Thread: I worked out why Gumtree Sellers are so difficult ......

A mate saw a decent Harley Davidson advertised on Gumtree for a very reasonable price. The seller and the bike were about 200klm away, so they arranged an inspection for the following week end. My mate left his mobile number if any complication were to arise.
On the Saturday, he rang me and asked to borrow the trailer and my 4x4. I offered to come for the run, so off we went.
Upon arriving at the sellers address, we were informed he had changed his mind and was keeping the bike, slamming the door in my mate's face!
On our way home there was a bunch of Bikies pulled up, having a leg stretch. My mate insisted I pull in beside them so he could talk to them. "Strange." I thought, "They would normally have been very low on his social calender."
Walking up to the largest and meanest looking bikie, he pulled out his phone, opened it and showed it to him. There was a brief exchange of words, a hand shake, and my mate returned to the car with a big smile on his.
As we drove off, I asked, "So what was that all about?" John replied, still with the beaming smile, " Oh, I just showed him the ad and the price. They're going straight round to check it out."

Originally Posted by Sir Stinkalot

.....but I don't really want my address put out there if I can help it.

ABSO-BLOODY-LUTELY NOT Stinky. Apart from anything else, I'm para about identity theft. I shred EVERYTHING that has my name or details on it.

Sometime in the 80s I had a couple of camera lenses for sale. Guy rang up, wanted to come over so I gave him the address. Then the fool says "so what else have you got there?" not "for sale" just what have I got. This clown was clearly a thief trying a different way of finding out who to burgle. I told him that I was on to him, and that it would be a poor idea to try it on (logged the phone call time so it could be traced back etc).

All was safe, and didn't have a break-in.

The lesson that I learnt from that was that when giving out an address to someone who has called me, I insist that they give me a number to call them back on before I reveal the address. I think that's foolproof, isn't it?

Whilst I don't go out flashing my details intentionally I'm not too concerned about identity theft. I'm sure that it happens, and when it does it can be terrible, but the chances are fairly slim.

I don't particularly like advising people on Gumtree where I live and when I will or will not be at home. Typically I just say that we are around all day but they can just collect the free stuff from the front gate.

I did have one instance where I purchased a ladder from a bloke. I drove to his house and met him before realizing that the ladder was going to be far to big for me to get home. As it turns out he was in the process of selling his mothers house which was in my street and he said he would drop the ladder off. He seemed genuine enough so i pay him on the spot.

Anyway I said he could just leave it at the side of the house. By chance my wife was running late for work the day he dropped the ladder off. She saw a guy in the backyard and asked what he was up to. He said that he dropped the ladder off and then just wanted a look at the rest of the block???? Nothing else came of it, he did drop the ladder off but it was really strange. I don't think he was doing anything underhanded, perhaps just looking at the size of our block compared to his mums, it certainly was strange.

I have experienced all these same problems regarding dumb/difficult/unreasonable questions, people not turning up or very late, rudeness, scrounging, dreadful communication, etc on FreeCycle....

Difficult to even give stuff away for free these days....

Had a few odd ones with gumtree. Strangest one was an iMac I bought before x
Christmas second hand. Arranged to meet seller and see Mac but when I got to his flat he was locked out as he had been evicted. Turns out Mac was in his car so he offered to nip up to the local mall and find a plug in the food court.

I suggested we go to my office about 10 mins away... Great idea he says, opens his boot, dumps $2k of Mac in my arms, says see you there and jumped in his car and does off.

I sent three texts pointing out he didn't know where my office was. He turned up three days later for cash and with a USB stick to get his data off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A few bells ringing here. We did a one weekend only clearance garage sale from a relatives address to clear out excess items after the sale of the property. I learned very fast why some people have money and others don't. Those that have it will haggle bargain mercilessly to wear you down. Our daughter wanted to do the haggling and basically followed Evanisms rules - no, no, NO! People would purchase a wheelbarrow for $20 and then realize it won't fit in the hatchback then expect you to do a 50km round trip to deliver. Fat chance love! Do you want your money back this person wants it too.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

People would purchase a wheelbarrow for $20 and then realize it won't fit in the hatchback then expect you to do a 50km round trip to deliver. Fat chance love! Do you want your money back this person wants it too.

There is always the choice of warranty too: The Concrete Warranty, or the 20/20 warranty.

Both generously last until its either off the concrete, or 20 feet and 20 seconds.