Thoughts on Facebook Marketplace?

A friend who recently downsized cleared out his house using Marketplace for items too big to ship, otherwise he used eBay. The purpose was house related, not audio related, and the incoming cash was nice but not essential.

After looking through the site with an audio focus, there is A LOT of mid-if gear and music at seemingly good prices, plus some vintage. With all the caveats for buyer beware, etc., what is the group’s experience with FB vs Craigslist or on line sites?

 

We've used it for local items. I picked up a nice CD rack that happened to be someone I knew. My wife has picked up a bed, rugs and a few other house items at very low prices.

 

I like facebook marketplace. I sell a ton of collectible crap (toys, etc) that I am no longer into. I made over $2K over the holidays selling used Lego.

I had some vinyl up, but it did not go fast. Some of these were 5 and 6-LP sets (Grateful Dead) that I was asking $100, and I was getting offers of $25. I've entertained some offers, and it's always a zinger "ok, can you include shipping to ____??? Your stuff will sell, you just have to wait for that one person that really wants and appreciates what you have.

Having said all this, less playing around than Craigslist for the most part (don't necessarily have to exchange numbers if you use messenger on your phone), and you can peek in on someone's profile to make sure they aren't insane. I avoided a deal after questionable photos (gang-banger typs stuff) on their profile after they texted me incessantly trying to whittle down a deal on some sports stuff. So, there are nuts out there, but most people have been great. I meet everyone at the local gas station to ease the worry.

 

I picked up 300+ CDs for $25 just a few minutes from my house yesterday. The seller used to work at Sony and was moving. He initially asked me if I had a store. When I said no, just a music lover, he seemed happy they were going to a good home and not being flipped.

 

I used it a few times for local pick ups. I was thinking of listing some $2 records on there as a job lot deal.

I see a lot of cd/dvd/lp listings. Nothing that led me to make an offer as most cds were junky titles. No 300 for $25 owned by ex-Sony guys up here

I stopped using Craigslist years ago. I found it to be useless even before I had even thought of FB marketplace. But up here we have Kajiji.ca for online classifieds which is really popular and really good in terms of response when selling and selection when buying (usually). I think it's probably overtaken Craigslist in Canada for selling and buying of used goods.

There are other apps out there that people use. I forget the name of it but my friend uses one to buy and sell clothes. I was going to list some spiffy shoes on there but never got around to it.

 

I took a small gamble as I could only see a few of the titles in his ad, but it had a Coltrane album on top so I figured I was safe. I wound up with a bunch of Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Kiss and a lot of Hits/Best Ofs and a few sealed dlx editions I could probably sell. The 4CD Bille Holiday box by itself made it worth the $25.

 

My wife has made several purchases. A used Weber natural gas grille, and 4 chairs for our island are two that I remember, as I went along. She also bought a kids table with 4 chairs that are sturdy enough for adults to sit on.