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Thu Jun 13, 2024 4:07 am

iowegian wrote: Dusty1 wrote:

I met my last girlfriend at a swap meet.

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:shock:
That fits right along side this:

Wife #1 "I got a new pair of socks for my husband."

Wife #2 "Seems like a fair trade to me!"

Just yanking your chain Dusty! :D I'm sure she's a keeper...

or you wouldn't have made the deal... :wink:

Thu Jun 13, 2024 6:13 am

oprn wrote: I just picked up a home made chop saw from FG MP, built like a brick $hitthouse and cost me $20!
That's making me hopeful I can sell a nearly 4 gallon bucket of floor adhesive.
Paid $160. It's listed on FBMP for $70.
I opened the bucket before fully understanding how much I actually needed, which was only about a half gallon.
Estimating is not my thing evidently :oops:

Thu Jun 13, 2024 6:36 am

oprn wrote: iowegian wrote: Dusty1 wrote:

I met my last girlfriend at a swap meet.

.
.
:shock:
That fits right along side this:

Wife #1 "I got a new pair of socks for my husband."

Wife #2 "Seems like a fair trade to me!"

Just yanking your chain Dusty! :D I'm sure she's a keeper...

or you wouldn't have made the deal... :wink:

Current gf is a keeper. Last girlfriend turned out to be a female canine to put it bluntly. It's weird. It's like checking off boxes on the ATF yellow sheet you'll never see in Canada. Current gf / last gf check off almost exactly the same boxes and believe me, opposites attract.

One big difference is current gf cares naught about Volkswagens. Take heed, fellows! Those little cars will ruin your domestic bliss.

Seems to happen when you have two dozen of them in the yard. :lol:

Seriously, the difference is time. The path that brought me here goes through there. Can't get here without goin' there first.

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Tue Jul 09, 2024 10:38 am

Yesterday's Marketplace success:

Guy gave me his address right up front. Ten minute drive later, exchanged cash for VW parts.

Yesterday's Marketplace fail:

Another deal, another case of Facebook Hide 'n' Seek. :roll: Shoulda walked away after one success.

I would like to be able to string together a series of purchases along a road trip. I can do that if I can enter a string of waypoints into GPS.

Otherwise, it's more difficult. More hit or miss.

Next update:

"If it's listed it's for sale."

Not necessarily true! I stopped deleting items I've purchased from my watch list. I know they're no longer for sale. I bought them.

Seems NLA listings may be as high as 50%. Maybe that's why its so difficult to get a response on some listings. And, hey... if you sold your shit and didn't delete your listing you're not entitled to give me a heaping helping of attitude.

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Tue Jul 09, 2024 12:17 pm

oprn wrote: iowegian wrote: Dusty1 wrote:

I met my last girlfriend at a swap meet.

.
.
:shock:
That fits right along side this:

Wife #1 "I got a new pair of socks for my husband."

Wife #2 "Seems like a fair trade to me!"

Just yanking your chain Dusty! :D I'm sure she's a keeper...

or you wouldn't have made the deal... :wink:

Reminds me of a conversation I had with my Uncle Jim Years ago...

What did you get for your birthday, Uncle Jim?

Quote: A new shirt, and a piece of @ss. They were both too big...

But I can take the shirt back. #-o

Fri Aug 23, 2024 5:30 am

A tale of two Tacomas or Marketplace continues to be a waste of time:

Tale of two Tacomas, both Toyota Super Red II. The regular cab was $4k and clean, clean, clean, the extra cab was $2400 and hadn't been cleaned much less detailed. Interior looks like they hosted The International Watersports Festival this year.

Took the lady who owned the $4k truck three days to get back to me. She said,

"We're on vacation."

So I went with Plan B, the $2.4k truck. Need something to haul parts. Took the seller eight hours to get back to me.

And...

Standard game of Facebook Hide 'n' Seek. Seller who is a three hour drive away said he would divulge his specific location when we were on our way. Let's see, Bucko. We're going to drive half an hour each way into town, stop at the bank. Withdraw $2400. Then we're going to drive to a town three hours away and log laps until the seller gets back to us.

I don't think so.

And he's "firm" on the price.

And I still haven't actually seen the truck. Don't know which motor is in it. Don't know if it has a title and yeah, that's a thing.

