To think people really are CFers when it comes to second hand items?

[TheIckabog]

I am selling an item on a local selling page. It cost me £280 which included the main item plus some extras. The item is in ‘as new’ condition, all original box etc, in fact I think I only used it a handful of times. These items don’t come up very often as they are expensive but they are desirable.

Anyway, I’ve had lots of interest in this item and have had at least four people agree to purchase it, right down to arranging to meet up. Each one of them have then said they won’t take it unless I lower the price! Someone wanted to pay £80 and said they could get it for £200 new. When I refused to lower the price I got a load of abuse!

AIBU to think this is CF-ery to the highest degree? I’m not about to practically give it away and it’s unlikely that they would be able to get this item in such a excellent condition for any less.

I sell a lot second hand on local pages so I know about pricing items at a reasonable price to sell however I think that given it was £280 new and I’m asking £150 it’s a bit cheeky to then try and undercut by another £70!

Selling a switch game on eBay

Bought it for £50 was selling it for £10

Someone actually had the cheek to try and offer £1 for it

YANBU. However, FB marketplace and Schpock (spelling?) are known for low balling. You’ll also experience a lot of no shows, even when they agree a time and say they’re on their way.

EBay is better pricing and because you can ask for payments via PayPal, so they pay before collecting, sales happen more frequently. Yes, you have to pay fees but you’re more likely to complete a sale and at a higher price.

Dh discovered our local free and for sale Facebook sites when he was furloughed. He was bored as he likes to keep busy and worked as a builder when he was younger. He trained as a brickie but hasn't worked in the trade for years.
We now have an orangery and downstairs toilet well on its way to being finished thanks to the generosity of people around us. They are usually so happy that we are removing their unwanted bricks/ conservatory/ windows/ plasterboard etc and we are thrilled to receive it.

He's recently started trying to source Ds1 some gym equipment for university. A cheeky seller basically said that the first one here gets it. It could have resulted in a 1 hour round trip for nothing. At least commit to a buyer.

We've only had 1 cheeky buyer. Dh said cash on collection, they turned up with no money for a £40 bike. Dh told them where the nearest cash point was.

Yupppp so many stories!! The woman who haggled on an item priced at a fiver then requested to have it delivered, immediately, at 9PM The one who turned up to collect kiddies backpacks (with size clearly stated) and complained they were very small The eBayer who complained about the state of the item (visible in the photos) “so I’m not happy at all with this”, demanded a refund, I paid for return postage and she never returned it So many bastard no show time-wasters too, 1-2 normally for anything we put on marketplace. We stopped trying to shift anything that won’t fetch at least a tenner and either take it to the charity shop or pop it on the curb with a ‘free’ sign.

In my head CF is cunty fucker.

Oh @Crockof. I love this, it's so going to be my new word

Things are only worth what someone is willing to pay. If things are bundled, you might not even want the other bits. I wouldn't pay more than 50% of the new price generally but obviously some things hold their value more.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

I had a man turn up at my house expecting to pick up my late parrot's Cage.

I was SOOOO hoping that was going to end with you sending him away empty-handed and pining for the fjords

???

Pain

previous poster had wondered why some people advertise brand new items, labels still attached and unworn for sale, rather than take them back to the store. Someone else pointed out that they'd probably been "lifted" so couldn't be taken back, and the post you were querying was explaining that even tagged items are often stolen because tag removers are available to buy online.

Some of the things people actually sell on my fb local selling pages give me a good laugh.

A bag of used washing pegs!

A chester drawers

And my favourite...a day saver bus ticket being sold for a pound at lunchtime so a real bargain 😂

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

Just wondering why, did they want it to be given to them for nothing?

I can only assume so. Boot sales are strange old places where people will quite happily spend the time of day haggling over literally 5 or 10p. Others will just wait until your back is turned and help themselves. I suppose it must be the frisson of overall victory and not just the 5p saving on a bit of old tat itself that enthralls those with very sad, dull lives. Most of them are not hard-up at all - plenty will go and pay £4 for a burger or £2 for a coffee without complaint.

I was curious, wondering did they expect to be given it or were they disgusted that it cost so little, when it was 'their' place.

Sold a telly once. A guy kept trying to get a discount. Nope. So he says okay and then tried to pull that stunt of, 'I only brought £40.' Cashpoint's down the road. You mean you're not going to sell it to me for £40? No. CF

@AdoreTheBeach

YANBU. However, FB marketplace and Schpock (spelling?) are known for low balling. You’ll also experience a lot of no shows, even when they agree a time and say they’re on their way.

EBay is better pricing and because you can ask for payments via PayPal, so they pay before collecting, sales happen more frequently. Yes, you have to pay fees but you’re more likely to complete a sale and at a higher price.

Accepting Paypal for collection items on ebay is risky because "buyers" can file for no-delivery after thhey collect.

I sell items online and at shows. I'm always happy to negotiate prices if the punter is pleasant, asks nicely and doesn't take the piss. If not the price stays resolutely at the initial asking price .

