If he doesn’t respond by the time you gave — next. You gave him more than enough time to respond

I, and most sellers, put in our ads, ”Will not hold”, for this very reason. Too many flakes. Will not hold basically means a buyer and seller decide at first contact on the time to meet, look, and possibly exchange, and if they don’t show, you move to the next person. You will not hold it because someone expressed interest, but no concrete plans to meet.

A potential buyer should say they’re interested in looking and/or buying at a specific time after other info (more descriptions, etc) are discussed.

”Hi, I’m interested in your table, when is a good time to see it?”

”Would 4pm tomorrow work for you?”

”Perfect! See you then.” And address and other info given.

If someone expresses interest, but no set-up time, say that it will go to whomever comes first.

No one holds an item. You agree to come with in a few hours or you know it will be sold the first person who arrives with cash. This is the most common frustration with selling on these platforms--people who don't show up. Next time you tell them "be here by 5PM or it will be put back on the market".

Yes, you're being way too kind. I've had a lot of flakes on Marketplace too and always list "no holds". Also, if I see something I want, I wait until I can actually meet up to even ask if it's available still.

I agree with the others —no holds. And I push for a same-day meeting. Someone asks if I’ll take $XX for the item, and I’ll say I will if you can pick it up today. I have recently started accepting Venmo — if someone really wants the thing, they’ll pay via Venmo, then I’ll be looser on pickup time. As for flaky people, if there is no response or a no-show, I simply message them that I’m moving to the next offer, which I promptly do.

I keep my prices a bit low to encourage lots of interest and quick sales. I’ll typically post on a day I know I can be available to meet/be available for pick-up. Being able to inform potential buyers there is a lot of interest tends to create a sense of urgency. Susie might prefer to wait until next Thursday to pick it up, but I’ll guarantee she’ll miraculously find a truck within an hour if she needs to.

Agree - next time fix a pickup time (no big deal that you didn’t, just less annoying for you). If they don’t commit to a pickup time move on. As a buyer if I want an item I know I’d better be able to pick up quickly. Also buyers frequently no-show. So fix pickup time and if they don’t show up no excuses just move down the list.

Thank you! And yep, I already have 2 flakers.

One person wanted to pay half via venmo so I can hold it for her. She said she will pick it up on Wednesday. Any thoughts?

And if she ended up not liking the item when she sees it, just venmo the money? Thanks again.

You can do what you want. How much time do you care to put into selling the item? But common practice is when a buyer contacts you they are told by 5 TODAY, a couple hours to pick up or it's still for sale. Holding for any amount of time is unusual. I think sellers become more accommodating depending on how popular or large their item is. It's rare a buyer is given even 24 hours.

No, I don’t hold no matter what, but that’s just me. My goal is to get the deal done asap, no going back and forth with people. I would just say, no, I have others interested and ready to buy and I need it gone now.

IME, when I first started, I did hold for people — not a single one ended up getting it.

I guess it could depend on an item, though … something more unique and valuable, for instance, that might be more challenging to sell. But I only take cash, others will have to weigh in about Venmo.

Good luck! :)

Just to give the other perspective. My daughter buys a ton on Marketplace. She is often unable to buy due to the 'immediate pick up' standard, they won't even wait until she's off work!! Most recently she found a couch, she needed to find a trailer. If the sellers hadn't been willing to wait on the pick up she wouldn't have it.

I have never used FB Marketplace, I once gave away an item on freecycle and the man I gave the item to kind of gave me an uncomfortable feeling like he was trying to strike up some unwanted friendship with ME. HA! Anyway, I do have a few of those FB buy, sell and trade(BST) pages that I have joined but never found anything, was always taken before I even saw the thing, so now most of these FB pages have dwindled down to almost no activity. Am I missing something? I don't even know how to find these pages, is Marketplace something different from the BST pages?

Cash only no holds. Immediate responses that say they will buy and then want your phone number/address are likely just data collectors.