to be amazed at what people try to sell stuff for!

[bored1602]

I never fail to be amazed at the value people put on their old junk. I've seen second hand boots, bought for £60, selling for £55 plus money for petrol/delivery. BARGAIN! I had a friend who tried to sell her knackered £100 Juicy Couture bag for £85. I tried to explain that a 15% saving isn't an awful lot considering she'd been using is for years, to no avail.

I wonder if anyone is actually buying this second hand stuff to save a couple of pounds, especially as its often impossible to tell the condition until you pick it up. I'd much rather have a scout through the sales, you'd probably find better discounts!

(That being said, I'm a massive fan of buying second hand, and it was a godsend when I needed to furnish my flat on the cheap)

Someone on eBay is selling an IKEA Dombas wardrobe for £85 buy it now or bids starting at £55. With £20 postage. They're £70 new in IKEA!

I love the photos of random piles of crap Like a hello kitty photo frame, and a coaster, and a dvd and then go 'all must go' 'make me an offer'!

Aren't there particular key words you use in the shoe descriptions that signal to the, er, niche buyers?

Our local Freecycle is full of people asking if anyone has an iPad they don't need anymore, good condition please..

Tali, yes that is clearly what is going on, the so-called 'unusual' donations. But charity shops shouldn't be valuing from eBay at all! It just isn't a comparable market.

Zoe I agree. ebay isnt known for honest prices really. It did lead to an overpricing of a rotastak hamster cage.

This is good

Sorry: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEGO-Friends-41015-Dolphin-Cruiser-Boat-Yacht-/351439080484

£41 with postage, for a used lego set, with three missing pieces.

A brand new set costs £44.50 from Amazon.

Totally agree about the shabby shit. I'm so fed up with seeing lovely pieces of furniture RUINED by someone with a tin of chalk paint. I wanted a Victorian dressing table but they've all been destroyed and it's so time consuming stripping them back again. Grrr.

In a similar vein, last week I advertised a large piece of exercise equipment on Freecycle. It was immaculate (used once for 10 mins ) and the user guide was included.

Cue loads of replies along the lines of 'Av U still got this'. No 'please', 'thank you' or 'kiss my arse'...

I offered one person who was polite. She messed me around for days, was trying to arrange a van to collect after 3 days, wanted to know how large it was on day 4 as she needed to know if it would fit in her lounge and on day 5 wanted to know if it would fit in a car. All this after me stating in the advert 'buyer to collect, needs to go ASAP'. I honestly think she was waiting for me to offer to deliver it.

Never again. Taking stuff to the tip is a lot easier than dealing with this crap.

I've recently become aware of people selling their dirty sock on eBay to perves people who get off on them. I'm sure dirty pants go for big bucks too but I dare not look.

You can sell old shoes on Ebay (with the intention of attracting the fetish market). You just have to be very careful how you list them. You can't list it as fetish, stinky, smelly, knackered, sexy etc. Use phrases like 'well worn' 'or 'well used' & be careful with the pictures. Shoes where my feet have been in the pictures tend to sell better but again don't make it it too sexy or the listing will be pulled.

You also need to be careful with the actual listing so it is clear the condition is poor otherwise you'll end up with someone buying them and complaining about the condition. I've sold a few pairs but it is pot luck what you get. Some sold for 99p, others for over £10. Used garter belts also sell suprisingly well....

Just to illustrate:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WORN-WOMENS-LONG-FRILLY-SOCKS-USED-WOMENS-FRILLY-SOCKS-/221811177285?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item33a4f9f745

I have just sold an IKEA wardrobe and ikea chest of drawers on eBay, second hand, bidding started at 99p for each, no reserve price. They went for £215 in total! . They were listed really honestly, photos etc. I was amazed.

Also sold a second hand Maclaren pushchair for only £10 less than I bought it (second hand) about 15 months previously.

eBay I think has some competitive element. Like people are so fixated on something, that they will do everything they can to buy it, even if they pay well over the odds for it.

Wow, just amazed at the worn socks ad on eBay (had to look as curiosity got the better of me). Can't believe there are bids on these. To think for years I must've thrown out £'s worth of worn undergarments. Just going now to put some socks on! See you on eBay lol! Xxx

Lucy61 eeeeeew!

