So I need some cash and to clear some space as the "landlady" is complaining about why I need 3 bicycles when I only ride one at a time.
Fair, I suppose. One hasnt been ridden in years. It was the result of another bike's frame snapping after some pillock rear-ended me at slow speed, pinning the frame down and popping the guy's bumper right off. Kona refused to honour their lifetime warranty over it, so I bought a rival firms frame and had the other parts transferred over.
The other bike was a gazelle-like superfast racing bike. Arse in the air, head down affair. Used to ride the 5 miles from work in about 20 minutes on that. The constant battering from the roads like moon craters and bastards who'd throw glass in the cycle lanes took their toll on the "shred proof" tyres and splitting the wheels at the rims. I had that repaired with cheaper rims but rarely rode it like before.
Then the past 2 years I've had health issues and cant get out as much. I went from 3-4000 miles a year down to a couple of hundred at most. I may be a little depressed at that, but that is life.
So. I put listings on Gumtree (a UK freeads site) and Facebook marketplace. Both bikes were about £1000 to have made up, probably a lot more now I think. I listed each for a fair £200 given their age.
"Can't I give you £50?"
"I dont have cash right now, can I pay you later?"
Or the worst "Do you still have the bike?" I reply yes within minutes, and then I'm ghosted.
20 messages of each. Infuriating. Tempted to send the bikes to a local charity instead. They'll be the most blinged out charity bikes you've seen. Charity would probably get their money's worth. I now love the thought of someone who couldn't afford a racer with open pros and hope hubs riding it about.
Want your item. My wife will pick up later today but I'll pay via scammy method. What is your scammy method ID?
I loved messing with these people.
“Oh that 3 year old car for $2,200? I’d love to buy it! What’s that? You have to ship it from Michigan? What a coincidence! My brother lives in Michigan! He can go pick it up and save us both the time and costs of shipping :) What’s that? It’s locked up in a storage lot? Oh that’s no trouble at all. I’ll have my brother go down there and pressure them to let it go :)”
Just one excuse after another until they’d eventually stop replying. About the only way I could get some fun out of the frustration when just trying to browse for a decent car.
Western Union used to be the scammers choice down here …I know of one old dear, now sadly passed, who lost a lot of money through that.
I can't get this through my wife's head. She works in the nearest city, and now and then, something decent will turn up on Facebook marketplace. I ask her to message the seller and pick it up, and she always asks me to get in touch with them instead.
She can't accept that people will think it's a scam.
Its not the other party as much as the other party and also they are wanting to pay electronically in with a method they can refund on.
You know you can just not tell them that someone else will pick it up right?
I constantly grab expensive art supplies for my wife and i rarely even get a weird look. I only had one person even ask who i was.