Some wheels I’ve got on FB marketplace. Apparently they’ll bring cash & take the wheels away, which is nice, saves me posting them.
The other one is where they message with a link & ask if my item is the same, if so they’ll buy it/them. I just reply & say that it exactly the same, then they never reply!
Is it just me or does everyone who uses marketplace get all this crap?
Just remind me though, even though I’ve read it before, how’s the scam work if someone actually turns up with real money? I mean, a genuine person could do that!

Yes. 99% of buyer on Facebook market place are w⚓s.

I am not sure if that is a FB scam? if someone arrives at your house any pay with cash for something then the item is sold.

If that is not the FB buyer then so what? They have lost the sale but aren’t out of pocket.

My guess is that they are just after your address..

I always arrange to meet in a public place when selling stuff on FB.

I’ve given up on marketplace. It’s full of either scammers like you’ve suffered, or halfwits who want to pay 99p for a £200 item.

EBay all the way now with a buy it now price and no offers enabled.

It’s pretty mixed but usually works out ok. Problem is that there are loads of ads and little moderation. You need to a do a heap of triage as a buyer or seller. That means if you are on the recieving end you’ll get a lot of nonsense. Just need to filter out the noise. I’ve had some great bargains and got rid of stuff at a decent price. It’s not for everyone though.

It’s a scam and the next step is to ask you for a deposit to book the courier because they can’t. Normally because they are disabled in some way or suffer with agoraphobia or terminal twatishness.

So what are the wheels and how much?

Are these still available?

Will you take £15 posted?

So what are the wheels and how much?

Roval 700’s with new Panaracer Comet Hardpack tyres, rims are taped for tubeless but they have tubes in. Not sure of the exact model of rim. Also with new Avid 160 rotors.
Got them for a hybrid to take some weight off but then got a gravel bike & these don’t fit cos they’re QR.
May be sold today if last night’s caller was genuine!
Oh, £120.

As a non-scamming buyer who doesn’t mess about I’ve had some top bargains on there. Mostly for very expensive baby stuff that you’ll only use a few times. It’s much easier and cheaper than ebay if you can find what you want locally.

Selling is much harder. Setting the price you want doesn’t actually work as everyone wants to knock you down a few quid to feel like a winner. Now I just add on 10% and let the first ‘haggler’ take it for my real price.

I just ignore obvious time wasters and I’ve never had any trouble with scammers. I think Facebook in general is packed with ignorant muppets but just like real life it’s easy enough to avoid them.

I sold a bike to a guy who drove 1000km to collect it. He knocked me down $200 when he arrived and i saw him take the $200 from the envelope.

The carbon frame broke not long after he got it though, so well, maybe it was karma.

Every big ticket item that I’ve sold on there has gone for the asking price eventually but as has been said above, you have to filter through a lot of noise to get through to the genuine buyers.

“Is this still available?” followed by radio silence seems to be the most common issue. My stock reply is “Yes, when can you come to pick it up?” and that filters out the timewasters.

I’ve had the courier scam a few times. I just reply with a standard “sorry mate, it’s local cash on collection only. I want the buyer to see the item themselves so that they know it’s in good nick.”

I was selling a bike once (nothing fancy, 26″ Speccy Camber) and had a message from a dodgy looking and sounding ‘yoof’ who was openly displaying stolen mountain bikes / MTX bikes on his profile asking for my address and what time of the day I was at work. I kid you not. Blocked and reported them.

Had a few exchanges with potential buyers that go well (asking questions about the item, asking for more photos, arrange a meetup time etc) and that I’ve taken time off work to meet them, but then they never show up. Again, followed by radio silence.

But again, eventually a normal buyer will send you a message with some specific question, arrange a meetup, turn up on time, and pay. And you’ve saved yourself the extortionate eBay fee, so it’s not all that bad.

I like FB marketplace most of the time – picked up a lovely Ikea desk for my son yesterday – £50..pop in car…job done. Seller was nice and normal.
I think this is the key… most people are normal – you know; you ask a few questions, you get a few answers, then arrange to meet or say “no thanks, but thanks”.

