4w ago

Selling Stuff

118 comments

Even if I want to get rid of something for nothing, I'll put it up for a fiver.
The number of fucking idiots that come out of the woodwork rises exponentially when you list it for free, proper unreasonable or a ludicrous false sense of entitlement.
I'll wait until someone wants it, offers to pay, and tell them to keep it and put it in a charity box on their way home or some shit. Saves a lot of hassle.
- I used to do this, too, until local charities started complaining about all the lamps being posted into their donation boxes.
  
  😂 I should have known...!
  
  Ah the ol Lemmy-roo
- I just put stuff at the end of the driveway with a $20 sign on it.
  Someone will come 'steal' it in under an hour.
- Yeah for a week my sister had so many people grilling her about the condition of or asking her to deliver the couch she offered free. She relisted at 20 bucks, someone "talked her down" to a fiver and grabbed it that day
  
  I gave a load of my stuff away for free just before emigrating about four years ago, and you wouldn't believe how much palaver people will go through to organise picking up a couch. I'd be making time come hell or high water if I wanted something like that for free.
- I just donate things to thrift stores. I can't be bothered to sell anything. I did enough customer service jobs when I was younger to know that I have zero patience for customers.
- Keep it
  Bro I bought it
  
  You misunderstand.
  Keep the payment, take the goods.

"$10"
"But the sign said $5"
"Then why did you ask?"
- "You didn't believe it before, why do you now?"

Like every tech support forum, email, or phone call ever.
List a complete description of all information regarding the issue. List correct OS version, firmware, etc. List all attempts at correcting issue based on standard and deeper steps (i.e. power on/off, resets, reinstalls, checking connections, etc.)
Tech help proceeds to disregard everything you just relayed and asks for the same things you just did. Or just tells you to nuke it all and wipe everything you’re trying to save.
- Sorry bud, you’re one of the good ones that needs to suffer because of the actions of many. Everybody on our service desk is taught “trust but verify”.
  The approach isn’t meant to upset people like your good self, but you’re such an insignificant statistic that it’s worth pissing you off to catch the 90% who claim to have done all those things and haven’t.
  
  I cannot count how many times I have asked a user if they'd reset their system to which they'd respond yes. Then I'd check uptime and find it was days or weeks.
  
  I don't do IT, I troubleshoot aviation electrical and avionics systems, and the practice still holds true. "Why are you checking what I already verified?" "Just trying to make sure I'm on the same page as you. It helps me in my own weird way" is a great way to defuse their agitation sometimes.
- I can understand that the tech has to go through a script because they need to, but what I fucking hate is that there is never really a solution to a real problem, only "nuke it". Fuck you, find a solution
  
  There probably is a solution, but nuking it is usually more cost-effective.
- This does not always stand true. Try contacting Shudder for help with your account. Dumbest fucking non email reading fucks I've ever dealt with
- See also retail.
- IT support is broken. MSPs that promise everything and deliver nothing but closed tickets with no resolutions.

Is it still available?
- Me: yes, it's still available Them: never to be heard from again
  
  Me: no, sorry I just sold it to someone else.
  Them: I'll come pick it up in half an hour.
  
  To be fair, this one is common on Facebook because it's the stupid top auto reply thing that is way too easy to fat finger when browsing listings
  
  I add this to my listings
  "If the post is still up, the item is still available. I will remove the post as soon as it is no longer available. If you message me and ask me if it's available, I will block you."
  And then I block them.
- It nice to hear from you.well am pretty okay with your asking price but i just need some re assurance on the condition,am buying it as a gift for my son in United Kingdom so can you accept paypal as a mode of payment and i will add $90 for shipping,i will have do it local transaction but i am out of town presently..so you can get me back with your paypal email account so i can pay nowhope to hear from you soon.kindly text back ASAP
- tbf, people often don't take down their ads after a sale

They're functionally illiterate and are embarrassed to admit it or show it, very common
- Sheesh, I didn't even think of that.

“All the information is on the task”

price firm
I will give you $2, cash

+$5 per stupid-ass question
- Dude should consider becoming a lawyer.

