What is wrong with people? Were they always this demanding and idiotic or is this just a modern age thing, born of the internet where we don't have face to face negotiation?
I don't know whether any of you have sold anything on Marketplace, or got lost looking for items on Facebook marketplace, but it's pretty awesome most of the time. You can find things at bargain prices and things you didn't even known you wanted. My husband finds a lot of vintage bikes on there, and found super expensive bike shorts and jackets for about $30, for items that were worth six times that.
I sell a lot on Facebook marketplace - just little things like books, bikes, tools, and so on. It's pocket money, and saves things going to the dump. It's a good way to make a little bit of cash and everything adds up. Even to sell a couple of books or a few plants means perhaps treating myself to a lunch I wouldn't ordinarily have.
But people can be so wierd. Take this morning's message from a woman who lives half an hour away in the next town. She messages me at 12.30 am to say she'd love love love the three books I have on offer - one on aquaponics, one on natural medicine and one on meditation, for a grand total of $15. 'Sure', I messaged - at a decent time. 'When can you pick up?'. She then proceeded to tell me that she didn't drive, and could I drop them off? Um, no, I thought. I'm not a delivery service.
Me selling mushrooms at the Marketplace, imagined by Midjourney.
'No', I said politely. "I don't go that way, but if you send payment to my bankaccount, I'll hold them for you.'
'Great.' she said. 'I'll try to get a lift there soon. What's your PayId'. I proceeded to tell her, and then add the specifics.
'I will hold the books for two weeks for you. Non refundable deposit if no show'.
This is getting standard amongst experienced sellers. We aren't a freaking storage facility, and if I wanated to keep storing the books on my shelf, I would do so. Usually people ignore that clause and say 'no worries, will pick up next Saturday or tomorrow if I can'. It's a non issue.
Not this woman. She went off her rocker at me. 'Are you SERIOUS!! Does that mean I lose my money if I don't pick up in two weeks. I DON'T NEED THE ADDED PRESSURE OF BOOKS, I HAVE ENOUGH PRESSURE IN MY LIFE!'. And so on.
My reply was vicious, rude, and antagonistic - but I didn't send it. I took a deep breath, and rewrote it.
'I'm sorry you feel pressured. The non refundable clause is to ensure I am not left holding the books for an indefinite amount of time. Usually people pick up quite promptly as they understand that sellers would like to move stock rather than store them indefinitely. If you would like to pass, that's not a problem - I will pass on to next in line. Have a lovely day'.
And then there's the scammers.
Why anyone falls for this I don't know - it's quite well publicised. They can seem quite genuine, asking how the part works, what condition it's in, and so on. I'm usually quite terse as I don't trust anyone until I get past a certain point.
The point is usually this:
'I'm sick at the moment and can't drive. Can my sister pick it up for me on Saturday? Do you have Paypal?'
It's always some variation - an uncle, mother, son, or a broken leg or a cold, or being out of state.
When I say 'cash only', they usually leave the chat immediately. The scam is about Paypal - they'll overpay you and then ask for refund, but the money doesn't actually come through, so you're left out of pocket. This guy was persistant, telling me how easy it was to set up a Paypal account. I told him cash was easy too - one just goes to the fucking bank.
What a waste of time.
But still, I sell enough to shrug it off. No biggie. In some ways, it's quite amusing - a kind of game if you like, or a practice in talking to people kindly when they behave appallingly.
What are your experiences with online selling?
With Love,
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A lot of our stuff goes into the garbage, goodwill or just given to friends that I know could use them. Facebook is creepy. I think some people will end up spending more on ptsd therapy from facebook clowns than they ever would make from selling stuff. There is a popular market in Korea called carrot market. It's the same thing as facebook. Of course if you don't sell anything then you don't make any money. Actually selling junk theoretically is a good way to make money because you are giving people something that can be used instead of throwing it away, kind of like recycling but I couldn't take the stress of managing it. Our campus has given a solution to this problem. They keep lockers in the student union building with glass doors so you can see what is inside. Students pay a very small fee to keep their stuff in the locker. If someone walking by wants the stuff in the locker then they pay the price the owner put up there and just take it out. People sell used books and clothes and electronics. During the semester nothing stays there for more than two days because it sells cheap and there is no costumer to owner interaction. It works more like a kiosk. Now that I think of it I should try to sell some of our stuff there. It's time for spring cleaning and our kids are getting their bedroom remodeled so we might have some good things to sell. Still don't like to think about it. My stomach hurts whenever I think about business. That's funny though because small trading of crypto doesn't hurt my stomach, wierd.
Respect
!LUV
I like the idea of that student kiosk. It must operate on a reasonable honesty system too I guess. I hate business transactions too. That's probablhy why I'm poor.
Everything is locked up and it won't open unless the money is in the machine. The relative honestly is that people don't beak the glass and steal something, but it is easier to steal from a store than these machines in the hall of the student union building. It's hard to explain the whole system in words. I think one day I will just have to go there and try one out and document it for Hive and the internet world. It will happen...
I'll need to get some of these first:
The worst experience ever will be rude people that jump into your inbox without even greeting proper, ask thousand of questions per minute and when they get all the answers, mostly disappear without 'thank you for your time, bye or fckinganything'.
I was administrating instagram page for businesses and these kind of people are the most annoying and common. Where is the difference between stopping by in my psychical shop and online? None, you behave the same way, so I'm often wondering do they do these things for real, entering shop, ignoring seller, ask question and then shut the door...
