Monday, around 3:30pm. I spot an item for sale, acceptable price, local.

ME: “Is this still available. I can collect when it’s convenient for you” ( I know, standard reply, but is normally acceptable to find out if it’s available!

Her: “Yes”

Me: “When and where to collect, please?”

Her: “I’m in Hereford and when was U thinkin” + “And just checkin its up for 20”

(In fairness I should have run away at this point)

Me: “Price is fine, whenever is convenient for you, just tell me where and when to collect”

Her: “Ya of course is tomorro okay gettin on now”

This was at 4:30pm!

Me: “I can come now or tomorrow, whatever is convenient, just give me a time and place”

Her two hours later: “I’m out now but back later”

Me: “What time later? And where?”

Her at 10:45pm: “I’m home now”

Me: “Sorry, it’s a bit late now, can I collect tomorrow, please?”

Her: “Ya sure I will let you know when I wake up”

Tuesday 3:33pm

Me: “Are you in for me to collect?”

…………………

Wednesday 2:37pm, I’m getting a little short now, I should just walk away.

Me: “I’m still waiting for a collection time and address. If it’s not for sale just say so.”

Her 2.5 hours later: “It is but I work in health care at Xmas in the middle of a pandemic im always busy”

OK, but you have put items up for sale!

Me: “OK, just give me a time and place and I’ll pop by and collect”

Her: “I’m just going to take it down an I got to much on me plate its not worth the hassle”

And breathe……………

Am I expecting too much?

And yes, that’s taken too long to post.

And breathe…………………

In contrast all the things I’ve sold recently have had a fair bit of interest and have been collected within 12 hours with minimal interactions from th Facebook numpties.

It can be difficult. Often the seller is juggling a couple of buyers so they don’t want to commit to buyer 2 but they want to keep them on the hook in case buyer 1 is a no show.

I’m flexible with collection so it’s nice to do what the buyer would prefer but sometimes you need to not offer them too much choice. I tend to give a couple of times so they have something to aim at. If they say that doesn’t work it at least prompts them to suggest something

There’s still a lot of good stuff on there so it’s worth persevering. Some great deals, too, on bulky collection only items.

Grrrrr.

To drip feed, I did a small amount of Facebook stalking and found out where she lives. It would have taken me 5 minutes to put me shoes on and drive there. 5 minutes. It took her longer to type the responses than to hand me the item and except some cash.

Grrrr………

Expecting anything at all of Facebook Marketplace is expecting too much.

Ohh it could be so much worse, just try selling something.

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I’ve had a cracking idea for an app/business opportunity if any coders want to get on board…

‘The Facebook Marketplace TRANSLATOR™’

-OR8 PAL WOTS YEr BEST PRICE

–Good afternoon. What is the price of the item please? I have failed to read the listing.

Ohh it could be so much worse, just try selling something.

That is wonderfully bonkers. Almost like some kind of performance art.

Just offer to cover her shift – I’m sure its a doddle. That way she can concentrate on the £20 worth of whatever it is you’ve got your knickers in a twist over 🙂

Or she could not put things on Facebook marketplace when she’s really busy.

TBH I’m over it. I’ll buy another similar item when it pops up, it’s not unusual and there does seem to be a few for sale.

I’ve had the “is the item atill for sale”, yes, ok I’ll be there in 20mins. I get there, oh sorry it’s gone just sold it. FFS

It’s a tricky one putting something on hold for someone who will be there in 20mins as most won’t ever turn up…

Having said that, sold £100s worth of stuff on FB with only a few irritations, so still better than paying Ebay 15% or whatever.

The items I had the most interest in were kettlebells which I sold at the going rate (pre pandemic when they were easy to buy online etc). Loads of interest as in 20+ people per item and so many would be over in 20 to collect and never arrived. Very bizarre…

I have a simple fb selling policy.. unless cash is in my hand/bank, its for sale still.
Ruthless I know, but I can’t be dealing/waiting for time wasters…

Also, I get a bit annoyed when someone has something small, almost IDEAL to post, and says collection only…
I’m after a LH ultegra crank arm.
Found one.
Collection only.

It’s not like the time someone asked if I’d post a vintage push mower….
I told them the collection only item would cost £200 to post…

DrP

Marketplace is great for selling stuff. I cleared out all my old bike/surf stuff earlier this year. Generally sold for asking price, you just need to be direct with buyers and only accept cash and collection only. That said I wouldn’t dream of using it to buy anything.

