OT: Gumtree - rant.

I've had some reasonable success on my local Nextdoor forum, but still get the 'when can you bring it round for me to have a look' type of query. Putting 'Collect Only', in capitals, in the header, seems to help a bit.

When you say 'claiming it', what do you mean? When I get a very brief message doing this sort of thing (especially if free) I wonder if they simply do this for everything they have a vague interest in. Judging by the number of 'no shows' you get after following it up.

Yes - I sold a pair of massive ex broadcast speakers on Ebay for a tidy sum - collection only. Now the buyer must have known what they were and the size. But spent about half an hour rearranging things in his car to get them in.

Good news is it was collected yesterday. At a price I was happy with. Very nice chap tested it thoroughly - he obviously knew the model well as didn't have to search the remote. So perhaps a dealer of some sort. I'd not noticed Gumtree have a rating system (like Ebay feedback) and his was good. Wish I'd noticed that before.

BTW, the East End buyer got back to me a few times. Not only offered the full price but said he'd pay £20 for delivery. Suggested he paid by Paypal in advance and he'd have a deal. No reply. I guess he trusted me about the same as I trusted him.

In message snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk>, at 14:07:08 on Sat, 16 Oct

Responding to the seller with "I'll buy this and will collect today".

It was about £200

Not really Gumtree, but a speaker story.

Back in summer 1970 I decided I'd like a couple of bass reflex speakers (I'd just built an amplifier). I was a second class citizen at school because I wasn't fee paying (had a scholarship) and was thus forced to do pottery because woodwork was full up. I couldn't do woodwork at all.

I bought the drive units in Tottenham Court Road (walked up and down to get the best price).

I searched Exchange and Mart for ready built cabinets and found a pair of

Naive me thinks "I can just about carry one under each arm". Ha. They were good cabinets, so I bought them. Over a mile from nearest station, so thought I'd get a taxi, but they were like hens' teeth being near to the main road to Heathrow. So I picked one cabinet up, deposited it 100 yards away, in sight, and put it down. Went back for the other one. Repeat until station reached. Bought a ticket, walked on to the plaform, and put both of them in a compartment with me, off to Clapham Junction.

At Clapham Junction I arrived on platform 2. I needed something like platform 15. Down the stairs with one. Back up for the other. Two legs for the jouney to the platform 15 stairs. Up the stairs, down, up.

The guard on the train was very helpful, put them in his van and looked after them. Off the train at Brighton, carry one at a time to the barrier (well, on a trolley this time). One more double trip to the taxi rank. One in the boot, one in the back seat. I got home about 2.45 p.m. Straight on my bike and off to work. Much over the speed limit most of the way. I made it in time.

I fitted out the cabinets and they worked well. I still have them.

I'd then respond - 'could you give me an idea of when you'd like to collect it?'

Not keen on staying in all day for a no-show.

Brilliant. The things we do when young. ;-)

In message snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk>, at 15:01:28 on Sat, 16 Oct

Understandable, but that's not what they replied.

(My answer would have been "in ten minutes if that's OK").

Sold a big TV on eBay about three years ago. It went to a guy in Kent who wanted it for a rental property. The biggest problem was with Parcel2go, who didn't tell me that the quotes it gave me were invalid for something of that size. Then Hermes commercial kept cancelling the collection. Eventually sent it via TNT and delivered it to their depot less than a mile away to get it on its way. Got a contribution from Parcel2go towards the extra cost of using TNT. (Fortunately I have the space to keep original packaging for things like big TVs, which is useful when I upgrade and want to sell things on.)

I've had similar experiences to others posting here with Gumtree. Never used Facebook marketplace although I'm a regular on FB.

In message snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>, at 11:12:20 on Sat, 16 Oct 2021, Rod Speed snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com remarked:

Partly because when you reply to a Facebook Marketplace listing, they stick a button in your face with the words "Is it still available" on it.

What goes around, comes around.

I think the price is too high for "no offers"

you can buy that spec of TV for 299 new

a lot of people just set up automated replies for everything

They are eBay dealers looking for stuff cheap that the can resell at a profit,

Hence the "is this still available query"

they don't bother to actually evaluate whether they can actually do that until you come back to them.

And then they say, "Sorry no longer interested" if you aren't selling for a pittance

I have similar memories of strugling home for miles, with heavy war surplus radios from such emporiums.

Cheapest 50" Curries sell is £350.

But I got exactly what I wanted for it originally. Up to the buyer to do the research for used prices.

I did that too. Notably a 19 set from Arthur Sallis in Brighton.

In message snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>, Bob Eager snipped-for-privacy@eager.cx writes

R1155 was the thing to have when I was very much younger:-)

I had an AR88D, there's no way you'd carry that home with you on the Underground, it weighed around 100lbs.

As others have said, your experiences are typical.

We tend to donate to local charity shops.

British Heart Foundation will collect large items.

Some shops even send you a statement telling you how much they raised by selling the items.

There are exceptions. I?ve sold a few things recently via Facebook contacts and had good experiences.