In a pre-move effort, or at least an attempt to light a fire under our butts and look for a new house, We have made the decision to start getting rid of the clutter. This was before I had even heard of Marie Kondo and we aren’t getting rid of things that don’t give us joy so much as things that we just don’t want to take up valuable space in a moving truck.
To that end, I’ve started selling things on Letgo and FaceBook MarketPlace. At first, it was kinda a rush because I’d post something and get some immediate responses and sold things within a few days. Then things started to settle down. Maybe it was the oncoming Winter, or maybe it was the junk I was trying to unload.
People will contact you at the strangest hours
It seems that LetGo is Tinder for boring, old people! We have two small children in this house and as such, tend to go to bed early. So in the morning when I wake up (or at 3 am when the Insomnia Fairy strikes) I am astounded by all the late hour messages from different people Thrift Saling at 1 am, probably coming down from a wine-and-no-dinner or vodka infused evening.
Especially on the weekends! Do these people have a few adult beverages and then start trolling MarketPlace looking for sweet deals on desks, sofas and that elusive Barrister Bookcase?
You will get ghosted
I’ll respond and sometimes the person writes back. But a lot of times they don’t. Even when they contact me during Normal Hours, we will chat for a bit and then suddenly silence. You can usually see it coming. The graceful ones look for an out: what are the measurements? Oh, that’s too big.
People will try to talk you down on your price no matter how low you go
Pricing is more art than science. No one wants your Pottery Barn sofa that you are discounting by $20 when they can just buy a new one that doesn’t have your ass crack residue on it. At the same time, no one wants to go across town just to pick up an item for $5 unless it is hard to find, or unique in some other way.
Still, there are some people who will try to talk you down even though you are practically giving something away.
People will not leverage technology
Too often people will reach out to me, ask me about it, and then realize that we are 14568 miles apart. Yet LetGo and Facebook MarketPlace have built-in mechanisms that will tell you approximately how far someone is from you. So you don’t have to drive an hour just to pick up some item you could just order off Amazon for $10 more unless you happen to be in that area anyway.
Too often, someone contacts me interested in an item and then they realize we are too far away to make this work. At the same time, I have sold two large pieces of furniture to people who have driven in from Indiana, so distance isn’t always a factor if you price it right.
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