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FB Marketplace

#21
I’ve had good luck selling basses and pedals through Marketplace. Although I did have an instance where I sold a guitar for my son on Marketplace where the buyer said he wanted the guitar but always had some excuse why he couldn’t buy it at the time. I ended up selling the guitar to another buyer and the other guy got super upset, and sent a long profanity filled rant. Luckily I never gave the guy my address. My advice would be - always meet up at a safe place, and don’t give out your home address.
 
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#22
Bleecker said:
Good morning.

After a five year hiatus, I have recently re-joined Facebook. I joined only for the marketplace which wasn't a thing 5 years ago. It took a while for them to let me in, I had to be a member for a period of time and get friends and all that...

I found a bass I am interested in but I find myself a bit apprehensive.

What kind of luck have y'all had buying and selling on the marketplace? Good bad or indifferent, let hear it...

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I just bought my most expensive bass through FB messenger. No worries, just do your due dilligence; like ask for a photo that is oddly specific so you know they have it, and it's in good condition (i.e., the photos they have are not old ones). I also asked the seller to link me his Reverb and ebay account names so I could look up feedback.

Lastly, use Paypal cause it will give you buyer protection.

Easy as!
 
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#24
I like it a lot, the one thing I like better than Craigslist is that like you stated it takes a while to build up a Facebook profile to be able to partake in marketplace. I like the fact that you pretty much can see who you’re going to be interacting with while you talk to them. There’s no Craigslist awkward meetings where you’re both standing in a Wawa parking lot looking around and do the questioning point and nod at each other
 
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#25
Sold a motorcycle, a guitar and a guitar case. No issues at all. Local people and my prices were more than fair.
My wife has bought a few things using FB and it was the same situation. No issues because it was all local.

There is so much crazy stuff on CL. Really, really crazy. Doesn’t mean FB is perfect but my experiences were much better on FB.
 
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#27
My rules for buy and selling on both Craigslist and FB Marketplace. It mostly stems from my general mistrust of people and the lack of recourse if things go wrong. Does this cause me to miss out on potential purchases or sales? Maybe, but I don't care. At least my transactions have all been positive experiences.

Local only. I won't buy anything I can't go and touch before buying. If selling, the buyer must pick it up. I won't ship.

Cash only. Money and merchandise changes hands at the same time.
 
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#28
We have given away a lot of items through FB market. Furniture, old fridge, basketball goal, stuff that is too heavy to take to a charity drop off. It's really cool when some kid comes to your house for a free couch for their first apartment. But I have never sold anything there.

I think for the simplicity of getting kidnapped and/or home invasion CL is still the champion.

If I sell anything it's on TB or ebay.
 
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#29
Both good and bad. Bad was buying a few things from impulse adverts that were too cheap and frankly I should've known better, wasted a few bucks there and got some useless crap and the dispute process with FB and PP was a total waste of my time, effort and frustration. So instead if I see something interesting on FB I might buy it but not from FB Market.

The good was a bass that fit exactly my criteria was offered on a FB Peavey group by an established member, that had several previous deals and a good rep. We communicated, struck a deal and despite shipping delays things worked out fine. Shipping delays were beyond either of our control ( politics) and he had some personal issues but he was doing his best. All in all I did get the bass and it is turning into a really nice addition. IMG_20200901_171518048.jpg
 
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#30
I sold a few things on there from tires, computer parts, drum kit and BA210 combo with no issues. I tried to buy a Mesa cab from a guy. I asked him for more pictures since he had only posted one picture. He said it was in storage and would send them to me later. A day later I asked if he sold it or found time to get more pictures. Well he never did get more pics, so I assumed all his stuff in storage was double locked and he needed the money first to get it out. I think it is still for sale from 3 weeks ago. Just have to be careful and if it sounds to good to be true, you know the rest.
 
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#32
Bleecker said:
Good morning.

After a five year hiatus, I have recently re-joined Facebook. I joined only for the marketplace which wasn't a thing 5 years ago. It took a while for them to let me in, I had to be a member for a period of time and get friends and all that...

I found a bass I am interested in but I find myself a bit apprehensive.

What kind of luck have y'all had buying and selling on the marketplace? Good bad or indifferent, let hear it...

