‘You OK hun?’
‘’Fummin’ babs’
‘What’s going on?’
‘Well, you know I do some buying and selling on Discogs – you know, selling stuff I’ve taken a punt on that it turns out I don’t like, or those things that I just can’t leave behind at the chazza or car boot?’
‘Yeah’
‘And you know that I pride myself on getting stuff shipped out quickly?’
‘Yeah’
‘Well I got caught out this week by Chris from High Barnet’
‘Why are you calling him that?’
‘Because his name’s Chris and he’s from High Barnet’
‘Oh right, tell me more’
‘Well, on Tuesday morning I was awoken as normal by my bladder-alarm and once relieved I returned to bed for a bit. The kids are off school and college so there’s nothing to rush about for. You know I’m off sick and starting cancer treatment this week don’t you?’
‘Yes, you won’t let us forget that’
‘Anyway. I did my Wordle for the day and then had a scan at social media and my emails. “Gordon Bennett” I very quickly exclaimed, almost attracting the attention of the GLW, “someone has ordered 75 CDs from me on Discogs”. Still no stirrings from the LHG so I looked further into the order. Chris from Barnet had sent an additional message regarding how good my inventory was, and could I organise quick dispatch as he’d like some of the ordered items to be Christmas presents. Stirred into action I gathered the ordered items from around my somewhat quirky (I understand it) storage system. I had a look at his feedback profile, concluded he was a genuine customer, so ordered a courier shipment. I offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount as a bit of an inducement’.
‘That’s generous’
‘I’m that kind of chap. Anyway, all this took a couple of hours, at which time I sent him a message letting him know my situation, to get the order paid for, and I could then dispatch the same day’.
‘Makes sense, why the long face?’
‘It seems my faith in human nature is at times, misplaced. He’s gone silent on me’. Doesn’t answer messages, or emails or even the one attempt I made to call his listed phone number’.
‘Cun..’
‘Exactly. I’m guessing he’s suffering buyer’s remorse. The order was made at 8am so unless the social scene in Barnet is particularly lively he was probably sober when he did it. Or he’s realised he can’t afford it, or his GLW has gripped him by the testicles and said “how much?”
‘Or he’s dead?’
‘Always a possibility I suppose. He has a social media presence and there’s no indication of that’.
‘So are you out of pocket?’
‘About £20 for the courier. I tried cancelling it but ended up on an ever-decreasing circle of nonsense on their webchat’.
‘Twats’
‘Exactly’
‘Have you listened to that Bob Sharples record yet?’
‘Sold it mate’.
‘Oh’…….
Sorry to hear your story. I used to sell my CDs (a while ago, on Amazon, and problem free) but stopped when some dick demanded I pay return postage on a CD that he said should have been a double CD but wasn’t. I paid for the return and when the CD arrived I saw it was a double but that the second disc was ‘hard to spot’ in the paper sleeve. I reckon he ordered the disc, burnt it and then demanded a refund. I haven’t sold again on any site. I also hated shipping off a CD I had had for years, even though I had never played it for months, sometimes years.
It’s very frustrating at times. I recently received neutral feedback because despite having no obligation to do so I refunded a buyer who had bought a duplicate ‘by mistake’. She then complained I hadn’t processed the refund ( I had – she just couldn’t read her PayPal statement correctly). I rarely give negative feedback but did on this occasion.
My lad had a similar experience with selling Play Station game on eBay. He listed it and user “Twat1” won the auction. Fee taken by eBay but Twat1 doesn’t pay. So…
Relists item, user “Twat2” wins auction, but doesn’t pay. Fee taken. Twat2 has the same name and address as Twat1. eBay claim Twat1 and Twat2 are different user accounts so different people.
Relists item, user “Twat3″… well, you can guess the rest.
Three auction completion fees are worth more than the game itself. I can still see it there in the pile on my desk.
EBay always seems to take the side of the buyer unfortunately. Sorry that your son had such a poor experience with a timewaster. I’ve sold a couple of cars over the years, the timewaster coefficient is high in this category of sales. In fairness most buyers and sellers are very pleasant but worth doing feedback research before posting. If in doubt mark item as dispatched but don’t post it.
I gave away largely-unused football boots for one NZ dollar. Bloke wins auction. Doesn’t collect when he said he would. Rearranges. Again, he’s a no-show. Seems he has a complicated life.
I say ‘”tell you what, I’ll just leave them by my front door for a few days. Just pick them up when you can”. I just leave them there for about a week. One day – they’re gone! On the ground is 60 cents.
Bad luck with Discogs. Best of luck with the cancer treatment.
Thank you.
Facebook Marketplace is a nightmare for this sort of thing. We’re trying to get rid of stuff we took out during the reno – cooker, kitchen sink, doors etc. I put the kitchen sink on – 1 1/2 bowl sink + all fixings + mixer tap, got a bit of age but perfectly good, $30. Nearly got killed in the rush, so formed an orderly queue. The lady at the head of the queue was coming that afternoon. She messaged me to ask if the stand was included. The ‘stand’ was the saw horses I put it on to photograph it. Er, no…you have to put it in a sink unit and you’ll need a plumber. She never showed. No.2 was hot to trot, but never showed the following afternoon. The rest of the queue never got back to me. And of course people who don’t show up know where you live. The sink’s going to the tip today.
I brought home from our caravan in France a small basket of newspaper freebie DVDs and CDs. It was time for a refresh – one of our kids is autistic and she could more or less recite complete a comedy sketch DVD. I put them on FB marketplace as a freebie. One chancer wanted me to post them as a present to his ‘cousin’ in Leeds. Oh, and could I just go and buy a bunch of gift vouchers to send with them (he’d make it worth my while)! Another asked if I would deliver. Locally within walking distance no problem. No, she lived 15 miles away. I think I was polite in refusing.
Yes, one woman wanted me to deliver a $50 bed to Ballina, which is 45 miles away. Nope.
Facebook marketplace is a den of thieves and vagabonds. In the old days if you wanted to waste someone’s time you had to go to a phone box and call them asking to speak to I P Freely and so on. Now there’s so much more fun to be had.
Even though she didn’t show up, No.2 still sounds like the best.
A friend of mine recently listed an aquarium, free to whoever would collect it. He got five replies immediately all keen to come and get it straightaway.
When he contacted them they all wanted him to deliver it, one of them had a go at him when he refused because he was only a 45 minute drive away and one of them also wanted a guarantee with it.
I’m glad it’s not just me that exists in bewildering times. Shouldn’t be surprised I suppose.
We’re living in Strange Times @happy-harry
He’s only gone and paid…..
Maybe he’s an Afterworder!
Always a possibility I suppose. Very short message to say he’s been ill. Trouble is I can’t post out now until next week. He’s getting some good stuff though.
Hurray!!! Santa is real after all…
You must be very Happy Harry.
I am indeed sir. Means I can pursue a couple of things myself.
Good news! Never sold anything on Discogs but did sell some stuff with a storefront on Amazon when times were hard, have also sold stuff on Steve Hofmann forum. Everybody paid, but some disliked how well things were packaged or were very anal about the condition (a crease in the CD booklet, the horror!) meaning some discounts needed to be applied on occasion