• @ramble81@lemm.ee
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    525 days ago
    • Posts item for free
    • Gets message “how much does this cost?”
    • ”Its free”
    • ”Can you deliver it to me? (Insert some excuse here)”
    • put item on sidewalk with sign that says “free!”

      Item sits there for months

      Remove sign that says free, and replace with one that says “$100 OBO”

      Item is gone by morning

      • @AccountMaker@slrpnk.net
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        175 days ago

        This is actually a tactic Antoine-Augustin Parmentier used to popularize potatoes in France. He couldn’t get people to accept potatoes, so he placed armed guards to protect the plants, and withdrew them at a certain point in the day so that people could steal them.

    • @Jimius@discuss.tchncs.de
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      145 days ago

      Even if you intend to give it away for free, still price it. Once it’s free it will attract a lot of… shady characters. In my experience at least. Even asking a very cheap price will almost eliminate all the weirdos and odd requests. It’s like they only search for stuff that’s free. When it came to my kid’s old toys I ended giving it away for free when they came to pick it up with cash in hand.

      • @QualifiedKitten@discuss.online
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        45 days ago

        Yep! This has worked really well for me! If I list things as free, I tend to get people with tons of questions and excuses, and lots of flakes or scammers. If I post things with a pretty low price, people are usually much more pleasant to deal with.

        • @Jimius@discuss.tchncs.de
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          14 days ago

          My experience with the toys has been that’s it’s usually single parents with not much money wanting to get something for their kid(s). But your option is also a great idea.

    • @Allero@lemmy.today
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      5 days ago

      “Unfortunately, no. I currently don’t have resources to deliver stuff, but I’ll be happy to see you at my place!”

      But yeah, classic on your end :D

    • bountygiver [any]
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      24 days ago

      That’s when you make them pay the shipping + a bit of extra charge for your time since they did asked for price before.