Selling on Gumtree...can anyone give me some advice please?

[HiccupHaddockHorrendous]

I've got a couple of things listed on Gumtree but not had a huge amount of interest so far.

I had a lady email me this afternoon asking for my contact number, email address, condition of the item and my best price. I emailed back with my mobile number and suggested she call me after I finish work. She then emailed again saying she was deaf and couldn't use a phone (then why ask for my number ).

I'm reluctant to give my email address because it contains my full name and I don't feel 100% comfortable about it...am I being unnecessarily cautious?

I've just had another email from someone else about the same ad asking if I'd ship to the US and split the items as they only want one of the two things listed. I'd be happy to do this if we agreed a price but is there any reason why I shouldn't? How would a secure payment be made?

both sound equally dodgy to be honest and I would avoid. Maybe I am overly cautious but rather that than ripped off I reckon.

Cash on collection is always best isn't it?

Sounds dodgy, deaf or not she can still communicate by text message rather than email!
Why would anyone in America be checking gumtree? Avoid both of them, cash on collection only!

The item I'm selling is quite hard to come by secondhand so the request from America didn't strike me as particularly dodgy but I'd be looking for the most secure way of receiving payment (without risk of it disappearing again). Maybe i'll just stick with eBay.

Stick with eBay

A friend recently tried to sell stuff on gumtree - one lot went ok the other someone wanted it shipped to another country and when the emails started coming which said on behalf of PayPal etc wtc it just screamed scam, then an email came to send money via western union to Nigeria to get shipping agent etc PayPal confirmed it was a scam but it put me off gumtree.

maybe she jsut doesnt like speaking on the phone and wanted a point of contact. and you should open a separate account for transactions like this - takes five minutes to get a gmail account - you can forward all mail to your main email account. I would avoid US - cash on collection only.