Is this still available?

[ItsNotReallyChaos]

Argh!! Selling various baby clothes on Facebook. Individual listings for winter coats, snowsuits etc.

How do you avoid having to field loads of 'is this still available?' messages that lead to nothing. It's SO time consuming.

I've tried saying on the post that 'unless marked otherwise it is still available so please let us know when you'd like to collect when you get in touch'.

Doesn't seem to work.

Any ideas?

It's sometimes an automatic msg that sends if you click send msg button

Are they spam or fraud? - I can never figure out. The people who reply and say “is it the same as …” and then a URL that doesn’t work. I’d assume a scammer but whatever you reply they never follow through and try to scam you 🫤

How do you avoid having to field loads of 'is this still available?' messages that lead to nothing. It's SO time consuming.

Time consuming? Surely it's a quick reply of yes. Then wait for them to get in touch again. Asking people to say when they want to collect in the initial message seems like it could be more time consuming. They could say I want to collect at 1.30 tomorrow and you might not be able to accommodate this, then you need to message back and forth to work out a time.

Just say yes? It’s not hard, if something has been listed for a while then I ask if it’s still available I think it’s a fair enough question lots of people don’t delete after they’ve sold something

I know that to send a quick message saying yes doesn't seem time consuming but when you're selling ten items and get five of these messages per item it adds up and it's on top of the time sorting and taking photos/writing the ads. I need the money but it works out at far far less than minimum wage when I realise how many hours I've taken.

And I wouldn't mind replying saying yes if they then reply saying they'd like to buy it but tons of people ask if things are available and then you never hear from them again.

It's a fair question. I've messaged loads of times for stuff and it's either gone or awaiting someone else to pick it up. What bothers me more is when someone starts repeatedly begging me to post something when I've stated collection only and already said no to them asking.