One thing I learned about buying used kayaks in my area, the longer the boat remains unsold, the less value you can expect. I don’t trust the seller and want to see it myself.
I am pretty sure the reason that ad posters reject that “is it still available” response is because Facebook Marketplace has that built into the ad structure as a default click. That makes it too easy for scammers to trigger a connection. Like JCH-kayak correctly mentions, the automated response is too generic. I DO ask if an item is still available but I write the question myself and include details to prove I am a real potential buyer, like “I’m not far from you and am interested in your Perception kayak if it’s still available. Respond here or DM me. Thanks.” I’ve never failed to get a response doing it this way.
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I guess it just seemed strange to say that if you ask a question of any sort they would delete and not answer.
Strange way to sell anything
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The “is it still available” question is mildly insulting, and useless. The sarcastic response is “no, I just left the add up because I am lonely and I like getting messages from random strangers”. Even if the answer is yes, no progress has been made toward a sale, as by the time the seller sees the message, sends a reply, the prospective buyer sees the reply, and sends an actual useful message like “when can I see it?” the item may no longer be available. Stating in the add that this question will not be answered encourages serious buyers to formulate a more useful question. My approach is to either ask for specifics, or propose a time to inspect the item. Some people also have a very strong aversion to interacting in any way with scammers, so any means of filtering out automated responses is worth losing a few potential buyers.
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Useless? Yep, pretty much.
Insulting? Well, maybe for some, but not for me. On the s**t happens scale, that question barely registers.
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I’m somebody who has done a LOT of buying on selling on Craigslist and FB Marketplace over the past 18 months (summer of 2022 I was furnishing a 3 bedroom house to use as a rental and staging another property to sell. And I regularly seek used kayaks and related gear for friends and family (and, of course. myself) on those outlets. I’ve probably bought or sold 50 items through CL and FB in that timeframe, and I had been a fairly regular participant in such exchanges over the past 25 years.
So I can report that there really is a legit reason to ask up front if the item listed is still available. A large percentage of people (in my experience, about 20% that I try to contact) who post ads on these sites fail to remove them after they have completed a sale. There have even been instances where I have found that sellers post an item for sale and then either forget they did it or leave town or otherwise become unreachable and fail to respond to inquiries. I ALWAYS provide a means to directly contact me when I respond to an ad.
It’s annoying to respond to an ad and learn hours, even days, later (if I get any response at all) that it was sold long ago. In at least two instances I lost out on being able to buy a similar item offered by another seller because I was hoping the more desirable one (which ended up being unavailable) would be an option and delayed committing to the other before IT also sold. There actually is a notification you can choose on FB Marketplace to report the ad as “no intent to sell” to the FB admins (though I can’t say if they ever do anything about empty ads).
A larger problem in buying things from private sellers is the growing paranoia about connecting with strangers. I include my email or phone number with my responses to ads (at least with Craigslist it is set up to share through anonymized emails relayed through the app). But I have found that many sellers/buyers make arranging a sale incredibly complicated by refusing to provide their own name, phone number or email. And there are still many who will not arrange pickup at their home location and want to meet me in parking lots. As a 73 year old woman driving alone to some unknown place with cash, I’m the one at more risk from them they they could possibly be from me. And there are the ones who want me to deliver items I am selling to them. Sorry, bubba, I ain’t Doordash or Amazon. You buy, you fly.
A few months ago I backed out of what had become a ridiculous arrangement that a couple selling a piece of furniture were insisting upon. They were over an hour’s drive distant from me but refused to tell me their exact address or provide me with a contact phone number, land line or cell, because they said they were “afraid of being scammed or ripped off”. Meanwhile, since this was on FB, it was simple for them to click on my name in the DM I sent them to see that I was a legitimate person. What they insisted was that I should email them through the ad to tell me what time I was leaving my house and then an hour later they would text me their address when I was near their town (I had given them my cell but they had refused to contact me through it out of some belief that I could “steal” their ID that way).
My question to them was, what am I supposed to do if you don’t text me, or if I get lost or run into trouble during the drive? Their location was remote enough that I knew I would not have reliable phone coverage driving through that mountainous area. So I declined the sale, explaining that I was not going to make a 3 hour round trip blind to give cash to someone who won’t tell me who they are and where they are. They were quite indignant. I noticed over a month later their ad was still up, no surprise.
