5 ms·

When I do FB marketplace I go cash and in-person. It lets you assess the quality of whatever you're buying.

Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
This is the way. Does FB Marketplace even have any sort of reputation system? Or are you banking entirely on the age of the account? I'm a heavy Facebook user, but I avoid FB Marketplace like the plague. Just seems like a great place to get scammed.
- emayljames 3y ago
  I got scammed from a FB advert selling clothing, turned out the company is a scam and sends nothing, FB have allowed them to still advertise for months still.
  - RajT88 3y ago
    I get downvoted for saying this every time I post it here, but a huge number of facebook adverts are scams of various sorts. Some are as you say - you order something and never receive it. Straight up Some are fast fashion companies which get spun up quickly with slick ads and websites, which are somehow "going out of business" even though they were registered less than 2 months ago. Some are kickstarters for products which obviously are just clones of other products which already are ubiquitous. A lot are drop shippers who use slick ads to sell you something they aren't even in possession of, at 2-3x the price which you could get it for if you just took the time to look elsewhere.
    - sokoloff 3y ago
      The last of those is at least a value-added service for some people.
      - chihuahua 3y ago
        I don't really see it as a scam: * I see an ad that says "do you want to buy this item for this price?" * If I like the price, I can buy the item. I got what was promised. The fact that maybe I could have bought the same item elsewhere for less doesn't make it a scam. Lots of things are offered at different prices in different places at the same time. That's not a scam.
        sokoloff 3y ago
        Did you perhaps reply to the wrong comment? I completely agree.
        RajT88 3y ago
        I think you were replying to my original comment. It's not a capital 'S' scam in a legal sense, but it's a scam in that they are playing a trick on you by jacking the price way up and relying on your ignorance to make the sale at an inflated price. If we consider a door-to-door salesman who is selling (say) basic Android phones in retirement communities where hypothetically some folks have never used a smartphone, they might get away with selling a $100 basic phone for $1000. That's not illegal, but it surely is a scam in the ethical sense.
    - emayljames 3y ago
      yes, they fit this pattern exactly. I only discovered this issue after being scammed. There are hundreds of people for example who got scammed by a company advertising dolphin blankets, as described by reddit users who where victims of it, and the adverts and company have still not been taken down by FB.
    - meindnoch 3y ago
      "Sadly, we're closing our shop... :( The whole inventory is 80% off while the stocks last." Oldest trick in the book.
      - burningChrome 3y ago
        Back in the day, you'd see some semi-truck park in a lot and then two dudes with thick AF Southern accents would get out and tell people they tried to deliver all these items to the warehouse, but the warehouse refused the shipment (insert various reasons why) and they can't go back to Ken-tuck-yee without getting rid of it all. They said they're selling (furniture, electronics, clothing, art) it all for 80-90% off retail. You know, just so they get it off the truck and get back home. I remember working in a commercial area and the owner of the business would come and tell the guys to GTFO their property so they'd pull out and then pull into the next driveway over and rinse and repeat until they were out of the area. It was a total scam though. My boss bought some couch and said it started falling apart after a few months. I'm not sure these guys had stolen all the stuff, or if the truck got hijacked our what, but during the Summer it was a regular thing that happened a few times every month. I'd be interested to find out if anybody else remembers these "truck load" scams in the late 90's early aughts.
        sokoloff 3y ago
        I bought two of the “white van speakers” in the late 80s. They were unexceptional but okay and lasted 5+ years of heavy college and immediately post-college usage.
        Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
        There's a truck I've seen that sells meat at stupidly low prices, but they're sold in boxes so you don't really know what you're getting. They'll sell you a box of 20 ribeye steaks for only $40, but you open the box and realize that each "steak" is only about 1/4 inch thick and is absolute dog-food level marbling, completely zero intra-muscular fat.
