Bell end magnet of the highest order that gumtree.

It’s just a slice of society. Obviously plenty of idiots on there. Normal people too. I’ve bought and sold on there without issue. Just need to do a bit of filtering and never give out your phone number.

Tried selling a car on there.

“What is your best price?” Seems to be the usual first line. Without seeing it.

Asking to knock several hundred pounds off an already cheap car that’s priced to sell quickly, again without viewing.

And trying to get a response from some sellers is nigh on impossible!

I am one of these people, reason being: no-one on Gumtree seems to know how to delete an advert when its sold.

Clue- its in the ‘manage my adverts’ section.

This

Similar on Autotrader. So far 5 out of 6 cars I’ve enquired about this week are already sold. Therefore first contact is now V short to waste to much time asking specifics.

Is this thread still going?

gumtree have had varying levels of usefulness as above.

from “will you deliver 40 miles away” (no)
and “I’ll turn up, no I won’t, have changed my mind”

to meeting a really nice lad who bought our sofa bed, helped him transport it, couldn’t have been a better transaction.

My point is that when the seller replies and says “yes”…these people vanish and don’t enquire any further. It’s like an urge to know that something’s still for sale for the sake of it.

Hmm, my first use of Gumtree and within 2 hours of placing the ad I’ve had 3 replies asking if it is still available. This can only bode well for the sale of my camera. Or not.

As above, usually ask as half the time the thing’s already sold but they haven’t delete the ad.

Had someone turn up for something of nominal value (< £20) and want to pay for it by bank transfer. It may well have been legit but I could just see it going the way of ‘well, I’ll just take it’ after the transaction didn’t show up straight away..

IME it’s speculatory/hopeful queue-placing.

ie first respondent = staking a claim, rather than the seller’s preference which would be ‘first to pay takes it’

Onviously with items that absolutely require viewing first then it’s a logistical process that can go on and on

Maybe its cos the message thing on Facebook Marketplace sends “Is this still available” to sellers?
So they think that’s the way to contact people (who they want to scam)..

I’ve never managed to buy or sell anything on Gumtree. Either “is this still available?” and then nothing. Or the seller never responds.

Facebook market place is similar, I’ve bought and sold a few things, but the ratio of messages to sales is at least 10:1.

On either platform certain categories attract the crayon eating, mouth breathing, spoon bangers. Car boot sales are the place to interact with people whom the concept of haggling is completely lost. “How much for ..(insert item)..?” £5. “Will you take 50p?

grrr, FaceBook market place…

placed ad yesterday for well priced item, expected quick sale as it’s ~30% under market rate.

– 7x “is this still available” default pokes, me replying “yes it is, are you interested” => silence
– 3x replies and some back and forth, and agreement to collect, one yesterday, one today, and one on thursday, ALL backed out already
– 2x “is this still available” default pokes, me replying “yes it is, are you interested” to be told, “no sorry my $age offsrping clicked the button, sorry!”
– 2x replies with lots of back and forth, checking details, saying they’ll have it…. at 50% of my advertised price!
– 3x replies asking for details THAT ARE CLEARLY IN THE ADVERT!!!!!!!

FFS

Sometimes it goes well, but dear god it’s a struggle sometimes.

My experience of selling on eBay for over 10 years is if someone asks a question they will not buy it, they tend to just be timewasters. I pretty much ignore any questions these days based on that.

Well you’d have missed sales from me then! I ask questions quite regularly, often to clarify ambiguous descriptions or to ask for more details with basic listings.

Really annoying when sellers don’t reply to genuine questions…

I’m going to close this given that you’ve got your own thread running also.