I’ve advertised a car for sale on Craiglist and facebook Marketplace. Within the first several hours I got several messages asking if it’s still available. They don’t strike me as how someone who was actually interested in the car would respond. Is this a typical scam tactic? Should I reply that it is available, or just ignore these?
Also got a message saying “could pick up today” asking me to text their phone. I’m wondering if it’s just a way to harvest my phone number. Should I respond or ignore?
Good used cars are in short supply and get sold quickly. So I can see someone wanting to know if it was still available. Took me only two days to sell mine and then I continued to get inquiries for about three weeks. So not a trick question IMHO.
Many years ago I sold a motorbike that I advertised in a daily newspaper with just a phone number. I think most enquiries started like that. And they continued for quite a while.
Okay, you may be right. What had me wondering was A) these were within hours (one within minutes) of an obviously new listing, where it’s very unlikely it’s been sold already, and B) the lack of any other question, e.g. “when can I see it?” which I would expect an interested buyer to ask.
Not a text message to my phone. I think they’re from facebook Messenger. And I would expect a question or statement about arranging to see the vehicle. Harvest for a list of known good numbers to sell to a telemarketer.
This is a pretty regular way to start a sale on Facebook. I do a lot of item swapping on purchase nothing groups and items can get saved in minutes from postings. I think it’s become the equivalent of “hello, I’m interested.” I’m not saying bots don’t use it, but plenty of real live people, do too.
When I sell on Craigslist it was in no way connected to Facebook Messenger. I get anonymized emails. I do not give my phone number until I have qualified a buyer as being a serious buyer through a couple of emails.
Also, when I advertised a car on Craigslist a few years ago I got four of five similar scam attempts and zero serious buyers. I probably won’t try it again.The typical scam is to offer your asking price and say they are remote and will send a company to pick it up. They will send you a counterfeit check for the sale price plus transport fee and ask you to wire the transport fee to the third party. Wires are irrevocable, the check bounces after your money is gone, nobody ever comes to pick up the car.
If you are communicating on Messenger for a Facebook sale, just keep using Messenger. It is just as effective as texting if you have the app on your phone, and gives you a layer of insulation.
On FB Maketplace, the reply message already says “Is this still available?” so I don’t think it’s necessarily scammy. Plus there are people like my husband who peruse that forum a lot, so if he saw something he wanted, he’d respond right away.
I’d reply with “Yes, it’s available - when would you like to see it?” and take it from there.
I’ve been buying and selling on Craigslist since forever, and what you should do is edit your ad to say, “If ad is up, car is still available. Messages asking if it’s available will be ignored.” and then ignore them. Either people just wanting your phone number, or just tire kicking, time bandits in general.
I also NEVER list a phone number in the ad, I have a Hotmail address I use solely for buying/selling on CL. After a few back and forth messages, I might give a cell number once I’m convinced they are legit. As far as I know, this has never prevented a sale, since I’ve successfully sold everything I’ve wanted to.
Last week, I spotted a desirable old truck listed on FB Marketplace at about 10 pm, two hours North of me. I was handing him the cash 13 hours later, and his phone was blowing up with messages from other interested parties the whole time I was there looking at it. It is certainly a seller’s market right now.
This is good advice. Craigslist masks your email so that you remain anonymous. I usually get the “text me” bullshit from advertising on Facebook Marketplace. No, you contacted me via Messenger, so why would I text you? None of the people to whom I’ve responded “I don’t give out my cell number” have responded further.
Same for Craigslist. There is almost zero reason for someone to ask you to text them unless they’re phishing for personal information. If they can’t be bothered to use the email system, they’re not serious buyers. I don’t mind the “Is it still available” questions. It’s the ones where you’re selling a book and the query is “Does this item still work?” that are amusing.
When I list things on FB marketplace, especially cars, but really anything, I usually put instruction in the ad to say “Don’t just ask if it’s available. If you are interested in the item let me know when you can come pick it up.”
It is very common for people to leave an ad up even after the item is sold. This is across all platforms. Nothing specific to FB marketplace. Any place that allows people to post free ads will have lots of ads for stuff that’s already been sold. People ask if it’s available because they don’t want to waste time asking a bunch of questions in an email for an item that’s already been sold.
Keep in mind that you’re dealing with the general public. Each person is unique. Some people asking for your info will be scammers and some will be normal people. You can’t make any global generalizations. Asking you to text their phone is not necessarily from a scammer. Some people prefer to do everything on their phone rather than through FB, email, or whatever. To avoid scammers getting your real phone number, you can look into getting a Google Voice phone number. That’s a separate phone number that’s connected to Google Voice and you can use it for texting with random sellers.
It’s not usual to ask if they can pick up today. I’ve even done that with cars on craigslist. If it’s an item I’m really interested in, I don’t want to take a chance with someone else getting it.
I recently sold my gf’s old PowerWagon (like a big wheelbarrow with a 7 HP motor) on Facebook Marketplace. She wanted it gone ASAP to make room in the barn for other things. They sell for $2500 new. I listed it as running, with pictures, for $100.
I got dozens of people who wanted it within the first 30 minutes it was online. The very first guy was local and wanted to pick it up for my asking price NOW. He arrived 20 minutes after I placed the ad. We are getting together with him and his wife this spring to see his tiny goats (pygmys, dwarfs, and micros).
“is this still available” is pretty much a standard question to ask. If I’m selling something the ad doesn’t come down until the item is gone with the cash in my hand. So the ad might be up for a half hour or more before it comes down. If I were to put “if the ad is up, it’s still available” in the posting that could be a false statement for a short while.
My biggest peeve with online sales is when I advertise an item for a price, I link to the item at an online retailer that shows the ‘new’ price, and state that my much lower price is firm, then people try to offer half what I’ve stated is the ‘firm’ price. “Will you take $50?” Can you not read?