Well, first, you can dismiss anyone who argues with you. Meeting at a public place ensures everyone's safety (buyer and seller) and I don't understand why someone would argue with that.

I haven't sold anything on FB M for a while, but when I did, I would review the person's profile just to be sure they *appeared* to be an actual person. I'm not sure if you're still able to do that.

Otherwise, just choose the first one who's most agreeable and convenient to your timeframe.

If they flake, remove the listing. Then, list it again for $20 more, and start over. Your original price may have been too low. I know an extra $20 may not be worth it, but sometimes a slightly higher price will weed out some people.

I'm not sure I would engage with strangers like this. The flaking out % is so high and there you are waiting at the agreed upon location at a certain time and they've already forgot about it and you.

I've put things up for free on Buy Nothing on FB and people simply don't show up 90% of the time. I don't do that anymore. Even the moderator of our local Buy Nothing is a serial flaker. Ask me how I know!

If the item is of value and use to others, perhaps think on listing it on ebay for a Buy It Now. It sits there until it sells. You set the price and charge your shipping fee as you see fit. If and when it sells, you take it to the post office to mail it off. I would probably do that instead as I'm not interested in waiting on people who have no intentions of not showing up.

You will get scammers asking for your phone number. Never give out your phone. I report those to FB as scammers and bloc the account. If you give your number, they will then want to send a code. DO NOT ANSWER! They will use your number to get a Google phone and use it to scam others.

Edit your listing to say FIRM after the price. You can also say no phone available.

Meeting at the police station is what I do for small items.

I also say first come, no holds. I cleaned out a lot of stuff we not longer needed last year. I felt like it was worth it. I need to start again.

I think that most do not realize that you can change the 'is this still available?". I wish FB would delete the auto answer.

FWIW, when you donate, you can affix a note to the item stating what it is...

I thought if I donated it that it would get discarded because nobody would know what it was.

I offer this kind of thing on the Buy Nothing group. Or if it's something so nice I really don't want to see it festering in a goodwill. It's also good for things you can't donate -- like roller shades, or an open box of expensive laundry detergent that I didn't like.

The Buy Nothing group is restricted to your neighborhood. I only have to sift through a few takers, and I choose one and arrange a "porch pick up", where they just come and get it w/o any contact (I know it's a little antisocial but whatever). It's way more convenient than trying to sell something.

I asked the same quesrion here recently about people posting other names in a thread. Apparenly, people are too lazy to forward a post to someone who might be interested in a post, so they just write their name and that person gets a notice = tagging?

Oly, I'm not sure if I read it here or someone else but when people tag others in a marketplace message some people think the intent is to confuse the seller. It's harder to keep track of profiles, VENMO accounts, names, etc. Others think it's a FB glitch.

Based on my interactions, I think it is an attempt to confuse the seller. It's the same people who badger for a phone number and say they'll be right over

This is why I don’t do anything on the actual FB marketplace, but only on my well-moderated, uber-local. private group marketplace. If you are a flake, if you try to negotiate the price. you are removed from the group. In fact, there are rules for how you structure your post. so that it doesn’t use FB marketplace algorithms. There is another area Marketplace that would get me more contacts, but at the risk that there are more flakes and schysters.

My scamer to buyer ratio is about 5:1. If it’s not offered, the first question I ask is ”where are you located?” I ask regardless of what they message me with. Scammers will bail when you ask. Otherwise, I try to honor the first come, first served rule.

Unfortunately most sellers won't 'hold' and object until after work/the weekend etc and that cuts out plenty of serious shoppers. My daughter has purchased much for her new home on FBM but can't respond to much she would love to have as she can't go that day to pick it up. Also the 'is this still available' button is EASILY hit when not meant to (ask me how I know), it needs to not be there!!

You all have far more patience than I do. And your FB marketplaces are obviously very different than ours in rural Georgia.!

How timely. A week ago, neighbor opened a FBM account to sell some household items as they prepare to downsize. She's never been on FB until now. She used her dog as her picture as she was very hesitant to be on social media. The friend that walked her through it helped her keep it as locked down as possble. She had a few things listed. She was INUNDATED with messages that had nothing to do with her items. Many many many inquiries about her dog, where they groomed it, the vet they used in our town etc. She said she could not keep up with all the garbage (spam) messages. Today she shut the entire thing down. Selling is not for the faint of heart it would appear.

You just delete and block the ones about the dog. No reason to panic, or answer.

Click on the message, hit the three little dots, mark as spam, it will ask if you want to block. Easy-peasy, no problem. Post goes away.