Ebay vs Gumtree

Mindless_Clone

porto_bello wrote: »

I've just had a look at Preloved. Optimistic opportunists or what?! _pale_

It seems the general idea is to try list something second-hand for more than it cost new and write how wonderful it is...

...so wonderful that it's for sale! :rotfl:

:rotfl: Yeah, you do have to look around a bit for the bargains; they are there to be had if you're tenacious enough. I saw someone selling some broken GHD straighteners on there for £40. So, um, £40 for something that doesn't work that I might be able to fix, or, a tenner more for a working pair... better still, forget the desirable make and go for a much cheaper - but just as good - set for a lot lot less.

hermum wrote: »

It's always worth checking out local facebook selling pages as well, if you can find one in your area, ask if there's any others.
I've had better success selling on our many pages than ebay lately.

Urgh, mine are useless. Put loads of things on it and never managed to sell anything (or had silly offers for it). Full of people wanting £100 for kittens, selling dangerous beaded clips for dummies (the suckable type, not the idiots who buy them) or asking silly amounts for "replica" goods. I asked one who was selling some Ray Bans whether they were genuine and he outright said no they were fakes but have the serial number etc. So, um, clearly a counterfeit product designed to fool people into thinking they're real. And seller's just publicly admitted to committing a criminal offence. It take a certain kind of special to be that stupid!

soolin

hermum wrote: »

It's always worth checking out local facebook selling pages as well, if you can find one in your area, ask if there's any others.
I've had better success selling on our many pages than ebay lately.

I second that. Nothing at all sells for me on Gumtree anymore, but I am doing very very well on Facebook. As usual though there are a lot of time wasters, but they can usually be reported to the admin of the selling page if you have issues.

soolin

Mindless_Clone wrote: »

:rotfl:


Urgh, mine are useless. Put loads of things on it and never managed to sell anything (or had silly offers for it). Full of people wanting £100 for kittens, selling dangerous beaded clips for dummies (the suckable type, not the idiots who buy them) or asking silly amounts for "replica" goods. I asked one who was selling some Ray Bans whether they were genuine and he outright said no they were fakes but have the serial number etc. So, um, clearly a counterfeit product designed to fool people into thinking they're real. And seller's just publicly admitted to committing a criminal offence. It take a certain kind of special to be that stupid!

That could be a scam actually and you are right to avoid. I posted about it when I first started using Facebook selling. The scam is that seller openly sells fake goods, he makes sure people realise they are fakes- they usually put something like 'the best ones I've seen without being real' or 'can't tell them apart from the real ones' basically he wants it out in the open they are fakes. Takes loads of money by bank transfers or paypal gift and keeps promising delivery- then does a runner.

The one we came across then came back and gloated that the buyers couldn't even go to the police as it is an offence to buy fake goods- so they trusted someone who was obviously a crook and then were surprised when they themselves got ripped off. This was discussed at length, and someone did ask at the police station (apparently) and were told that it was probably not a good idea to go in and complain that your illegal goods did not arrive.

It is an almost perfect scam as the buyers could do nothing without getting into legal problems themselves

Mindless_Clone

Blimey Soolin, that's devious, I would never have thought of that. I was in two minds whether to report the seller for offering fake goods, but don't actually know how to go about reporting it. Things is, he's pretty celever and takes the pictures down after a few hours (although I have taken to doing screen caps of them to send to my brothers for a laugh.
I have no objection to people making money on these facebook pages but for legitimate stuff, not dodgy fakes.

soolin

Mindless_Clone wrote: »

Blimey Soolin, that's devious, I would never have thought of that. I was in two minds whether to report the seller for offering fake goods, but don't actually know how to go about reporting it. Things is, he's pretty celever and takes the pictures down after a few hours (although I have taken to doing screen caps of them to send to my brothers for a laugh.
I have no objection to people making money on these facebook pages but for legitimate stuff, not dodgy fakes.

Facebook selling seems to be completely unregistered, at least half the items on the various pages I use are fakes or pirates and no one seems to care. We even have several DVD sellers saying how good their copies of the latest film are- even saying things like 'buy now before this is even in the shops'.

Absolutely blatant