When you say you’re going to be here at 9am, get here at 9am or let me know you’re going to be late

You don't need a door bell. Tell them to msg you when they rock up. This way you get to ignore them at your front door for a time equal to how late they were.

I had some people coming to get something at 10 am. At 9 they said traffic was bad and they'd be late. At 10:30 they stopped responding. I started making other arrangements to sell it. They showed up at 1.

Go about your daily life. If this dude finally contacts you you can say "ah sorry, come 9.15 with no communication I sold it to someone else". If they don't respect your time why should you respect theirs?

FB Marketplace and other sites like it are the absolute worst for this. IDK why people are so free with wasting other people’s time. It takes 5 seconds to send a message saying you changed your mind or you will be delayed or whatever.

Happened to me as a buyer. Guy told me to meet him at his place an hour away at 3pm. I leave and got there a little before 3pm. Messaged the guy and told him I was there. No response. I gave it a little time since I wanted the item, told the guy I will hang in the area for an hour. 4:30pm I said fuck it I’m going home. Guy texts me at 4:45pm and said sorry coming home from vacation, be there in 15. I said never mind. Guy tried messaging me for the next 3 days all of which I ignored

The infuriating part is that it is not a behavior exclusive to FB marketplace. A lot of people have just decided to be late, and they think you are a snob because you are on time.

Like, if you can't be there at 9, then say 12:00!

Last time I sold a thing on FB Marketplace we agreed for her to come by at 5:30 and that she’d pay with cash. She ended up knocking on my door around 8 because she “didn’t get off work until 7,” and didn’t think that was worth messaging me at any point lol. Also, she showed up with no cash and had to use Apple Pay…

After 20 mins of being late, that shit is for sale again. If someone else buys it before they get there, tough shit.

It's inconsiderate for them to not inform you that they are running late or forgot or suggest a different time. I think it is more common now to also message upon arrival, but I don't think having a doorbell is essential here. If they aren't punctual, someone else may beat them and lose out on something they "wanted" to buy.

I have a door bell and always tell people not to use it. The best time is that I ordered food for a contactless and silent delivery - just leave it at the door. They called on arrival "I'm here", and then hit the doorbell half a dozen times. I waited 3 minutes before getting the food from the door.

I breed and sell pet rats and most people who come to me are from about an hour away.

People are absolutely awful with scheduling and time management.

I've had people show up late all the time or worse when they are supposed to arrive text me that they just left. People stop to eat when they left to arrive just on time. People say they "hit traffic" and end up an hour late...

Now I ask people to message me when they leave with an ETA and I tell them a cut off point that they have to arrive by X time because I have to leave then. It's a lie but surprisingly people make sure to get there by the time magically

Facebook marketplace is full of dunceheads that don't know what they want and constantly flake and ghost sellers. I don't know of a better alternative, but it sucks nonetheless.

I'm going to be at your place at 9am.

[GIF] 

(For legal purposes I am in no way planning to be at your place at 9am, or ever, save for an explicit invitation which will be declined anyway, since I'm too busy picking up speed walking grannies at the mall to schedule extraneous social activities.)

However if I wasn't busy being god's gift to the retirement homes of Inglewood I'd show up on fuckin' time to your house, or call you in case I'm running behind, because that's basic decency.

Anyways, I'm late for a 4 way, I have to make a call...

Nope. You give a courtesy message to ask if he's still on the way. Then you give a final statement that if he is not there at x:xx then you cancel the sale.

You should post your lawnmower as trade for a doorbell.

I used to deliver wedding cakes. I always hated when the customer was the one responsible for letting us in. We set up a 2 hour delivery window the week of the wedding. We said, someone needs to be there to let us in and the cake table needs to be set up. Otherwise we will return the cake to the bakery and you can come get it. The number of times nobody was there and/or the table wasn't ready is ridiculous. We have a lot of cakes to deliver and we don't have extra time to wait for you. I'm not going to deliver everybody else's stuff late because you couldn't be bothered to be ready. You were warned in advance and had time to arrange things especially since you told us what time to be there.