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Most of my friends use it to flip gear locally without having to ship it because of high shipping cost and seller fees of other sites. So basically it’s taken the place that Craigslist used to occupy way way back in the day. I’ve never bought anything off or it. Because usually local musicians around here that I know tend to make a regular post mentioning gear they are selling and the marketplace prices seem a bit high to me. I have sold a compressor pedal with Facebook but it was a local friend who replied to a regular post I made and he handed me the cash, no online payment stuff or anything
 
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#34
I recently ,back in October sold my Boston Whaler 305 conquest boat. I had it listed on the big boating sites and had nothing but a bunch of tire kickers.
My son said ...Dad...I will list it on facebook marketplace...I am not on facebook, so I said sure...The boat sold to the first man and his wife who came to look at it...they drove from Ohio, I am in N.Y. so yeah, facebook market is the new and much much better craigslist...I do not even want to compare it to craigslist...way too many scammers on there...Facebook market place is the real deal!
 
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#35
Bleecker said:
Good morning.

After a five year hiatus, I have recently re-joined Facebook. I joined only for the marketplace which wasn't a thing 5 years ago. It took a while for them to let me in, I had to be a member for a period of time and get friends and all that...

I found a bass I am interested in but I find myself a bit apprehensive.

What kind of luck have y'all had buying and selling on the marketplace? Good bad or indifferent, let hear it...

Thanks.
Click to expand...

As far as buying...
  • I've bought a bass, 1986 Epiphone Accu Bass that needed a new pickup ($65)drove about 50 mins one way to get it
  • traded a bass for a bass, drove an hour each way
  • bought a Hartke 410 cab ($65) drove about 20 mins each way
  • bought a Hartke HA3500C head in excellent condition ($100) and drove an hour to get it
  • got a Peavey 215 horn loaded cab with Eminence Beta 15 A drivers, for free, from the same person who sold me the Hartke Head
  • bought a set of a Audio Technica ATH-M50X headphones ($45) and got them delivered to my workplace
I love FB marketplace, but I have one rule I strictly adhere to. I have to be able to put whatever it is I'm buying in my hands, try it out, etc... before I fork over the cash. I do not buy anything through marketplace that has to be shipped to me.

As far as selling...

I did try to sell a truck with no luck, but then because of Marketplace it got leased from me for use in a movie with John Travolta, Shania Twain, Michael Madsen, and Kevin Dunn instead. That was pretty cool. I got paid $200 a day, got fed some pretty decent food, and got to see what all goes on behind the scenes and what it takes to make a movie.
 
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#36
Best to do marketplace deals in person, in a public place. You get to play it and stay safe.

that said, I did manage to work out a deal on a vintage bass a while ago that shipped from several states away. It worked out well, but I spent about 2 weeks, and several phone calls to get it worked out to everyone’s satisfaction.
 
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#37
DoctorZee said:
As a seller it’s kind of a pain because you get flooded with “is this available?” messages from people you never hear back from. For buyers, it’s just as good/bad as Craigslist, as others have stated.
Click to expand...
Right? What’s up with that? Shouldn’t “is this available” be followed by “can I look at it, can I buy it, or will you take less? But no. It’s available. “okay, just wondered. Thanks...”
 
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#38
I use it regularly for selling the basses I flip. I've had good luck and never an issue. I find it safer than Craigslist (no spammers) and reaches another group of potential local buyers. I always do the meet-up at a parking lot at a grocery store by my house. Daylight hours only. Cash Only. It also helps that there's a big new police station right across the street. My only beef is FB's filtering for areas close to your location is flakey.

But as usual with this, or any other type of online sale is Caveat Emptor. I always take my little VOX headphone amp and the most common truss rod wrenches with me if I'm the buyer. If the truss rod won't work, either the price goes way down or the deal is off. Some sellers honestly don't realize there might be issues. They bought the bass for little Johnny, who never really learned to play it and it's been sitting in the closet untouched for a few years and the neck has been gotten stuck in a bad position. I've had to explain this to a few sellers and they've been good about realizing their instrument isn't worth the asking price.

It's the same as buying here off TB classifieds. No guarantee and you pays your money and takes your chances. I've bought a lot off here and only had an issue one time. In the end it was fixable but cost me extra above the purchase price.
 
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