So I go round and round texting this guy. He will not give me his specific location. Eventually he says,

"Just so you understand. The quarter window is broken out because the outside door handles don't work. You need to reach through the quarter window to get into the truck."

Well golly gee, pal. You might want to put that in your description. If the seller wasn't playin' Facebook Hide 'n' Seek I might be in a mood to overlook little things like a truck loaded with garbage, door handles that don't work, a broken quarter window and duct tape residue on the paint where he taped over the broken quarter window. I'm startin' to feel there's an @$$H01e on at least one side of this deal. I'm gettin' the queasy feeling it might be me.

With over $4k in cash on hand and the sun in the western sky, it's gettin' late. I'll be on the road past my bedtime. Time to fall asleep at the wheel and wreck another Toyota.

My queasy feeling goes away instantly when I decide to pull the plug. I figure I saved myself a three hour return trip with a world class case of buyer's remorse.

I check my messages. Seller of the $4k truck half an hour closer says if I can meet her at a shopping mall in half an hour she'll show me her truck. I'm 2 1/2 hours away. The math doesn't work.

I guess I should just buy a $1200 beater a lot closer to home. Fix the brakes on that one. The $1200 left over from $2400 buys a lot of brake lines and parts.

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Fri Aug 23, 2024 7:18 am

A brace of 67 Beetles came up in various stages of disrepair , all priced o.k. I responded right off and ....nothing. I looked at the sellers "name", wait for it...."Metha". Say no more, say no more.

A week later, I get a "I think they sold" response. Ads still up.

Fri Aug 23, 2024 7:28 am

I've noticed that on Marketplace or Craigslist, that many sellers take their sweet time to respond, or don't respond at all. Weird, because if I was selling something there, I'd check often !

When I listed a 2005 Yukon on Craigslist, within 10 minutes of "going live", I got a dozen texts which were scammers, all wanting me to text a code back to them. But I did speak to a few potential buyers on the phone, and did sell the SUV the very next day to one.

When I listed a 1994 Suburban on Craigslist before that, I advertised it as $1994: a dollar a year. And sold that within 2 days.

Sun Aug 25, 2024 4:21 am

An elderly neighbor has an older low mileage mid 80's 2 wheel drive Japanese pickup in really decent shape. I thought it was a Toyota SR5 but her son says it's a Nissan. We had coffee with them about a month ago and I asked about it. It's been sitting for 2 years and he said "We should really sell it Mom."

"No, I might want to drive it again." She said. She is in her mid 90's and delicate health. Not many of those small 2WD standard shift trucks left... I am on the notification list for when the time is right. They also have her husband's truck (he passed away 35 years ago) and take it out for a drive now and then. Her son says it rides and drives better than his new one but I have no desire to own another mid 70's 460 cui Ford. Been there, done that!

Sun Aug 25, 2024 8:16 am

oprn wrote: Not many of those small 2WD standard shift trucks left...
That's EXACTLY why in late 2011 I bought a co-worker's 2004 Nissan Frontier, 5-speed, 4-cylinder (timing CHAIN), with about 90K miles, pristine condition. I knew that a vehicle like this would be nearly impossible to find a decade later. Now has 120K miles on it. 2004 was the final year of the smaller, fit in a garage Frontiers; Toyota Tacomas also grew large at about that time, and Mazda trucks were clones of Ford Rangers in USA starting with 1994 year.

In 2011, I already had a 1988 Mazda B2200 Cab Plus and a 1998 Frontier (both 5-speed, 4-cylinder) which I also still have, 231K and 280K miles respectively).

Mon Aug 26, 2024 4:52 am

advertised a bicycle trailer for free on marketplace. my phone was pinging so much I pulled the advert after 30mins. yet of all the ones messaging me 'keen to have it' not one showed up...I ended up taking it to the tip :roll:

Mon Aug 26, 2024 4:11 pm

oprn wrote: Not many of those small 2WD standard shift trucks left... I am on the notification list for when the time is right. They also have her husband's truck (he passed away 35 years ago) and take it out for a drive now and then. Her son says it rides and drives better than his new one but I have no desire to own another mid 70's 460 cui Ford. Been there, done that!

Hold out for a Tacoma. The ones to have were built Y2k to 2004.