Just put in your ad that you expect punctuality. If you're late, deal is off because you do not wait past 15 minutes. Yes, you should not have to say it, but to be clear.

The most mildly infuriating thing here is that you are sat waiting for them!

The whole idea of them coming to your house is you can carry on doing what you are doing until they arrive. Just tell them to message you when they arrive.

Message him and say you have other shit to do and say you'll give him another time to meet up. Then don't message him again.

Get a door bell. They can be as cheap as 10-15 bucks.

I was clearing a warehouse a few years back and had 40 or so bays of shelving that were perfect for shed and garages, so plonked them on Facebook marketplace. I could have sold 200+ if everyone had turned up as agreed....

One lady failed to show, when I had gone in specially out of hours, and then started messaging again afresh when I relisted the unsold units.

“I’m on my way” -9:15am

My first job, I learned "early is on time, on time is too late & too late is unheard of". I've stuck to this ever since. RIP Rosemary

I usually meet buyers at a nearby Starbucks and tell them to text me 10 minutes before they get there.  Very rarely have I had to wait a long time with this method. 

People on facebook are the worst. I would say carry on with your life, and just message them saying text me when you're here and Ill come down. Also maybe add if you're not here by X time I am moving on to the next person who IS keen on buying them.

I once held an item for a whole weekend because a lady wanted it but was out of town on a vacation or something, then the weekend ended and she said she didn't want it anymore🤦‍♀️

I had a friend whose license plate frame said “Always late and worth the wait.” She was never on time for anything and just considered it a cute part of her personality. Infuriating, to be sure, and that’s why I said I “had” a friend.

Some people just are like that, unreliable. I'm using an app where you can gift things to people, and even people on there are constantly late or don't cancel. For a free item!

Feels like the solution is either buy a doorbell or tell people to call you when they arrive.

Just an having something like this happen as I’m reading this. Was supposed to meat at 10. It’s 11:15. They then brought extra people. Pisses me off can’t take the time to leave early to get here on time. The disrespect is absolutely a dick move.

I sold my entire house on FB marketplace. I always made meetups for when I was going to be home anyway. Then I was always able to do something else while waiting. No holding anything for anyone for any reason. First to pay, gets it. I learned that people don't really want your stuff. They just like the idea of getting a good deal.

Totally agree, you should get update about any change in ETA, or any traffic caused delays.

A doorbell has zero effect on a jerk that just doesn't show up.

I'm going to be late. Save that for next time it comes up.

It’s not identical but I have this at work all the time. I cannot do my job unless people log into my meetings, which is a requirement and always has been

I send reminders every morning to each person individually (1-2 per day). The amount of times I have to send follow up reminders when I start the meeting only to still have them not long on or tell me 30 -45 minutes later that someone is sick/cancelled/dunning late is infuriating. You literally had 7 hours to respond and tell me any of that.

So, yeah, not exactly the same but I absolutely hate being left waiting with no communication

Yep, was saying this to my wife yesterday. Just bought a home and everybody from the termite guy to the lawn guys we were getting estimates from to Buy Nothing giveaways have been late at least half an hour, usually more.

Only one guy showed up on time. Guess who got hired?

Going through the same thing. Had people supposed to pick up a couch, free. Supposed to be here at 10, we text them, and they cancel because they have a migraine.

I wake up to back pain every morning, and I'm working the afternoon shift this week. I woke up at 8:30 to be awake and prepare everything, and now had to call a friend to help me get it to the road.

We are getting a new couch delivered later today.

Put a time limit on it if you don’t want to waste your time.

“Pickup times will have a 15 min grace period. After that, I reserve the right to sell to another buyer.”

Time ranges work better for some people

Screw them. By 9:15 I would have reposted to find someone else to buy.