That's so fucking annoying. It's like we have forgotten to teach kids etiquette about this or even ourselves. I try hard to set a good example but it rarely come back in kind.
Hahaha... I can feel the pain coming from this.
I guess it ain't easy doing business as you get to meet Various kinds of people 😂
I pray you get customers who picks up what they buy the next day, hehehe
Thanks hon, yeah, that's what the community is for - venting rage ahahah
I wanted to see the original response 😂! I’ve never tried fb marketplace, not very popular here but let me go take a 👀
Mate, I was soooo sarcastic and horrible - but I always check myself and be the example I'd like to see in the world as there's really nothing to gain by being an asshole, even if you are assholing to assholes!
I've never sold anything online. I may reach a point and do this, but so far, I just let things go on BuyNothing. But none of that surprises me, as my husband built and sold deepsea rods and he faced some of these issues.
Yeah I bet he did. People are wierd.
Cash is King, never used paypal, don't trust these interweb thingies. I know exactly what you mean about marketplace, and the fools one bumps into on there. No I do not deliver,nor negotiate price. It is cash when you pick it up at the agreed time, and if you are more than 15 mins late don't even knock on my door!
Ha, yeah, it's soooo annoying! People are dicks. But there are some lovely people too I guess. We only notice the assholes.
good point, well made. quaint use of the words dicks and assholes, by the way
I used to sell plants of Facebook marketplace. Usually I was lucky I guess, but asking for a delivery always made me roll my eyes 😂
Ha, yeah, and they wouldn't want to pay the delivery fee either I bet
As soon as you mention it they loose interest 😂
Yep… I can relate hahaha
I have sold many items. Especially close to a move again. One gets handy in picking out the real ones and the scammers.
Yeah, you get to know pretty quick!
Indeed… 😊
Have a wonderful weekend!
I thought these rude attitude when bargaining for things only happen in my country. Lol.
Yesterday I had a client from Instagram text me to book for a make-up session so we got to talk about the price before anything else. She complained terribly that I was expensive but has not stopped by lately to check the prices of make-up products, after ranting, I had to cut the bill down a little to suit her and myself. Guess what? She bailed and till this moment she's not said anything, she left my message on read. I just didn't have the time to argue with her because I'm used to these things. I don't think it's all about the age, rudeness and irrationality just runs through some people's blood non-stop.
Yeah I don't think it's age either. I always report people for 'not responding' on Marketplace when that happens. It's just rude.
Paypal is just like credit cards. When I ran a small business, people would order stuff. I would deliver and then they would tell credit card company they wanted a refund. In the not so distant past, you could go to the credit card company and show proof of delivery to dispute refund. But now the credit card companies just don't care. They refund, no questions asked. No way for seller to dispute. Its absolute BS
Oh yeah, exactly!!!!!! That's why it's cash only unless i really know and trust them and then they can direct bank deposit!
Some people are not use to real business measures like charge based on time, knowledge, space, they just dont put value to those things when in reality are all assets, its the same as some people are not use to pay for quotes when they should, if someone gets me to develop a plan for an implementation just to get a quote that takes time and should be rewarded, same for example here at the car shop there are several parking spots inside because its big and we charge people after 3 days of not picking up the car once its done, sometimes customers also love to set the price for a service when its the other way around seller sets the price, most of this things happen now days because of that magic screen who protect them, in real life they are not like that, sometimes I get clients talking sht over whatsapp and when they come pick the car say nothing, not that I intimidate them or anything its just how most react once they are in person, I believe you cant tell others what to do or charge for their time, space or anything that is not yours, the best answer from her would be "sorry didnt know that I will buy latter if have the oportunity or it doesnt work for me" but again that magic bulletproof barrier of time and distance over the phone gives them the right to act like that.....did I rant? sorry if it look like that, this happen to me often at the shop 😅
Ha, it makes my blood boil too - hence the ranting community is a good outlet for this!
I used market place a lot recently when I was in Taiwan, it's really good to get rid of stuff to save me a journey to the recycling centre, plus it probably will help someone.
However, I did come across a few odd ones. One agreed to pick up something, I was waiting for an hour till she bothered to message me with a bunch of excuses. I had a go at her and she was all apologetic and said how much she really wanted to buy the item. I gave the item to a friend in the end.
Then there was the handbag. That's a weird one that I still don't understand. I listed it with pictures, description, price and pick up point and had three people ask me if I have a link to purchase it on another platform. Not sure what that meant and asked a couple of local friends who didn't understand either.
Is it popular in the UK? It's so big here that garage sales don't really happen anymore.
Yeah maybe it's the scammers with poor language skills can't get their scam across properly lol...
It's popular in UK as well to sell stuff locally, but eBay is still popular , plus a few other sites for handbags and clothes etc
Was looking at stand up paddle boards and surfboards. Really pricey over there!!
I hate selling things on marketplace for this exact reason.
This is people being people in the best of times. Can you imagine what we're going to be like if the lights go out on civilization. I bet you could write a tale about that. :) Sorry to hear you have to deal with these sorts of troubles, entitled people are one thing but scammers are the worst!
Well, my first and only experience with FB Marketplace was a huge letdown, but to be fair it was not the platform's fault. But I suppose you've seen the story of how I lost the Jungle Baby.