Afternoon.
I’ve today put my first advert on Gumtree to sell a camera. I’m new to the ‘tree, but have used other selling sites before and I’m aware of some of the scams.
I live on the Isle of Wight so I’ve said collection only or will deliver on the Island for £5. I’ve havn’t specified how I want paying in the ad.
I’ve had 3 replies so far (two hours since posting the ad) all asking is the item is still available (note the lack of any reference to what I’m selling).
I’ve replied to all three that, yes, it is available.
One of the replies came from God (naturally) and God has now replied with the following:-
“Glad to read back from you. Am interested in this and am ok with your asking price. Do you have a paypal account as i want this posted and i will cover for the postage fee and paypal charges of 20 pound. Hoping to read back from you.”
This has my spidey senses tingling. Still no mention of the actual item, the english is a little iffy too.
If he pays by normal paypal (no way am I accepting paypal gift) how can he scam me? I assume it needs to be sent to his paypal address. I’m all for a little fun and games, but don’t really want to risk losing £250 or the camera.

Your collective thoughts please?

Gumtree isn’t covered by paypal, or other selling methods that are available on t’internet.
It’s for local selling to local people with an exchange of cold hard cash.
[edit]basically it’s that old pink Freeads newspaper, but online.

Run away, don’t even engage. Scam, scam, scam.

If he pays by normal paypal (no way am I accepting paypal gift) how can he scam me?

It’s a scam.

The paypal bit is the scam.

Walk away.

Here’s a little thing that happened to me recently – my ladyfriend needs a replacement household item. I find it on Gumtree, tell her to have a look, if she likes it, I’ll go check it, pick it up, pay and bring it round. She views the ad, sees it says “will deliver”, messages the chap, he delivers, like really quick, she pays, he drives off.
Now, I’m worried. Reason I wanted to check it and collect – if it’s duff, there’s nothing at all she can do, she hasn’t even got his phone no cos it’s done by messaging on Gumtree. Once he removes the ad, even that’s gone!
She’s used to ebay selling which is a whole different ballgame.
Luckily, it was ok. Phew.

Excellent, I was right to be wary. I’ll just tell him I don’t want to post it and I only want cash payment. If he really wants it, he can come and get it.

“I wish i could do a normally local pick up and face to face deal but presently that is why i am offering to Pay you via PayPal. I have been using PayPal to buy and sell for years now and i have never for once had any problems whatsoever.”
I’ve replied again saying payment by cash only and I don’t need the hassle of posting something.

I’ve now got someone else whatsapping me asking if I’ve still got the camera, I reply yes and then I get a message asking for the price and the location. This one reeks too!

I sometimes entertain myself by replying to messages like these on some absurd tangent – picking holes in spelling, making silly collection demands, etc, and seeing how long I can keep the conversation going.

The scam here is that Paypal generally sides with the buyer, especially if sending the money in payment for an item (ie, not a gift payment), and will refund the buyer if they make a complaint.

The whatsapp guy is now asking to pay by paypal. I’ve asked him how he will be getting the camera once he’s paid me…..
There is no way I’d be paying for a second hand camera upfront without seeing it first.

Both Gumtree God and whatass guy are now both ignoring me, suggesting that they weren’t serious after all. Who knew?

(no way am I accepting paypal gift)

as a seller, isnt paypal gift the option you want here? so they cant claim anything back?

or can you still get scammed?

As a general point, I’ve only found gumtree to be any good for household items and furniture. Anything more specialised or expensive goes on ebay -the fees are extortionate, but I have successfully sold a lot of stuff there.

I have had good success with photography stuff on gumtree, a lot of enthusiasts looking to buy but always collection only. Being on the Isle of Wight is going to limit the amount of potential buyers pretty severely I would think

@sadexpunk gift payments don’t have buyer protection so they can’t just claim item never arrived, but it could still be a hacked account or they could get their bank to reverse charges.

This has my spidey senses tingling.

Cougar’s Law of Online Selling: if you find yourself asking, “is this a scam?” then it’s a scam.

The scam is they will raise an issue with PayPal saying they never received the goods. You lose the camera and the money.

