Facebook marketplace nutters

[Wtfpeopleareweird]

3 things to sell on Facebook marketplace.

One I was happy to give away- brand new Aldi pushchair bought years ago for the grandparents but never used- bit grubby from storing in the garage but otherwise in great nick.

A strimmer, for a tenner

A baby swing, £150 new, again for a tenner as the vibrate function doesn’t seem to work anymore.

Lots of interest in the swing, lady came to collect 45 minutes before she said she would without warning- I’m still in my PJs but at least she came and went paying the tenner.

Free pushchair- first of all man goes to wrong postcode and insists he’s outside. 45 minutes later he arrives, after many messages and repetitions of the postcode with him claiming to be outside when he’s in the wrong street, has a look, is happy and leaves with the free pushchair. Suitably apologetic so I don’t begrudge him.

Then the strimmer. One person asks if I can deliver- it’s a 40 minute round trip so I ask for an additional fiver. She goes quiet. Next person says she can collect at 6ish today.

Great, all agreed. Then she says she might be “slightly early”. I say I’m out until around 5.30.

She messages to say she’s coming “in the next hour” at 4pm.

I’m going out, and I’m happy to take the risk so I say I’ll leave it behind the bins and she can put the money through the door.

She messages to say she’s here at 4.45. Then she messages to say she’s “only got £10 no change. It’s my fault I’ll have to leave it” Slightly confused, I reply to say I only want £10 for it.

I get home, strimmer is gone and there’s a fiver pushed through the letterbox.

I fully accept IABU for leaving it and taking the chance but Christ this has been hard work for £15!

So AIBU to think it’s not worth the effort and it all should have gone to the charity shop who have made decent money for it?

I've been threatened with violence and my account was then my Marketplace suspended - apparently for listing an item at too high a price!

It's reinstated now, but it's put me off.

@Wtfpeopleareweird

Well I definitely feel bad now, I’ve just had a message to check my letterbox and there’s another fiver in there

Maybe she’s a MNer afraid this thread is going to make the Daily Mail, just as she was showing everyone in the cul de sac the new strimmer she got on FB for a fiver?!

I was selling a £200 sound system with Google Assistant on it etc for my Mum and got a comment on one of the groups it was listed on, asking if I'd be so kind as to donate it to this guy's elderly grandmother who was desperate for a radio

It wasn't just the cheek of asking for a £200 item to be donated, it was the fact that he asked by commenting on the post, in front of everyone else! This prompted lots of "Oh yeah that'd be lovely! Bless her! Go on " type comments.

As I said, I was selling it for my (elderly) mum and she was going to use the money for a radio which she was also desperate for! So I gently explained this and politely declined. Cue an absolute TORRENT of abusive comments & private messages and I was blocked from the Facebook group............

@BooomShakeTheRoom and @MiloAndEddie it’s a six seater dining table, do you really need exact measurements to know if it will fit in your room? I put in the ad that the legs came off easily so there would be no problems getting it through a doorway.

Anyway a man turned up with a van on his way home from work about 30 minutes after I posted it, it was just before Christmas and he’d just got married and was hosting his family for the first time so they needed a bigger table and was really pleased with it.

It's great if it does work out but I don't have much luck.

I advertised for free 4 bar stools. They were expensive, and there was a tiny bit of damage on two of them where they'd caught under the kitchen island and about half an inch of marks on each one. I even photographed the damage close up and put it in the ad.

A woman turned up for them, and had a complete strop at the damage and so didn't want them.
Even though I said I'd put a photo of the minimal damage and they were free!

I sold an old Spanish style (but MFI special!) drinks cabinet. £50. Bloke messaged immediately said yes please and he’d collect following day. Fine. Next woman messages me, I want it. I say sorry sold, someone collecting tomorrow I’ll let you know as first refusal if falls through, she says no, I’ll come now, I’ll give you £40, I say no, sorry I hold my word and why would I take 40 for 50 tomorrow! She then gives me sob story is for her friend it’s her friends birthday her friend has tale of woe etc I say sorry no already promised to first responder, and stop relying. Messages continue and get abusive. Next day I get one asking if I have any more Spanish style furniture- NO. I block but she uses another acccount asking for more Spanish furtniture that I DONT HAVE! Man comes collects pays, all good. 2 days more of abusive Spanish related messages!!!! (I’m in kent!) crazy. 6 months later I sold a cross trainer. Someone said they wanted and would collect, I said fine. They didn’t turn up! Clicked on profile and Same fucking woman!!!! (I’d deleted old messages so hadn’t realised initially!) She’s stalked my selling pages for 6 months till I sold something else to say she wanted then not collect!!! Then send me message saying ‘now you know how it feels?”
Honestly. Mental woman. Not the same at all! Some people should not be allowed to buy things! These days, I take stuff to the tip.

