Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand why people buy stuff on parents sale sites on Facebook...

50 replies

procrastinationsupremo · 25/02/2018 19:06

Well, actually they're pretty much all called 'Mummy' sales sites, which really pisses me off.

But what I don't get is why ANYONE would put their child/children in the car and drive across town to buy a second hand £5 toddler top, even if it is bloody Boden.

I happily bought all our 'big stuff' (pushchair, highchair, cot etc.) from Gumtree and love a car-boot bargain, but going to all that trouble for a single piece of second hand clothing seems nuts to me??

OP posts:
HighwayDragon1 · 25/02/2018 19:11

They're great for odd bits that you need for costumes. Need a red top cheap? Sale site!

fruitbrewhaha · 25/02/2018 19:13

I don't get it either. I see people selling children's dresses for £3 each, they send their kids to private school, are things so tight you need an extra £9?

I give all our stuff to charity shops. I wonder if charity shops have suffered since the advent of these selling groups.

BumpowderSneezeonAndSnot · 25/02/2018 19:14

On ours they tend to be big bagged bundles for a tenner so not too bad and worth the trip

zaalitje · 25/02/2018 19:16

Gumtree is great in the city or a reasonable size town.
Out in the sticks it doesn't really register, I'm currently 26 weeks and looking at FB pages for pre used pram, bouncy chair, and other bits, there's a lot more than £5 Boden tops on there.

Backscratchesforever · 25/02/2018 19:17

All those £9s saved soon adds up.

Camomila · 25/02/2018 19:18

We bought DSs toddler bed for £15 off facebook, I wouldnt bother for clothes though.

Nearly new sales I really like for clothes/shoes. I bought DS 3 pairs of shoes for £4 yesterday! (1x wellies, 1x crocs, 1x brand new looking clarks smart shoes)

Callamia · 25/02/2018 19:21

I haven’t even got a car. I make them walk to someone’s house.

We have bought recently:

  • a bag of 6-9m clothes
  • a little child’s bookcase
  • a winter coat (hands up, boden)
  • some wellingtons (shame up, Hunter)

I’ve not actually had to walk more than 20mins from my house for any of these though.

SunnyCoco · 25/02/2018 19:21

It’s for environmental reasons as well, for me. I don’t want to contribute to constant demand for new new new which means more stuff being produced and ultimately more in landfill

Original poster
procrastinationsupremo · 25/02/2018 19:22

I agree fruitbrew. I always let friends have a look first and then the rest go to charity. I've got a couple of items that are on their 5th child! It's more the people buying them I really don't understand though. I hadn't thought of costume stuff though highway and agree that the bundles make more sense (though it always seems like a bit of a gamble a they're sometimes up to £30 and you might end up with a load of stained babygros!)

OP posts:
OutyMcOutface · 25/02/2018 19:24

Well there is this thing that all civilised societies have called liberty. It means that you can do whatever you want no matter how ridiculous other people think it is. I don't do this, I really couldn't be bothered but I wouldn't presume to judge others who do.

MammaTJ · 25/02/2018 19:27

When you live in a small town and are really truly skint, you learn to appreciate these FB pages. They are not called Mummy pages here though, we have 'Buy and sell in (local town)' and 'Childrens clothing for sale in (town)'.

Toomanycats99 · 25/02/2018 19:27

I sell some bits. I go through phases of whether I can be bothered or not. However the £1 here £2 there really does add up - combined with some stuff I sold through nct (who took 30% cut) I made over £900 in 18 months of on off selling. If you put it away in a separate pot it's a nice treat! You do find with clothes that you will get regular buyers/ that's great as you can often just send them messages with pics and they will buy a bunch of stuff.

There was a lady selling locally whose goal was to go to Disney land. She sold shedloads - all small bits but endless bits. She raised enough!

Talkingfrog · 25/02/2018 19:28

For sellers no commission, which you would have to pay on ebay.
For buyers, no postage to be paid on eBay.

I have sold clothing as bundles and individual items before, along with toys, pushchair, cot, toddler swing and slide on FB pages. Some people are a few minutes away, they would have to go further to get to town. I have dropped off too if I was going to be nearby anyway.

Otherwise times I take to charity shop. It all depends how much I have to sell and if I can bring bothered to take pictures and list.
One of my daughters favourite party dresses was £5 from a FB page. At that price she could wear it wherever she wanted without any worry about anything happening to it.

DalekDalekDalek · 25/02/2018 19:31

On the point of "driving across town" for it - I would imagine a lot of people combine it with other trips that they need to do. If you're going to be nearby going to a supermarket / take the kids to school / visit a relative then stopping in isn't such a wasted trip.

Wingbing · 25/02/2018 19:33

I hardly buy any new clothes for my two DS', bags of clothes from Gumtree all the way!

A FB seller was selling a babies playmat for the same price as new from Mothercare. No amount of questioning this from buyers made them change their mind about the price. In fact they got quite shitty.

FutureMrsTempah · 25/02/2018 19:34

Because I've got some amazing bargains, bundles of "that's not my" books for a few quid; a wooden fairy castle and wooden toy farm for £6 that individually retail for nearly £100!

FutureMrsTempah · 25/02/2018 19:35

Also I don't see the point of spending out on new clothes that are potentially going to get trashed when people are willing to sell on for not much money

Figgygal · 25/02/2018 19:36

See I couldn't tell you last time I was on gumtree got sick of al the spam and fake adverts.

I tried to sell a table on Facebook for months first time put on eBay with a buy it now option it sold within 24 hours but PayPal and eBay fees will eat so much into it would rather have sold on Facebook

hmcAsWas · 25/02/2018 19:38

I have a pair of these in mint condition (£80 new) which ds took good care of before he grew out of them: not cheap

I will sell them for £20 (which is a bargain for someone and I expect they will go very quickly to some lucky lad somewhere who will be very pleased).

Normally I wouldn't bother but I have a charity fundraising target of £1500 to make for a trek I am doing (which I won't get by selling football boots granted - I have events planned) so even little amounts help.

Also having worked in a charity shop until a few months ago, I can tell you on good authority that an item like this might well not sell at all if it just so happens that no teen boys or mums of teen boys who play football visit the shop for a couple of weeks......

GUMBYMUMBY · 25/02/2018 19:43

I think some people believe the goods are blessed by their ownership and therefore worth a bit to some poor skinter

Nomad86 · 25/02/2018 19:45

We don't have a car so only buy within walking distance. I live in quite a close community so I often give things away to those in need. Things are sold for very little, then get passed on when finished with. Virtually everything I've bought for my DC since they were born has been second hand.

Petalflowers · 25/02/2018 19:45

I sold some stuff on a school uniform selling site recently. The mum got decent clothes at a bargain price. It’s worth her crossing town for that, perhaps en route to,doing something else, she benefitted by getting school uniform cheap, and I did by selling clothes we no longer
Want.

MsHarry · 25/02/2018 19:46

I wonder if charity shops have suffered since the advent of these selling groups.
I volunteered at a sorting centre for a charity shop chain and the mountains of stuff are quite staggering. A real indicator of the over buying and throw away society we live in.

Steeley113 · 25/02/2018 19:51

I happily buy bundles but can’t be bothered with individual small items unless it was something I’d been after (ted baker item etc.)

JugglingMummyof2 · 25/02/2018 19:52

I can't comment on why people buy but I can tell you why I sell on there even though we don't need the money. Two reasons. I started 2 years ago and give the money to my daughters and so far have made just under £2000 which is a good boost to their savings AND the unexpected bonus of this is that whenever I want them to sort clothes/games/gubbins I ask 'shall I sell it for you' and they sort it within the hour.