Gumtree

by groundhog Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:47 am

Since we will not be returning home to Canada this year that will save us about £7k in travel costs so decided to spend some cash on a new bed and furniture and deliberately shopped local in doing so.
Bottom line, thought as the old stuff was far too good to tip and charities don't want beds thought I would try Gumtree.
Within minutes of advertising received an e mail from Roland saying please e mail my mother on xxxx as she wishes to buy the items.
This smacks of some sort of scam to me, why would I e mail someone when they already have the details of how to contact me so obviously told him if she was interested call me.
What do you think ever heard of any scams like this please!

PS: If anyone wants to buy a king size tempur bed plus brass bedstead and some electric leather reclining lounge furniture you know where I am hugegrins

by kaspian Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:42 am

Hi Hog , I'm sure the British Heart Foundation would be glad of your bed and chairs etc as they have specific stores dedicated to furniture. I helped my mate clear his mother's house and they took almost everything he offered . They also picked everything up and he gave them the option to take or leave and for obvious reasons the only things left were mattresses but they took the bed frames. Charities have had hard times lately and at least it might do some good.

by Paulmold Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:57 am

Our local council has a recycled furniture division that pick up all furniture including mattresses as long as they are not stained. Perhaps your council do similar.

by groundhog Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:49 am

Cheers Guys
Yes we have given stuff to the British Heart Foundation in the past and expect that is where the sofas will end up. The people delivering the new bed will take the mattress away so not a problem and we have a seven foot trailer so taking stuff to the tip is easy.
My question was rather more about when someone asks you to email another party could that be linked to some sort of scam, is there a way they can access your computer by some sort of wizardry for instance? I wouldn't do it but many might.

by Mike187 Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:23 am

If that email address was a clickable link then I think it could be used to install something on your computer In the background, so you did right to avoid it.

Mike

by kaspian Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:34 am

Hog , Gumtree replaces your e mail address with one known to them only , same with a phone number, yours is replaced by theirs so there is no direct contact between you and a prospective buyer I believe. By asking you to e mail someone personally they are circumventing built in securities. Why does he not send link for your ad to his mother and let her contact you direct? Might be innocent but today who knows?

by RogerThat Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:48 am

We know the Latin for Buyer Beware but what's the Latin for Seller Beware??

by groundhog Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:51 am

caveat venditor.....( oh OK I admit I googled it) hugegrins

by kaspian Sun Jul 19, 2020 11:00 am

Just sold a towbar, Fiamma bike rack and ultra box on Gumtree without issue. Yes you do get the whats your lowest price and will you take £5 and some coloured beads for your £400 item? But I ended up selling to 3 decent buyers.,
Saying that I sold an item on Gumtree stating proceeds were going to charity. Guy messaged me for days trying to beat down price and eventually I agreed just for some peace! He turned up next day in his nearly new Bentley continental GT coupe which he said he paid nearly £150k for - after haggling over a fiver on a sale I stated clearly money was going to a charity!!

by raymondo Wed Jul 22, 2020 2:49 am

I feel your pain at the problems of disposing of unwanted but good furniture.

I recently had to clear out the house of a deceased elderly relative, getting rid of her perfectly sound furniture was a total nightmare, the better (more modern) stuff I put in the local auction a nice if somewhat old fashioned chesterfield suite that was less than a year old and had probably never been sat in sold for £15 - take off collection fees and vendors premium and I was left with less than a tenner. The auction wouldnt touch a lot of the stuff, charity shops werent interested either so perfectly good (better than Ikea) furniture hit the local dump.

by groundhog Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:05 am

Yes it is sad really, some quality gear is worth just nothing. We have an ercol dining table, chairs and dutch dresser which were Lady G's grandparents so very old, apart from the normal patena excellent. Can't give them away because they are dark wood so they sit in a spare room now known as Grandma's room as neither of us can face tipping them.

Thanks for all the comments on security, appreciated. In the end the guys from furnitureworld based in Redruth, Cornwall just took all the old stuff away for us, great service and highly recommend the for price and doing a deal nationwide.

by Roopert Wed Jul 22, 2020 10:23 am

I know this is wandering rather a long way from the original topic, but please do consider Freegle if you have stuff like furniture and other similar items to shift.

I've "rehomed" fridges, freezers and quite a lot of smaller stuff that way, and you often find that the people taking the items are younger people setting up their first home.

by Mike187 Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:26 am

Freecycle is similar to freegle and it is amazing what gets offered and taken on the site. Saved me a few trips to the tip.

Items that might have some value are first offered to charities first.

Mike

by Roopert Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:49 am

Mike187 wrote:Freecycle is similar to freegle

Indeed. Freegle came into being about 10 years ago when US-owned Freecycle decided to "take control" of a number of successful UK groups, dismissing the local moderators.

Freegle was the UK response, which allowed UK groups to be "owned" by their UK-based moderators and not by someone in the US.

by Slow-Lane Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:08 am

In case it's of any help, as well as the British Hearth Foundation there may be other local charities that will take furnishings. Here in Oxford we have the excellent Emmaus - emmaus.org.uk Like BHF they will collect furniture and white goods. Oxfam in Oxford now take furniture too.

by groundhog Wed Jul 29, 2020 8:00 am

I saw a 60" television on gumtree today, £10 but volume stuck on full.......
Well. I couldn't turn that down snigger

by FreelanderUK Wed Jul 29, 2020 8:18 am

by Bobskate Wed Jul 29, 2020 9:58 am

groundhog wrote:I saw a 60" television on gumtree today, £10 but volume stuck on full.......
Well. I couldn't turn that down

That’s is truly dreadful....but nevertheless quite funny! hugegrins

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