To put up a sign saying that something is NOT for sale?

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

We keep our caravan on our drive. It's old-ish and is due a bit of a clean, but it in no way looks ramshackle or dilapidated - just an average caravan of the sort that average people use to go on average caravan holidays.

We regularly get people coming to our door, knocking and disturbing what we're doing and asking if it's for sale. I've just had one now. Most of them don't even ask if we would be interested in selling it, but just presumptuously ask if it 'is for sale', which irritates me even more.

If people want to buy a caravan, there are several caravan dealerships around, as well as the thousands of listings online where people are offering their caravans for sale. There's also the well-trodden effective path of posting a 'caravan wanted' advert themselves.

Nobody has ever come to the door and asked if our house is for sale. Nobody has ever stopped me in the street and asked if my coat is for sale. So why this? Do they really think that we're so stupid that we would have something that we're hoping to sell, but not even think to maybe indicate that in any way to potential buyers?

Should we put up an unsightly sign on it saying 'NOT for sale'? Is it normal to expect that everything (on somebody's private property - obviously not talking about in a shop) IS for sale, unless notified otherwise? I'm also mindful of the fact that the only people who usually notice/bother to read signs stating what should be stinking obvious are the sensible ones who don't need them and to whom it IS stinking obvious, and so must be left wondering why anybody would put up that sign in the first place - so it may be pointless anyway.

Does this regularly happen to other people? Any experiences or suggestions as to what might work?!

I'd be more inclined to stick a sign on the front door saying something to the effect of "If you're about to knock about the caravan, don't bother, it's not for sale". But then I'm passive aggressive, and hate people knocking at my door.

How regularly is this happening?

I think you should just sell it & solve your problem😜

I'd be more inclined to stick a sign on the front door saying something to the effect of "If you're about to knock about the caravan, don't bother, it's not for sale". But then I'm passive aggressive, and hate people knocking at my door.

Yes, that's the other option we were considering. Maybe it is PA, but I'm getting so annoyed by it.

We also have people offering (for money, of course) to 'tidy up your hedge for you'. It's a varied native-species hedge that we deliberately planted and look after ourselves. We only trim it back at the appropriate time of the year - when it isn't in prime growing season and there will be no birds nesting in it - but these self-appointed 'experts' don't seem to know or care about the basics; they just assume that all hedges should be evergreen, square and boxy and can't understand one that isn't.

They also come to urge us to have work to done to reduce too-large trees (that I agree needs doing) - but which are clearly on our neighbours' properties, so I don't know why they think we're able or willing to authorise the work and pay for it ourselves!

This could end up being quite a long sign - thus making it even more ignorable by the very same annoying nincompoops for whom it was put up!

They aren’t common on driveways where I am - I don’t actually think they’re allowed to be kept on driveways here - and you only see them once in a while when they are for sale. So that, plus it looking worn down, might be why people are knocking…

Absolutely put a sign on it, if it bothers you. It saves everyone some time.

Most of them don't even ask if we would be interested in selling it, but just presumptuously ask if it 'is for sale', which irritates me even more.

I don’t quite understand the subtle difference in these two approaches, maybe it’s just me.

Ah. Given your other post, do you think these are people who think your house looks unkept, and are trying to help?

Maybe the reason so many people think it's for sale is because it looks obvious that it is not being used?

How regularly is this happening?

It's not like it's a daily occurrence, but probably about once every 3-4 weeks on average; more often when the circus is in town.

Bet your neighbours love you

Ahhhhhh. So this is some kind of dog whistle racist traveller bashing thread. Got it.

I am sorry but ‘more often when the circus is in town’ has really made me laugh for some reason.

Why on earth would anyone think ANYTHING is 'for sale' whether on a driveway or on the road or anywhere, if it didn't have a 'SALE' sign on it? Utterly batshit.

I have NEVER seen a caravan on someone's drive (small, medium, or large, or new or old,) and thought 'hmmm, I will knock the door and ask if that caravan is for sale' when there was NO SALE SIGN on it. WTAF? 😆

Ah. Given your other post, do you think these are people who think your house looks unkept, and are trying to help?

I'm not sure about trying to help as such - more like trying to make easy money! Maybe they do have a prescribed restricted idea of how every house should look; maybe they regularly drive past fields and meadows and are horrified that they haven't had housing estates built on them yet?!

Maybe the reason so many people think it's for sale is because it looks obvious that it is not being used?

