Not on a main Rd but we had a bloke knock on our door to ask if we wouldn’t mind if he took the mattress that I had just put out on the verge ready for the council collection. I personally wouldn’t use a discarded mattress but this bloke looked like he was new here and was in need of a bed to sleep on. Win-win all round.
I’ve had mostly good experiences both buying and selling. I just ignore the lowballers, and anyone who asks me to respond to texts by email (have had the oil rig scammers).
St Diggers de Paul
I’m a wonderful human being.
We have sold several items of furniture recently on my wife’s eBay account (cos I’d rather not deal with the idiots thru my account 
)
Anyway we had two extremely similar situations that really make you wonder about human nature
We always list items starting at 99c & whatever they go for it what they are worth
We always detail exact dimensions etc which is essential for the pick up
1 - A single mum with her baby in tow from the central coast (NSW) drives down to Bowral to pick up a large tall boy with a small 6x4 trailer. Said her husband couldn’t come cos he wanted to go to the pub
I asked how this was supposed to fit into the trailer & she shrugged
After me loading / adjusting / removing her tailgate & using about 15m of high quality rope / our own beach towels as packing to secure the unit on the trailer she stood there waiting for her $5 change
2 - We sold an entire outdoor timber / wicker setting including 2 x armchairs / 2 seater lounge & coffee table for a lowish price to a girl from the Macarthur area (south west of Sydney)
She turned up with her grandma with a dual cab Ute
Again I asked her how she expected to fit it all in the tray
She simply sat in the drivers seat smoking (flicked her butts onto our driveway) & doing Facebook or whatever on her mobile phone & let her 75year old grandma help me try to figure out how it was all going to fit
Only when I went round & told her i was happy to leave the entire package on the naturetstrip did she get out saying “f*#k this ■■■■ here’s some ratchet straps”
Somehow we got it loaded way higher than the roof & probably illegal unsecured load but by then I couldn’t care less
The sight of them driving up our street looked like the Beverly Hillbilies from behind which seemed appropriate
13 Likes
I want to hear someone doing something like this for a thirty dollar item:
‘I’ll give you ten dollars’
‘Fifty.’
‘But the price was thirty!’
gives a look that says yes, yes it was
‘Oh, alright. Twenty.’
‘Forty.’
‘Twenty-five.’
‘Thirty-five.’
‘…Thirty?’
‘Sold.’
3 Likes
My negotiating method for a situation like this is normally:
Them:$10?
Me: $30
$15?
$30
$20?
$30
$25?
$30
$30 (sigh)?
Deal.
And I always insist on payment after they have inspected the item, but before it is loaded into the car or trailer. If they screw around with the wrong change/etc excuses, I just stare at them dead-pan and restate the agreed price. Up to them to sort it out ( although I usually keep some change/notes handy if I’m in the process of selling something).
I like to think that I’m consistent.
8 Likes
That’s all well and good but you’ve been trained to kill using only your bare hands. That’s quite an advantage in a negotiation.
1 Like
My ex-wife used to say that the public are idiots.
This thread goes a long way to confirming her beliefs.
I’ve never tried Gumtree, though I am considering some vintage tape decks advertised on there currently.
I’ve had quite good dealings on EBay, both as a Buyer and Seller.
I take the attitude that if I don’t sell it to the guy being a pain right now, I’ll probably be able to sell it to a nice person next week. Not my problem if you’ve driven all the way here just to be a pain in the ■■■■ about a price we already agreed upon. I always put photos of it on the ad, always give an accurate of it’s condition and any damage/problems, and always ask for a reasonable price. It’s always something I don’t need anymore, but I’ve never been in the situation where I desperately needed to get the cash right now or to have the thing out of the house (having a big garage where things can sit out of the way for as long as it takes to sell it helps), so I’m never fussed by turning someone away.
I’ve given a few things away for free on the condition of ‘come pick it up yourself’ without any problem, and am also happy to leave stuff on the nature strip to disappear.
I’m yet to have to threaten anyone with “I can kill you with my thumb”. I’ll probably save that for Little Miss Furious’ first boyfriend.
5 Likes
Err, Gumtree is owned by Ebay.
When the thread said Gumtree D*ckheads, … I didn’t think it meant the people posting making ridiculously ignorant, judgemental, sweeping generalisations about people that use Gumtree.
1 Like
I’m having a “fun” eBay moment atm.
Bought a pair of fairly cheap ($20) shorts off a business-type seller.
In their item description they said double check the sizing chart (located in product pictures) as they tended to run smaller than normal.
Did that and allowed a few cm in case it wasn’t 100% accurate.
They turn up and they’re probably 4 sizes too small so I send them an email asking if we can organize to exchange them for a pair that actually fits.
They reply back saying it would be too much effort for me (!?) and they’d like to offer me a refund of $6 and I can keep the shorts “as a gift or give to charity”.
Reply saying I’d just prefer to exchange them, to which they respond by suggesting I transfer $5 directly into their PayPal account and they’ll send me a new pair.
Got fed up so started up a return through eBay itself under faulty product/doesn’t match description or whatever it is.
So what do they reply to that with? We would like to offer you a $4 refund.
I send them a fairly lengthy reply littered with the biggest words I could find (the emails I was getting were in fairly broken English) so hopefully to get rid of me they just refund the full amount and tell me to keep the shorts.
2 Likes
For pure Gumtree stupid, Ashley wins. i mean, really?
second place goes to the drip who asked for the dimensions of something in cm, it was listed in mm. 
14 Likes
They’ve now offered me a 50% refund.
Ridiculously ignorant, judgemental, sweeping generalisations are ok with me if they’re also true
1 Like
Well if you think this one is true, you (and others) must be doing something wrong.
I’ve bought a few things off Gumtree now, a Delonghi Coffee Machine $70, a triple set of Rhino Roof Racks, $80, a Garden Shed 3m x3m in good nick $100, Concert Tix @ face value, Temporary fencing, half price of new … etc…
Every person I dealt with was fantastic, and I was happy to stoked about every purchase, one of which led to a few dates, and another that turned into a job, which then turned into a stream of jobs for people he knows, and is continuing.
Only sold spare/unusable Concert Tix on there, (3 times) again @ Face Value, again, all good.
Not one D*ckhead encountered.
How about jousting sticks?
7 Likes
How much does he want for them?? 
(Funny, I almost mentioned that I sort of find Gumtree to be the modern day equivalent of the Trading Post)
1 Like
smj does seem like one of those type to ■■■■■■■■■■ on his deck while watching other people work hard.