I also hate this, I always ask people to text me when they are on their way

Marketplace selling can really be a pain. I’ve ended up with some pretty strict guidelines on what I’ll tolerate. If someone is super late without notice or doesn’t show, I will refuse to sell to them. I’ll sometimes haggle over text beforehand, but once I set a firm, agreed on price, that’s it. If they try to haggle once we meet or bring less than agreed, I leave. I respect the buyer’s time and expect the same. I’ll just keep the item and try again later 🤷‍♀️.

Knick-knack paddy-whack,
I gave that jerk a time.
In the middle of our dinner was,
when he showed up with a smile.
Knock-knock then a 'who is it?'
with a 'It's Dave, I got the stuff."
A chuckle from us within,
to say it was enough.
Let 'Dave' in, but gave him shit,
and he promised not again.
But if he does we'll just repeat,
because we are all friends.

I have the opposite issue. Every time I show up to buy something from someone I have to wait on them or come back because they're not paying attention. I started asking for people's numbers so I can call them but that's not generally smiled upon lol

I make it clear in my postings that I’ll only hold the item for X amount of hours before listing it again. If the buyer doesn’t effectively communicate being late or whatever, then there’s no reason to put your morning on hold.

I waited for an hour for a guy to pick something up. He messages me 4 days later saying “hey sorry I didn’t come by on Monday. I didn’t feel like it.”

Back when i was selling stuff on OfferUp, my listings had the following text embedded in the pictures of the items themselves:

 

• $100 ONLY. HAGGLE = BLOCK

• IF YOU DON'T TEXT THAT YOU ARE COMING OR NOT COMING = BLOCK

My housemate does this constantly.

Go out at 5pm really means 630

7pm really means 8pm earliest.

Tell her we are meeting friends at 630 at a restaurant? We just left the house. At 645.

I've resorted to not inviting her out with my mates. Saves me the stress and apologies. And whenever I do go out with her, I give her a time, be half ready by that time and continue doing my own thing until she comes to me, ready to go (anywhere from 30mins late to an hour late) Then let her wait while I finish up my shit and get fully ready (5mins). Yes, she'll still have the audacity to say come on we're late. Man idgaf anymore.

And it's not like she's chronically late. Work, appointments, movies. She'll be punctual. Early even. But when it's social gatherings, fuck. Stresses me the fuck out how little she respects my time or our friends time.

I had a guy who kept saying he would show up, never did, and then would reschedule to pick up the visa mount and monitor I wanted to sell him.

Eventually I said “screw it, I don’t have time for this” and after about four days of this told him the item was no longer for sale. I was going to be donating it to the thrift shop and if he found it, cool, hope he gets a good deal.

Dude messaged me frantically several times several hours I’d dropped the monitor off insisting he could come by the day after. I just didn’t bother to respond.

A. Arrange a meeting at a neutral place. B. Be clear that you expect them at a certain time. C. At the specified time, if they don’t show up, send a message stating you are waiting them at a precise location and ask where they are. D. 10 minutes past time: leave and block.

I think you should get a doorbell, that’s really not that expensive

I haven't sold anything on FB, and TBH, from what I've heard of this sort of thing happening, I don't know if I can be bothered. Don't know if it's worth the stress of waiting for various prats to turn up or not, and then pick holes in the deal being offered.

Just go do what you were doing, can't he just call you when he gets there?!

Why did you stop your life just to wait for this person? If you can’t get a doorbell, then have people message when they arrive. Their lateness sucks but your decision to just sit there idle in your own house is also an odd and unnecessary choice.

When dealing with FB Marketplace, you are dealing with a cross-section of America and will get a cross-section of results. I find working in a time range, say 9-10AM, works better. It takes the pressure off everyone.

Depending location as in what country and even then, where in said country. Some places, they show up early, on time, little late, next day, next week, or several months later. I am being serious for all these have occurred depending where I was at the time.

Just the type of attitude I would expect from people still using FB

What?

Lmao this sounds like such a YOU problem. Like you are really making a problem out of nothing.

womp womp