Can we discuss Gumtree here

[sky_shrimp]

seeing as it's owned by eBay?

[bustysinclare]

I believe so, yes 😃

[sky_shrimp]

I've never bought or sold on there, but I keep reading stories about people getting ripped off on Gumtree. There's a notice there advising buyers not to pay unless they've seen the product in person.

I did list an old iPhone there once, but it didn't sell. I got a few messages from people asking for ridiculous discounts. The last person to message was a lady asking to buy it. I was very nice to her. She said she didn't have PayPal and wanted my bank details to do a cash transfer.

I gave her my details and she said her children told her to back out and she wished me good luck with the sale and gave me a 4 out of 5 feedback rating.

Has anyone here had any bad experiences on Gumtree?

[bustysinclare]

I have bought and sold a couple of things on gumtree with no problem.

I'd advise if selling, only sell cash on collection, andif buying only buy from close to home if possible so you can pay cash when you collect. That way you you can inspect your purchase and only pay if satisfied with what you are getting.

There will be scams where ever you go these days so in my opinion if you keep to cash on collection there less of a risk.

[sky_shrimp]

Cash on colection would be ideal, but you only reach local buyers which caps sales. It would also be a hinderance if you work fulltime.

If a seller is only selling a few items, then cash on collection is ok, but not if their business proliferates. There maybe an legal issue with using a home address as a 'walk in' premises to sell products.

Posting valuable items listed on Gumtree and the like horrifies me.

You can just imagine all the criminals eager to pay with PayPal, only to start a claim stating that you sent them a box of rubble with the same weight. Obviously, you would sent it 'signed for' or you're asking to get robbed as PayPal would favour them either way without a tracking number in such a dispute.

It could happen on eBay, but there's the added protection of buyers wanting to maintain good feedback.

I occasionally got fraudulent emails from criminals with hijacked eBay accounts, but eBay seem to be on top of it and email me to ignore the correspondence.

Gumtree and the like must be open season for crooks looking for sellers that offer postage.

I know most people aren't fruadulent, but I'm betting Gumtree attracts not only the opportunists, but all the professional thieves.

Is there a way to post an item on Gumtree that makes it difficult for thieves to score the PayPal dispute?

Maybe I'm looking too into it and Gumtree is actually a viable additional option for posting items (as well as eBay).

[sky_shrimp]

Thinking about it, only bank transfers would be safe.

It would mean only geting a fraction of possible sales, but I can't see another way.

[right-then-petal]

[sky_shrimp]

I advertised a PS4 Pro with a wireless controller on Gumtree for collection only. Someone asked if they could have it for £180 and I agreed. He wanted to know first if the warranty seals were intact so it was covered by his home insurance.

He collected it and emailed the next day to say he couldn’t insert any discs. He said it only accepted a disc a few seconds after powering it up and asked me for advice. He wanted an additional £30 off to get it fixed. I knew there was nothing wrong with it and accepted a return and refunded him. He emailed again later to ask if he could buy it back faulty for £140, but I declined.  It was then that I realised he gave me his faulty unit and kept mine that was in good working order.

That’s why he made sure the warranty seals were intact so he could pass his off as mine. He probably swapped the serial number stickers too.

If he sent off his faulty PS4 for repair, he would have no console to play with, so he switched consoles with me and tried to buy his faulty one back on the cheap to send off as it's covered by his insurance.  He could have sold one of them for £250 and kept the other.

[m25jet]

Given that the item was advertised as Collection In Person Only you should have refused to refund the buyer and told him that he had ample chance to inspect the item prior to deciding that he wanted to buy it and handing over the money for the item.  If you'd just done that in the first place and had stood your ground then you wouldn't have got suckered into refunding the buyer's money in exchange for a faulty item that looked the same as yours but actually wasn't the exact same one that you sold him.  Now you're just stuck with a faulty item that you can't do a lot with, except either trying to list it on eBay or Gumtree as a faulty item requiring repairs or, if you decide to try and repair it or get it fixed, as a refurbished item, which either way won't get you as much money as a decent one with no damage whatsoever.  Your only other option is to just cut your losses and take the item up the tip in order to get shot of it.

[sky_shrimp]

It will load a disc if you insert it seconds after switching it on just as he described. If you wait for the PS4 to completely power on, you can't insert a disc. Just the fact that he knew this indicates that it was his PS4.

When he gave me back a PS4 in a carrier bag, he said, "I've given it a really good clean".

I wondered if maybe he damaged it within 24 hours by disinfecting it due to COVID so it might be water damaged, but my unit had some wear to the body and the returned unit is immaculate.

 I live with a family member registered as vulnerable so we can't have visitors atm, or I would have let him see it running and taking discs to cover myself.

He was a very well mannered person and very well spoken. I didn't even count the cash he gave me as he seemed so trust worthy. 

I also loaded a PS4 disc without issue before he came to collect it, so I knew it was in good order. 

[must_just]

Buyer have much more protection on ebay whereas gumtree is a sellers site mainly where they are more in control.

[*knight-rider*]

I`ve only used Gumtree a couple of times and never managed to sell anything, but i`ve never bought anything off there either, i think just `habit` brings me to Ebay all the while and the buyer protection means alot.

I`m not sure if Ebay does keep an eye on it at all, given they own it and i`m not assuming anyone is, but if you advertise anything on there your selling here, be careful, because anything for sale here `technically` shouldn`t be for sale anywhere else 🙂