Classifieds stories pt. 07 (column)

Your experiences – your stories! Since eBay, private online sales have been booming. Initially in the form of online auctions, now increasingly popular as free classified ad formats. Isn't it wonderful when you can sell unused things? Or even the other way around... you finally get something you've always wanted at a cheaper price.

Our column with reader stories. We asked our readers to submit the craziest stories that have happened to them while communicating in classifieds. Reader Maria Maria had unpleasant experiences selling a kitchen.

The cable

My classifieds experience happened about two years ago.

At that time I was moving and wanted to sell my old kitchen and all the appliances. Someone also came forward who wanted to take everything. After some discussion about the money, I agreed, happy to get rid of everything. I wasn't able to be present at the handover, but I was sure that I had dismantled all the devices in perfect condition. My family took care of the loading and assured me that everything went well.

A short time later, I received a message from the buyer that the power cable for the stove had allegedly been cut off by my grandfather. I was also sent a photo as proof. However, it seemed very strange to me because the cable was clearly torn off and not cut cleanly. Why should we cut an electric stove cable if we wanted to dismantle the kitchen safely and leave it in good condition?

So I informed my grandfather, who brought them a new cable that he had left over and gave it to the buyer. He in turn wrote to me that it was the wrong thing. After some back and forth with repair requests, the buyer wanted €150 back for the repair. I was already convinced that the cable was still intact when it was handed over and that the buyers were now demanding the money back for no reason. My guess was either that the cable broke during transport or assembly or that it was torn off on purpose. Supposedly I was supposed to receive a criminal complaint for providing false facts, but I never received it and never heard from them again.

The network card

I was looking for a cheap temporary solution for a friend because his existing PC had broken down. For this reason I looked for hardware on Ebay and found what I was looking for very quickly. I was offered a motherboard, CPU and RAM as a combination very cheaply by a supplier

I then decided to go for it and, as I always do, paid straight away.

When the package arrived, I was very surprised to find another small box inside. There was a piece of paper stuck to it with the following inscription:

I included a network card because, at least for me, there were problems with my network with the network card integrated on the mainboard.

Of course, I checked the part in question directly because it was advertised on the internet as being 100% functional. The previous owner wrote to me that he also bought it used and saw on site that the network card worked. Just not with him. It turned out that it did its job perfectly and the free “addition” wouldn’t even have been necessary 🙂 Everything still works today and it’s been almost a year now 🙂

All I can say is that it was a nice experience and of course it resulted in a positive review.

Your story is in demand!

We are looking for your craziest, most absurd, most annoying, greatest, boldest or even most surprising story regarding online classifieds. It's crazy what you experience when you place advertisements and answer inquiries. But the other way around too... because there are sellers that you wouldn't dream of. What have YOU already experienced? Send YOUR story, let us all share it! We are opening a new column about classified ads on the Internet, your story can appear there (anonymized, of course). Send the email with the subject “Classifieds” to [email protected]