Does anyone actually have good luck when using marketplace to find something to buy?

[Falcon Ranchero]

Ok so it seems nowadays more people are selling stuff on the facebook marketplace, but pretty much every single time we've found something of interest, it was like pulling teeth trying to either go look at the item or come with cash in hand to pick it up. Three scenarios we've had:

One was a circa 1973 fold-up bike that was reasonably for sale, owner never responded, and the ad was up forever; maybe even still is.

A '60 Plymouth Johan wagon kit for reasonable price; upon messaging, the seller set status to pending but never responded.

And this one, a prospect buy 1969 Pontiac LeMans, freshly restored, reasonable price; multiple messaging with one "I'll call you tomorrow" that never happened. As far as we know, this is a real ad since we were able to find the actual house the car was photographed at, but never anyone there.

SO is it just back luck for us or do you also have similar scenarios while trying to buy something

Edited March 27 by Falcon Ranchero

[stitchdup]

I've been trying to GIVE AWAY a fridge. Plenty interest but nobody has turned up yet even after arranging a time to be home

[tom]

Les, the trick with the fridge is to put it outside with a for sale sign on it.  Then someone will steal it!

[stitchdup]

54 minutes ago, tom said:

Les, the trick with the fridge is to put it outside with a for sale sign on it.  Then someone will steal it!

with my luck they'd leave another

[johnyrotten]

My wife has a small side business, selling on there. lots of flaky people on market place, and anywhere else for that matter. We've had some luck buying things, she just found me two kits last weekend. It's hit or miss, We've learned to look at the area where something is listed or where the person is coming from. Crummy part of town= no show, scam or headache. 

[1930fordpickup]

Flip a coin and guess heads or tails. You get the same luck with buying or selling wifh humans. You might have a string of good luck for awhile. Not sure why people list stuff and dont respond. 

Dont go to the bad parts of town and ignore old ads. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Even the real seller sites like feePay are full of flakes, but at least there's somebody kinda riding herd on them.

I would be much, much happier if I never had to deal with a human ever again.

The real me.   

 

Edited March 28 by Ace-Garageguy

[Falcon Ranchero]

10 hours ago, 1930fordpickup said:

You get the same luck with buying or selling wifh humans.

I remember when my dad was selling his dirt bike on kijiji (an arguably better site then facebook in terms of flaky people) and he only accepted phone calls and some people would call, leave a message and he'd call them back but then they'd never call back and it was just a terrible thing since quite a few people were interested. Finally sold it though a bit less than the bottom line price since he just didn't want to deal the people anymore.

[Eleva]

On 3/27/2025 at 8:35 PM, Falcon Ranchero said:

Ok so it seems nowadays more people are selling stuff on the facebook marketplace, but pretty much every single time we've found something of interest, it was like pulling teeth trying to either go look at the item or come with cash in hand to pick it up. Three scenarios we've had:

One was a circa 1973 fold-up bike that was reasonably for sale, owner never responded, and the ad was up forever; maybe even still is.

A '60 Plymouth Johan wagon kit for reasonable price; upon messaging, the seller set status to pending but never responded.

And this one, a prospect buy 1969 Pontiac LeMans, freshly restored, reasonable price; multiple messaging with one "I'll call you tomorrow" that never happened. As far as we know, this is a real ad since we were able to find the actual house the car was photographed at, but never anyone there.

SO is it just back luck for us or do you also have similar scenarios while trying to buy something. buy likes for twitter can temporarily boost your visibility, but it doesn't provide genuine engagement. It may create an illusion of popularity, but without real interactions, it won’t lead to long-term growth or trust from your audience. Focusing on organic content and engagement is always a more sustainable strategy.

I’ve had decent luck with Marketplace, honestly. Found a Tamiya 1/24 scale Porsche kit last month for $15—barely used, still in the box. Seller was local, met up, and it was a smooth deal. That said, it’s hit or miss. Half the time, people flake or the stuff’s overpriced junk. My tip: filter by distance, check seller ratings, and don’t sleep on messaging fast—good deals go quick. Anyone else score something cool lately, or is it just me? Curious what you’re hunting for!

Edited April 2 by Eleva

[Mike 1017]

I got a complete Carrera Evolution Slot Car Set, 2 extension packs and a Start - Finish Tower For $50.00. The seller was close to my house, so I picked it up no shipping. This was on Facebook Market Place.

