Just wonder what the general consensus is regarding buying or selling second hand goods. Had a couple awkward buyers recently and I was wondering if my ideas of what is fair and reasonable are valid

1- Goods not handed over without cash or bank transfer having cleared.

2- Goods are "still available" unless someone has
a - Put a deposit down
b - Seller has CLEARLY agreed to "hold" the item for someone.

3- Negotiations online or by msg are fine but agreeing on a price or "yep, I'll take it" does not seal the deal unless one of the 2 conditions in point 2 are met.

It's tough to sought out genuine buyers when so many people don't follow through or just don't turn up, I tend to tell all enquiries it's available until someone hands over cash (or re point 2).

Interested to hear what other people's thoughts are.

Ps don't get me started about people claiming "as new" or "perfect condition" when there clearly not...

All points are logical. I'd be happy to deal with you. It can be a bugger when you are confident you'll buy before you see but goods won't be held for you. And to the guy who sold me the 'watertight' board recently, compared to what?, a holed sieve?

Number 1 is important. Do not let them take the item away without payment, about 2 years ago someone showed up with half the money in cash to buy an old car i had. I told them politely (buyer, his daughter and his brother) about the money issue and he said in a bit of a direct and rude way that he will drive the car up to the bank to collect the money. I told him thats not on. He then started getting desperate to drive the car to the bank and i could follow him if i wanted.
In the end i was getting pissed off that this bloke is telling me how he is going to go about buying my car and told him that he either go to the bank and get his money or he f-cks off out of my driveway.
Eventually he got the money (still $100 short) and i told him to just take it.

He would have stolen that car for sure if i let him drive it to the bank. If i rang the cops on him he probably would have made up a BS story about how he payed me cash.

Lost count of how many people say "I'll take it", then you never hear from them again. On the other hand, it's disappointing to drive across the city, only to be told the item is sold when you told them you were coming, so you need to agree on a time that you will hold it until.

I once went to buy a 2nd hand car. The particular model had been released with both a 4-speed and 5-speed gearbox. I made it very clear on the call that I was only interested in looking at the car if it was the 5-speed and that it was a long drive, so I wanted to to be sure before I Ieft to come. The seller assured me it had 5 gears. When I arrived, that car only had a 4-speed gearbox. I was ropeable since I'd just driven for an hour through Sat morning traffic across Sydney to see the car. I said to the guy why did he waste my time when I had made it extremely clear I would only be interested in the car if it had 5 gears? He said..."It has got 5 gears, 4 forward and 1 reverse". Moron.

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Harrow said..
Lost count of how many people say "I'll take it", then you never hear from them again. On the other hand, it's disappointing to drive across the city, only to be told the item is sold when you told them you were coming, so you need to agree on a time that you will hold it until.

I once went to buy a 2nd hand car. The particular model had been released with both a 4-speed and 5-speed gearbox. I made it very clear on the call that I was only interested in looking at the car if it was the 5-speed and that it was a long drive, so I wanted to to be sure before I Ieft to come. The seller assured me it had 5 gears. When I arrived, that car only had a 4-speed gearbox. I was ropeable since I'd just driven for an hour through Sat morning traffic across Sydney to see the car. I said to the guy why did he waste my time when I had made it extremely clear I would only be interested in the car if it had 5 gears? He said..."It has got 5 gears, 4 forward and 1 reverse". Moron.

Was it a Gemini?

You could have done what a mate did, chucked the car keys deep into the near by bush land and drove off leaving the owner hours of searching for them.

1st in full coin gets it

10 minutes ago I sold a rideon mower $700, wasnt a pretty looking thing, one guy text and offered $500, I suggested he at least have a look first then another guy comes has a look, hands over the money, onto his trailer and gone. 5 minutes all over.

But on the other side I am 700K from Adelaide, I must be lucky cause the number of times Ive offered to buy something, (when I know I am heading over within a few days) and only once has someone said not interested.
One time the seller phoned me asking how long before I arrived (30 minutes) he then said Ill put the other buyer off.