Bigyinn…are you the mod on TP?

sarawak, I doubt anyone would be daft enough to make me a mod, I don’t even know what TP is!

My god, Gumtree seems to be a total cesspit of scammers!
I’ve had another one this morning text me to say could I e-mail them to discuss further, which i did. Turns out they want the camera for their son and that they are deal and disabled, so can’t collect, but will send a courier and they want to pay by PayPal. Bye bye!

Being on the Island can be a pain sometimes (this being one of them), but it has its compensations!

The previous post was meant to say deaf and disabled, oops!

At least they didn’t say he was blind.

Or dead.

I don’t even know what TP is

Tactical Photography. Sister mag of Practical Photography.

Similar, but more focus on night vision and tripods you can stab people with.

ROFL @ned!

Talk Photography.
A brilliantly run forum. Knocks spots of this place – name a forum that doesn’t – minimal ads and totally free. Super classifieds section.
But then it doesn’t have to support an out of date and failing print mag.

There is a Mod on there called Big Yinn!

Anything more specialised or expensive goes on ebay -the fees are extortionate

If you aren’t in a hurry then they are doing regular ‘pay no more that £1 in fees’ offers at the moment.

Like others have said cash on collection only for Gumtree, as either a buyer or seller.

I sold a car on it once within 2 hours. Put the ad up, by the time I got home from work there were 2 guys standing on my drive checking the car out. Deal done and driving away 10minutes later, so it does have its uses.

If you think Gumtree can be a pain, just try giving stuff away on Freecycle. It’s full of mad hoarders who contact you as soon as you advertise and ask for the item. You say yes, and then have to disappoint everyone who wasn’t fast enough. Fast forwards a day and your customer is asking odd questions. The trolley jack, is it heavy? Erm .. yes, it’s a trolley jack. Only I have to get a bus. Then why do you need a trolley jack?!? Ok sorry Ill have to leave it. So now you are contacting the next person who you have already told it has gone, but they’ve also changed their minds. Finally someone seems genuine. Can I come round Tuesday morning? Erm… No we’re at work. And now you’re paranoid about giving your address out to someone who knows the house is empty.

Next time you just take your stuff to the tip

I’ve been buying furniture from Gumtree for the past couple of weeks. Most transactions have been painless, but selling is a different ball ache game on there all together.
Wots ur best price, swop for a PS3. I can’t decide if it’s worse than Facebook marketplace.

Not had anything other than potential scammers show any interest. Humph!
May need to review my pricing down a bit possibly. I’ll let them all run for a week and then see.

I sometimes entertain myself by replying to messages like these on some absurd tangent – picking holes in spelling, making silly collection demands, etc, and seeing how long I can keep the conversation going.

I do this too. Great fun.

just try giving stuff away on Freecycle

About 5 years ago, I had a spare Sky dish that I had to remove from a property I’d rented. I know I’ll freecycle it.
Couple turn up to collect it, I kid you not, wearing matching tracksuits. Hers tan, his blue.
I had the Sky dish in my garage. Wise man: Also in my garage, my bikes.
Was paranoid for a few weeks after that, but they were obviously good as gold, so don’t judge a book by it’s cover, dez, you nasty man 😆

If you think Gumtree can be a pain, just try giving stuff away on Freecycle.

We (sadly) eventually gave up because, as you say, it seems chock-full of crazies. The idea of keeping stuff out of landfill is a good one, but offering something for free seems to make everyone think it’s intrinsically worthless and that you’re somehow providing a service by giving it away.

My favourite we had was a woman who wanted a hoover we had on offer. She mailed me to ask whether I could bring it to the bus station in town. Well, no, I couldn’t: I didn’t have a car at the time. And really, it’s a free hoover, there’s a limit as to the ends I’ll go to in order to give it away. She eventually turned up some hours after the agreed time, looking exceedingly stroppy, with three kids in tow. When presented with the hoover she said “Aren’t there any extra filters or anything with it?”. Well no, there aren’t — it’s a FREE HOOVER. She took it in the end, but seemed to be doing us a massive favour.

OTOH, we gave away a printer once (literally BNIB, due to a weird Amazon foul-up we never got them to rectify) and the guy who took that bought us a box of chocolates in return. So it’s not all bad!