At first I thought the used socks 'phenomenon' was hilarious, but now I think I wish I hadn't known. When you look into it, there is a whole underworld of ebay buying and selling.

I put loads of stuff on local Freecycle and what pisses me off is people who are clearly going to sell the items on after I have GIVEN it to them. I have got to recognise those folk now.

Travelledtheworld- I had the same problem. I've put a load of baby stuff on freecycle (travel system, girls clothes up to 12 months etc) as we're living in a one bed flat (We being me, dp and 2 dc) so literally need to get rid of stuff as soon as its no longer needed (DD is 14 months and can now go in a cheap stroller rather than her bulky pram, moses basket long out of use etc). Had people asking to see photographs of everything and asking for brand names so they could value it, asking if they could have only one item out of the bundle* when i refused to split point blank. I'm taking it all to my aunts house to be put in my old bedroom and will then give it away when one of my friends get pregnant.

I refused to split the bundle as i did split a bundle on freecycle when DS had outgrown his stuff. It was anarchy as people forgot what they were or weren't having, or were asking for more items upon collection when they'd been promised elsewhere. I also had up to 10 people a day in and out of my home for about 2weeks. I'd rather it all go in one lot. I wouldn't mind someone selling or giving away one or two items out of the bundle if its genuinely not needed but seeing as i'm being so generous you'd think people wouldn't take the piss... nope.

I don't bother with these sites now. Too many obnoxious people. I also got sick of 'just moved in to new house. Need bed (must be queen sized with clean mattress), sofa, armchair (recliners), dining table (at least eight seater) etc etc'. Or one the other day 'wunt (sic) a laptop. Can't be older than six months old and have latest windows. Also want photoshop.'

I actually got banned from a few because I kept replying to the 'duz any1 no where I can get a ........' with 'try a shop'.

Now it's either donate to the charity shop or take to the tip for me. The tip here actually has people that hang around when you are unloading and take anything that looks like it might be saleable. They are polite about it, and will take it out of your car/trailer and carry it away, and will usually give you a hand unloading everything else (so they can get a good look, but at least they are helping), so I'm quite happy to let them take it. Some goes to charity, and some goes to car boot sales, but as long as it isn't in my house, then I don't care.

I bought a small table and 2 chairs for my balcony 7 years ago for the equivalent of £25. Last year I saw the identical set being sold on a FB selling page for £50.

I also love the adverts for random tat that you would throw away being sold for a quid. And that people buy it

Oh as well, advert for a bedroom set the was clearly ikea hemnes. It was advertised as being from and was 'bought for £4000' so selling for £2k. Someone pointed out that it's about a grands worth from ikea new. That argument lasted all day before the mods banned the woman selling it!

Tell you one thing you can always sell for more than you paid, if you time it right: maternity winter coats. The shops stop selling them in about the first week in December, so you list on ebay in January. I got £20 over the cost of mine that way, and I only paid £50 for it in the first place!

I do like the unreasonable pushchair ones. I saw one for a Maclaren double once, it was about 2/3 the cost new, said on the ad "this is fine except the nanny broke the foot rest, it's fixable but we don't have time, therefore selling it". You just knew they would be the sort of people who would be really awkward when you tried to pick it up. "We can only do Tuesday evening or Thursday afternoon, luckily Arabella's Japanese and ballet classes are cancelled this week so we have a window when we will be at home"

We currently have a "well used LIMITED EDITION!!!!! BMW maclaren quest. Very RARE only want £300" on ours.

Would that be the BMW maclaren you can get in most Maclaren stockists for £270 brand new?!

Or we have people selling things like baby socks or vests for 10/20p and people arranging to meet for one vest....I frankly couldn't be arsed to meet for 10 pence!

I work with an...eccentric...lady who recently bought a cottage, maxing out her saving.

She is getting a fridge, a freezer, an oven and a washing machine for...£80

Something that makes me laugh is all the people who are too snooty to go into a charity shop yet will pay a fortune for stuff on ebay/ Vintage shops etc . I volunteer in a charity shop and people buy from us and re-sell at inflated prices - we are happy with what we get, they are happy with their mark up - but so many consumers are fools. .

We've got a local shop that markets itself as a Second Hand Emporium - full of stuff from charity shops & car boots at huge prices. . I am almost tempted to start up a similar venture myself.