"No stupid prices" what?

[BlueEyesWhiteDragon]

At a loose end this morning waiting for the vet and made the mistake of scrolling through Facebook selling pages.

The majority of the adds Include some variant of wanted.... no stupid / covid price.

I.e. Wanted man with a van to move me into a house next week. 1 load max. No stupid prices.

Wanted green sofa. 3 and 2 seater. Sensible second hand prices please no covid prices.

What's a stupid price? Why not state your budget?

IABU to be on Facebook obviously, but AIBU to think its madness to post a wanted add and state that without saying what you consider a silly price?

Yes! This drives me bonkers.

Yanbu OP this is very annoying!

Also annoying the other way around eg;

Selling a double bed, reasonable offers considered. What do you consider reasonable?!?! If you want £xx amount for it just say that in the bloody advert, don't make me waste both of our times trying to guess how much you'll sell it for 😡

Because a silly price for a sofa depends on the sofa, someone wanting 300 quid for the one that's been sat in their front garden and home to an incontinent elephant for the last 6 months is silly, but 300 quid for another sofa is not. People's budget's are often flexible depending on the thing, so stating a price just discourages offers.

Yes @troobleflooble absolutely. Sensible offers welcome. FGS. You know what you'd accept for it so why not tell me.

I tell you what also annoys me which is rife on the horse pages ..

"Just putting feelers out as I am considering selling. What would you be willing to pay for ..."

I am extra grumpy this morning though so shrug....

@sirfredfredgeorge

Because a silly price for a sofa depends on the sofa, someone wanting 300 quid for the one that's been sat in their front garden and home to an incontinent elephant for the last 6 months is silly, but 300 quid for another sofa is not. People's budget's are often flexible depending on the thing, so stating a price just discourages offers.

I am loving the image of an incontinent elephant chilling on a sofa in the front garden 😀

Oh yes. I'm sure there is also some local code for selling drugs on ours. Picture of a rusty bike bell 20 quid?

Tbf I agree with them, I put up a post for a gardener and someone quoted me £500... I got it done for £40, so yes some people charge silly money never heard the term Covid prices though!

I always think asking for a budget/non stupid/ price is silly. its like asking for a price reduction with a sob story. If I am selling something I know what i want for it and that's final really.

I hate it when people ask for a service. Ask the person to quote but also say not too expensive. A tradesman will quote what he likes.....you either use them or you don't. But don't devalue the service they offer. E.g."Wanted someone to take a sofa 5 miles. It's not far so don't want to pay much." Hmmm....van costs, labour costs, insurance costs, fuel price etc etc....or you can walk it yourself.

\My favourites are for a really good reliable cleaner for $2.50 an hour! Or any holiday/ restaurant recommendations with zero indication of budget.

I would never respond to an ad stating "no silly prices", even if I had exactly what they wanted. I also dislike requests for tradesmen that "don't charge the earth". They are basically looking for a service but don't want to pay for it!

@Mumdiva99

I hate it when people ask for a service. Ask the person to quote but also say not too expensive. A tradesman will quote what he likes.....you either use them or you don't. But don't devalue the service they offer. E.g."Wanted someone to take a sofa 5 miles. It's not far so don't want to pay much." Hmmm....van costs, labour costs, insurance costs, fuel price etc etc....or you can walk it yourself.

Oh God, I agree Need a plumber urgently /tomorrow /next Tuesday morning, only a 5 minute job so should be cheap - eh? Why? How did they come to that conclusion ? Just bloody pay for what you need doing and pay the going rate

People have said on mumsnet that if a workman doesn't want a job they quote a ridiculously high price. Seems like a waste of everyone's time and some vulnerable people will probably fall for it and be scammed. Maybe it's to avoid that. Better to just not respond or say they aren't able to do the job.

Ooohhhh I love a good sob story one. There was one the other week where a chap had posted that he needed a new house desperately as him and his heavily pregnant partner were about to be made homeless. Giant sob story about him losing his job as shes really been struggling and he's had to care for her and his elderly mother and so been sacked for late time keeping. This meant couldn't pay rent and now being evicted. Need to stay in local area as she's escaped DV and needs her support network and he's been with a bad crowd in the past and she's the thing that's kept him on the straight and narrow ... then asks for Ideally 2 bed (for when her mum comes over to help with the baby), large secure back garden, not ex council house, ideally in small local village but would consider surrounding area as long as not these dodgy larger towns, willing to forgo deposit until he gets job and can pay it all for £450pm! Thr properties he's suggesting are on the market for £750/£800 pm

Ask the person to quote but also say not too expensive.

I roll my eyes at this. Obviously nobody wants to pay 'too much' for something but the only way you and the responders will know what's 'too expensive' is if you get a range of quotes!?

