Well, is it free or not?

It is no hidden secret that I dislike Facebook and outside of using it for my many websites I wouldn’t bother using it but one thing I have noticed with Facebook is a bigger push to create local groups for the sole purpose of “buying and selling” and there are so many problems with them that piss me off.

The first one and one I am sure is quite infamous with most of these groups are people that list things for free and then suddenly turn around and say it costs. Picture this as an example.

While the above is an example it seriously happens a lot more than I would like it to do so. So many times you will contact someone for an item that was listed as free and suddenly they get offensive after rejecting a price simply because it wasn’t as expected.

It can get even more than that and that is when the post says to contact the seller for the price rather than just listing it in the first place. Any time I see someone refusing to list the price within the post I will automatically assume it is some multi-layer marketing bullshit and that it is someone hoping to start a lead on me.

It is even sadder to see just how entitled some people are on social media like that and it happens a lot with “offers” where you have to pay for it but do the work yourself to do so. I remember reading once someone was selling a bush that they had in their front garden but you had to come yourself to dig it out, tidy it up and in exchange you get the pleasure of paying a stupid amount that likely is less than paying a professional to do.

I am going to leave this rant on one final thing that pisses me off regarding marketplaces like that and that if you are selling something. Over the last week or two, I was getting rid of a mobility scooter, a nice one with good battery mileage, and I heard versions of the following and now bear in mind I was asking for NOTHING for it beyond someone picking it up.

• Can you hold it for me until next month?
• Can you deliver it? I can’t drive / you can rent a truck.
• How much are you giving me for it?
• Got anything else to go with it?

In the end, I gave it away by leaving it outside with a note saying I am selling it for £50 do you want to guess what happened? If you guessed it was stolen you would be correct.

I hate online marketplaces, I do. Have any good or bad experiences with them or tips I would love to hear them.