Welcome to the real World.

People Suck!!!
Slammer!!!

I'm not the only one out there. 

Take this story for instance.

Not my story.

"I'm moving and using Facebook marketplace to sell some furniture/get rid of a few things for free.

I've used it as a seller many times before, but it's been ~5 years since the last time I sold anything. I SWEAR it wasn't this awful back then. It's insane.

I'm selling about 15 pieces of furniture. One of my listings — a crazy table and chair set from Amazon that l've had for several years - BLEW up. 

 Over just a couple days, this listing got thousands of views/saves, and I received hundreds of messages. People are frothing at the mouth over this crazy table and chair set. EVEN THOUGH THE CHAIRS (WHICH ARE MOSTLY MADE OF PLASTIC) ARE ALL LITERALLY BROKEN.

** Note that I made it abundantly clear that the chairs are broken in the listing title, in the listing photos, in the listing description, AND in the initial response l've sent to interested buyers**

I found a buyer day one, but even after I marked"pending" the messages kept flooding in.

People started offering to pay extra; begging me to be "considered" when the chairs are literally available NOT BROKEN and BRAND NEW on Amazon for less than $200.

Meanwhile, I'm getting NO bites on other listings I've made for furniture that is:

???

1. priced similarly

2. actually good quality???

3. NOT BROKEN and

FAR more discounted relative to purchase price.

I suspect it's probably an Al or algorithm thing that FB marketplace has started using in recent years.

The crazy table and broken chairs listing somehow has been shown to every single person in my metro area. 

 But somehow my other listings haven't been similarly shown to potential buyers... it really feels like an attempt to get me to spend $ to buy Facebook ads to promote my other items.

It's INFURIATING.

And to get ahead of it — for the other listings - I've tried taking better pictures, cutting asking price, improving the listing titles and descriptions, posting to "free and for sale" facebook groups.

There's nothing that l've been able to do to even come close to the engagement l've received on the crazy broken chair and table set. It is SO unbelievably frustrating."

Seemingly the demand for broken furniture is greater than the demand for not-broken furniture.  Should be easy enough to accommodate them.   

The customer is always right??

I guess most folks here know I'm not on FaceBook. Not a fan. But I have noticed that FB is siphoning all the good ads away from craigslist. So a few years ago I signed up to FaceBook with the sole intent of using it to peruse MarketPlace. Most FB folks don't understand that FB is a closed system, if you're not on FB you're completely shut out.

So being a newbie of course FB would not show me any contact information. A few days later FB shut my account down and sent me an email that they don't allow "fake" accounts. Hmmm. I used my real name, real email address, confirmed by my real phone number.

Only confirms my unchanged sentiment that FB can go f*** itself. It apparently feels the same towards me.

It is not just FB...

Sellers here in ct... are very impatient...

Looking at lathes ..mills..n..assorted other items..
They do not even want to take the time to show you the heavy junk..

All they want is for you to fork over the $...
N get it outa here..on yer own..

I do get that sellers get tired of tire kickers..tho..

From the OP: "I have had persons offer animals for trade for vehicles! (No, I'm not kidding.)   One guy offered a Scottish Highland bull calf. Another individual asked me if I would consider a couple of registered Yorkshire puppies."

Nothing to do with FbMarketplace, but this is in our yocal weekly paper:

ACREAGE FOR SALE – 1,500 sq.ft. house on 20 acres. 3 miles west of Brandon. Immediate possession. Should be worth $650,000. Will take cows on trade. 1-204-723-xxxx.

.... so, who knows? ...  if you've got a few [maybe quite a few] spare cows wandering around your place....... ???

Yeah, even if your ad says "free" they'll get upset if you don't deliver.
I "like" the ads that say "free" or "$1" and what they really want is many dollars.
Kijiji is no better. I had a scam rely on one of my ads a couple of weeks ago and tried to report that turkey. Clicking all kinds of places on their website but couldn't find any place to report a scammer. Obviously that didn't compute to their AI "employee..."