As if any trader etc looks at these ads and thinks, 'ah, I won't reply then, I'm too expensive'. Actually what probably happens is they read it and think 'timewaster wanting something for nothing' and the only ones to reply will be the cowboys or unreliable ones.

Also when things are free “for the needy not the greedy”. How will you tell? Who would declare they’re greedy.

@BlueEyesWhiteDragon

At a loose end this morning waiting for the vet and made the mistake of scrolling through Facebook selling pages.

The majority of the adds Include some variant of wanted.... no stupid / covid price.

I.e. Wanted man with a van to move me into a house next week. 1 load max. No stupid prices.

Wanted green sofa. 3 and 2 seater. Sensible second hand prices please no covid prices.

What's a stupid price? Why not state your budget?

IABU to be on Facebook obviously, but AIBU to think its madness to post a wanted add and state that without saying what you consider a silly price?

man with van - basically they want someone for free and have no idea how much it costs to run a van and a couple of peoples wages, and certainly they cant drive themselves or they could have just hired a van.

sofa - again they will be wanting it free and delivered too!

annoys the hell out of me, people have no idea they forget that they are selling secondhand items, everything that goes on market place is secondhand, ok some may not have been used, but you paid for it elsewhere which makes the item secondhand so dont epect brand new money for it! why the hell would anyone pay full price for something that they dont have the reciept or warranty for? it just astounds me

Round here it's "can anyone recommend a good plumber/tiler/drystone Waller/decorator who doesn't cost the Earth ? Needed for next week. "
These are all skilled professions. You will wait a YEAR for a really good trades person. Anyone who can do the job next week will be a cowboy.

I got rid of some stuff on Facebook recently and noticed this as what I came to think of as "Facebook Dialect". It also includes the phrases "needs gone" and "no time wasters"- basically meaningless twaddle that unpleasant people use to pad out their ads because they think it makes them sound intimidating and serious. When what it actually does is make them sound like difficult twats and it's incredibly useful because you can tell exactly which people to ignore completely whether as buyers or sellers.

Its a fucking stupid phrase. Just say you want cheap! Its like inviting silent bids.

There are plenty of things i want but cant afford, doesnt mean it's a stupid price, whether its worth it or not.

Ignore them, they are the same people making offers on items that say 'no offers' or offering a tenner for an item priced £100.

I get pissed off with horse ads where the seller says ' no time wasters'. I got called a time waster after trying out what was supposed to be a reliable happy hacker. It was nappy and bad tempered throughout the trial, kicked the owner when she did up the girth and finally bolted to its stable and put me into the wall, breaking my scapula.

No love, you wasted MY time.

I've specified before that I'm looking for basic/no frills quotes rather then luxury full service.

This was because I advertised for a garden maintenance or odd job person to weed in my garden and kept getting luxury services for landscape design coming and quoting hundreds of pounds. When I specified basic I got a guy who turned up and did a tidy job for £20 an hour, which was what I was after.

A lot of service providers are well aware that you can add higher profit margins on luxury/high end services. However plenty of people don't want bespoke garden design, they want a 19 year old with a spade to get stuck in. It's not skilled labour I'm after, these are tasks most of us have the ability to do ourselves we just haven't the time.

A tradesman will quote what he likes.....you either use them or you don't. But don't devalue the service they offer.

Yes but there are different levels of service at different prices.

Eg

• delivery services for fragile/high value items, such as piano movers: skilled labour needed, good insurance etc. Will cost more.
• man with van to collect some second hand stuff locally: cheaper.

People are trying to specify what level of service they need. You dont always need high levels of skill.

@DeepaBeesKit

I've specified before that I'm looking for basic/no frills quotes rather then luxury full service.

This was because I advertised for a garden maintenance or odd job person to weed in my garden and kept getting luxury services for landscape design coming and quoting hundreds of pounds. When I specified basic I got a guy who turned up and did a tidy job for £20 an hour, which was what I was after.

A lot of service providers are well aware that you can add higher profit margins on luxury/high end services. However plenty of people don't want bespoke garden design, they want a 19 year old with a spade to get stuck in. It's not skilled labour I'm after, these are tasks most of us have the ability to do ourselves we just haven't the time.

and that is fair enough. I had this too...knew what I wanted done, just needed a price for materials and labour. Bloke turned up, listened to us, took copious notes and returned with a Garden Rescues type mood board NOTHING like what we wanted and with a price to match...wasted his time and ours.

We've sold a few things on a local FB page.
We always state that buyer must collect and also measurements of furniture..and larger items.

Fuff me if they don't ask.. can you deliver... how big is it.. will it go through my front door...can you drop it off.... ffs