Yesterday, I advertised an armchair, chest of drawers and our dining table & chairs on FB marketplace. Within minutes I had 3 messages, all from people with unpronounceable foreign names and none of whom live anywhere near here, according to their FB profiles (I checked). Their profile pages were highly suspicious, giving no personal details and being mostly video clips (I didn't click on any of the videos, I'm not that daft). Each message, purporting to be from 3 different people, was almost identical - saying they would have the item but were too busy with work to come view it, so would send a courier to give me cash and collect the item. Oh really?! Each person was very abrupt, insistent and rude. I didn't believe a word any of them were saying - who asks no questions about an item for sale and says they'll buy it with no attempt to negotiate price and not even bothering to view it first? And is allegedly willing to send a courier, thus adding greatly to the cost? And do bona fide couriers actually agree to bring you cash?
Clearly scams, although I've no idea how they work. I'm guessing that when the so-called 'courier' turns up, IF they do, they'll have no cash but will ask for a bank transfer instead, or will want to pay next to nothing. Or the buyer will suddenly ask for bank details to pay by bank transfer at the last minute, citing some reason like they haven't had time to go to the cash machine. I've removed the items from FB, I'm not prepared to have all that hassle. Husband wasn't very happy about it (he just sees £ signs!) but he's not the one who has all the problems to deal with!! He often wants me to advertise his surplus tools etc, on marketplace - well, this is exactly why I don't like doing it, there are too many idiots or scammers and I can do without all the trouble.
He did do a tip run yesterday, taking the old broken tumble dryer and some old cushions and other stuff, he says he'll take the old under-counter freezer next. I've sorted out another binbagful of clothes and shoes that I haven't worn for ages....both pairs of shoes are uncomfortable, and the clothes are mostly ones that are a bit too tight and I've hung onto them thinking oh I'll lose a few pounds and slim into that.....Yeah right, who actually does that?! So we'll combine the next tip trip with a charity shop run, they're not too far from each other.
And finally another bit of stress to end the day....when husband took Betty out after dinner, whilst off the lead in the field behind us she ran into the hedge and quickly came out yelping, according to husband. She had 2 1-cm lacerations to her nose, a couple of gouges on the side of her face and one above her eye, all bleeding. Husband didn't know what she'd caught her face on, but there is barbed wire running along inside part of the hedge (she's done exactly the same thing before when husband has been walking her, pity he didn't remember that). I bathed the cuts with freshly boiled cooled water, but they were still bleeding and I was concerned about infection. It was around 7 pm, so after hours, but our lovely vets live on site and are happy to provide out of hours support for registered clients, so I rang them for advice. They said best to bring her in immediately and not wait till morning, because of the risk of infection. They washed the cuts, saying they didn't need stitching (thank goodness) and gave her 2 injections, an anti-inflammatory and antibiotic, along with more supplies of both (in tablet and liquid form) for the next 5 days. So what husband made on the sale of his tools, went on vet fees. Hey ho. We do have Betty insured, of course, but the bill came to just over the excess so not worth claiming for. I feel sick whenever anything happens to my baby.
Oh you poor love, I understand both the stresses. Husband was once scammed selling a valuable collectible item on eBay but happily he was not enough of a fool to post the item and it ended up OK, but the hassle of dealing with it all was stressful and unpleasant.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a local auction house who would collect furniture items from you? Might get less money but there would not be the FB hassle.
And I have had the same issue with a dog diving into a hedge after something and coming out covered in blood - hugs to you and Betty and hope the vet intervention will have seen off any potential infection/problems.
Phew - caught up at last. Sorry I've not been commenting over the past days.
ReplyDeleteI agree that those messages sound highly suspicious and you are right to disregard them. No point asking for trouble. I hope you find an easier way of advertising them. Shop window, maybe? Or on your own Facebook page?
I'm glad Betty is OK after that nasty accident. Vets do cost an arm and a leg, don't they? xx
Better safe than sorry.
ReplyDeletePoor little Betty. Give her a hug from me. Hope you've all recovered! I'd never even considered there might be scammers on FB market place, but I guess there are always these parasites looking for easy prey. As Bag End Gardener says, an auction house, or house clearance people, but it's unlikely you'll get as much for them. Maybe you could ask neighbours to spread the word. You never know, they might know of someone. xx
ReplyDeletePoor Betty :-(
ReplyDeleteYes, those are regular Marketplace scams now unfortunately. I always make the point of adding in my advert that I will only accept local pickup and cash at the door. I also delete and block anyone that asks any suspicious questions or asks for an item to be posted, this way you do eventually weed out a lot of the more suspicious characters.