But always cash up front or proof its in your bank acc, not a deposit form from the buyer.

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goofy said..
Just wonder what the general consensus is regarding buying or selling second hand goods. Had a couple awkward buyers recently and I was wondering if my ideas of what is fair and reasonable are valid

1- Goods not handed over without cash or bank transfer having cleared.

2- Goods are "still available" unless someone has
a - Put a deposit down
b - Seller has CLEARLY agreed to "hold" the item for someone.

3- Negotiations online or by msg are fine but agreeing on a price or "yep, I'll take it" does not seal the deal unless one of the 2 conditions in point 2 are met.

It's tough to sought out genuine buyers when so many people don't follow through or just don't turn up, I tend to tell all enquiries it's available until someone hands over cash (or re point 2).

Interested to hear what other people's thoughts are.

Ps don't get me started about people claiming "as new" or "perfect condition" when there clearly not...

All valid points, now what's your plan to get it to happen?
Joke only .
I sold and bought on SB with no issues but Gumtree requires extreme caution.

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Tonz said..
10 minutes ago I sold a rideon mower $700, wasnt a pretty looking thing, one guy text and offered $500, I suggested he at least have a look first then another guy comes has a look, hands over the money, onto his trailer and gone. 5 minutes all over.

Yep, this what I usually get, a pile of people haggling, lowballing, going nowhere and then one person comes along goes straight to the point wants to see it, shows cash and it's done.

Also, I've found anyone who actually calls is usually serious.

What is it about people that want to drive down the price before they actually see the car?

I have had this before and got this again recently. It is half tempting to advertise a much better car, but selling a piece of junk, and then let the 'winner' haggle you down before viewing. When they show up, you can say 'what did you expect for that price?'

I recently sold a car. Had a few enquiries. Had a guy text me and offer a very low offer without seeing the car. Another guy contacts me, we negotiate $200 off and he sends me the entire amount the next day as he is interstate and the car is what he wants. He knows these cars and the photos showed him exactly what he needed to know. One is a serious buyer and the other is a chancer that would probably not even show up or show up and try and knock even more money off.

I am a poor buyer. If I turn up and it looks like what I want, I struggle to ask for a discount.

One favourite question is "what's the lowest price you'll sell it for". Always thought it'd be weird to negotiate my own price down...

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goofy said..
Just wonder what the general consensus is regarding buying or selling second hand goods. Had a couple awkward buyers recently and I was wondering if my ideas of what is fair and reasonable are valid

1- Goods not handed over without cash or bank transfer having cleared.

2- Goods are "still available" unless someone has
a - Put a deposit down
b - Seller has CLEARLY agreed to "hold" the item for someone.

3- Negotiations online or by msg are fine but agreeing on a price or "yep, I'll take it" does not seal the deal unless one of the 2 conditions in point 2 are met.

It's tough to sought out genuine buyers when so many people don't follow through or just don't turn up, I tend to tell all enquiries it's available until someone hands over cash (or re point 2).

Interested to hear what other people's thoughts are.

Ps don't get me started about people claiming "as new" or "perfect condition" when there clearly not...

Yep, that all sounds pretty standard.

only thing i might do different is if someone sounds legitimately keen and theyre going to come across town for it, i'd probably hold it for them for the travel time. If someone else calls in the meantime just let them know that someones coming for it, if they don't turn up, i'll call you back.

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FormulaNova said.
I am a poor buyer. If I turn up and it looks like what I want, I struggle to ask for a discount.

If you're not good with the words, a great way to haggle is to simply stand there silent. Nothing worse to a seller than silence. Often they will haggle themself down if you stand there silently, looking very undecided.

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Subsonic said..

goofy said..
Just wonder what the general consensus is regarding buying or selling second hand goods. Had a couple awkward buyers recently and I was wondering if my ideas of what is fair and reasonable are valid

1- Goods not handed over without cash or bank transfer having cleared.