To put the shoe on the other foot:
"No time wasters" (You're wasting your own time writing this for your listing)
"Bought for ¤x" (You think your item is worth more than it is and will be a pain in the arse about it)
- First time I see someone use this symbol for its intended purpose lol
  
  What is the intended purpose? At first I thought it was a number placeholder, but then we use x for that (OP even used an x).
  Edit: Is it a currency placeholder?
  
  First time I ever heard what that symbol was for! Nice to know

Lol
I had an old time country friend of mine ... he lived out in the country in a farming area surrounded by farms. The kind of guy that just loved to talk and talk and talk for hours on end if you allowed him.
He said for fun when he ran out of people to talk to he'd go see some farmer he'd never met before who was selling something ... anything (including a $5 lamp) ... and ask them if they had an old time horse drawn manure spreader. He said most farmers like to talk because they're always bored or just want to delay having to go to work. Asking about horse drawn manure spreaders gets then to talk about the old times, good old days, memories of working with their fathers, what they have, what they built, where they're from and on and on and on.
My friends name was Jack and he was a pain in the ass because he could occupy your entire day talking about everything under the sun. He was fun for about an hour but beyond that, he probably wouldn't notice if the dried husk of your remains started to blow away.
- Are you sure your friends name wasn't Colin Robinson?

All the information is on the task
- I wish…
  
  If you don't get the reference go watch Taskmaster on YouTube (or your preferred front-end)! If you do get the reference, I didn't get yours. My partner and I just started watching Junior and it is hilarious. These kids hate being told "all the information is on the task"
- First thing that came mind.
- I'm glad it wasn't just me.

Is this still available?
- I always start with that, but add my questions right away ("Is this still available? If so, bla bla bla")
  Because there is a decent chunk of people forgetting to mark the listing as sold.
  
  Or worse.
  Look at this lamp in mint condition! Only $5! Hardly used! Brings you luck and win the lottery that's why I don't need it anymore! Oh, and it's gone! Sold! No longer available, you idiot! I just keep the listing as a sweet memory! HAHAHAHA!
- That's just a conversion starter
- Yes, are you interested?

I still don't know how tall it is

I literally had this happen multiple times working as a vendor at sci-fi cons in the 1990s. Our prices would literally be right there and people would point to each one and ask how much it was. And my boss wouldn't let me tell them that the prices are right there and point to where the prices were because my boss was a dumbass. In so many ways.
- The thing is, for about 50% of those people you could talk to them like they were three years old and they'd be glad someone was communicating on their level for a change. The other 50% would think you're the idiot. But they still wouldn't read the sign.

And then when those same people sell their stuff…
- Lamp 4 sel.
  “What color is it?”
  “It’s a fucking lamp. Do u want it r not?!?!?”
  
  Computer for sell.
  Still available?
  Sure.
  Can I pick it up tomorrow?
  < >

why is he not answering questions when he is sitting selling stuff at a table? Honestly I did craigs list and if someone asked me a question where the information is in the post I just would not respond. I figure they would be more trouble than their worth.
- Does this work with a UK plug socket?
  Do you offer shipping?
  When could I go and pick it up?
  Do you have any other matching lamps/etc?
  What types of light bulbs does it use?
  Does it still have manufacturer's warranty?
  I know this is only a comic... but he's answering questions, just not the ones in the post!!
  
  I get what your saying but if your sitting at a place it takes longer to say ready the sign than five dollars

Welcome to retail!

Cartoon character can't be from Chicago. I only visit Chicago but noticed that if you ask a question and a sign with the answer is nearby they don't suffer you gladly.

"Will you take Venmo? I need to send my brother to pick it up."

It's good, buuuut... I wish you were selling something to light up my desk.

5 years from now...

This is why instead of selling stuff of a close loved one who died sucks hard in the ass dealing with the public who want to take up your grieving time with being this stupid. Just call a junk removal and get on with your life

The number of people that very sassily put "if the post is up then it's still available" on their listing only to just never respond when you ask to meetup is too damn high.

What a big fat stupid idiot

Maybe if he had like a price tag on the lamp, that guy wouldn’t have had to ask!
- I don't know why people think you are being serious, especially about a comic lol.
- You must be the idiot from the cartoon. Cuz there’s a tag hanging from it.
  