The only real sign that it's not being used is that it's parked up and not currently being towed or on a caravan site - just like the vast majority of touring caravans 95% or more of the time. They also come in the middle of winter, when most people are traditionally not currently using caravans for their main purpose.

Even so, that doesn't answer why we would have something 'for sale' without giving any basic clue to potential buyers about that fact. You would think that, if somebody is trying to sell something, they would normally want to actively attract a buyer!

There’s been a couple of people knocking asking about buying my car over the last year. It’s a very common, mid range and mid aged car with no interesting features whatsoever and it’s used daily. I’m fairly sure they were actually checking out if someone was home and answered the door, whether we had cameras etc.

Me too 😂😂😂

It can be a way for people to suss out who lives in a house, how alert you seem, how quickly you get to the door. Really they’re knocking on the door to assess you, but they’ll ask a question about your caravan/hedges etc as an excuse for being there.

I live on a street full of wealthy older people and the police actually came out to explain this to us as several of them were vulnerable to being burgled or scammed.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

We also have people offering (for money, of course) to 'tidy up your hedge for you'. It's a varied native-species hedge that we deliberately planted and look after ourselves. We only trim it back at the appropriate time of the year - when it isn't in prime growing season and there will be no birds nesting in it - but these self-appointed 'experts' don't seem to know or care about the basics; they just assume that all hedges should be evergreen, square and boxy and can't understand one that isn't.

I wouldn't take that ^ personally. In our last house, a neighbour quite close to us, whose back garden ran alongside the bottom of our back garden (IYSWIM) had big conifers. They were all in her garden, all 12 trees, and were hers to maintain. They ranged from 12 to 15 feet high during the year. Our garden was 50 feet long so they didn't bother us much.

BUT, at LEAST 5 or 6 times every summer for the 7-8 years we were there, we got people knocking our door and offering to trim our trees at the back, as they looked a bit tall and 'in need of a trim...'

We said 'they are not ours... turn left there and knock on the first door on the left.'

It's not personal. They're just after moneeeeey! Cash in hand obvs.

I used to get this with my old car, god knows why.

In the town I live, most people with caravans or campers in the drive have a sign saying ‘not for sale’ in the window.

I've had this several times with my car. It's now parked round the back.

How about a sign saying something like;" we do not buy or sell anything from/to cold callers"

Are you me? My front garden is full of lovely bushes, men are often at the door offering their gardening services to 'tidy up' the luxuriant growth. These men often ask on the way down the path, if I would sell my caravan, they also ask to tarmac my drive.
ps. I have actually sold my caravan now, as I was not using it any more, but not to a random caller.

Bet your neighbours love you

For being one of the several houses with caravans on their drives?

Ahhhhhh. So this is some kind of dog whistle racist traveller bashing thread. Got it.

You most certainly haven't 'got it'. I don't think it's an unproveable racist stereotype to suggest that people who work for travelling circuses are far more likely to live in caravans than people who don't - and thus, are far more likely to want/need to buy caravans.

Also, did you miss the bit where I said MORE when the circus is in town - i.e. it happens frequently with people who have nothing to do with any circus or travelling fair as well?

I have no issue whatsoever with the circus or fairground being in town; I just would prefer EVERYBODY (whether in the circus or not) who wants to buy a caravan to try to find one that is actually for sale. Just like I don't want people walking straight past the supermarket and knocking on my door on the off-chance that I might have some carrots or milk that I'm hoping to sell.

These people - ALL of them who do it year-round - must have a lot of time on their hands if they use such an inefficient (not to mention annoying) method of finding goods for sale that they want to buy. I can only think that they're hoping to catch somebody unawares - maybe a vulnerable person - and rip them off by making off with their caravan at a rock-bottom undervalued price that they've convinced them is its 'true' value.

One of the more persistent ones a while back was asking me all kinds of ridiculous questions such as "But have you thought about how much you'd want to ask if you were to try to sell it?" I try to be pleasant to people - even annoying ones - but I think I just ended up shutting the door on him when he wouldn't drop it. He might have all the time in the world to waste trying to buy things that aren't for sale, but I don't have the time to be pricing up stuff that we have no intention of selling.

My friends get this with their campervan - it looks - err - affordable (I'm being charitable).

So... I would put a sign up - with date so they know it's a recent and not an old sign. Say - it's in regular use.