#42

Listed something as £299 BIN but accepting offers. Some absolute lad offered 99p. 2 hours later it sold at full price.

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#43

A common issue I have is people arriving without sufficient manpower to move the item when I have clearly stated that it weighs a ton, is a two man job, and I can only help as far as the street etc etc. This has happened a few times.

Once, a builder convinced me to keep a sash window we removed - “that’s worth loads mate”. In the end, it sat in my living room for a month and it sold for a fiver. The thing was SO heavy. Guy arrives and says…
“Oh, my sons coming to help”
“OK, cool. Will he be long?”
“Oh, no. His school is just up the road”
“Hmm”

Kid aged about 13 arrives and is hopeless. The three of us end up trying to get it on the guy’s roof rack, end up dropping it and splitting some of the frame… Total shitshow. All the while, i’m trying to watch West Ham get stuffed 6-0 by Man City in the league cup.

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#44

This made me giggle, sorry

4 Likes
#45

I put up a seven inch single on eBay, starting price 99 pence. Because I knew there’d be multiple bidders for it and the price would go up and up.

Someone messaged me and offered £10. Which I declined. He emailed back and complained that people with lots of money to spend always get the good stuff so why can’t I do him a favour.

While I have sympathy for people with little money, I’d rather have the £400 that it eventually went for rather than his top offer of £50, thanks.

#46

Yep. And every time I have given someone a deal…i.e a good price on something I am selling they have listed it themselves at a mark up.

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#47

Ah, Gumtree.

Had basically the exact same thing when selling a the quarter sized bed and mattress (slept on no now than half a dozen times, still being sold for new on Argos, we were asking half that price).

After being told we couldn’t deliver, as per the listing, and then going through the ‘will it fit in a car’ spiel, they continued…

“Can you take it apart?”

“I can remove the headboard section but I won’t be taking all the individual slats of, so you’ll still need a van of some description.”

“OK, I’ve got a friend who can lend me his van but can you make it cheaper cos that’s choosing me quite a bit.”

Just… FFS, you’re buying a bed at a very reasonable price that we’ve already told you is a fixed price. Get your shit together.

In the other hand, we managed to sell some heavy duty metal shelving/racking and a pair of Ikea PS metal cabinets/lockers for a few quid in 24hrs with next to no faff. So non-dickhead buyers do exist.

On the other hand, once we’d moved into our new place and had all the new furniture delivered the thought of dicking about trying to shift 2x Ikea klippan sofas, 2x Ikea dining tables and a set of chairs was not enticing*, so we just called up a local homestart charity that does collections.

*The thought of getting involved in Facebook, even less so.

An astonishing number of people dump perfectly reasonable items of furniture streetside. Such a waste when a) the furniture doesn’t need replacing (do people just get a new one when their repayments are up, regardless of the life left in the sofa?), and b) there are many grateful charity recipients ready to take it off your hands if people could be bothered to spend two minutes googling.

2 Likes
#48

:grinning: That post was way too long.

#49

British Heart Foundation are really good for this if there’s not an easy to find local charity. No good for @ma0sm, obviously, but might be for others.

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#50

If I’m being totally honest, I do kinda enjoy replying to low-ball offers with “tell im he’s dreamin”

ftfyp

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#51

They have Kerbside Collection here. Each suburb gets a week every year where people dump stuff in front of their homes, and others can go through it.

There’s a schedule and everything.

There are some genuinely good things chucked out, and there seems to be no snobbery about looking through someone else’s stuff. It’s not the most efficient system, but it seems to work pretty well here.

#52

There’s no moment more satisfying than finding an Australian who hasn’t seen The Castle (great film) and doesn’t get this reference.

A rare moment, but one to be savoured.

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#53

I have a great new approach to buying stuff off gumtree. Basically, if I see something I like but am still not sure of I will put in an offer immediately (not exchange address etc or formally agree to buy, but put in an offer). Then I think about it a bit and research if it is a good buy, but have put in that initial offer to “secure” it. Then often I decide I don’t want it and sometimes don’t reply to the person ever again. This DOES result in some quite abusive emails coming my way, but I think as a buyer on gumtree, the best way to do things

  • You are subhuman scum unworthy of love and part of the problem
  • This is the best way to buy on gumtree

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#54

This might actually be sociopathic behaviour.

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#55

I really can’t be doing with it

I’ve sold a load of bike related stuff - and tend to offer to friends first, then put it up on a cycling forum where the people generally are reliable and can be trusted not to pull a fast one

An ex of mine used to love ebaying - which was great. I’d just chuck whatever it was to her and she’d deal with it all.

Had a load of furniture and stuff to get rid of recently. I probably could have made a reasonable amount of money selling it but could not be doing with the hassle - I just arranged for BHF to come round with their truck and take it all away.

#56

To entertain myself while taking photos of the things we sell I put a fake snake in the background of the photos (Used to use it as a security device by putting it in the back seat of our old car which didn’t lock).

What was a funny idea at the time now means I spend a lot of time responding to people ‘warning’ me about the snake.

image

19 Likes
#57

Amazed this wasn’t meant to be/hasn’t turned into an astroturfing thread for Shpock (which I’m guessing is an improvement on eBay in every way except for everyone actually using eBay instead).

#58

Had this really sad exchange with a guy who was clearly in a bit of a rough patch but wanted to buy some CDs off me:

Well, truth be told i’ve got just a tenner left in my paypal account (and outside of paypal i’m living pretty much hand to mouth with a knackered car and 3 small kids on top) so that gives you a picture of where i’m at and how much i should be looking at cds…
So anyway, the cd’s i had my eye on were Bill callahan- dream river, Sufjan- seven swans and the Taken by trees album.
Yeah. It’s not ideal i can see that now that i’ve written it down :s

i actually offered to just burn him copies of the CDs but he declined

#59

I used the rival to eBay for a while. QXL or something? The problem is, anything would have to gain so much traction, I can’t see it happening. Even if it was amazing, cheaper etc. etc.

#60

My kids exclusively use Depop and have 0 interest in eBay - so could be a sign that their dominance will recede in the future

I suppose they will just buy Depop if they haven’t already though

#61

anyone know at one point you need to start paying tax on eBay income? gonna try and sell a lot of stuff