Private Sale In A Public Place

[misterhelpful]

We are trying to sell our heated, vibrating, reclining couch and have put it up for sale on a local selling app.

The issue is that, the rules of the app suggest that you should always meet and sell your goods in a public place. Obviously this is impossible when you have something that weighs a ton and has to be separated into three sections to move. It also needs to be plugged in somewhere to show that it works.

I don't have a problem with people coming to the house to look at it if they are genuine buyers, but how can you know for sure if they are, or are just scoping out the place? I don't really think there is a major problem but home and family security is paramount.

My main question is, what is the best way to let genuinely interested people come to the house to see the couch whilst being wary, for home and family security, of those who come just to be inquisitive? Any recommendations?

We do have a savage guard dog!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I think you're just paranoid.

 

[securespark]

I don't. I think it's always a bit of a worry letting strangers in to your house.

 

[conny]

Have the piece of furniture in a separate room close to the front door if possible. Preferably a room with no expensive TV's, PC's Game machines etc.
Allow no more than two people to come in and make sure they go direct to that room and nowhere else in the house. Do NOT allow them to use the toilet, especially if it is upstairs, do not offer tea & biscuits etc and make sure there is at least one responsible male adult close by and in view at all times.

 

[Brigadier]

Offer a "friend" 10%, if they sell it

 

[Doug99]

I always sell my stuff from the garage, so they never get to see inside the house.

 

[misterhelpful]

I think you're just paranoid.

I'm not that bothered, but you might be forgetting I'm in Americaland now, and people have guns!!

The garage would have been ideal, had it not been for the fact that we have recently moved house and it's still full of boxes of our belongings, my tools, two spare fridge freezers, washing machine and dryer and a cooker (appliances in new house were all left/integrated). It still might end up having to be taken out that way though.

The couch we are selling is currently in the dining room, because our new ones are already in the living room, so prospective buyers will have to walk through the living room but nowhere else. There's no expensive electrical equipment to be seen as it's all tucked away in other rooms. Toilet is close by so no worries there.

We have a college student and her boyfriend coming to look at it in the morning - hopefully it will go straight away and any possible issues will be avoided!

 

[foxhole]

Thieves will scope the place when you are not in, they are not interested in meeting you.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/570866/Burglar-codes-signs-walls-of-your-home-revealed

 

[misterhelpful]

Job done. The couple that came this morning bought it as soon as they saw it. Now marked as sold on the app so nobody can contact us again....until the wife decides to sell something else!!

Cheers,
mrH

 

[securespark]

Those signs have been debunked as nothing to do with thieves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4818578.stm

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/housebreakerscode.asp

 

[PBC_1966]

I'm not that bothered, but you might be forgetting I'm in Americaland now, and people have guns!!

But put it in perspective - You're in the rural/small-town Midwest, not The Bronx!

Anyway, I'm late coming in on this thread and I see it's all settled now anyway.

By the way, garage sales where people just collect all their surplus stuff in the garage and on tables outside in the driveway and spend the day sitting there while people come and browse and haggle are big out here in California, and there's barely a weekend goes by in our neighborhood without seeing a cardboard sign tied on a post somewhere giving a garage-sale address. Of course, it might not be quite the weather for such things in Ohio at this time of year!

 

[misterhelpful]

I'm not that bothered, but you might be forgetting I'm in Americaland now, and people have guns!!

But put it in perspective - You're in the rural/small-town Midwest, not The Bronx!

Anyway, I'm late coming in on this thread and I see it's all settled now anyway.

By the way, garage sales where people just collect all their surplus stuff in the garage and on tables outside in the driveway and spend the day sitting there while people come and browse and haggle are big out here in California, and there's barely a weekend goes by in our neighborhood without seeing a cardboard sign tied on a post somewhere giving a garage-sale address. Of course, it might not be quite the weather for such things in Ohio at this time of year!

You are right, it's not the Bronx, but there are still a few local shootings every single day on the news - not what I'm used to in the UK, but I suppose most of it is usually gang or family related stuff. I think it's my wife who makes things seem worse to me - she's a bit of a worrier.

Garage sales are huge here too, and my wife loves those. Once the weather breaks, we will have a few ourselves to get rid of her junk, but no doubt attend several thousand more for her to buy more than we get rid of!

 

[PBC_1966]

It's kind of interesting sometimes looking at what people think things are worth. Some people ask very reasonable prices and you pick up a bargain, others seem to have, shall we say, a slightly inflated view of what somebody will be likely to pay!