Mike

[Falcon Ranchero]

I should also mention that I, and neither do my parents actually have facebook, so we don't know the first thing about how it works but my dad just has a co worker at work who has facebook to message for us, but still that's not the issue, it's the luck of the 'book I guess

[RSchnell]

I only have a facebook account for Marketplace. While I haven't bought many kits from there, I have bought a good number of other things. 

Set of Starrett Bore gauges and 2 Starrett 3" micrometers for $25/everything, Y-block Ford 57-up style 4barrel intake for $75, a medium sized box of C1 Corvette parts worth about $400 for $50, the deals are out there it just takes some time to look. I usually give it a quick look see while having my morning coffee.

[JollySipper]

My sis and her husband are always getting stuff from MarketPlace........ They pretty much can just deal with people that they either know personally or know thru someone, since they live in kind of a small rural area. She did say once that it takes a bit of searching to get good deals..........

[1972coronet]

I bought The Outlaw - my 2004 Crown Victoria , former CHP unit-come-Inglewood Police - from a seller on Marketplace (in spite of my lifelong agoraphobia) in 2021.

Zero issues. 

* disregard the fatso (me) standing peacock-proud by Outlaw. That was four years and 70 lbs. ago

 

 

[Rodent]

13 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

That was four years and 70 lbs. ago

You have dropped 70 lbs? Congratulations if this is true. IIRC, you are still a smoker, right?

(apologies for taking the Marketplace thread down a dirt road)

[slusher]

I have not use market place there is no way to know that you won’t get ripped off. I just don’t trust Facebook..

[1972coronet]

6 hours ago, slusher said:

I have not use market place there is no way to know that you won’t get ripped off. I just don’t trust Facebook..

Not that I'm coming to the defence of Marketplace - one can get ripped off anywhere. When I went to buy my "Outlaw" , I took just enough cash with me to put a hold on the car. I figured that it's better to be potentially taken for 200$ than 1,000$ in cash. Thankfully I didn't have any issues - seller was friendly enough and all. I ended up leaving a C-note with him before I drove to the bank for the remaining funds.

Usually I'd want to meet in a public place to check out what I'm buying, but this - my - case was a little different : I met the seller at his place-of-business.

[LDO]

I see “Beware of this seller” posts on Facebook all the time, from people who got scammed. I wonder why people buy on there at all. Face to face I can see, but mail order? No way. eBay has protections for buyer and seller. I once bought a 1/24 airplane off eBay for a really good  price. It was too good to be true. eBay refunded my money. 

[89AKurt]

My limited experience....... found my '68 Chevy pickup in Scottsdale, worked out fine.  I've posted free stuff on the local town group (living in a city has to be different), which got picked up.

[stavanzer]

I find Estate Sales to be good hunting places, but more for Tools, than model kits. But as others have said, it is a Hit or Miss thing. I'll go to a half dozen Estate Sales, and see nothing, and then I get a hit.

That said, When I have found kits it's usually a whole bunch, of really old kits, or One or Two kits. There seems to be no in between. And, in North America, the single most common kit found at Garage Sales or others, is the 1990's Revell 1/72 SR-71 kit. I have passed over a couple of dozen of those.

[ChrisBcritter]

The guy I sold my '78 Buick LeSabre coupe to on FB Marketplace had good luck; we were liquidating my parents' estate at the time so besides the car he got a bunch of the furniture we didn't want for $100. Nice guy with a wife and young kid so it would be put to good use.

[Jim N]

My wife uses it a bit.  We had to put her father in a memory care facility, and the family had to furnish his room.  She found a small table and a couple of chairs.  We recently bought a high chair for our grandson when the kids visit.  I never let her go alone when she buys something just for safety, but we have not had any problems

She always keeps multiple irons in the fire, and invariably, when she finally buys something, the other sellers start contacting her.

[Falcon Ranchero]

It might have something to do with the area in which I'm trying to buy things. Because get this; I reached out to a relative in southern Ont. about a couple very interesting things I saw for sale in their area, and they were both for sale on FB MP (facebook marketplace) and so I asked if I could have them get those things and i'd pay them back next time they come up here. And wouldn'tcha know, I scored two vintage things on marketplace for the actual first time, never successfully got anything from there until now. Mind you I still don't have them in my possesion but I will in about 2 weeks. But then up here buying something off marketplace is like pulling teeth, a hit or miss, and lately has been miss after miss after miss. But down south I got two hits in a row, so I dunno.