- RajT88 3y ago
  I've had good success with a couple buyers who mail stuff over marketplace. I used the same criteria: Number of items listed, number of items sold, how long they have been on the platform. For good measure, I cyber stalk them a little bit to make sure they exist. Even with an Ebay-like ratings system, one of the thing which happens is legit accounts get hacked and go rogue. (I am guessing they got hacked; someone who was legit could also just randomly decide to go rogue) You're always going to be at risk of that.
- EdwardDiego 3y ago
  It's a great place to get goods cheap. Stolen goods, that is.
  - dawnerd 3y ago
    Or just stay away from people selling brand new products below msrp.
  - nothercastle 3y ago
    Is seems like people selling hot goods want near msrp prices it’s pretty silly.
- jolt42 3y ago
  Since I only deal with "in person" sales, to me it's less sketchy than most eBay purchases. I had a similar happening to this story, but with eBay. I don't know why they bothered trying the scam, I got my money back relatively easy, just had to be patient.
- astura 3y ago
  >I avoid FB Marketplace like the plague. Just seems like a great place to get scammed There are scams but I think they are avoidable. My next door neighbor has spent many thousands of dollars on FB Marketplace and has never been scammed. He buys tools and construction supplies and equipment. Usually gets the stuff 90%+ off retail price and sometimes free. I think the key is dealing in person.
quickthrower2 3y ago
Yeah treat it like Gumtree, Craigslist, Newspaper Ad or carboot sale. Why do anything else?
s0rce 3y ago
That limits you to buying stuff locally, its a good precaution but means you can't buy anything that is only available further away. I've had good luck buying stuff so far and saved money, I certainly could have got scammed and that would suck.
- the_snooze 3y ago
  >That limits you to buying stuff locally, its a good precaution but means you can't buy anything that is only available further away. To me, that's an entirely reasonable trade-off. You sacrifice the breadth of the market available to you in exchange for greatly reducing your attack surface. You'll easily filter out the legions of machine-assisted international scammers if you require transactions to be in-person with cash.
  - bluGill 3y ago
    Like most people - I have a niche interest that doesn't have a large market locally. When I want something that everyone in the country has there is no problem. When I want something unusual though I need to expand to a larger market than local to have a chance of finding it.
gnicholas 3y ago
I know others have had good success with FB Marketplace, but man I only see scams. I've posted stuff there and on Nextdoor and CL, and I get 10x the number of scam buyers on FB. I stopped even trying to post stuff there, since it was all chaff and no wheat. Kind of surprising, considering I live in SV, just a few miles from FB HQ. I'd think there would be plenty of legit users here!
- wvenable 3y ago
  I've bought and sold so much stuff on Facebook marketplace. Almost always in person and in cash and always a good experience. At least one time I broke the rule and actually sent money up front for an item but the seller packaged up and sent it right away. The amount was low enough that I wasn't worried about losing it, the item was pretty unique, and I spent a bunch of time checking on things before I decided to trust.
- paxys 3y ago
  I've bought/sold hundreds of items on FB Marketplace and never had a problem. The quality and response rate is significantly better than Craigslist, Nextdoor and others. The simple rule is – local, in-person meetup and cash only. If someone insists on anything else then just block and report them.
- chihuahua 3y ago
  I sold a handful of items on FB Marketplace. Sold in-person for cash. No problems, except for one attempted fraudster who was very obvious. People show up in person, hand over cash, take away items to declutter my garage. I even managed to sell a nearly-new MacBook Pro for $1900 on FB Marketplace (employer let me keep it after layoff). Local buyer for cash. The buyer was super careful and had the Apple store verify everything about the MacBook.
khalilravanna 3y ago
Same. Only time I ever dealt with shipping on FB marketplace was the time I was selling my Steam Deck and some guy didn’t want to drive. So I said “How about I list it on eBay so we’re both protected, send you the link, and you buy it there”. He was on board and it worked well. Of course I had to eat eBay’s fee but better than getting scammed.