I'm happy if the customer and I have a 'win win'.

My theory on the snow-globe couple, is that they had an identical item at home, and were hoping it was worth a fortune.

A friend of mine sold a car last year. Two men turned up to look at it. One wanted her opinion on something under the bonnet while the other was looking in the boot. They took it for a test drive and it mysteriously started belching out smoke from the exhaust. They immediately said that as there’s obviously something wrong with it they’d give her half what she was asking and take it off her hands. She said no, she’d get it fixed herself. Turned out to be quite a common scam, the guy poking around in the boot was actually shoving something up the exhaust pipe.

@Lolalovesmarmite

There is currently someone on our local Facebook selling group advertising a grubby used IKEA high chair for £15. They’re only £12 new!!

🤣 brilliant! Aren't you tempted to start a bidding war?!

@Choccyp1g

My theory on the snow-globe couple, is that they had an identical item at home, and were hoping it was worth a fortune.

My theory is that their story was pure fiction and they were hoping to get it for nothing. If they were at a boot sale they must have had 10p on them - they'd need a lot more than that just to get a drink as a pp said.

@honeygirlz

well done for staying firm *@LadyofTheManners* !

Oh you have to, they can call me darling and love all they like, I'm immune

i hate people like that. Also the people in charity shops trying to haggle the staff down on price. Dont want to pay - walk away!

See, if it’s a large item, I would ask if they would deliver for a fee.

No harm in asking if it's feasinble/agreeable to them, but a lot of people buying second-hand stuff seem unable to understand that, just because somebody has a washing machine that they want to sell (that was originally delivered by lorry), they don't necessarily have a personal vehicle big enough to transport it again. if you buy a new one from Currys, you can safely assume they have a lorry to deliver it to you; buy a used one for £60 from a local householder, they very well may not have a large vehicle at their disposal.

The idiot upthread who thought that having broken their arm (whether or not that was true) would magically turn the seller's small city car into a family estate is clear testimony to this!

@bemusedmoose

i hate people like that. Also the people in charity shops trying to haggle the staff down on price. Dont want to pay - walk away!

There's also the people who walk around charity shops (or any shops) loudly declaring how expensive everything it is and sounding deliberately shocked, technically talking amongst themselves but deliberately within earshot of the staff, as if this is going to guilt trip the staff into giving them a discount or something. It doesn't work, in fact the staff are probably even less likely to want to help you.

@nancy75 I've seen that on our local Freecycle site, in the 'wanted' section. If you're that desperate for a fridge/cooker etc, you don't specify make and colour! (Size is reasonable)

My theory is that their story was pure fiction and they were hoping to get it for nothing. If they were at a boot sale they must have had 10p on them - they'd need a lot more than that just to get a drink as a pp said.

I tend to lean that way too (although I love the theory that they're snow-globe dealers hoping to discover if they have a fortune in their loft!).

Of course they have a couple of quid at least on them - why on Earth would you even go to a boot sale if you were completely skint? A surprising number of boot-salers seem to delight in haggling over something that's 5 or 10p, just for the sake of it. I wonder how little self-respect they must have. Some take it further and just help themselves when you're turning to get something from your boot; even train their kids to steal. Theft is always wrong (with the possible mitigating circumstances of a starving person stealing basic food), but how little must you value yourself to nick a bit of used tat rather than pay 5p for it?

Some brazenly haggle you right down to rock bottom with a heartbreaking sob story of how much their ill child needs it and then put it straight out on their own stall, a few yards away from yours, for four times as much as you were originally asking. Utterly shameless, some people.

Also the people in charity shops trying to haggle the staff down on price.

There was a story in the news a couple of weeks ago about a woman who bought something for £9 from a charity shop, returned it for a refund and the assistant's finger accidentally got stuck on the zero button, resulting in £90,000 being 'refunded' to her card.

She didn't do the decent thing and tell them, but she kept it and instantly transferred it out to different accounts belonging to her family and went on a spending spree.

Of course, she had every right to request it - and £9 isn't 20p - but a lot of people were horrified that she would even ask for a refund from a charity shop in the first place, rather than just donating the item back on realising that it wasn't suitable.

The upshot was that two CS workers were sacked (I don't know if they were paid or volunteers) and the woman has been forced to pay back the third of the money that the bank was unable to reclaim as she'd already spent it/sent it abroad. She's a cleaner and a mother of 6, living modestly on a low income, and she now, in addition, faces a totally avoidable debt millstone around her neck for many years to come.

It drives me mad when I quite clearly stately Facebook the location and collection only. Always get people from the other end of the country asking if I'll post. (They do offer to pay for it though!) If I was happy to post it I'll list on eBay thanks.
Saying that, I life rurally and am happy to drop smaller items off in the local town when I'm going on anyway. I often meet u on those a supermarket - handy for everyone and buyers, quite rightly, don't have to give their address.