2- Goods are "still available" unless someone has
a - Put a deposit down
b - Seller has CLEARLY agreed to "hold" the item for someone.

3- Negotiations online or by msg are fine but agreeing on a price or "yep, I'll take it" does not seal the deal unless one of the 2 conditions in point 2 are met.

It's tough to sought out genuine buyers when so many people don't follow through or just don't turn up, I tend to tell all enquiries it's available until someone hands over cash (or re point 2).

Interested to hear what other people's thoughts are.

Ps don't get me started about people claiming "as new" or "perfect condition" when there clearly not...

Yep, that all sounds pretty standard.

only thing i might do different is if someone sounds legitimately keen and theyre going to come across town for it, i'd probably hold it for them for the travel time. If someone else calls in the meantime just let them know that someones coming for it, if they don't turn up, i'll call you back.

Yep, totally agree, I'm more than happy to hold an item if I feel confident the person is genuine or is travelling to view it.

The scenario I was referring to is when there is more than one person interested and I'm answering multiple msg's and then all of a sudden I have two people both saying yep deal "I'll take it".

I generally work on person who made contact first has first option, Which means the second person has to be told sorry buddy but someone else has first option, your second. The response I've had a couple of time now in this situation has surprised me, both times the people hounded me that "we had a deal" "this is wrong" "what's your address I'm coming round now" and continued msgs.

This has only happened on gumtree and facebook (not SB, never had a problem here)

I agree with everything said so far. But, I cannot believe one thing has not been raised, perhaps it is less common than I thought, but the one thing that makes me furious is this: buyers thinking they have the right to a refund if after the purchase they think the item is not for them. I've read that it happens a bit, I had a younger entitled individual try it on with me but also read about entitled and empowered power mums doing similar, could be others too.

What happened to me was, I had a guitar amp sitting in the shed. It was too big but it was 800 odd or more new. I had not used it in years! Chucked it on for 200, I stayed in ad bring a guitar to test before buying has not been used in years. young guy shows up and plays it and the amp works and sounds amazing. He takes it. About midday the next day he says the cooling fan is making a bit of noise, he wants to return and refund. I almost replied to him 'you're an embarrassment to yourself' but I think from memory I said get it serviced then blocked and delete. I am sure it just needed a clean, that and who knows how hard he had thrashed the amp. What's with people buying a cheap second hand item and expecting a warranty.

the entitled mum comment was in regard to running prams. Ive seen more than once on Facebook forums with running mums, them buy a running pram, test it out and realise it does not suit their child exactly to a tea, then mention so they returned it to the seller for a refund. I was shocked, if you buy a pram off me, you take it as is, that's why it is 1/4 the price. Sure, test it before you go, no worries, but it is sold as seen!

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goofy said..

Subsonic said..

goofy said..
Just wonder what the general consensus is regarding buying or selling second hand goods. Had a couple awkward buyers recently and I was wondering if my ideas of what is fair and reasonable are valid

1- Goods not handed over without cash or bank transfer having cleared.

2- Goods are "still available" unless someone has
a - Put a deposit down
b - Seller has CLEARLY agreed to "hold" the item for someone.

3- Negotiations online or by msg are fine but agreeing on a price or "yep, I'll take it" does not seal the deal unless one of the 2 conditions in point 2 are met.

It's tough to sought out genuine buyers when so many people don't follow through or just don't turn up, I tend to tell all enquiries it's available until someone hands over cash (or re point 2).

Interested to hear what other people's thoughts are.

Ps don't get me started about people claiming "as new" or "perfect condition" when there clearly not...

Yep, that all sounds pretty standard.

only thing i might do different is if someone sounds legitimately keen and theyre going to come across town for it, i'd probably hold it for them for the travel time. If someone else calls in the meantime just let them know that someones coming for it, if they don't turn up, i'll call you back.

Yep, totally agree, I'm more than happy to hold an item if I feel confident the person is genuine or is travelling to view it.

