Talk to me like i'm an idiot

[mjmjr25]

Greetings,

I have no facebook account. Have never been on the site. Do not want to go on the site.

My son tells me the only place to find a decent used car now is on Facebook Marketplace. He also tells me I can get sports cards and comics too. He speaks my language. Influential. Subterfuge.

His driving instructor also said Craigs List is dead and used cars on dealerships are 2-3x what you'll find on Facebook Marketplace.

I need to get an account there, apparently.

Talk me through this please.

Is a normal fb account all I need?
This gives me access to marketplace?
Do I just message people?
Do I have like a feedback score or something...meaning, why is someone going to respond to me?
How much spam or other garbage am I opening myself up to by creating this account?

I feel old and I need your help.

 

[neo_mao]

i dont know the answer to any of your questions but when you join you can be my facebook friend like roker

 

[Syn]

What's Facebook?

 

[CORY]

@joe9

 

[stormy]

Is that like the metaverse or something?

 

[Heinz]

Don't do it! Before you know it you'll be posting shower thoughts and sharing inspirational quotes.

 

[StevenK]

Facebook is so depressing in your 40s. I'll save you some catching up time; everyone got fat, several have cancer.

Also, ebay is still a decent place to buy cheap cars.

 

[theMot]

Make your Facebook profile pic a busty slut just for the lulz.

 

[Moob Butter]

Greetings,

I have no facebook account. Have never been on the site. Do not want to go on the site.

My son tells me the only place to find a decent used car now is on Facebook Marketplace. He also tells me I can get sports cards and comics too. He speaks my language. Influential. Subterfuge.

His driving instructor also said Craigs List is dead and used cars on dealerships are 2-3x what you'll find on Facebook Marketplace.

I need to get an account there, apparently.

Talk me through this please.

Is a normal fb account all I need?
This gives me access to marketplace?
Do I just message people?
Do I have like a feedback score or something...meaning, why is someone going to respond to me?
How much spam or other garbage am I opening myself up to by creating this account?

I feel old and I need your help.

Yes the marketplace on Facebook is great for finding used cars as it’s free to list them there as opposed to other platforms that cost you money.

If that’s all you need it for, just borrow your son’s or a friend’s Facebook account for an hour to view the cars, and send some messages to sellers to call you back as you aren’t actually on Facebook because Facebook is shite.

Yes there is a feedback system for sellers but I don’t think there is one for buyers.

If you join facebook properly, the other decent thing is the car groups / communities for just about any car or brand you can imagine. Makes getting spare parts for rare cars much easier than before, or helping others with problem solving. Literally yesterday I sent a question to one of those groups and got 3 replies within an hour to my car’s cold start problem.

 

[@M]

I use FB extensively, but, I never bother with its' marketplace. I'm also told that it's a good way to buy/sell, especially locally. FB has ads, but, they just show up in your feed and can easily be scrolled past. I prefer using FB's free Lite app to a web browser.

Craigslist isn't completely dead, but, it also isn't what it used to be. You can save search criteria and the site will send you an email if any applicable listings pop up, that's what I do.

 

[Moob Butter]

You can save search criteria and the site will send you an email if any applicable listings pop up, that's what I do.

‘Used Lego, lightly cum crusted’

 

[LoneSage]

For the love of his children, will someone peruse the Minnesota used car facebook sellers and hook this man up.

 

[lithy]

Is a normal fb account all I need?
This gives me access to marketplace?
Do I just message people?
Do I have like a feedback score or something...meaning, why is someone going to respond to me?
How much spam or other garbage am I opening myself up to by creating this account?

I feel old and I need your help.

Yes, as far as I know, you just need a normal account for thefacebook.com, when I signed up I think you need a .edu email, now any ol'email will do. This is reason 1 of why FB marketplace is also full of scammers.

From a desktop you can message people. From mobile they make it a total pain in the ass to not use their Messenger app. From a Marketplace listing you will have a line to send a message. Treat it just like you would emailing someone about something on craigslist.

There is feedback, kinda. But it seems barely used. Reason 2 why there are so many scammers on FB marketplace.

If you're selling, probably lots of spam. If you're just buying, not much, if any.

All the typical buying online/craiglist warnings apply. With the added benefit of you can check out someone's profile to see if they look like a real person too. Don't get murdered, we'd miss you.

 

[GohanX]

Is a normal fb account all I need?
This gives me access to marketplace?
Do I just message people?
Do I have like a feedback score or something...meaning, why is someone going to respond to me?
How much spam or other garbage am I opening myself up to by creating this account?

I feel old and I need your help.

FB Marketplace has basically replaced the newspaper classifieds for buying used cars directly from other people. Normal account is all you need for buying, you only need something special if you're selling and using FB for payments, which wouldn't apply for a car. You do just message people, kinda like on a forum. There is no meaningful feedback for anyone that's not a business regularly selling. When you go to Facebook there is a tab for the marketplace, you search for what you want or look in the category and you can set the geographic location and how far a net you want. After you look a few times the algorithm will try to guess what it is you like automatically.

