Bastarding Facebook marketplace

[KarenNotAKaren]

Just moved to a new house with a second reception room which we have used as a dining room. But given we don’t spend that much of the day eating, and it’s very spacey, I’m turning into a dining room-come-reading corner for me. I’ve put my bookshelf in there, ordered a mini fridge and tall reading lamp and now all I need is a sofa.

Because even bland sofas these days cost almost the same as my mum’s first house did - and the wait to get the bloody thing is around 6 weeks (which from experience turns into 8-9 weeks) - I thought I’d be environmentally conscious as well as thrifty and buy second hand.

Local second hand furniture shops are no good - the nansecond they get a sofa in someone else with more sore time to shop than me snags it. I swear people camp outside these shops to get first dibs on anything that doesn’t look like it came from the 1970’s.

So I went on FB marketplace. I search for sofas within a 10km radius of my postcode.

Every single sofa looks lovely, is priced reasonable from £50-£150 and then when I enquire it turns out it was a falsely advertised price and some sort of sofa loan shark is touting their wares on Facebook. They seem to be operating in a group of about 500 others, and it’s impossible to spot if someone is actually selling a second hand sofa or is wanting £600 “cash on delivery” for a sofa that probably ‘fell off the back of a van’. It’s only when they reply to my initial enquiry with lots of emojis and BIG CAPITAL LETTER WORDS ABOUT HOW THIS SOFA WILL CHANGE MY LIFE that I realise it’s not a £50 sofa after all.

It’s really pissing me off, I just want a 2 seater or a love seat so I can hide from the bastards wonderful people I live with to read in peace on an evening. Why is it so hard to find something to sit on!

@Anon0981 thats just for the sofa cover!

Arggghhhh! I had the same experience trying to buy a second hand bed. Full of scammers.

Advertised for £10 or whatever, then when you enquire it’s £399. Utterly pointless.

I find gumtree better.

Another vote for gumtree over FB marketplace, unless you are in closed local buying and selling groups, where the people are more likely to be genuine.

So much of the stuff on FB marketplace is so clearly a scam - brand new sofas for free/£10, pristine-looking rental properties offered for ridiculously low rents - but I suppose some people must be desperate or greedy enough to fall for them.

Ooopsy thought it was a bargain 😂 was a quick glance.

Maybe just use eBay? We have a great suite we got for £150 plus £30 for an hour's van rental to collect it (or you can use shiply)

It angers me so much the amount of scammers there are about and time wasters.

I have never had this problem OP and have bought and sold multiple sofas over the years via marketplace when I've fancied a change ! The key is to discard any that look " too good to be true" e.g sofa for a £1 or free or photos that are stock photos or from the inside of a warehouse. Be very specific with your search terms e.g next Stanford snuggle sofa or dfs 2 seater zinc etc and have a look at the sellers profile first to see what other items they're selling to ensure they're your average joe and not a business. Then make contact! Every seller I've ever contacted has been legit, you just have to do your research beforehand. You'll definitely get a bargain this way - lots of people struggle to get rid of their sofa because they're big bulky items and rely on the buyer having a van or paying for a man with a van. I've had 2 grand French connection sofas for 200 quid before and a John Lewis sideboard which cost 900 pounds for a 100 quid! It can be done. Oh and be prepared to widen your search area - it's worth travelling 50 odd miles for something fab imo.

Try the range online. They have lots of cheaper sofas!

Its the same in Sydney. However, I've had some luck here so maybe its not as bad. There's an art to spotting the scammers and the timewasters.

I've noticed this too and it makes looking for a sofa extremely laborious.