Advice on Buying / Selling on Gumtree

Sherlockbones

Hey there!

I just want to ask, is there any tips on winning LEGO on Gumtree, over a week, I have emailed around 15 people, I keep getting rejected, I even offer to pay postage! Either that or they don't reply to a day or so later to tell me it had been sold already, that day I emailed him :/

You can actually find some good deals on there as well, somebody is selling a Shirtless Darth Maul for £2, emailed him and still waiting for reply...

ChanMcL

^ I couldnt find "somebody" who is selling Darth Maul for £2 but I found 1 for 15 :P

Sherlockbones

Heh, must of gone, either that or he was lying XD

I hate it when that happens, somebody out some LEGO sets for a £1, here is the link
{link removed by Huw at Gumtree's request}
then you find out, it's not actually £1...

CCC

I find gum tree is a complete waste of time. As soon as you enquire about anything, the price goes up or the item is no longer available. Or the listings are complete lies like the one above.

Sherlockbones

Agreed, but in the US, they have Craigslist don't they?

Chooch

Yes, we have Craigslist stateside - it can be hit and miss. While visiting with my daughter in Vancouver, WA, a month ago, I purchased 55 pounds bulk for $200. Other listings overprice items though so you have to weed your way through...

Sherlockbones

Bit of a update here, and a bit of a grumble, last night saw a bunch of SW figures and others, we agreed 7 figures for £20, as they were quite rare, I then sent him a email saying what payment would he prefer: Paypal, cash or by card, he then sent a email minutes later that the figures have all gone!

mnbvc

The most annoying thing about Gumtree in my area is that there are tonnes of, "Used LEGO wanted, great prices paid!" adverts - so you haven't got a hope of someone putting up a reasonable ad, as they're already under the impression that their collection is worth a fortune (which isn't always the case).

Sherlockbones

Agreed, they also need to stop lying

zakka

Watch out for this listing for 10179

The price should be a giveaway to start with...but thought I would email to see how obvious of a scam it is.

All seemed fine until I suggested collection and paying cash. The seller was only prepared to ship the item and wanted a bank transfer and was even prepared to ship for free in order to close the deal and not have me collect the item.

Needless to say I didn't proceed and when I told him that I knew it was a scam he said it was his 'protocol' to offer shipping only even though I explained it would cost him a lot of money.

I have reported the listing a couple of times when it pops up but it keeps getting relisted.

{link removed by Huw at Gumtree's request}

Sherlockbones

I got scammed, or almost scammed...

Guy lists Spiderman figures plus SW figures, lists them as a tenner, after emailed him he wants £60 for Spiderman figures and £50 for the SW ones

monkeyhanger

Gumtree is useless. As there is no monetary loss for putting an ad in for an item that doesn't sell, almost everything there is ridiculously overpriced. £16 for a used Hoth Rebel battlepack with a couple of piece substitutes - are you for real?

Sherlockbones

I just saw that XD

BELTRAD

Only Results I have had with gumtree is if its local and can go and pick up, but yea any time ask about postage never manage to complete a sale even after agreeing price and payment

atkinsar

I've had great success selling non-LEGO items on Gumtree, never tried to sell any Lego. I've bought Lego from there once which was an ok deal and went smoothly.

I rarely see any good LEGO deals on Gumtree, it's normally people trying to offload sets that have been on sale recently at RRP or more. You see a lot of listings where the price in the headline is contradicted in the detail too.

That UCS Falcon deal, hmm, may email the seller and have a bit of fun, I've got some time to kill this evening.

monkeyhanger

I got on to the seller of the UCS MF yesterday, asked whether it was complete (it looked complete) and that everything in the pic was there. He replied within 2 mins and said it was, that it was brand new and unopened, then suggested paypal payment and postage.

I got back to him and said I preferred cash on collection as it was safer for me as a buyer, cut and pasted in the 3 points for safety that gumtree posts on all it's emails ("keep it local", "no money transfers" etc). I asked when I could get it as I have the cash waiting and haven't heard back from him , a whole day later.

atkinsar

The picture he has is of an opened one though?

atkinsar

I've just emailed the seller myself, see what they say.

CapnRex101

I am not quite sure what to make of this offer: {link removed by Huw at Gumtree's request} It seems very reasonable, but perhaps a little too good to be true for a MISB Cafe Corner. I have contacted the seller and will see what happens.

Legoboy

atkinsar said:

I've just emailed the seller myself, see what they say.

I too emailed them. I made the mistake of mentioning that we lived in the same county and might well live close to each other. No word back!

Legoboy

He's updated his location from Berkshire to Slough/Reading.......Maidenhead (me) being between the two towns. Third email and no response for me. Must be too close to justify shiiping and ripping me off.

atkinsar

CapnRex101 said:

I am not quite sure what to make of this offer: {link removed by Huw at Gumtree's request} It seems very reasonable, but perhaps a little too good to be true for a MISB Cafe Corner. I have contacted the seller and will see what happens.

The opening line "you are bidding on" erm, no I'm not, it's not an auction! Clearly the description is ripped straight from eBay, as is the picture probably. Scam with a capital S.

atkinsar

flump said:

He's updated his location from Berkshire to Slough/Reading.......Maidenhead (me) being between the two towns. Third email and no response for me. Must be too close to justify shiiping and ripping me off.