This is the way. Does FB Marketplace even have any sort of reputation system? Or are you banking entirely on the age of the account? I'm a heavy Facebook user, but I avoid FB Marketplace like the plague. Just seems like a great place to get scammed.

emayljames 3y ago
I got scammed from a FB advert selling clothing, turned out the company is a scam and sends nothing, FB have allowed them to still advertise for months still.
- RajT88 3y ago
  I get downvoted for saying this every time I post it here, but a huge number of facebook adverts are scams of various sorts. Some are as you say - you order something and never receive it. Straight up Some are fast fashion companies which get spun up quickly with slick ads and websites, which are somehow "going out of business" even though they were registered less than 2 months ago. Some are kickstarters for products which obviously are just clones of other products which already are ubiquitous. A lot are drop shippers who use slick ads to sell you something they aren't even in possession of, at 2-3x the price which you could get it for if you just took the time to look elsewhere.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    The last of those is at least a value-added service for some people.
    - chihuahua 3y ago
      I don't really see it as a scam: * I see an ad that says "do you want to buy this item for this price?" * If I like the price, I can buy the item. I got what was promised. The fact that maybe I could have bought the same item elsewhere for less doesn't make it a scam. Lots of things are offered at different prices in different places at the same time. That's not a scam.
      - sokoloff 3y ago
        Did you perhaps reply to the wrong comment? I completely agree.
      - RajT88 3y ago
        I think you were replying to my original comment. It's not a capital 'S' scam in a legal sense, but it's a scam in that they are playing a trick on you by jacking the price way up and relying on your ignorance to make the sale at an inflated price. If we consider a door-to-door salesman who is selling (say) basic Android phones in retirement communities where hypothetically some folks have never used a smartphone, they might get away with selling a $100 basic phone for $1000. That's not illegal, but it surely is a scam in the ethical sense.
  - emayljames 3y ago
    yes, they fit this pattern exactly. I only discovered this issue after being scammed. There are hundreds of people for example who got scammed by a company advertising dolphin blankets, as described by reddit users who where victims of it, and the adverts and company have still not been taken down by FB.
  - meindnoch 3y ago
    "Sadly, we're closing our shop... :( The whole inventory is 80% off while the stocks last." Oldest trick in the book.
    - burningChrome 3y ago
      Back in the day, you'd see some semi-truck park in a lot and then two dudes with thick AF Southern accents would get out and tell people they tried to deliver all these items to the warehouse, but the warehouse refused the shipment (insert various reasons why) and they can't go back to Ken-tuck-yee without getting rid of it all. They said they're selling (furniture, electronics, clothing, art) it all for 80-90% off retail. You know, just so they get it off the truck and get back home. I remember working in a commercial area and the owner of the business would come and tell the guys to GTFO their property so they'd pull out and then pull into the next driveway over and rinse and repeat until they were out of the area. It was a total scam though. My boss bought some couch and said it started falling apart after a few months. I'm not sure these guys had stolen all the stuff, or if the truck got hijacked our what, but during the Summer it was a regular thing that happened a few times every month. I'd be interested to find out if anybody else remembers these "truck load" scams in the late 90's early aughts.
      - sokoloff 3y ago
        I bought two of the “white van speakers” in the late 80s. They were unexceptional but okay and lasted 5+ years of heavy college and immediately post-college usage.
      - Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
        There's a truck I've seen that sells meat at stupidly low prices, but they're sold in boxes so you don't really know what you're getting. They'll sell you a box of 20 ribeye steaks for only $40, but you open the box and realize that each "steak" is only about 1/4 inch thick and is absolute dog-food level marbling, completely zero intra-muscular fat.
RajT88 3y ago
I've had good success with a couple buyers who mail stuff over marketplace. I used the same criteria: Number of items listed, number of items sold, how long they have been on the platform. For good measure, I cyber stalk them a little bit to make sure they exist. Even with an Ebay-like ratings system, one of the thing which happens is legit accounts get hacked and go rogue. (I am guessing they got hacked; someone who was legit could also just randomly decide to go rogue) You're always going to be at risk of that.
EdwardDiego 3y ago
It's a great place to get goods cheap. Stolen goods, that is.
- dawnerd 3y ago
  Or just stay away from people selling brand new products below msrp.
- nothercastle 3y ago
  Is seems like people selling hot goods want near msrp prices it’s pretty silly.
jolt42 3y ago
Since I only deal with "in person" sales, to me it's less sketchy than most eBay purchases. I had a similar happening to this story, but with eBay. I don't know why they bothered trying the scam, I got my money back relatively easy, just had to be patient.
astura 3y ago
>I avoid FB Marketplace like the plague. Just seems like a great place to get scammed There are scams but I think they are avoidable. My next door neighbor has spent many thousands of dollars on FB Marketplace and has never been scammed. He buys tools and construction supplies and equipment. Usually gets the stuff 90%+ off retail price and sometimes free. I think the key is dealing in person.

quickthrower2 3y ago

Yeah treat it like Gumtree, Craigslist, Newspaper Ad or carboot sale. Why do anything else?

s0rce 3y ago

That limits you to buying stuff locally, its a good precaution but means you can't buy anything that is only available further away. I've had good luck buying stuff so far and saved money, I certainly could have got scammed and that would suck.

the_snooze 3y ago
>That limits you to buying stuff locally, its a good precaution but means you can't buy anything that is only available further away. To me, that's an entirely reasonable trade-off. You sacrifice the breadth of the market available to you in exchange for greatly reducing your attack surface. You'll easily filter out the legions of machine-assisted international scammers if you require transactions to be in-person with cash.
- bluGill 3y ago
  Like most people - I have a niche interest that doesn't have a large market locally. When I want something that everyone in the country has there is no problem. When I want something unusual though I need to expand to a larger market than local to have a chance of finding it.

gnicholas 3y ago

I know others have had good success with FB Marketplace, but man I only see scams. I've posted stuff there and on Nextdoor and CL, and I get 10x the number of scam buyers on FB. I stopped even trying to post stuff there, since it was all chaff and no wheat. Kind of surprising, considering I live in SV, just a few miles from FB HQ. I'd think there would be plenty of legit users here!

wvenable 3y ago
I've bought and sold so much stuff on Facebook marketplace. Almost always in person and in cash and always a good experience. At least one time I broke the rule and actually sent money up front for an item but the seller packaged up and sent it right away. The amount was low enough that I wasn't worried about losing it, the item was pretty unique, and I spent a bunch of time checking on things before I decided to trust.
paxys 3y ago
I've bought/sold hundreds of items on FB Marketplace and never had a problem. The quality and response rate is significantly better than Craigslist, Nextdoor and others. The simple rule is – local, in-person meetup and cash only. If someone insists on anything else then just block and report them.
chihuahua 3y ago
I sold a handful of items on FB Marketplace. Sold in-person for cash. No problems, except for one attempted fraudster who was very obvious. People show up in person, hand over cash, take away items to declutter my garage. I even managed to sell a nearly-new MacBook Pro for $1900 on FB Marketplace (employer let me keep it after layoff). Local buyer for cash. The buyer was super careful and had the Apple store verify everything about the MacBook.

khalilravanna 3y ago

Same. Only time I ever dealt with shipping on FB marketplace was the time I was selling my Steam Deck and some guy didn’t want to drive. So I said “How about I list it on eBay so we’re both protected, send you the link, and you buy it there”. He was on board and it worked well. Of course I had to eat eBay’s fee but better than getting scammed.