That said, it's the worst way to buy or sell online. It has the absolute worst of the worst buyers and sellers. Still, your son is right, if you want to buy from an individual that's the way to do it. Also, heck out autotempest.com. It's a really handy search tool that searches most of the online marketplaces, local dealers, etc. It doesn't search FB, but it searches most everything else.

 

[lithy]

I'd go with this one, a bit of a hike to Sioux Falls, but probably worth it.

1990 Chevrolet Corvette · ZR1 Coupe 2D

I am selling my 1990 Corvette ZR-1 after about 4 years of ownership. 3rd owner, 51,000 miles. New Nitto tires put on last August, with about 1000 miles on them. Dual glass and red removable tops....

www.facebook.com

 

[roker]

This is reason 1 of why FB marketplace is also full of scammers.

Advice: Don't bring cash unless it's a really low sum and meet in a common well lit area during the day. Another thing you can do is meet them at a bank. The whole f'in thing is dodgy. Just buy a corvette and get it over with.

 

[Tarma]

FB is the devils work and needs to be destroyed.

 

[NeoSneth]

I agree that Craigslist is dead. Marketplace gained a lot of ground during covid.
You just need a facebook account. Nothing else. But , Facebook requires a lot of information to make an account now as they want to make sure it is a real person.

If you are flipping cars, yeah I would agree facebook marketplace is a good place. It is also going to be full of scammers like craigslist was when it was popular.

 

[wyo]

Is a normal fb account all I need? YES
This gives me access to marketplace? YES
Do I just message people? YES
Do I have like a feedback score or something...meaning, why is someone going to respond to me? YES but no one cares about it
How much spam or other garbage am I opening myself up to by creating this account? NONE if you turn off all the notifications

As others have said, FB Marketplace is full of obvious scammers but there are good deals to be found if you're willing to wade through the shit.

I sold an old but running SUV for $2000 and was inundated with about 50 "Is this still available?" inquiries within a day. Ended up selling to a nice lady, even after I spent about 15 minutes explaining all the problems it had.

 

[Xavier]

with about 50 "Is this still available?" inquiries within a day. Ended up selling to a nice lady, even after I spent about 15 minutes explaining all the problems it had.

What's up with that?
Then normally you don't hear anything back from them.

I like to try to sell stuff not worth throwing away or giving to thrift stores.
Say a big item or something not worth shipping/selling.
I sold a new air fryer for $20 a couple days ago, they cost $40 new and I'm sure shipping to most anywhere would cost $15 so not worth dealing/selling online.

You can sellll online too. At&t sent me a refurbished phone unsolicited that was slightly more powerful than the one I had. Sold my Xperia for $50 to what appeared to be some dude living in a hotel room and got $50 in my Paypal.

I don't understand the feedback system. I sold this guy a new or like new car battery (IRC) met him at the parking lot of a Best Buy, he seemed happy and cool gave me the cash and it got put in his trunk then he stopped talking to me and got back on his phone. I get out of the parking lot and on the street and it says he gave me one star for not as described. Well a blurred picture of him, it was the only deal I've done recently... that was him getting back on his phone to leave me negative feedback for no reason.

Anyways it doesn't matter, I don't think anyone looks at the feedback. I look at the profile, make sure it's not a new or fake account and that the person seems mentally stable.

 

[Lastblade]

I have bought 2 used cars on FB. One was on FB's marketplace, the other was in a local "yardsale" group. The prices now are pretty competitive to used car dealers but you can haggle a bit easier with private parties.

I suggest joining and find a local neighborhood group and see what people post to sell.

 

[mjmjr25]

Thanks guys, and Mot. Helpful for sure. I'll keep you posted. I know you all are on pins and needles.

 

[GohanX]

What's up with that?
Then normally you don't hear anything back from them.

I like to try to sell stuff not worth throwing away or giving to thrift stores.
Say a big item or something not worth shipping/selling.
I sold a new air fryer for $20 a couple days ago, they cost $40 new and I'm sure shipping to most anywhere would cost $15 so not worth dealing/selling online.

You can sellll online too. At&t sent me a refurbished phone unsolicited that was slightly more powerful than the one I had. Sold my Xperia for $50 to what appeared to be some dude living in a hotel room and got $50 in my Paypal.

I don't understand the feedback system. I sold this guy a new or like new car battery (IRC) met him at the parking lot of a Best Buy, he seemed happy and cool gave me the cash and it got put in his trunk then he stopped talking to me and got back on his phone. I get out of the parking lot and on the street and it says he gave me one star for not as described. Well a blurred picture of him, it was the only deal I've done recently... that was him getting back on his phone to leave me negative feedback for no reason.

Anyways it doesn't matter, I don't think anyone looks at the feedback. I look at the profile, make sure it's not a new or fake account and that the person seems mentally stable.

When browsing it’s pretty easy to accidentally send an automated “is this available” message and sellers know to ignore them since if that’s all that’s in her message they won’t hear back.

 

[GutsDozer]

I'd go through a dealership. Usually have a better outcome than dealing with Joe Blow.

 

[neo_mao]

*checks Facebook profile...

...no new friend requests