Then there’s just the weirdos… people, but odd people…
Ask questions that are answered in teh advert – offer daft money..have no idea how the world works.

Then there’s scammers.

Who you get is down to luck!

DrP

I had some one turn up and try to knock me down on price because they had driven a long way. I only declined as I was feeling generous. Not exactly the strongest negotiation tactic on their part.

I got one of the “is your item like this (LINK)” replies seconds after posting something last week. There must be some kind of bot that monitors new ads and sends the nonsense. I always report as a scam and block them.

As Dr P and few others have said,most folk are ok and you just have to filter the strange ones out.It’s still a nice thing when you can pass something on that you don’t need/want any more,to someone that really appreciates it. I recently bought a spare set of motorbike boots on FB,they were just what I was looking for and I picked them up from the sellers house.They were just a bit too big for him,so he was glad to move them on.We ended up chatting for ages about bikes and routes around the UK.👍

“is your item like this (LINK)”

I never click those links – you never know what scam website you are being forwarded to, or if a link is a download link for some dodgy app/spyware.

Delete and move on!

He knocked me down $200 when he arrived and i saw him take the $200 from the envelope.

I had some **** come to pick up an Islabike Cnoc for his grandson, as arranged by his son.

He gave me the wad of notes and I apologetically counted it. Once, then twice, then a third time. When I tentatively said it was 20 quid short he pulled the final twenty straight out of his pocket and gave it to me with a completely blank expression.

I was completely gobsmacked. I should have told him to **** off back to his son and tell him he didn’t pickup his grandson’s bike as he’d tried to con the seller. But alas it took me so long to realise that he was that level of **** that I didn’t react in time.

last week i a sold a fatbike on marketplace.
bloke drove up from Dover for it and paid me what i asked.

“Is this still available” is the pre-filled message that appears when a potential buyer clicks on ‘message seller’.

Anyone who edits that standard text passes the first filter for me.

I sold a bike to a guy who drove 1000km to collect it. He knocked me down $200 when he arrived and i saw him take the $200 from the envelope.

And you let him? You could have left him to think about that $200 on the 1000km drive home empty handed. If I have to travel any significant distance to buy something, I’ll make sure I do any negotiating in advance if necessary.

I once sold an angle grinder to a guy who turnes up in a massive flashy Range Rover. Tried to knock me down a bit further than I was happy with, told him thanks but no thanks, and off he went. He came back and knocked on the door 2 minutes later to give me the extra fiver or whatever, saying he’s spent that on fuel getting there 🤣 Later he messaged me to complain it didn’t fit his transformer, and I had to point out to him there are 2 sizes of 110V plug 🙄

Marketplace is great for stuff, i use it a fair bit for tools and so on, DIY stuff like doors or whatever, as you just get so much decent stuff that folk have bought, but never fit, or it’s the wrong size, or whatever.

Bike wise, i do sell a bit, but i put in a hell of a lot of checks on anyone looking to buy something more than 50 quid, it’s horrific for the bike thieves or scammers, think last time i put a bike up i got a fair few ‘how much, yeah i’ll pay that, give me your address’, if someone goes from asking if it’s available to asking for your address in two or three messages you’re on to trouble!

If selling stuff i do tend to make sure i can live with whatever price i know they’ll want to pay, people go on marketplace for a deal, you have a high chance of someone wanting to knock off a fiver, or tenner, it’s part of the game, if i sell something for 100, but happy with 80, then i know we can both walk away happy, if they’ve come a long way, i’ll take the 80 and they’ll have a smile, everyone’s happy, yeah you can get more, but it’s about making a deal.

Surely if they’ve travelled a long way, that’s a seller’s market.

Later he messaged me to complain it didn’t fit his transformer, and I had to point out to him there are 2 sizes of 110V plug 🙄

Didn’t even include a rat tail? Tight git! 😉

“Will you take £15 posted”

Too many words……it should just be:

15 posted

And nothing else. Almost like an instruction, that you’ll be grateful to carry out, rather than a question.

I always mark items as cash on collection only, no postage.

I always get people sending messages offering 50% below asking price and asking me to post.

Fortunately I have always had at least one genuine person interested.