Buying & Selling on Facebook isn’t easy sometimes. There are a few things you may want to keep in mind when listing your products.
1) If your item is priced below market value, be prepared for a lot of interest. (Or, if you’re listing a unicorn- don’t know what a unicorn is? Check out my post about Lululemon Slang!) It can get pretty hairy, pretty fast. Let’s say, for example, I’m selling my April WAFS (we are from space) Stride Jacket in a size 6. The April WAFS Stride is a unicorn for sure.
Let’s say I put it in the exchange for $75, when it’s easily worth double. I often see them selling for about $150 on eBay. You must be prepared for a lot of interest. Great, right? Wrong! Unfortunately, some people who see the ad before you get a chance to delete it in 5 minutes after your item is sold are going to be MAD AT YOU for not selling to them! Why? Well, why not? It was their unicorn after all. Not to mention the fact that it was probably the unicorn of whoever you sold it to, as well as pretty much anyone else who doesn’t have one. Honestly, it’s a fantastic piece and I got mine for $125 and I felt LUCKY.
So, you ask, how do I prevent people from being mad at me just because I’m trying to sell my piece quickly, at a good price? First, I would caution you against having too fantastic of prices. Price your items according to my post about “determining the value of your item.” If it doesn’t sell fast enough, lower the price by 5 or 10 percent and go from there. But, you don’t want to wait, you want your item to sell very quickly & you’re willing to take a loss, you say? Ok, price your items as you wish BUT in order to prevent people from getting mad at you write the following things in your ad:
A) PayPal ONLY, no EMT
Why? Because EMT can take a while (sometimes hours) to show up in your bank, you could be losing customers and people will be losing patience. You don’t want to take someone’s word for it that they made the transfer only to find our hours later that they didn’t & have lost out on a faster, but different potential customer.
B) No Holds
Why? I think this one is a little more self-evident. Some people I know will do holds. For example, if a girl says, “can you hang onto it until I get home from work?” You have to say “No, first come first serve.” First of all, it creates a sort of urgency for the buyers, making it more likely that you’ll sell your item faster. Secondly, it prevents someone from being offended if you won’t hold it for them. And third, it makes the whole thing more fair. The first person to put money into your PayPal account gets the great deal you’re offering. What’s more fair than that?
C) I’m not going in order of comments, I’m going in order of Private Messages.
Why? Honestly, the internet is filled with entitled people. Sometimes, someone will comment first in the post “me,” then PM me, but I’ll have already received a few private messages from other people interested in my item. Then, they get angry with me and they say “I commented first, so I should get it.” Meanwhile, I just sold it to the first person who PM’d me, but hadn’t gotten around to deleting the post yet. Some people think that if you comment in the thread first you should get it. But honestly, it’s whoever gets in touch with the original poster first who get the first crack at it. Sometimes its not even the first person to PM because sometimes PMs end up in Facebook’s elusive “Other” folder, while those from someone else will be sent to your inbox. Main point: If you say you’re going in order of PMs no one can criticize you for who you choose to sell to because, while comments in posts are public, you are the only one who can see your inbox. Maybe you just don’t want to sell to that person, who knows & who cares, as long as you say “Going in order of PMs.”
UPDATE
It has been nearly a year since I posted this, and I just wanted to update. These rules still apply, however, recently the WAFS April Stride has been selling for less. It has been selling for about $100, down from what I quoted above. I believe the reason for this is because Lululemon is now manufacturing the Stride jacket again. This increases supply, and reducing demand for used ones. Thanks for reading, and Happy Selling!