Bought and sold loads over last few years from near junk for free to bikes, canoes, tents and expensive bits and pieces. No issues at all.

1. Always cash on collection, no exceptions.
2. If person agrees price then haggles on arrival, they get short shrift. I have always got the agreed price, but a lot of folk will eg agree £100 and then try and pay £80.
3. I always sell to the first person that messages wanting it and can agree a time. Don’t care if they’re called James/Jane/Jaffar or whatever.
4. Any special pleading, weirdo behaviour or messing about and I decline and go for next buyer.

I saw the thread title and thought I’d just pop in and say ‘yes, you are’

I generally can’t stand selling stuff, not because I am a hoarder (although I am) but because dealing with people who mess about just pisses me off.

Last round of selling stuff most people were great through. Facebook & Gumtree I tend to favour buyers who can type actual sentences out and don’t open with ‘will u take £x for it’ – and yes I am aware that could be a bit of snobbery but at the same time it has mostly served me well.

I always make sure there is a time window for collection agreed up front, and if they are going to be late they should let me know. If anyone else contacts me I will say it’s being collected at X time but if they don’t show I’ll get in touch. Sold something recently where they guy had been to pick stuff up at a time he agreed only to be told it was already sold.

Apparently Dracs iPad didn’t agree with Sandra’s choice of words.

I was selling my daughters old bed recently and had so many people asking about it, then not responding or agreeing a time for viewing/collection, then not turning up that I told the next person to show interest I was so sick of all the dick heads on Marketplace, if she actually turned up she could have it for free. Her partner picked it up the same evening.

Following this I couldn’t be bothered putting an asking price on our old washer/dryer so offered it for free. I must have had 30 responses within an hour and it was collected the same day. Lass said her house was covered in dirty kids clothes after hers broke so was pleased it was of use.

I’m not sure which is worse, buying or selling on marketplace. I’m selling 4 steel wheels that came with my VW Transporter that I don’t need. 3 messages, two “still available” and one “best price” which I replied to and heard nothing more.

I’m trying to buy a Now TV stick which when I enquired about it was supposedly sold. Then I got a message saying it wasn’t sold and could I pick up tomorrow. I replied that I could and where was I collecting it from. I had no reply so I’m assuming it is now sold to someone else.

People are throbbers.

I love it – I can easily shift stuff with almost zero hassle, and obviously no fees. Perhaps it’s location specific. As above, cash on collection only and don’t get too embroiled in conversations with people who can’t spell.

@thisisnotaspoon – I think Sandra is also selling a (broken) TV and may be confused as to which message thread she’s replying to.

I posted a Gaggia Classic recently and got loads or replies and lots of people very keen to collect very quickly.

I sold it for what I thought it was worth but I should have checked as they are going for considerably more on Ebay etc. (I sold for £100 but they go £250+ now)! The last time I looked they were going for about £125 on Ebay so I thought £100 and no posting hassles/Ebay fees was a good price for a Marketplace sale. DOH!

Cayks mayd four all ocayshons

Folowin on frum the sucses ov my sundey Dinas, iv decayded to start duin caykes. All fresh and mayd to a hi standerd usin ownly the best ingreedients. Pm me wiv wot u wont and ayl Mek if four ya.

Marketplace is a mixed bag for me, sometimes it all goes seamlessly but thats very rare.

I got rid of an old TV unit for free a week or two ago, first person contacts
– Is it still available? yes
– Excellent when can i collect and from where? I provide address and any evening after 5 is fine.
– Ooh brill ill be over tomorrow about 6 if thats okay? Yes thats fine see you tomorrow.

Tomorrow rolls round and 7pm hits, still no sign, message them to ask if they are still coming and i get, yes we really want it but im just waiting for someone to jump start my car, im only round the corner from you.

At which point i was out as i knew what was coming next – can you deliver? No.

Second person messages
– do you still have it? yes i do
– great i can be over to you in about half hour – great and they turned up and gone.

I seem to always get asked measurements of stuff despite all the measurements being on the advert, or i get a massive sob story of why they cant collect and i need to deliver.

Despite all the numpties it is still useful to get rid of stuff, but some stuff is easier to get rid of then others.

