We all have items lying around at home that we would like to sell. Besides for asking your friends and family on Facebook if they would like to buy your junk, the next best step is to advertise on websites like Gumtree and OLX.
Once I have posted my adverts, I generally receive a couple of responses via email. I try avoid putting my number as I don’t want random people harassing me. The responses will start off with the person low balling me by saying they don’t have the exact amount I am asking for. I would then negotiate with them and come to a sort of agreement on a price. Since I have included my location in the advert, I am assuming the lovely person contacting me is from Cape Town. To my dismay, I soon find out that this is not the case and this really intelligent person lives in Pretoria or Joburg or Durban. My response is usually: “Sure I can send you the item but you will need to pay first”. There is no way I am going to send a stranger a valuable item without getting payment first. I also don’t expect someone to send me payment without first receiving the item.
So, we are stuck in a loop here. I won’t send the item without the money first. The buyer won’t send the money without the item. We would not be stuck in this loop if the buyer would just stick to their area when searching for an item. There are ways to safely sell items without meeting the buyer such as Shepherd or FlipSell but without a safe method, you may land up getting scammed. Another thing to note is never accept payment via PayPal for a Gumtree/OLX sale. The buyer can trick PayPal into thinking that you scammed the buyer and the payment can be reversed!
The best way to buy and sell on Gumtree and OLX is to meet the buyer in a safe place and accept cash only.
So please, if you are going to respond to adverts online, don’t respond unless you or someone you know can actually come and fetch the item. Thank you. Rant over.
PS: Is anyone looking to buy a Playstation 3 320GB Slim? Get in touch (Only if you are from Cape Town)