If people are not willing to be reasonably open to contact with potential buyers and sellers, they should just call Goodwill to take their stuff or have a yard sale.
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As a seller, I do not provide a phone number until the buyer provides one first AND we then talk. At that time, if they want to look at the item and I believe they are legitimately interested, I provide the address.
To give the alleged buyer the location up front (other than general area) is to invite thieves.
The seller is more vulnerable to crime in this scenario.
The buyer also needs to be careful. If the alleged seller gives off hinky vibes, end the communication, or at least insist he bring the item to a public place, like right near the police station.
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For the cash sale of something like a kayak, it is generally the buyer that is in more danger. The buyer is unlikely to knock you down and run away with an 18’ kayak and load it into or onto their vehicle.
There are plenty of stories, however, of a buyer being lured to an unoccupied house or remote area and being robbed of their cash.
I’m kind of perplexed by some people’s reaction to being asked if an item is still available. It’s the first thing I would ask or expect to be told. Some items sell quickly and the seller does not always immediately list an item as being sold or with print ads or some online listings have the ability to do so. I would probably expect some follow-up questions as well.
When selling cash is king, although eBay, PayPal, and some other online payment methods offer both buyer and seller protection as well.
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Agree! Its an obvious question for me, because It’s usually already sold when I get around to calling. If the seller is put off by the question, they can hang up.
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As far as I can tell, all the very rare but much hyped “crimes” associated with CL or FB sales were perpetrated by “sellers” not prospective buyers. (except in the case of violence involved with “personal services” transactions offered in ads, which is a whole other issue.)
As Rstevens says, we the buyers, are the vulnerable parties AND the ones making the most effort, so stubbornly refusing to expedite the sale by providing location and contact means by the seller is just annoying.
Another step I generally take before driving to inspect and potentially buy an item is to ask the seller to send me one or more additional photos, usually something specific, to assure that they are actually in possession of the thing they claim to have for sale. With boats, I typically ask for a shot of the serial number, or a photo of the inverted hull. If they balk, I back out.
I recently drove nearly 4 hours round trip to the next state to buy a $550 RV cover from a FB seller who listed it for $120. They lived in a high end gated senior community and made a big deal out of not giving me the gate code until I showed up there because of “security concerns.” Since they wouldn’t give me a phone number either, I had to pull over when I reached their town and type a DM to them into Facebook and then wait until they responded. Waited and waited and heard nothing so I figured I would just continue to the address and hope they got back to me by the time I arrived. Got there and the gate was wide open with nobody in the gatehouse. I drove in, found their house, parked and knocked on the door. They seemed surprised to see me but then the wife said “Oh, right, one of the neighbors is having a wedding shower for her daughter so they left the gate open so all the guests could come in.” So much for “security”.
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Some police departments provide a parking spot for E-Commerce Exchange Zone under 24-hour surveillance, or even let you come inside.
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Of course it is annoying dealing with sellers who leave their adds up and are unresponsive, but asking if the item is available does not make it less so. If they are the type to leave the add up for a decade after the item is sold, they will not respond in time for you to decide whether or not to buy the other item you are looking at. I start by proposing a time to meet. Sometimes the item is no longer available, and either they tell me so or never respond. But if it is available, by skipping the "is it available? step I can shave a day or two off the transaction time. Asking the seller to commit to meeting also screens for seller flakiness.
It would also help determine seller flakiness if they just delete an email from you, just for asking a simple logical question …such as “is this item still available?”
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The thief would not knock down the seller and run off with a kayak. Sheesh.
The risk is that the thief knows the address and “visits” while the seller is not home and breaks into a likely storage area. Maybe he gets lucky and the kayak is sitting outside, unsecured.
I think that highly unlikely.
Arrange a meet at a public place.
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Whether you start by asking if the item is still available or by suggesting a meeting time/place, either way a non-response gives you the same information.
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I did all the things that are apparently instinctively wrong and never had all the trouble I’ve read in this thread. Now I’m scared to buy a used boat.
Amazing that we’ve somehow muddled through this long, eh?
Still, it’s good to hear about some of these experiences. I’ve always believed that being aware of what’s going on around you is among the most important life skills. Now that so much of what’s going on around us is in a virtual world, it’s a different ball game.