@SunShinesBrightly

I’ve started giving everything away to the Sue Ryder charity shop.

They emailed when they have sold stuff. They made £246 apparently.

I was sceptical but the woman in the shop said they price up/label all the items you donate and the price ticket includes your gift aid number. So they keep track of what is sold.

Our local charity shop also sends out a letter letting you know how much they made from your donations. Last summer o got a letter saying they'd sold all mine and made the grand total of £6.75.

I was a surprised at the amount as I'd left in two bags of smart office clothes all good brands (French Connection, Karen Millen), about ten pairs of shoes from Clarks worn once or not at all and a bag for life filled with books that where new releases, my nan got through a ton of them during the first lockdown.

A months later my nan showed me a clipping from the local newspaper the manager from the shop had be caught pilfering the donations and selling them on Facebook & eBay before they could reach the shop floor.

I am laughing out loud at someone 'on their way' whilst not knowing where you live!

Now, you say this but....

Many years ago when we sold crap via free ads in the local paper, MIL came home to find a man sat on the doorstep. He'd come to pick up the bike in the paper. It was 3pm, paper had barely been out an hour, yet there he was.
MIL told him there wasn't a bike for sale. He got rather angry, waving his paper and showing her an advert which suggested a rather rare British bike at a stupidly cheap price, and their phone number. Questions as to how he got the address were evaded and to this day we don't know how he got the address as they were ex directory.

FIL was a collector hoarder of old motorbikes so assumed someone placed the advert as a dig at him, but angry bloke wasn't known to him either.

So when people say 'on my way' I do wonder!

I had a big clear out/redecorating blitz two years ago and tried to sell a bunch of furniture. Nearly lost my mind dealing with the cheeky fuckiness.

"You'll never sell it for that price you dumb bitch" (Sold it same day for full price)

"What time can I collect?" "I'm home all weekend. 3 PM?" "No, I can't do 3, sell it to someone else"

Shows up. "Is there a cash point nearby?" "No" "Oh. Can I have it for free then?"

So. Much. Time wasting. Ended up donating most of it to charity.

Are there any good sites for selling anymore??

[quote TheRebelle]**@BooomShakeTheRoom* and @MiloAndEddie* it’s a six seater dining table, do you really need exact measurements to know if it will fit in your room? I put in the ad that the legs came off easily so there would be no problems getting it through a doorway.

Anyway a man turned up with a van on his way home from work about 30 minutes after I posted it, it was just before Christmas and he’d just got married and was hosting his family for the first time so they needed a bigger table and was really pleased with it.[/quote]
Yes, I would want the measurements! Some of us have homes with only one space to put tables in. If you bought a table literally ANYWHERE else, you'd be given the dimensions. It's not unreasonable. The fact that man didn't need the measurements, suggests to me that he's either got a very big house or he's lied to you and is planning to put it in a warehouse to be sold on!

Never again! Someone turned up early to collect a lamp (she turned up, I agree, this is amazing) my small DD was in the garden in paddling pool so I was concerned about leaving her unsupervised so I was rushing through the transaction. She then told me she didn't have the full amount of money I was asking for but would pay me the rest in home-made fudge or soap or something she makes?! Eh? Gave her the sodding lamp, rushed back out to check on DD. Later when this sequence of events had sunk in I messaged her saying I'd like the extra fiver please not some fudge or whatever, & she got really arsey, said she'd never agreed the price, the lamp had a scratch on etc etc. She's saved in my phone as 'cheeky lamp woman'. "I genuinely do think is a misunderstanding, mowly" she patronisingly said before I gave up & vowed never again to sell anything on FB.

Oh and someone else spent YEARS asking me about measurements, type of wood, etc, of a table (all clearly written on post with multiple pics) & then agreed to buy it and send a man and van to pick up. She then changed her story about how she was going to pay me for it a million times. The man and the van was on his way, but obviously she'd just pay me later via a bank transfer. Or maybe Paypal. Or maybe magical beans, next Wednesday. I had her man & van's number, called him & said you've made a wasted trip (long way), as she hasn't paid & I'm not giving you the table. Amazingly the money was transferred into my account immediately.