The original frames are crap, so much so that Toyota recalled thousands of trucks and replaced the frames. "By the book" it took two Toyota mechanics 35 hours each to do a frame swap. Now they come in two classes, 20 year old Tacomas that can be rebuilt a few more times because the frames are solid and Tacomas with rotted frames. The rotted frame trucks are handy for parts for the "recall" frame Tacomas.

I've got an '01 with right around 200k which means the motor will go another 100k, easy. The little 2.4 liter makes just shy of 150hp. Mine has a 5 speed. The rockers and door bottoms are junk. Mine has had the frame swap. Next round will be a body swap. I'm going to POR15 the frame while I'm at it.

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Thu Aug 29, 2024 9:09 pm

I cleaned out my son's closet after he moved out and came across a number of items including a dry-erase monthly planner framed wall hanger. You know, an item to get organized.

In 30 years of selling shit I swear I have never had so many flaked out buyers as I have for this item used for getting organized. 6 people have said they wanted to meet then all 6 of them flaked out. I sold a bunch of stuff all at the same time from the same closet clean and nothing came close to the 0:6 ratio I have had on this one item. The irony....

Thu Aug 29, 2024 9:20 pm

Obviously without that board they couldn't remember the appt day/time. :)

Thu Aug 29, 2024 9:43 pm

Truth be told my kid didn't use it either...

Fri Aug 30, 2024 7:21 am

I have a small blackboard in my garage, which I use; it uses real chalk, which might be considered hazardous these days.

Mrs. Cusser likes dry-erase board that sticks to refrigerator with magnets.

Mon Sep 02, 2024 7:45 am

The wife had an 80's themed work event for her team a few years ago.
She bought a couple of dozen "Devo" caps for the occasion. 15 were brought home, put in a box an promptly forgotten about.
The space the box was stored in is part of a remodel. The Devo hats were rediscovered.
She decided to list on FBMP but before doing so she researched what these crazy caps were going for. Some were going as much as $75 !
Amazed that the hats had some value she listed them for $40
They sold out in a day. :shock:
Certainly not a huge waste of time.
All were either shipped on the buyers dime or were picked up at the house.
Nice little profit!

Mon Sep 02, 2024 8:21 am

How I miss the days of Trading Times magazine, you could buy and sell everything there and never once did I have problems. FBMP seems to have evolved into a platform of scammers and fake garbage.

Mon Sep 02, 2024 9:16 am

I actually have purchased ONE item through Facebook Marketplace: a crossbed tool box for my 1998 Frontier pickup. These compact trucks grew larger about 2004-2005 so the current market for 61" wide crossbed boxes is pretty small. I got one for $50 with working lock and keys, just didn't have the bracket for the support for holding the lid up, so when I open the lid it rests against the rear of the truck cab (I added a little foam "bumper").

Mon Sep 02, 2024 9:24 am

Marketplace is a crap shoot. I haven't been ghosted, but sitting in a mall food court late in the day waiting for someone else to arrive with a package like they're selling me drugs when it's a Breyer horse, really? My husband and I drive to a pharmacy parking lot in a nearby town and have to figure which car out there in the rain has a bag of old puppets without getting shot. We finally stood under an umbrella together and waited for one of the cars to roll down a window and wave the bag of puppets. It was successful, but bizarre.
Meet people in Panera or some similar place - much easier, nicer wait and there's food and shelter. Wear a brightly colored piece of clothing, be sure it can be seen easily from the door.
But the desire to not be tracked has created a cloak and dagger mentality tbat's grating. I'll be someplace normal, doing something normal, looking identifiable - find me. lol For small stuff, mail it - not too hard to get the boxes/envelopes and the little UBS scales work for small items, a tenth of a pound regular body scale works well for larger, heavier items. Have a measuring tape so you can determine when you've crossed from other shipping to only ground available, etc. I've shipped car doors and lots of other parts from my original stash that way. Get paid up front through paypal or whatever. I invoiced through paypal and got my payment back the same way, that was convenient. Had the buyer give me their zip code, told them the total plus shipping - got the money and mailed it to them. Easier than meeting up with people and wider range of buyers.
I bought a few spinning wheels through marketplace - drove to people's homes where they'd secured the item in an outside area and met me outside to look at it and collect payment. Other people brought me right into their houses and sometimes see if I'll buy more stuff while I'm there. lol Met one woman 2 hours north of here where she was driving to a dog show - it was entertaining and the wheel was amazing.