Sometimes you just have to laugh and go on

[smhardesty]

I have several pieces of equipment listed on Facebook Marketplace. I hate listing on there, but in my neck of the woods, Marketplace seems to be the only place people look to buy or sale. A sign of the times, I guess. Yesterday evening I got a notification that someone had sent me a message. I grabbed the laptop and logged in. The first image below is the exchange I had with the young man. The mower is what he wanted from me and then the other images are of the tiller he wanted to trade me,,,,, EVEN UP. I was a bit ticked at first, but that's the kind of crap you have to expect when using Facebook to sell equipment. The kid was serious. I was being kind when I said it might be worth $25 to $30. Best of luck to him, if he tries to offer it for sale at $30.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Tell him you will trade even up. Give him an address in the worst part of town and to meet you about 8 at night.


Just kidding.

 

[smhardesty]

Tell him you will trade even up. Give him an address in the worst part of town and to meet you about 8 at night.


Just kidding.

That's funny. Yeah, that would be a neat trick. I think what got me the most is that he was really serious about trading even up. You don't know a lot when you're young, but I can honestly say I would have known I couldn't trade that clunker for that mower when I was 16 years old.

 

[7394]

My experience selling on Marketplace is Positive.

I listed my 2014 Toro 4260 late evening & by the next morning, I had 17 serious sounding potential buyers. I was overwhelmed. I had it 7 years & sold it for almost what I paid new for it..$300. shy of total price, tax included. Course mowers were in short supply. And it was all waxed up, cause that's how I roll. LOL

Evilbay that I used to sell on, they just got too greedy & wanting a bank routing number, etc surprised they didn't require DNA sample.

 

[smhardesty]

I think Marketplace really varies from area to area. It seems that this local area has an overabundance of young kids with nothing more to do than troll through the listings and click on the canned responses like,"Is this still available?" A couple of days ago I created an image to post with text stating that I will no longer respond to anyone using a canned response. I specifically stated that if the person is seriously interested, they should send me an original message. I concluded by saying that we can "Thank the SPAMMERs for this." Then I posted it on every classified group I post in. I have been bumping them up at least twice a day to ensure as many people as possible see the message.

What really ticks me off is that if these young turds would just put that creativity and effort into something worthwhile, they could make some decent money. The jerks that write computer viruses and other Malware are even worse. Those guys could make some really nice money if they turned that effort into something worthwhile. Even if it was a kid's learning program they could live comfortably.

I've thought about switching to using Craig's List. The same thing exists on there, but at least on there you are protected by having all communication run through Craig's List servers. I just said something to my wife last night about trying to list on both sites for a while to see how well each does for me. I hate Facebook and all other social disease websites. I only created the Facebook page because I can get 100 times the exposure on Facebook that I'd get by creating my own website. Very few people around this area would go to a website if you gave them explicit instructions to do so. If it's not on Facebook or Twitter, they aren't interested. What a waste of time and network traffic. If I find that I get the same amount of responses and sales using Craig's List as Facebook, I can promise you that I'll delete that Facebook account immediately. The other thing I'll probably do this week, now that it appears warm weather is here to stay, is go around town putting up different flyers I have created and printed off. There are about 7 or 8 really great places to post flyers in this town. I have seen people standing in front of the bulletin boards reading the ads and/or grabbing business cards from guys that put 10 or 12 cards up. We'll see how things play out, but I'd sure love to get rid of Facebook.

 

[PTmowerMech]

Every time I list something the marketplace, the very first thing I post is "If this ad is up, it's still available." So many reply with "Is this still available." It's irritating.

But I made a lot of money on FB marketplace, selling used equipment and repair.

 

[AutoMechanic]

I’m young myself and I love old stuff. Perhaps he thought since it was old that it made it worth more. Maybe someone told him what it was worth or what they thought it was worth and maybe it was more than you said lol. Personally I see it being worth more than $25 or $30 but that’s just me of course and I don’t know anything about old tillers or equipment like that. I prefer Craigslist if doing that type of buying but I hate talking to people in person though haha. Maybe I should offer you my old Montgomery Ward tiller that I got from the curb.