The scenario I was referring to is when there is more than one person interested and I'm answering multiple msg's and then all of a sudden I have two people both saying yep deal "I'll take it".

I generally work on person who made contact first has first option, Which means the second person has to be told sorry buddy but someone else has first option, your second. The response I've had a couple of time now in this situation has surprised me, both times the people hounded me that "we had a deal" "this is wrong" "what's your address I'm coming round now" and continued msgs.

This has only happened on gumtree and facebook (not SB, never had a problem here)

Yeah, i'd probably do as you did. First come first served in that scenario.


Makes you wonder what runs through peoples heads when they can't accept they've missed out this time I guess that comes with dealing with randoms.

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Harrow said..

FormulaNova said.
I am a poor buyer. If I turn up and it looks like what I want, I struggle to ask for a discount.

If you're not good with the words, a great way to haggle is to simply stand there silent. Nothing worse to a seller than silence. Often they will haggle themself down if you stand there silently, looking very undecided.

Nah, that doesn't work for/with me. I have read about that tactic in a few books. It makes me laugh afterwards, but when people try that on me, and you would be surprised how often people try it, I just out-quiet them. I just stay quiet. I have had a few people finally cave in and say 'are you still there' when on the phone. "sure, I'm here, but you never asked a question". People freak out when you do it back to them as no one likes a long silence. It feels really bad to me, but hey, I know what they are doing.

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Harrow said..
Lost count of how many people say "I'll take it", then you never hear from them again. On the other hand, it's disappointing to drive across the city, only to be told the item is sold when you told them you were coming, so you need to agree on a time that you will hold it until.

I once went to buy a 2nd hand car. The particular model had been released with both a 4-speed and 5-speed gearbox. I made it very clear on the call that I was only interested in looking at the car if it was the 5-speed and that it was a long drive, so I wanted to to be sure before I Ieft to come. The seller assured me it had 5 gears. When I arrived, that car only had a 4-speed gearbox. I was ropeable since I'd just driven for an hour through Sat morning traffic across Sydney to see the car. I said to the guy why did he waste my time when I had made it extremely clear I would only be interested in the car if it had 5 gears? He said..."It has got 5 gears, 4 forward and 1 reverse". Moron.

People like that seem plentiful on Gumtree/marketplace.

It is always great when the person agrees to come at a certain time and shows up 2-3 hours late without a call or message. Which has happend to me as well, we agreed on 5pm he showed up at 7.30 with no explanation and no apology. I have to get up for work at 4am so i was nearly in bed at this time.

Similar story about the car as well. A bloke told me that a truck (75 series landcruiser) was rust-free and ran great. I drove from Brisbane to Bundaberg only to find that the truck had rust in chassis and windscreen and a rooted transmisson among other minor things. It simply was not what he told me it was and he knew how far i drove. His excuse was that it was a 4x4 and he had used it for that reason as well as saying that he doubted i would find another 25 year old truck in better conditon. To say i was dispointed is an under statement.

That's pretty rough, driving all that way.

I sold a commodore a while back and the buyer in Melbourne, and I am in Sydney, asked me over the phone to describe it. He flew to Sydney with his girlfriend to check it out/pick it up. He said that when I drove to the train station to pick them up they didn't think it was the right car as it was too good. Obviously the ones they had seen were pretty rubbish... which is annoying as mine was in good condition but being compared against heaps of rubbish, and even then getting guys trying to knock the price down before even seeing it.

I also sold a Falcon and a guy caught a flight from somewhere in rural NSW, came and saw it, told me it was the best one he had seen and the cheapest, and then tries to bargain me down I guess its normal to want something off the price, but when I was already one of the cheapest its not a good feeling when someone tries to bring it down further.

I can beat your short drive, Newcastle 3am start to Cleveland (near brissy) to look at a 35k trailer boat, back at Ballina by about 6pm at a motel for the night, without the boat.
It was a piece of s..... and not worth 10k
The photos were taken by a magician.

