To think Facebook Marketplace is a cesspool.

[WhenYouCantRunYouCrawl]

I listed a toddler carrier last week on Facebook for £5. There's nothing wrong with it and it cost over £100 new. I was happy to just give it away as it was taking up space but the last time I listed something for free I had every wheeler-dealer type in a 50 mile radius message me, clearly seeing the ££ to be made.

Anyway, I listed it and within an hour had about 20-30 messages. Most were straight to the point (is this still available). Some were clearly so short on time they could only afford me one word (available?) and some were from those who hadn't bothered to read, with questions such as "how much" (it was listed as £5), and "would you deliver to X town 20 miles away" (no I fucking won't it would cost me more than £5 in fuel and the advert clearly states buyer to collect).

Thankfully, so I thought, the first person to contact me was someone I vaguely knew. So I arranged with her a time for her to collect it and responded to the other messages to say someone was coming to collect it. Around half a dozen others then responded to ask if I could let them know if it wasn't collected. Fine.

Collection day comes and buyer doesn't turn up. I message her to ask if she still wants it and she apologises and arranges a new time. Fine. Second day arrives and she doesn't turn up again.

So I go through my messages and find the person who was second to contact me and who had asked if I would keep her informed. Message her and wait a day and get no response. A week has now passed since the original advert and rather than going through my old, now buried messages I decide to relist.

Again it's a popular item. Lots of messages. One asks for more photos, which I don't respond to straight away because I'm out shopping. Half an hour later she follows up with just "??". Fuck off, I'm not a catalogue and I have a life outside Facebook Marketplace. Another asks how much. Another "do you deliver". One woman gets shirty with me because she asked about the original advert and I didn't keep her informed when the buyer didn't turn up. Fuck off, I'm selling a £5 item not running a customer service empire. Think I'm just going to charity shop everything from now on.

I sold some dog related items, brand new, so quite a good deal. Lady didn’t turn up the first time as arranged, she did message the next day to rearrange, and was late this time.

And as soon as she had seen the items, she said, they are free aren’t they.
I was taken aback, but replied with the price, that we had agreed.
So she said she would carry some of the things out to the car, Turned on her heels and left, I did think that she was leaving without paying at this point, but she returned and paid.
Nerve wracking for a small amount of money and a bargain for her.

I can’t imagine not turning up to buy something as promised, and then blithely stating that they are free.

I once bought a used child’s out door car thing. When I got there she upped the price by £10. I paid, but never again. 😀 I should have said no, that’s not what was advertised or agreed, but she was bordering on
Scary.
I was pleased just to leave

I don't find it too bad, but probably as I stick to a local mums selling page. I did stick a couple of dresses, one with tags on, on general marketplace for a fiver each. Someone asking if I'd post one so I told her how much it would be...heard fuck all back. Another later on said she liked both and asking for the price, erm that'll be £5 per dress like it says. But feeling generous I say if she is taking both I'll do it for £8 total.

Then she says something like erm sorry I can't decide. Wtf? I've no idea what to reply to that so I don't. Well, in my head I'd have replied 'well it ain't BOGOF love so stop fishing for that!' but not worth stressing over. Again, hear fuck all after that.

Urgh. Last year I put a beautiful oak sideboard on fb marketplace, the door was broken but fixable, listed it for free as it was heavy and would need 2 people to collect and I just wanted it gone.

Never again will I list anything for free on there. I got an absolute deluge of people messaging me asking me to deliver it, if they could come at midnight, if I could fix the door first (wtf?!). Such rudeness, unbelievable. In the end I agreed for a couple to come and get the thing, only one guy turned up despite me being very specific that it would need two, so I was there trying to help him get it in his car, a couple of weeks after my c-section. And even after that, not so much as s thank you.
That said, I've had issues with CF's on eBay too recently, it would appear they're everywhere sadly.

I sold a car on there, what an absolute nightmare. It was a 16 year old mercedes, still ran like a dream and had over 6 month MOT, just usual wear and tear and needed a new indicator light. I only wanted £500 and the amount of people asking if I would accept £200 or demanding I fix it first was ridiculous.

One woman then came, tried to haggle the price down even further and then sat outside my house for 3 hours while she pissed around phoning insurance companies. Never again.

I listed a DVD player for £8. I wanted a fiver for it and figured a buyer could 'haggle me down' and we'd both be happy.
Sure enough some bloke messages with a sob story about needing a dvd player for his daughter who was staying the night and would I take £5.
My dh wasn't keen on him collecting here whilst he was at work so I arranged to deliver it on my was home from work as it was on my route. So far so good.
Turned up at the agreed time and no answer at the door..tried to message no response so went home.
10.30pm he messaged saying sorry he fell asleep and would I come back now. Er no I cant I'm in bed. Can he come here? No
Lots of messages saying how disappointed his daughter was and needed to watch a film. Not my problem mate.
I'm a bitch etc.
Next day he's all sweet and polite can i deliver the DVD player please, sorry he was drunk last night, not normally so rude. And how desperate he was for it - not desperate enough to answer the door apparently!
Took it to the charity shop and havnt tried to sell anything since..so about 3.years

I asked someone if they were bonkers after they offered me half the price for the already heavily discounted item I was selling.
They said there was no need for me to be unreasonable.
Really?
Really?

What annoys me most is people who don't read measurements and turn up in their tiny car expecting you to help them miraculously squeeze your massive chest of drawers in it actually happened to me

I sold a desk on gumtree and was asked would it fit in buyers car. Once he actually TOLD me what car he had rather than guessing, I said unlikely as his car sounded same size as mine, ie small medium
Corsas are not known for their generous luggage capacity.

But he's sure it will fit so turns up.
Now wouldn't you come with an empty car?
No, he had 2 large child seats in the car which took up a third of the potential space.
Desk didn't fit.

I agreed to deliver the next day using my husband's larger car but insisted on an extra £10 for delivery

Love this thread! I recently sold 3 old Playstation 3 games on FB for the princely sum of £1 each. After sorting through the rude/text speak/illiterate responses I arranged with some guy to come and collect them. Well he did show up on time but wanted to know where the PS3 console was! I was so flummoxed by his stupidity that I just stared at him He wandered off muttering about 'I thought there was a console with it'. Never again!

It's difficult because I think that now ebay is more expensive than its worth, it really is the best alternative. I sold 2 items of furniture in the last week, but am never able to sell clothes on there. Incidentally, with the furniture, the first piece was up for £75 and the first message I had offered £40! CFery indeed. I stood my ground and had 3 compete for the full price in the end.

I wonder if you listed your item for more you'd have less crap to deal with? Especially as it is worth more.

I think some people just have completely unreasonable expectations. I recently listed some left over nappies as free to collect - I could have charged for them as other listings were, but I decided to do a nice thing for another parent. They did end up going to a lovely couple expecting their second who were really grateful, but I had one message from a woman asking if I could deliver to the opposite side of the (very large) city. I’m sorry, but no - it’s a free item, delivering would actually cost me money. I’m wasn’t fussed about a profit but I also wasn’t about to make a loss!