At one time I bought old vintage motorcycles and fixed them up. I didn't fix them up to sell, I fixed them up and kept them. But I got to an age where I got tired of keeping them running and I didn't ride them much anymore. They were just taking up a lot of garage space, so I put them, and the boxes of random spare parts I had accumulated on FB Market place. It took four years for the last one to sell. I would relist them every three or four months. But I got that, people wanting to trade guns for an old Yamaha dirt bike, a Husky pup for a seized Triumph motor, just so many I can't remember. For the most part that didn't bother me. I had done my own trading for a couple I was selling. But bottom line, I was getting rid of them, not trying to accumulate more stuff, especially more guns or a dog.

And then some people who would ask right out first thing, without even looking at them if I would take less. That's the one that rankled me most. Because they just assumed I was desperate to get rid of them, and I wasn't. Every time I would say to come look at them and we would talk, and not once did anyone of them take me up on it. Anyway, like I said, the last one took four years. I got asking price and I threw in a big box of extra parts and a spare motor because the guy didn't haggle with me and drove two hours for it.

As far as Facebook in general, we have a jam group and a jam band. A very loosely knit group that jams together and performs at different places on different days and times. If you aren't in the loop, you aren't in the group. Our Facebook page and Messenger is how we keep in touch.

I rarely use Fb or yocal online garage sales sites, but re. "... ask ... first thing ... if I would take less. That's the one that rankled me most."   a  couple of times I've countered with something akin to, "Do you think that [i.e. my] price is unfair?"  or "I will if you can show me that my price is unfair."   IIRC, it didn't lead to a sale, but it sure does stop 'em in their tracks.   Does a guy's heart good ... but otoh, depending on the objective..... ??

The more things change, the more they don't.

Fiddlin' John Carson recorded "Hard Times Coming" a century ago, and I'd bet the song was a century old, then! I expect there are graffiti on the walls of Pompeii complaining of how you just can't get a square deal any more, too.

"Everybody to they own self," Now is the cry!
Big pig, little pig:
Root, hog, or die!

My father-in-law died this summer and my mother-in-law put a very nice leather recliner on Marketplace that they paid two grand for last winter. She listed it at half that and has reduced the price a couple times. I don't even know what she is asking for it now. But she has been getting a ton of real lowball offers. One lady offered her two-hundred dollars for it. We looked at the lady's profile and it looks to me like she buys stuff dirt cheap and resells it on Facebook Marketplace. Her neighbor told my mother-in-law that we could take it to Goodwill and she could take a tax deduction for it. I think that's what we are going to end up doing. The people contacting her about it don't want a chair, they want a deal.

Geez, BGBanjo .... If she'll reduce the price another $100*, AND it's a recliner-rocker, AND if it's  wall-hugger model, AND if she'll deliver it, I think we can make a deal.  

Actually, I've been sorta looking for one around here [not looking hard enough to suit my wife] for several months, but so far nada.

We have a relative who, though not independently wealthy, isn't hurting in the doh-rey-me department.  He'll go to a yard/garage sale close to the time it's ending and then make a low ball offer. That's all well and good by me [and my wife], but don't then come back  bragging about what a good deal you got!!   We find it particularly off-putting  if/when the seller appears to be considerably less well-off than he is.

Edit: * and just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm expecting my Cdn.  doll-aaars will be accepted at par.  

Just got bulldozed on an item I tried to buy . I was courteous & have all positive feed but the seller completely ignored me & sold to another after a day of no replies during which he posted it was "still available " ?? sure would like to talk to him face to face !

I've had to sell three work trucks and my mother in law's car in the last two years. Most potential buyers are scam artists.

I can't stand selling vehicles.

  I have to sort through a bunch of persons who aren't really interested. I wouldn't be surprised if more than half are just bots. 

Then there are the sellers who say something like this:

 "I've got a fantastic car. Runs great if you fix the blown head gasket and oil pan, plus the power steering doesn't work. Was in a wreck but dents can be pulled out easy. Doesn't run at the moment. The transmission is good, just doesn't have fourth gear or reverse. Will need a new column as thieves broke the old one."

quote:

---

Originally posted by heavy5

Just got bulldozed on an item I tried to buy . I was courteous & have all positive feed but the seller completely ignored me & sold to another after a day of no replies during which he posted it was "still available " ?? sure would like to talk to him face to face !

---

Arrrgh. 

What gets me is sellers who don't even respond to a fair offer. It's like, what's your problem? Do you want to sell it or not?