But a good story, Drove from Newcastle to Canberra to look at a 15k car with my daughter, deal was done before we left, car was presented as per add / photos.
We took for a test drive, my car left at sellers house, Bank transfer completed and we headed back to newie with one happy daughter driving her new car.

Oh I could go back a few years about the story of the 69 350 Chev Bathurst Special Monaro I sold.

for selling, I've had much greater success with gumtree than face'book. i don't bother with the latter now

i don't respond to any gumtree messages or sms and mention that first in the ad, which means they need to call the number. Generally everyone who calls has genuine interest and buys the item

someone else once wrote, that seems so true - advertisement for petrol/diesel powered item = magnet for idiots


when buying on gumtree, there's now a heap of faux accounts with a history of faux sold items, currently selling things at a price good enough to grab your attention and inquire, but not ridiculously cheap, just for harvesting phone numbers and emails. Later you'll enjoy a call from Aayush about changing your electricity / phone / gas supplier etc.

"Whats your lowest?"

As the first message! Not even a g'day first. My reply is often unkind.....

Yeh fair enough. Although when their inquiry starts with. "Hello sir, how is your day? ..." it's so far always been the overseas scammers. The next thing they ask is for you to send them an email.

And on a separate topic, never accept partial payment with PayPal... that's also a scam. And PayPal protects only buyers and crooks. The only way you are ever protected as a seller when using PayPal is if you:- accept the full amount with PP- post the item (no local pickup) with tracking, and full insurance cover for the item (and keep receipt for all that)

Q:- What's you lowest price?

A:- $1 but that is only for the next 60 seconds. Can you get here by then?

is this item still available.

is this item still available

recently cleaned out 2 sheds and houses by selling my accumulated ** and using the money to buy tools for the next project. I always put a slightly higher price than what i thinks fair so getting haggled down is ok. when they come to look and touch have similar items nearby so they can bundle and you sell more, only have 2 or 3 items up at one time so you don't get confused. if your doing a garage sale and you got tonnage do a few sales over 2 week gaps. start advertising the sales a week early with lots of photos of categorised stuff. people will pay to come and have an early look and then pay too much for an item!!!on sale day call it quits at about 1.30 put your good stuff away and put up a facebook post of all the leftovers for free and they will flock in and clean out your crap and even offer money to feel good

I've sold a bit of stuff on Gumtree without any issues.

Cleaning out the house I've started using marketplace which I've encountered the following.

Heavy item will require two strong men and a trolly for collection only for the wife and two kids around 11 or 12 to arrive to collect.

Sold a TV and replied to all questions and my last message was to buyer,please look up model that it suits your needs. He collects 2 hours late,8 PM,next morning i received a message,TV no good it dose not play you tube, I gave him a refund and sold it the next day.

Surround sound speakers, which showed model number and dimensions in ad. Couple say we will be there at 3pm mark as sold ,they arrive and say oh I was after taller speakers.

Selling 2nd hand furniture is not easy, at least in my area, as everyone wants brand new. I sold a 3 seater lounge, 2 seater lounge, 6 seater dining table and two bookshelves for $60 total recently. In the end, I was happy to have someone take it away.

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Harrow said..
Selling 2nd hand furniture is not easy, at least in my area, as everyone wants brand new. I sold a 3 seater lounge, 2 seater lounge, 6 seater dining table and two bookshelves for $60 total recently. In the end, I was happy to have someone take it away.

I was trying to explain to a mate that these days you can only give away or sell this stuff if you live in a poorer area or there are a lot of backpackers. No one wants second hand stuff any more and everyone wants new junk.

I recently moved to an area that is otherwise well off, but the nearby poorer people would scout the junk piles for good stuff. In the area I moved from people are more likely to add their stuff to your junk piles than anything else.

I have put a few items of furniture on lately. Had 3 enquiries in the first 2 days for 4 Dining Chairs. One said she would be here at 3.30 pm after I gave her the address and phone number. Alas, no show! Guess that's the way it goes sometimes. Other sales I have made have been good, usually. Overall a positive experience.