I also said I was local, in Reading and could I pop round and have a look. Just got a reply, didn't respond to my request just some stock response that he's probably been sending to all of us. Thing is, he says it's brand new and never opened, hmm, looks pretty opened in the picture though doesn't it. Anyway, we all know this is a scam, just hope nobody else falls for it.

Legoboy

Put my best ghetto accent on and finally got a reply. This will be interesting. :-)

atkinsar

This guy has really pissed me off, and at the very least, I want to waste some of his time. Of course, it's wasting mine too but hey ho.

Legoboy

I feel exactly the same. Have no intention of going anywhere with it unless I'm invited to look first (of which we all know isn't going to happen), but just so desperately want to waste his time or put him out in some way.

zakka

Once you are bored playing with him, tell him you think it is a scam. That really wound him up when I accused him.

I am interested to know if he actually even has the item for the purposes of making the scam more convincing (i suspect not) maybe ask him to send you a pic holding specific minififs next to the falcon.

CCC

If you're doing it again I'd use the approach where you tell him you are at a distance - eg. in Edinburgh if he is in London. Agree a price for the item with postage and get payment details. Then let him know you are going to be in London on business, so you'll pick it up instead.

collect_that

@atkinsar & @flump

Emailed the seller of the Falcon, saying I wanted it posted to Leeds and I would pay via PayPal. This is what I got back.....

Yes i do post I recommend Paypal. I ship items by 1st Class Recorded Royal Mail service so you can be sure of a safe arrival. Priority with Delivery Confirmation as soon as payments clear This item it's complete and original brand new Well packed and sealed in original box, all the pieces were complete 5000 pieces , No missing, Never been used, policy Satisfaction Guaranteed or Money Back Return. accepted within 14 days if you are interested email back
Regards Lars

Next week on another episode of scambusters..... :-p

Legoboy

Exactly the same as me. Just this minute received an email asking if I want id delivered. Might go down CCC's route and see how far I can string him along. ;-)

collect_that

Ask him if he has more than one? LOL!!

Legoboy

I'm afraid he might say yes!!!

Told him I want to go ahead and asked for his Paypal details.

atkinsar

Exactly the same reply that I got too!

Matthew

Sounds like you're having fun! I joined in too and got that same reply!

Legoboy

Latest response from them:-

" if are ready you can pay by paypal, let me know if you are ready, then i will email you my paypal address, Regards"

Anybody else he's agreed to sell to?

Matthew

Me, just 2 seconds ago

Legoboy

" write your shipping address and send it to this email: [email protected] your full name: address: phone number: regards lars"

^email edited.

I replied, "Just a quickie. Do you have any more of these for sale?"

Legoboy

"do you want make the payment or not ? if yes, let me know and send your shipping address as soon as possible"

Oh dear.

collect_that

Tell him yes you want make payment, please send to my place of work. Then give him the address of your local police station?

Legoboy

^ You've done this before.

Him: do you want make the payment or not ? if yes, let me know and send your shipping address as soon as possible

Me: Is it any cheaper if I collect?

Him: it is same cost,

Me: In which case, where can I collect from? Any time that suits you is good with me and am happy to pay cash if it helps you save Paypal fees. Or if you insist on Paypal, can always do it at the time of collection. Thanks.

atkinsar

I can see where this is going, James walks away with a UCS MF for £400 (he bargains him down further at the door because a small spider ran across the box leaving dirty footprints), the rest of us, we walk away with egg on our faces :-D

LostInTranslation

^ lol Only down to £400? You underestimate the Jedi mind control powers of Darth Flump :-)

Legoboy

RAOTFL.

Mate, there is no way on this earth I'm meeting this nut anywhere with £400 in my back pocket. Not unless my bruv is with me!! ........and his mates. My mates are too geeky. ;-)

collect_that

We'd have to breakout the replica lightsabers and go 'tooled up' :-)

Legoboy

Lol.

I think the kids have some Kingdoms swords/shields and Ninjago nuchucks too. They ain't going to know what's hit 'em! :-D

BELTRAD

flump said:

RAOTFL.

Mate, there is no way on this earth I'm meeting this nut anywhere with £400 in my back pocket. Not unless my bruv is with me!! ........and his mates. My mates are too geeky. ;-)

I now imagining something like the big bang when they go to get cash from penny's EX. Do you have a minstrel in your group who can make up a song about ur heroic lego buying trip :)

Legoboy

Lol, there's only one person that fits that bill. I wonder if she's listening? :-)

khmellymel

This is strangely entertaining...

atkinsar

So @flump, what happened?

Legoboy

atkinsar said:

So @flump, what happened?

Now, am I keeping deliberately quiet because I'm now the proud owner of a "sealed" but "hardly used" and in "perfect condition" UCS Falcon, or perhaps because I got clonked over the head for my £400 in Asda's car park because I'd ignored @collect_that 's advice hadn't taken my lightsaber with me, or because I just couldn't be arsed? :o)

Nout happened - never got a reply. I did send a follow up email (a nice one) a day or two later in an attempt to string him along and rufffle his feathers a little more but he did the smart thing and kept quiet.

collect_that

@flump

I got an email saying did I want it and could I hurry up and pay as I was the first to email and he had another offer for more money waiting.

It did cross my mind that this thread had gone quiet because you had against all odds and better judgement procured this set.....?