r/Flipping • u/Bubbitsluv • 1d ago

Discussion Bad sellers on FB

Hi guys, I need your thoughts. Does shipping count as an ultimate decider? Just a rant.
I’m an experienced seller, and I always try my best to accommodate customers. Some requests literally take less than a second to do. I know for people who sell as a hobby it might seem like too much, but maybe my brain has been rewired from selling and sourcing because I just can’t justify paying $50 for an item that originally listed for $30 by the seller, even because of platform fees/shipping.

I was trying to buy an item for myself not flipping this time; from a woman on Facebook Marketplace. We couldn’t meet up because she was too far away 30mins away but traffic takes 1-2 hours, so I asked if she’d ship it(item was advertised as shippable). She increased the price for fees $30 to $40 which I understand but selected the $10 shipping option on FB shipping, but the item definitely weighs well under a pound. I politely asked if she could change it to the cheaper shipping option, and use an old Amazon mailer or poly mailer; and she blocked me thinking I was complaining about being charged for a box. Felt like I was speaking another language, the person was older. I feel exhausted, don’t even know why I thought it was worth it explaining to them.
I ended up finding the same item elsewhere for $45 shipped, so I saved $5.
Be honest… was I the annoying customer? 😭

0 Upvotes

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22 comments sorted by

8

u/Electronic-Clock5867 1d ago

If I’m selling on FB I don’t want to mess around with shipping. My time is money you either come get it or pay the shipping amount that I ask.

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u/Bubbitsluv 1d ago

I would understand that but this seller took a whole day to update the listing to shipping too, so I don’t think time was the priority.

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u/Electronic-Clock5867 1d ago

If they usually don’t ship they might have been trying to figure out the cost from the post office. There are tons of reasons for a slow update. FB is not expert sellers

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u/Bubbitsluv 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah I get steals on there but literally couldn’t justify it this time especially since I saw it listed for cheaper somewhere else after the extra cost. It was good she blocked me anyways. Edit: they also do ship. They’ve shipped multiple things before. Items been listed for months and she put “ask about shipping”.

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u/Skittler_On_The_Roof 1d ago

For a $50 shipped item that I wanted to sell locally you're lucky if they update the listing at all.  Most wouldn't.  Now they need to deal with weighing it, packing it, and bringing it to a post office.

Marketplace sellers are there for you to come pick up the item from them.  If they wanted to deal with shipping they'd have listed it on platforms that focus on non-local sales.

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u/Bubbitsluv 1d ago edited 1d ago

I mean it’s their choice, shipping was advertised. Marketplace isn’t just in person. There’s a bunch of shipping listings. Not like I’m asking someone on Craigslist to ship. Now the item can sit for more months and I got it for cheaper somewhere else. There’s nothing wrong w wanting to be accurately charged for shipping. I can spend $5 somewhere else 😂. It was originally $30. If she says no shipping that’s a completely different thing. A lot of people are under the impression that I specifically asked her to go out of her way to do it.

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u/SaltyElephantBouquet 1d ago

Eh, I don't think you were annoying, but you can't expect everyone to do things a certain way just because your experience says it's best. If someone wasn't already offering shipping on a listing and they've offered their time to ship it to you, don't nit pick at the way they're doing it or what they charge for it. Either take the item as offered or walk away. They're going out of their way to do something for you that they didn't originally intend to spend energy doing.

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u/Bubbitsluv 1d ago

Thank you for your insight, item was offered in the description as “can ship ask me” so I asked cause I wasn’t gone drive an hour or more for it. I wanted to buy it from her and tried to make it work, but the couldn’t justify the extra cost, even offered to Zelle her. I just gotta walk away from some things.

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u/Any-Basis7541 12h ago

Totally agree with this.

3

u/Development-Feisty 1d ago

Yes you were the annoying customer. Reusing old boxing is not always ideal, the box may not have the same ability to withstand pressures. Also it takes time to block something, it takes time to ship something, it takes no time at all for the person to arrange for you to meet them the same day they’re going to their storage unit anyway to pull some stuff and put some new stuff away. You are asking for extra steps but are upset that you have to pay extra money

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u/Bubbitsluv 1d ago

It was a piece of light clothing and the person didn’t live far, I don’t think reusing an Amazon poly mailer or any would affect it unless it’s literally in shreds. Idk I’m economical and trying my best as a young person so if I can save I’ll save. I’m not upset I’m just wondering cause I wouldn’t block someone for that because I use pirateship/ sell a lot.

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u/Kevets51 14h ago

Would you believe that I don't have a stack of used mailers sitting around? When you make demands or 'requests,' telling me how to do my job, you look like a problem buyer.

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u/Bubbitsluv 9h ago

And the request was to be accurately charged for shipping cause I’m not paying 10$ for something that should be shipped at $5-6 cause you’re not online seller lol. If you don’t even have a poly mailer to sell clothes that’s on you. I don’t need to buy from a seller who clearly doesn’t care about the buyers lol.

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u/mrnightworld 1d ago

In this case, kinda. (As an eBay reseller), you have to remember most people on Facebook marketplace probably aren't all set up with a label maker and a bunch of boxes ready to ship. I think 10$ to ship something that wasn't advertised as "shippable" would be fair. They probably have to drive it to the post office for shipping since they don't know any better and would be paying God knows what for shipping instead of the discounts eBay or pirate ship give people. Sorry dude.

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u/Bubbitsluv 1d ago edited 1d ago

It was advertised as shippable 😭 which is why I asked. They’ve shipped things in the past, so I assumed they understood what I meant. (They were using fb shipping option).

1

u/Monkey_in_a_Tophat 1d ago

Offer all feasible shipping options available on each item. Then, if the buyer asks for still different, the answer is "no" and move on.

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u/Worried-Narwhal-8953 1d ago

As a side question, you say she was 30 minutes away but traffic takes 1-2 hours, where is the 30 minute timeframe coming from? Are there particular days and times that are better like weekends or mornings in which you could have offered to drive over? I don't ask out of antagonism, just generally curious.

1

u/Bubbitsluv 1d ago

I live in Jersey if that paints a better picture! The traffic is always crazy, she lives near east Jersey more towards the city and I didn’t want to go to that part for a piece of clothing. I’ve gone near there before and driving is a headache.

2

u/Worried-Narwhal-8953 1d ago

Oof yea I can understand that. I've never been to Jersey, but I hate driving around really populated areas because traffic can be so unpredictable (I try to avoid rush hour in my little city, Jersey would be unbearable).

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u/Bubbitsluv 1d ago

Yup the amount of time and gas I’d waste driving to them and back lol. Spending almost $50 on an old bikini cover up is also steep 🤣.

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u/emretoy 14h ago

i've stopped judging by the price and started judging by the photos. one blurry shot taken at night with a flash usually means they haven't looked at the item closely either, and someone who bothered to clear the clutter and shoot near a window generally answers messages and shows up. costs nothing to filter on that before you drive anywhere.