A yard sale page on Facebook (“Friending Dead Presidents on Facebook (The World of the Facebook Garage Sale)”).
Facebook has opportunities for its users to sell their unwanted or no longer used items. The social media platform has ‘yard sale pages’ where one can sell what they want (within their guidelines). It is free to use and quick to learn. Just join a group, take a picture of the item(s), post and set a price, and wait for people to comment. The problem with using this is the terminology and the people one might come across.
Know the rules (Casey).
The biggest issue here would be that safety is the number one priority. After making initial contact and agreeing to the sale, consider your personal safety such as where to meet people or giving them a home address. The next thing is the group’s rules. They can restrict what can be sold, and not adhering to the guidelines will get a person suspended or blocked from the page. Also, deciding whether to only accept cash transactions or another form of payment. Then, as with all things, there is a certain jargon that people tend to use on these sales sites.
Accepting cash for items sold (“Benefits of Selling Your Gold for CASH, The”).
The first step should be learning the yard sale page’s rules. Knowing them ahead of time will less likely get one booted off the site. Second would be to learn the jargon used with the posts. While there are many, a few include PM for ‘private message’, OBO for ‘or best offer’, and PPU for ‘pending pickup’. When safety is concerned, just remember this saying: if you wouldn’t want to see it on a billboard, don’t post it on the Internet. Never post an address or number for everyone to see. Also, it would be wise to not be alone when meeting the buyer. Either be with a friend or meet them in a public place, like a busy parking lot, where many people are around. Then, to avoid being cheated, make sure that the payment is received before surrendering the item, and that will usually mean not taking a check or cashier’s check from a stranger, as it may take up to ten days for those to clear and that person will be long gone.
I suggest following everything as instructed in the last paragraph. However, there are some other tips I would recommend. If a person wants a specific price with no haggling, write in the post “Price is firm.” To attract more people, use OBO and only accept reasonable offers. When working on a place to meet, I’d usually go to meet somewhere else. But if the item is too big to carry in a car, say pickup only. However, always keep personal safety in mind. When offering ‘pickup’ and trust the buyer, tell them an address in a private message.
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