicking reply on a post then quoted that post.

Forgot what I was going write now.