Facebook sales site 'middle man'

[Jolleigh]

I can't really decide if I'm BU but really keen to hear other people's thoughts.

I'm part of several local selling sites on FB. I've both bought from them and sold on them. Recently, I noticed that one woman had purchased something from one site and immediately (read 'next morning') sold it on another for a rather elevated price (still cheaper than a new one). I've since see her do it repeatedly. She sells a lot on the site...I've bought something previously (a highchair that turned out to be naff and I ended up giving it away for free, but that's not really relevant). She's pretty much always online either bartering or selling. She's frequently the first to jump in pretty much straight away and buy the very good bargains within minutes of them being posted.

Anyway, I mentioned it to a friend of mine and apparently this woman makes a lot of money doing this. She also bulk buys stuff and sells them separately occasionally (fine in my opinion). The friend who told me this knows the woman well...it's a small isolated town that you can walk the full length of in 15 minutes so pretty much everyone knows everyone else at least through a friend.

AIBU to think that it's not really on to monopolize all the bargains on a site before others get much chance and sell it on at an elevated price?

YABU

Claw, I'm not posting to be snarky, I'm genuinely interested in other points of view and ways of looking at this so do you actually have any constructive points to make? Any reasons why you feel IABU?

Well, because it's not against the law. She's taking advantage of what she sees as a sales opportunity. She's on the ball...online a lot...and she's making money.

She's doing nothing wrong.

YABU, it's v entrepreneurial of her. That sort of thing should be encouraged!

I don't see legal and moral as being the same thing tbh.

I get what you're saying about being entrepreneurial but it just seams to beat the spirit of these sites if the true bargains posted by people who want a token amount for items they pass on to the community are being bought by someone who neither needs nor wants them and sells them on at a price that's often just a small % below normal retail price.

*seems

I agree with you. In some areas this is seen as incredibly bad form.

I do think there are probably some areas that wouldn't be as scornful at this, very much agreed.

For context, it's a very small village surrounded by farming land. There are very few people in the village who are considered 'well off'. Unemployment is very high as public transport here is unreliable in the day and ceases after 6pm. Those who are lucky enough to have a job have a fairly long commute and are often the only worker in the family as the childcare options are dismal. They're only now building us some decent local shops to improve on the 2 convenience shops we have.

It's annoying that others miss out on a bargain, but she's not doing anything wrong.

She's spotted an opportunity and is making the best of it. Good luck to her.

As long as the person selling is getting what they wanted for the item, and she's not haggling them down, then yabu.

It is irritating - I had this happen to me. Put some stuff on eBay and it sold for next to nothing (risk you take. I accept that). Next morning after it had been collected, all my stuff pops up on our local selling page priced much higher. And the cheeky mare was using my photos! Think that's annoyed me more tbh but not a lot I can do. I took perverse pleasure in watching her bump it up every day for a week or so without it actually selling.

I ultimately figured she needed the money whereas I needed the stuff out of my way and that helped me feel better about it all.

I'm not sure how it works in the UK, but in NZ where I live there are tax laws that state that buying goods with the intention of selling them again comes with a certain tax obligation as it could be considered commerce, including in online sales and in online auctions.

I know that it is quite hard to police, but if it's something that one person does a lot they ought to be careful.

just keep outing her...until she blocks you! I agree its morally out of order you dont shit on your own doorstep id use gumteee

this would only annoy me if it was freecycle/given away on the assumption it was for personal use, not resale

On my local fb selling sites if she does this she be removed. Its in the terms and conditions. Yanbu as its very rude but not illegal just immoral. I wouldnt say anything as small village and not worth getting involved.

I think it is clearly annoying you, but I don't think it is illegal or immoral- after all people are selling their goods on FB, not Freecycling them. I am sorry but I don't really understand the relevance of her location or that she lives in a small town. Except that if employment is hard to come by in that area then good for her for finding a way of making a living. YABU.

sharl...shitting on your own doorstep sums up my feelings quite nicely! It's not that she buys and resells things for a profit that gets me. It's that she is stopping her community from receiving the bargain the seller intended and is being extremely brazen about it.

Mini not even taking her own pictures is very poor form .

I'm I'm really surprised people think this is okay! The whole ethos of local selling sites seems to me to be selling things onto other people to use - so both can save a bit of cash.

Of course buying in bulk from ebay and splitting is quite different. This is more like the people that get there early to a car boot sale, then take all the lego/cars/whatever from all the stalls selling at a low price and then resell at a high price. Not quite right.

Yup - Jolleigh its a community thing isn't it?

My FB selling site in my area is set up to sell things on and make a bit of money.

Its not set up to pass things on to the community, surely you should give it to a local charity if thats the case?

We barely have shops TakeMeUp never mind charities in the area...due to the transport issues, giving to a charity would pretty much guarantee something leaves the community.