 

[smhardesty]

Every time I list something the marketplace, the very first thing I post is "If this ad is up, it's still available." So many reply with "Is this still available." It's irritating.

But I made a lot of money on FB marketplace, selling used equipment and repair.

Yep, I get a whole bunch of those, and it's always the canned question and not something the person has typed out. They just click that "Is this still available" even if they aren't really interested.It really is irritating. That's why I will no longer reply to one of the canned responses. I figure if they aren't serious enough to type out a couple of short sentences, they aren't a real buyer.

On a brighter note, I sold a nice Murray mower to a local farmer for his wife to use to trim around things. He had responded to the ad on Marketplace.

Since I'm on that subject, he told me he decided to take a look at my mowers after going to our local farm service store. They have about 30 to 35 Pulsar mowers on the floor. I have had one of those pieces of garbage in my shop this winter. No parts available to repair them. I ended up tossing the whole thing in the trash.This guy that bought the mower today said he looked at a few of them at the farm service store and, in his opinion, they are worthless pieces of s**t. Now, that's exactly what the man said and I had not said a word about them. He said the first one he looked at was "supposedly" a high wheel mower, but the rear wheels were only an inch or two bigger than the front wheels and he held his hands up indicating the tops of the wheels leaned in, or the bottom out, and were, "floppy", as he described it. He said that the thing wouldn't last a month with his wife running the mower into things. I sure wasn't about to contradict the guy. He pretty much nailed it.

 

[smhardesty]

I’m young myself and I love old stuff. Perhaps he thought since it was old that it made it worth more. Maybe someone told him what it was worth or what they thought it was worth and maybe it was more than you said lol. Personally I see it being worth more than $25 or $30 but that’s just me of course and I don’t know anything about old tillers or equipment like that. I prefer Craigslist if doing that type of buying but I hate talking to people in person though haha. Maybe I should offer you my old Montgomery Ward tiller that I got from the curb.

I suppose if a guy was out to do a complete and thorough restoration job on that old tiller, it would be worth whatever they buyer was wiling to pay. As for just taking it in to refurb and resell, it wasn't worth 10 bucks to me. I'd never be able to get $40 or $50 for it and it would take a LOT of time and parts to get it usable. I won't sell any piece of equipment that I don't fully believe will make the buyer an excellent usable piece of equipment that will last a few years.

If you are interested in doing a restoration to an old piece of equipment, there can be quite good feeling of accomplishment when the project is complete. Just remember that you'll have more time and money in it than you'll ever be able to recover. There are a lot of guys that do that type of thing. I manage to go to at least a couple different antique tractor shows each summer and nearly every one I go to also includes garden tractors, tillers, mowers, and other equipment. I've seen some old, old, pieces that looked like they were on a showroom floor the day before. It's kind of an art with some guys. I'm just not into doing it. I suppose if I ever had a chance to buy something that really interested me, I might do a piece at some point.

My family had an old Monkey Ward tiller and then we stepped up to a ball busting Craftsman that I think would have tilled concrete if you were man enough to hang on. I remember watching my dad and my grandad taking turns on the thing trying to till down a new garden spot that Dad had plowed with a 2 bottom trip plow. Thankfully they thought I was still too young to handle it. LOL!

 

[7394]

I never got the auto-reply (Is this still available) response so far @ Marketplace.

And recently saw old used Harley T-shirts selling for like $40 -$50 & more each.
Oh I quickly listed about 30 of mine from long, long ago & when they still fit me.. Sold every one. Killed it on that.

PS: I also hate face book. But my friend reminded where else ya gonna sell with no fees to pay.

Never tried Craigslist, If I did I'd be sure my gun was loaded when meeting someone.. Old couple got killed IIRC in GA trying to buy their retirement dream car, an old Mustang, from Craigs list meeting.