Bloody facebook marketplace CFs

[PollywithaP]

Sorry a long one here! AIBU by refusing to accept an item back that I sold on FB Marketplace because the buyer tried the item, bought it and is now saying it is broken?
I sold a treadmill on facebook marketplace. It was in good working order. A couple came to buy it (after trying to talk me down on price - I lowered a little- the asking me to deliver- I said no). I showed them the instructions etc and also gave a run through of how it worked with the remote control etc. The female of the couple tried it at slow and high speed for around a minute, they were both happy and gave me cash. They loaded it into their car and left.
The next day I received a message from the male telling me the belt was slipping, where was the adjuster tool, then a message saying they had found the tool, tried to adjust the belt and it had not worked saying it was no longer suitable for walking or running, along with a 6 second video of what I can only describe as the male jumping off the treadmill as it is going round. Then asking if I could take it back. I replied saying no as your girlfriend tried it, you were happy with the condition and brought it.
I then received a threatening/ bullying ‘I know where you live’ type message saying I knew the treadmill was broken before I sold it, which I did not.
I again replied saying it was fine when they tried it and they were happy to buy it. I put them under no pressure to buy it. As they had now tried to adjust it themselves it was no longer in the condition I sold it and it may have been broken by them in their car or after they got home. I have quoted ‘Caveat emptor’ which I believe applies here, as it was tried before buying. Am I correct here? I can’t help but think they are CFs! But I am pregnant and cannot seem to think straight. (I did mention I was selling it because I was pregnant so I think it’s a cheap shot by the male to scare/bully me).
So AIBU by refusing to take it back?

No they don't. I've learnt this from bitter and expensive experience buying a car.

Caveat emptor applies - whether or not it's been mentioned is irrelevant. The law applies to the sale.

I would get back to them one time (and just one time) saying that when they purchased the device it was in working order and you were able to demonstrate how to operate it as per the user instructions.
If they are now encountering issues, you would direct them to contact the manufacturer as you are not responsible for any issues they may encounter as they are now the owners of the equipment.
If they continue to contact you about this, you will be left with no option but to seek legal advice and possibly get a cease and desist letter for them but you're hoping that it won't come to that.

They are major CF'ers as they saw it working and accepted it working but I'd give them one more email/text to set them clear.

No it doesn’t. Why are you giving advice when you don’t know what you’re on about?

God no.

Don’t engage. It’ll only give them ammo.

You sold it working. Whether they’re chancing it, broke it by accident tinkering or it happened to unluckily break in their possession is not your problem.

Ignore and block if they keep on being threatening.

It is understood (by most but maybe not by you) that if you're doing a private sale, of anything, that it is "sold as seen" be that a pair of shoes, a tv, a car or in the OP's case, a treadmill.

Even cars sold through dealerships are sold as seen - most are sold unseen as they are done through the consumer taking a particular make/model for a test drive and then ordering a car with their specific requirements to order which gets delivered to the dealer from the manufacturer. Only with cars you get a long warranty and if something like a head gasket goes after a few hundred miles, you generally have recourse to bring it back to the garage to get repaired. You wouldn't bring the car back to the home of the individual sales man/woman who sold it to you though. If the treadmill that the OP sold has developed a fault, the new owners should approach the manufacturer of the device and not the OP to get it repaired.

I had this happen with a plastic garden table and chairs. They had seen better days but were still very usable and I had spent ages cleaning the set. The buyers came, saw and took away at a bargain price. I later got a text saying that they wanted a refund as the set was used. Well yeah, but that's what they saw before they agreed to buy and took it all away. I told them in nice terms to fuck off.

Thanks for all your advice. I have deleted my FB profile as I don’t want the constant harassment. They have my address so they can send letters to that. I contacted my works legal line this morn, they say it’s unlikely that small claims court will entertain this as Judges do not like having their tine wasted, ideally I should have got a written note from them saying that they were happy, but I can’t change that now. They have also told me I can tell them that I will do mediation if I want. I’ll see if they send me any letters. I don’t have their address to send any to them unfortunatley.

I did this, turned out the car was a heap of junk but nothing I could do. Luckily it was late 90's when a cheap car only cost £500

FB marketplace is a breeding ground for this kind of behaviour. Block and ignore. Sold as seen. Sounds like they don't know how to use it!

I hate facebook marketplace too - I have sold two xbox consoles on there within the last two years -
I got scammed a few times with people pretending to be a person on the profile wanting to buy the item and sending me an email saying they want the price of the item before their account will accept it.
I once got a scary scammer for the older xbox giving me a fake collection receipt and then asking money for insurance towards it. They also harassed me for a while afterwards giving me emotional blackmail.
So I've decided I'll no longer use facebook marketplace to sell, its just so much hassle. Buying is not so bad - I had managed to get a decent second hand dyson vacuum cleaner for £100.

Hi everyone, I contacted Police for advice online and they rang me back. They are saying the myriad of threatening and bullying messages I have had from the buyer might be harassment (as I mentioned I thought he was trying to bully a pregnant woman) so they will get and officer to contact me. That has made me feel much better about it all.