What a CF. Did she honestly think I'd just hand over the table for no money (£150 btw), like I'd agreed to be robbed? She wasn't poor either, shock horror. It turned out it wasn't a random man & van, it was her full-time handyman/driver?! Christ alive.

The worst was when i listed my car

Soo many pushy dealers saying, ill give you 50p. Where do you live? Ill come now.

Oh I've had people turn up, try to take items and promise to 'PayPal you later!'. Erm, no.

This is despite the ad saying 'cash only' and me always sending a reminder that it's cash only when we agree a time!!

OMG the stories I have! One guy turned up to collect a FREE sofa with no means of transporting it home. Disappeared for a bit and then arrived with a friend. Asked for some string so he could tie sofa to his friend.

MULTIPLE dire emergencies from people who are supposed to be collecting but suddenly have their windows being replaced/grandmother in hospital/partner lost his driving license etc etc etc.

Never again.

There should be spelling and grammar checks before you are allowed to buy things from Marketplace. Mind you I think some people just sweep up free stuff to flog to their equally pig shit thick mates whilst calling themselves a mumtrepreneur

Yep all the time! Do you deliver? No I'm not a delivery service for something free! The woman who messaged wanting a wardrobe I was selling, fine, arranged a time and then she text me five minutes before telling me I'd have to lift the entire thing down the stairs and into her car on my own as she'd just 'hurt her arm'...... I told her no it needed two people to lift it. Turned up with her young daughter 🙄🤦‍♀️

Well now I feel bad… she has messaged saying she is really sorry, must have looked at a different one and was sure it was a fiver and she’s going to drop the rest of the money round… we’ll see if she does but she actually sounds genuinely upset.

She should be upset - at her fucking atrocious attention to detail. Idiot. Don't feel bad, @Wtfpeopleareweird

Our best one was selling a large corner sofa. This was pre-marketplace and was on a local fb selling page where the rules were you had to sell to the first person who said yes. First person, it transpired after several messages, had no form of transport, no idea if it would fit her house (she would make it fit apparently!) and didn't even have the keys to the property. Second person begged and begged for it as they'd been looking for one for ages. Said they had a van, wanted to come immediately but was happy to wait a few days until our new sofas were delivered. Messaged all week up until the day before collection taking measurements, address, saying how excited they were for it etc etc. Collection day, didn't turn up and never responded to messages.

I've had slightly more success with Shpock, although people on there tend to buy, then announce they're coming on x day at x time and seem surprised if you say you're not in.

Agreed, I thought I'd get a great response by giving away good quality baby stuff on marketplace, but was messed around so much! Everything to Barnardo's in future.

My daughter’s partner delivered a coffee table, they loved it, they asked for a lift to cash machine, the bank took their card, they took her bank details and promised to transfer cash shortly. My daughter called round but they were grieving their nan. That was fortunate really, as the next person who went round called the police, who said they could not do anything, so they waited outside and was then threatened with baseball bats and had to call police again. Regular scam it seemed. On the other hand if I’d viewed the profile page I would not have sold it to them and got in that position!

Not quite the topic but I saw a bookcase on marketplace and thought 'great that will do nicely' arranged to pick it up and even asked for measurements to check. In my head it would fit however, when I picked it up it was massive and I felt I couldn't say no to it as I'd already asked about the size of it
It's now sat in my summer house on it's side as it won't fit anywhere

I now say ‘Free, must be collected today, no deliveries’. Even that doesn’t work.

AF (annoying fker) : Me please
Me: Can you collect today?
AF: Yes, Is 7pm ok?
Me : Yes, that’s fine, here is my address...
AF: See you then
(at 7pm)
AF: I can’t get there, can’t get a lift, can’t get a babysitter, it’s raining, my DC have fallen ill (delete as appropriate) - Can you drop it over?
Me: (I do not respond and re-list)

@AudacityBaby

I was gifted a huge papier-mache chicken (long story...) which I listed on FB marketplace for free, fully expecting the worst. I had a lovely person take it for her elderly mother's garden, which was decorated to resemble the farm her mother had grown up on. She sent me pictures of the chicken in his new habitat, with said elderly mother smiling wide and pointing at him. Absolutely warmed my heart, and still does.

I love this

I’ve had the usual time wasters but the last person I sold to was weirdly over-familiar in the messages like we were mates chatting, he even shortened my name from what is on FB I found that pretty odd!