I responded to a chainsaw ad for a good price before the ad was one hour old. Didn't get it, even though I was thinking that I was first in line. Sold that night and I had given the seller my phone number and said, "Call me." Lost it to someone else. Today, found a trailer at a good price, ad was 9 hrs old. Within a couple hours of writing "I'm interested, when can I come?", I never heard from the seller, then saw it listed as sold. Also found a lawn mower at a good price and the ad was 1 day old. Might be a scam, seller's 2nd response was "Do you have Zelle?" Why would she ask that, seems odd, unless trying to get me to send a deposit or something, which I would not do. I had simply asked when can I come get it. My thinking is that if the item is something I really want and the price is right, I cannot ask questions, that seems to have cost me in the past. I have to say "I want your item, when can I come?" If I get there and it's not like as posted, I can walk away. But even if I say that, I still might lose it. What else could you do? It could be that you have to respond within, like, 20 minutes of posting? You just have to luck up and find something when you log on? Maybe some people just stay on it all day? I got other things to do! Anyone have any tips on this? One solution is screw it, quit buying anything used, just bite the bullet and pay for new. But, yikes, that'll be costly! But you'd save ever jacking around looking for something.
Well, better than some items I’ve tried to purchase. After communicating with seller and agreed on asking price and confirmation on when I could arrive, I get there and get “sorry it’s already sold”. Some of them were not real close by either. What, you couldn’t call me or message me and let me know? How thoughtful of you a******
Respond quickly that you’re interested and have cash. Get there as soon as you can. Ask them if they sell it to please let you know so neither of your time is wasted. Not much more that you can do.
After reflection on my FBMP experience overall I would have to say it’s been about 90% pleasant. Just a few that have caused some heartburn
Fishing for info type ads? /there are way too many "too good to be true" postings on the web.........including facebook Beware
I know fakebooger has all the listings, but I still regularly check on Craigslist for stuff. It's so much less scamy since FBMP started dominating classifieds.
There are alot of "people" that just buy and resell to make money. Selfish if you ask me. If it's a good deal let someone buy it that's gonna actually use it and not just flip it. I swear tv shows like american pickers, storage wars, and the like have made it impossible to score a good deal unless you don't have a job and can sit on the internet ALL day.
Having items your looking for save helps listing show up quicker. Here's my pretty much standard reply to an item on MP. "Good morning Yawner. I'm interested in your firewood. When would it suit you to have me come and look at it. If it is sold or pending please let me know as I have other firewood to go look at. Thanks Steve. " If someone is an ignorant seller I make sure to give them a crappy sellers rating.
Yup, I’m mint on fakebook but I do use marketplace from time to time through a friend. It’s good to look to see what else they have posted to weed out the resellers.
Marketplace is the only thing i would be interested in from that site only because that's what "everyone" seems to use now instead of Craigslist.
It’s pretty simple. The more you peruse it the more it understands what you’re looking for, the more it will show you what you want. Searches also help steer the correct items your way. Then there’s the time factor. 9 hours old is a lifetime on FB. 500 people in your local viewing area have seen that good deal already. If there’s something you want jump fast with a message. You can check profiles for scammers later. You can decide you’re not interested later. The seller will have 100 other interested parties behind you. And then there’s the “sponsored” ads that FB sticks in there. You’ll learn in time not to even click on those. That’s where most of the scammers reside. No idea why FB promotes those but there must be some money involved somehow. persistence pays off. Not every time but overall.
FBMP it is 100% cash upon meet up to see said item. No if ands or buts. And if you see something you really want, you have to be willing to drop whatever it so you are doing and leave right now.
What do you guys think about there being so many ads by females for equipment? Raise any alarms or not? Does to me. Of course, some of it could be gf selling for bf but it's just SO many! I recall that one of the principles of sales is never waste your time unless you are talking to the decision maker, lol.
I certainly wouldn't care either way. Trying to make a deal in the first place and a concern about wasting time seems valid. In my neck of the woods anyway, there is an inordinate proportion of ads that are by females for activities pursued 95% of the time by men. It doesn't make sense to me. Meaning, it's possible that a big part of those ads are not legit on FBMP. I used to buy a few things on there in a year's time but seems to me it's really gone down. My take on things is also soured by a large majority of ads that I deemed were fake were posted by females. I have no idea if that is a coincidence or what, hence, the question. I don't know how all these scams work, for all I know, the women being shown on the page aren't even real sellers, it might be conMEN behind the scenes. A totally separate concern that has nothing to do with fake ads is having to go through a gf for an item she really knows nothing about. Gender has nothing to do with it. If a woman was having her man post about stuff only she knows about, same potential problem. No big deal, another one of those cases of 'just something to yak about on the internet' lol, and it does seem like it's more of a time-waster these days.
My experience has been that their woman just lists it...usually dealing with a dude selling once you go look. Some stuff sells amazingly fast! Once in a while you find a good deal that is already a few days old and you wonder why its not long gone...I have been able to snag a few deals like that where you just can't understand why its still there...some things are just meant to be sometimes! I address the issue of "holding", or "first come first serve" with them if its not real close by...if its much of a drive then I'm out, unless they are willing to hold it long enough for me to get there...I usually ask for a specific amount of time, that way they know I'm not trying to waste anyones time. Prompt and courteous communication goes a long way with most people, especially these days...I've had people comment on that too, that it was nice dealing with someone that is not a lowballer, scammer, or just killing time! All in all I've had a decent experience buying/selling on CL, and in more recent years FBMP...there have been a few idiots though!
The female sellers don’t bother me at all. Like you said many males refuse to get on FB. Considered unmanly in many circles. As long as the profile doesn’t have red flags I’m good with it. They’ll usually give you the guys phone number to contact after the initial message.
You'd be surprised, many wives do the online stuff for husbands. My husband does not have the time or know-how nor does he want to learn or have a facebook page either, so he writes desciption and sends me pics and I post it. Once someone contacts via FBMP they get his phone number for details and decision maker. LOL, Once I sold a toddler scooter to another wife whose husband would be here for a fishing tournament that weekend. A man knocked at the door and said his wife told him to buy something and handed $20 to my husband that said "do you know what it is", lol neither knew. Yes I was here, the toddler was a happy camper when Dad came home from fishing Anyway it's pretty common for wives to post for husbands around here.
