Nowadays, anyone who has cleaned out their attic or wants to get rid of their bad purchases quickly finds their way to Marktplaats to offer these items for sale again. However, selling in this way not only has advantages, but also a number of disadvantages and often comes with a number of annoyances. Some people will be more bothered by this than others, but it is always good to be aware of this and decide whether you still want to try to sell via Marktplaats.
Sales sites
Marktplaats is probably the largest and best-known sales site in the Netherlands. However, the disadvantages we mention here can apply to any similar sales site on which private individuals can offer their items for sale. This is mainly due to the non-binding nature of these types of websites. Anyone who makes a bid on Marktplaats is not actually tied to anything, unlike a site like eBay where your bid is binding and you are therefore obliged to purchase the item if you win the auction. That brings us to the first disadvantage of selling via sites like Marktplaats.
Bids are without obligation
What may be an advantage for buyers is certainly a disadvantage for the seller. If you receive an offer on your item, you still don’t know anything at all. The bidder can withdraw his bid at any time, but as long as the bid still stands, the bidder is not obliged to do anything. If you receive an offer, this actually means no more than that the bidder was probably interested in purchasing your product for that amount at the time of bidding. That interest may be over the moment you see his offer. Because potential buyers know that they are not committed to anything, bidding is often easy, sometimes bidding on several of the same items or on items that people are not even really serious about… they simply make an offer and see about it.
Buyers who don’t pay
Sometimes you get lucky and your bidder is still interested when you respond. If you can also agree on the price, it is time for the next step. Sometimes the buyer wants to pick up the product from you, but it also often happens that the item has to be sent to the buyer. In that case, it is customary, and safe, for the buyer to first transfer money to the seller. The seller provides the total amount including shipping costs and his bank details by email and then the waiting begins. In a favorable case, the buyer will transfer the amount to you the same day or a day later and you will have it in your account within 2 to 3 days. Unfortunately, the opposite also occurs regularly. You wait a few days, but no money is credited. Your item is probably now marked as ‘reserved’ and you may have even had to disappoint interested parties because you think you have already sold the item. After a few days, send an email to the buyer to ask where the payment is. Sometimes it ends here. You simply won’t hear anything back from your buyer and after a while you will come to the conclusion that you did not sell the item after all. Sometimes you will receive an email back from the buyer with an apology and the message that the money is now on its way or is coming. In that case, there is still hope for your sales, but don’t cheer too early; it is certainly not unusual for money to still not arrive after this commitment. In that case, you can email your buyer again, but you often won’t hear anything anymore. Sometimes promises are made again about payment and sometimes it even happens that the buyer now casually lets us know that he no longer wants the item. And all this time you have put your time and energy into it, and in the end you can start all over again. You may not imagine it, but this happens more often than you think. You may experience the above story several times before you have actually sold your item!
Buyers who don’t show up
Maybe you want to sell items that you can’t ship. The buyer will then have to pick up the item from your home. That in itself is something you should think about carefully. You have to give your address to a stranger and you have no idea what kind of people you are bringing in that way. You can still handle simple items at the door, but for a large or expensive item such as a sofa or a camera, you will really have to let your buyer into your home.
But even if you don’t find that a problem, it doesn’t mean that this sale will be easy. One of the things you have to take into account when picking up is buyers who simply don’t come. You then make an appointment with someone and ensure that you are home at that time and have everything ready. You wait and you wait, but even two hours later you are still waiting for nothing, your buyer has not shown up. The buyer who was supposed to come by can usually no longer be reached at all or arrives with a lame excuse. If you were already at home this would be annoying, but if you stayed home especially for someone it is of course a total shame.
Buyers who want to change the appointment on the spot
For example, if you are selling a horse or a car, it is not at all unusual for someone to want to come and take a look first and then talk to you about the price. In that case you are usually talking about a ‘viewer’ instead of a ‘buyer’. After all, the interested party will only decide after viewing whether he or she wants to become a buyer. But there are plenty of articles where someone lets you know via the internet that they want to take the product off your hands and simply come and pick it up. In that case you are usually talking about a ‘buyer’ or a ‘collector’ or ‘collector’. You discuss the price with such a person in advance by telephone or email and make an appointment when this person will pick it up.
Let’s assume that you are lucky and your buyer arrives at your door on time. You take the item this buyer is looking for, show it and assume that you will now get your money. Instead, the buyer starts criticizing the item. It is not so suitable, it no longer looks so nice and so on. The buyer will then probably quote you a lower amount than you agreed on and say that he is willing to take it for that amount. Very annoying, because you had already made an agreement about the price! Some are even more brutal and try to overwhelm you. For example, if you agreed on 100 euros, they take 90 euros out of their pocket and say something like ‘Oh yes, I only have 90 euros with me, but that’s fine, right?’ and at the same time want to put the money in your hand. They hope that you are so overwhelmed or so eager to get rid of your article that you will agree to this. Pretty smart of them, because they are already there, and you have the choice between paying 10 euros less and having your item sold or saying no and starting over again. This method is of course not very neat and it is therefore smart if you think in advance how you want to deal with this if they try this on you!
Parcels that don’t arrive
If your item has to be sent to the buyer, shipping costs will of course have to be paid. Some small items fit through the letterbox and the shipping costs are then a lot lower than if your items have to be sent in a package. Sending by letterbox does have a disadvantage, you can no longer track your package after you have put it in the post. In that respect, a package is safer because you almost always receive a code with which you can see where your package is located. This is where the interests of buyer and seller conflict a bit. The seller will want to see that the package arrives safely, while the buyer naturally wants to keep shipping costs as low as possible. Because you can no longer track a letterbox parcel, you cannot do anything if the buyer says he has not received the package. You cannot prove that you did send it, and you cannot determine whether the buyer might be lying. This can cause a lot of hassle that no one wants. You can reduce the risk of this by making it clear in advance that you do want to send by envelope, but that in that case the risk lies with the buyer if the package is unexpectedly lost.
Does it only cause misery?
If you read this list, it seems as if selling this way always causes misery. Of course that is not the case! Fortunately, there are also honest people who honor their agreements in a decent manner. In those cases you simply have a nice sale where you can be happy with the money you earned and the buyer with his new acquisition. Unfortunately, things like those mentioned above happen often enough and it’s just smart to think about them in advance. It also seems to be the case that some people are more attracted to such situations than others. In any case, it is important to make clear agreements with a potential buyer. If you are unclear or appear very easy-going, there is a greater risk that your buyer will also be easy-going about your agreements. So be clear and guard your own boundaries and then hopefully you can still enjoy making your sales!