  Thats, the joke. Not only in my comment, but the cartoon…

It was really cruel of the sales person to not help out this person who may be illiterate, or just not be good at reading, or might be foreign, or struggle with numbers or symbols for inches.
You know, not everyone is operating on the same level. You have to meet people where they are (it will be obvious as in this example).
Kudos to the customer for sticking with the requests, despite the sales person's refusal to aid them with their needs... He must have really wanted the lamp to stick with it like that.
- This is a joke about Craigslist and Facebook marketplace listings. That’s why the sales person keeps saying to look at the “post” and not the sign. If you ever sell something online you will get hundreds of people like this. They clearly have the literacy to log on to the site and to ask questions in written form but still don’t read the post.
  
  And ask the color when there is a picture right there.
  
  You can lead a horse to fresh water, but you can't make them drink.
  
  The literacy levels of people can be shockingly low, even if they manage to navigate the Internet. Some people literally just don't retain information that they read, they can remember one in five things in a listing.
  It's a tragedy.
  It's still horribly annoying.
  
  What makes you say it's a comic specifically about those websites?
  Looks like it's depicting like a garage sale.
- This must be a shit troll attempt or your first day on the internet to not have encountered any form of marketplace.
  No one who acts like the dumbo in the cartoon have ANY intention to buy and just there to grief people.
- I only know 2 people who are illiterate, my father is one of them. He will take pictures of stuff and send them to my mother. And usually goes off the pictures for most stuff.

the sign sucks.
why is the price off to one side, and in a different color from the rest of the information?
the reason I ask questions is because the people who disseminate information are often idiots and can't be concise.
Also it's possible some of that information has changed and the lister forgot to update the sign. It's $6.00 now and you'll have to go to the ATM.
Always ask. Don't be embarrassed by these waspy self-obsessed losers (the people who spread the kinds of messages in the artwork). Their behavior is what's wrong here, not yours.
- Don’t be a self-absorbed asshole on the internet. Not everything is about you. The seller put effort in the description, and if you’re too lazy or too cool to read it, you’re the asshole. Especially static information, like in this case the height or color, won’t change, so your argument is moot here.
  The price listed on the listing is the price the seller intended to list. If it changed, the seller will update the listing. Of course you can ask for a discount, but please don’t bother people with stupid questions that are already explained in great detail just because you feel entitled. Thank you.
  
  Well said, thank you.
  
  There's truth in both your response and the post you're replying to. The seller did take the time to list the relevant information right there on the sign, but he didn't have to adopt this "OK idiot" attitude when the potential buyer started asking questions; because, while the buyer may be an idiot, there are a lot of idiots in the world, and we should err on the side of empathy instead of judgment. In this scenario, the seller is basically doing the "like I said..." thing that everyone p. much unanimously hates. So, when the buyer asked his dumb questions, the seller should have simply answered them---after all, what is the buyer trying to do, ultimately? He's trying to sell the product; he should not be trying to correct someone's mental handicap (however minor or severe), because, if he made that his goal, he'd need the patience of a literal saint and all the time in the universe.
  
  Here's where you were wrong:
  I'm getting offended by something you said to someone else, thus making it about myself, then accusing you of being self-absorbed
  Does that make sense?
  Other people are allowed to have contempt; that's how we got the image in the first place. My experience isn't wrong just because it offends you. That's you making it about yourself, hypocrite.
  
  the price the seller intended to list. If it changed, the seller will update the listing
  My point was that the seller often forgets to update the listing, or makes mistakes, or has life happen to them, and so it's always ok to ask about stuff that's written down. You seem to be arguing that the seller will always update the listing, which is measurably false, and indefensible in debate. I'm not sure why you brought it up at all.
  I didn't mention discounts and neither did the artist. You're grasping wildly at topics not covered here to support a flimsy position and frankly, it's not worth my time to discuss it with you.
  If you want more information you'll have to look it up yourself or pay my billable rate. I assure you it's out of your price range.
  My time is valuable and you've wasted enough of it.
  If you respond to me again I'll block you without reading.

118 comments