AIBU to turn down those people who try to sell at your door?

[BarryWhiteIsMyBrother]

Just had a man knock on our door, giving a sob story about having recently come out of prison, having a little girl, and trying to sell stuff to make some money. And having sold nothing so far today.

In the past I have bought a few bits from these men (it's always been men in my experience but there are probably women doing this too of course) - they were always very poor quality and rather overpriced.

AIBU to choose not to help these men any longer? What's the background to these sales set ups? Are these men 'tested' before they can sell these household bits? Am I better off offering to make them a takeaway lunch rather than buying that stuff? I feel bad for turning them away (he looked very annoyed when I repeatedly said I wasn't interested) but I really don't need any more overpriced junk.

What are they selling? And what do you mean by tested? Who would be testing them? How do you know the items aren’t stolen?

Its an old scam.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/police-warning-over-doorstep-scammers-14989863

www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/what-nottingham-knockers-scam-named-1574200#:~:text=Nottingham Knockers are doorstep callers,which probably doesn't exist.

It’s a scam often known as “Nottingham knockers”.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/what-nottingham-knockers-scam-named-1574200.amp

Cross post with MoistMolly.

What a strange question, why would you think you're under any kind of obligation to buy stuff from criminals who knock on your door?

I usually roll my eyes at the MN cohort who never answer the door but if I see a Nottingham Knocker approaching too right I won't open the door

You don't have to buy anything from anyone. Surely you know that.

YANBU, as others have said the sob story (usually involving being recently released from prison, sometimes also being ex-military is brought in as well) is a fake. There are no schemes for recently released prisoners to sell door to door in this way.

Usually it's not a 'scam' as such in that they genuinely are selling things/aren't trying to steal from you, it's just a way of giving you the hard sell/guilt trip into buying overpriced poor quality goods. But on occasion it can be used as a way of getting into the homes of the elderly/vulnerable and stealing from them - the most recent one I had at my door wanted to come in and flashed a very convincing looking/official 'ID' card and was quite pushy/aggressive, so I reported him to 101 - not sure if anything was done, probably he was long gone by the time police had time to look into it but I have a lot of very elderly frail neighbours who could easily be taken in by that kind of thing so although I'm not a 'log it with the police' kind of person it may be worth reporting?

I never engage in this shit. You never know if they are casing your joint.

I usually roll my eyes at the MN cohort who never answer the door but if I see a Nottingham Knocker approaching too right I won't open the door

I am one of that cohort. And you may roll your eyes but here's an annoying example. This morning I saw a guy knocking at my neighbour's door. I couldn't see what he was holding but thought he was a meter reader (I really think they should wear uniforms). Anyway, he approached my house so I went to the garage door as the meters are in there, to find out that all he was doing was putting flyers through the door but he wasn't, he was knocking on doors and hassling people He had zero need to knock on the door at any time, never mind when a pandemic is on. Do you really think that's ok, and those of us who'd prefer not to answer the door are quite so loony? And I was on a work call that I had to leave for a few minutes.

Also a house down my road was burgled a week or so ago.

Also, it was for block paving, and my driveway is very clearly already paved and doesn't need doing again!

People - your house is your home. You have the right to open your door to the people you want to and nobody else. If you are not expecting visitors or a parcel, just ignore.

And now I am annoyed I opened my garage door because there are bikes and a turbo trainer in there, which he has now seen.

Thank you. I had no idea Nottingham Knockers were door-to-door sellers. I thought they offered services (gardening, etc) but not actual products. And given they always have the same type of holdall I thought it was a scheme like the Big Issue where they are given a bag of stuff to sell and they keep the profits. And yes, he did have a lanyard with some kind of badge but that didn't make any difference to me as fake badges are rife, of course. Thanks for the replies. Glad I didn't help him.

They get very annoyed when you don’t buy anything. I told the chap that I was out of work and sorry I couldn’t buy anything at the moment, he said you must have money living in this area and almost insisted that it was my duty to buy something from him.

Yanbu to turn anyone down. I am fine saying "no". I get more annoyed by chuggers door knocking than slightly dodgy sellers though. They really, really piss me off, in fact I think they irritate me more than religious door knockers.

I don’t use cash anymore, sorry!

We have a sign on the door saying "We never buy at the door" and just point that out to them if they knock.

He was probably annoyed because he'd been told (by previous sellers) that you were a sure bet given that you have purchased in the past.

We had these scammers in our area last year and the police encouraged everyone to report them on the none emergency number if they knocked.

We had one last week. He said he had just got out of prison and his mum died 2 months ago. My 2 girls came to the door with me and were really interested in what he had which made it worse. They are 2 and 5! He also gave them both 50p each. He showed me all his stuff as I didnt know what to do when the girls were there and had his money. I told him I didnt want anything and gave him his money back. Must have been a way to make me feel like I had to buy something. He said his prices started at £10!!

My mum was Robbed by them once. One man kept her talking on the front step whilst another came through the back door and stole her purse.

Sometimes they get nasty if you say no thank you to them as I was sworn at aggressively by the last one. I think they tend to be absolute scum trying to rip off vulnerable or kind hearted people.

They all have the same kind of big red holdall bag and fake 'ID' is because it is an organised 'thing', just it's run by dodgy people (poss gangs/organised criminals), not by the state or anything official. They are bussed around in groups from area to area to sell on any given day. Often the sellers/knockers are in fact quite vulnerable/desperate people who are almost certainly being exploited by the gang leaders who take the most of the money they do make back off them, so I do actually feel sorry for them, even the ones that get aggie/pushy when you won't buy, it's a miserable enough 'job' but unfortunately by buying you aren't helping them in the long run, just encouraging the people behind it to keep going...

@BarryWhiteIsMyBrother

Thank you. I had no idea Nottingham Knockers were door-to-door sellers. I thought they offered services (gardening, etc) but not actual products. And given they always have the same type of holdall I thought it was a scheme like the Big Issue where they are given a bag of stuff to sell and they keep the profits. And yes, he did have a lanyard with some kind of badge but that didn't make any difference to me as fake badges are rife, of course. Thanks for the replies. Glad I didn't help him.

It is a scheme where they are given stuff to sell - sadly they are often being exploited themselves - threatened by the gangmaster to make sales. It's not bona fide like the Big Issue.

I always feel for them. We seem to get the same group from Teesside visiting us in Cheshire- they are shipped over by coach. Ive a stack of over priced tea towels and fridge deodorizers that I've bought over the years- soft touch I know