Sigh.. sometimes things sell jsut fine..
I’ve just (sadly) ended a conversatoin with someone who will “send DPD with CASH, and then take away the item”… I was asking him for 2ps as the cash (for the arcades) tehn asking HIM for HIS address and email,as i’m bosing it up to post out now..
He just left the conversation…

It must be a weird life, being a facebook/ebay scammer…

DrP

I’ve been using it a lot more over the last few months and have shifted some random stuff, eg driveway gates, tired old fence panels, bags of wood chips, plus ‘normal’ things like a games consoles, board games, TV, toys, bike stuff etc. Most have been hassle free.

Have been receiving an increasing number of scammers from French people believe it or not, so they get blocked.

Cash in hand always feels good too.

That Turkey Teddy is stomach turning…

It must be a weird life, being a facebook/ebay scammer…

That’d be a documentary I’d watch. Their motivations, how did they get into it, any feeling of guilt, how lucrative is it, is it worth it, ever been caught etc.

Not sure many would come forward though.

I’m traumatized by the turkey thing!

selling tvs seem to attract the most infuriating potential buyers – i’m torn between the people who tell you they can buy the same tv elsewhere for £20 cheaper. (They don’t seem to appreciate being told to stop bothering me and buy the cheaper tv) or the person who told me they couldn’t afford the full price because they’d just spent £2000 on a foreign holiday.

Wife has put up a buggy/pram on Facebook marketplace a couple of times as it never seems to sell, cost 800 quid, she put it up for 200

She’s been contacted 3 times on 2 seperate ads by the same woman who’s claimed to be pregnant 3 different times during the space of a year, just lost her job because of Covid and asked if she could have it for free

I put an old chair on for free the other day. Took a photo of it outside the garage door and made the point on the listing that it was outside now and it wasn’t coming back in the house so it needed gone today before it got damp. It was in the back of a very polite old man’s car within 15 minutes.

At which point i was out as i knew what was coming next – can you deliver? No.

TBH, I think I’d rather deliver locally than give out my address to random roasters to have them turn up on my doorstep.

She’s been contacted 3 times on 2 seperate ads by the same woman who’s claimed to be pregnant 3 different times during the space of a year, just lost her job because of Covid and asked if she could have it for free

The problem with morons, you see, is that they always fall into the same trap of assuming that everyone else is as dense as they are.

It must work sometimes or they wouldn’t try it. Must be quite lucrative if you can get stuff cheap locally on free cycle/Facebook and sell elsewhere for a profit.

I had a whole house worth of used radiators and TRVs. Nothing special and needed paint but perfectly usable. I put them up for free on freecycle on the proviso that they wouldn’t be scrapped but used. Got loads of messages saying they would come and get them. Ended up putting them on Gumtree and someone bought them for £40 and was very chuffed indeed, if only he had looked on freecycle at the same time he would have paid £0!!

Is fb marketplace a good place to sell bike bits? (i.e. those of you who say you use it succesfully, is that one of the things you mean you use it for?)

I’d say it’s pretty good for collection items, especially frames. It’s easier to connect with local people. They can inspect and pay cash which is handy for bikes as stuff gets scratches so it good for both parties to be happy. You won’t get as much as on eBay but there’s no fees and no comeback once the deal is done

Also, I get a bit annoyed when someone has something small, almost IDEAL to post, and says collection only…

You’d get annoyed with me then.

If you want it come get it, why should I have to bother with the hassle of going to a post office and hope it gets to you.

why should I have to bother with the hassle of going to a post office and hope it gets to you

For small items I’d say its less hassle to print out a label and drop it in a post box than it is to arrange for someone to come round.

If you want it come get it, why should I have to bother with the hassle of going to a post office and hope it gets to you.

Nice attitude, hopefully you practice what you preach when it comes to things you want. Do you want rid of it or not?

See that nonsense all the time, there’s a town about 10 miles away where you see bike stuff quite often, usually small items. Only problem is it’s on the other side of a ferry crossing which, if it gets called off due to weather, is a 90 mile trip to get to the opposite terminal. Funnily enough it never sells.

For small items I’d say its less hassle to print out a label and drop it in a post box than it is to arrange for someone to come round.

Considerably so. Even for the bigger stuff it’s miles better.

My pet hate is the snipers. The ones that have nothing better to do and pounce on stuff within minutes of it getting posted (on here in particular), I can only assume they have a bot or something that notifies them. Them and the ones that buy up stuff cheap then fling them on eBay at extortionate prices.