Time Wasters on Asiaxpat?

Anyone else feel there are a lot of users that are wasting other peoples time here? I am referring to the Classifieds and find so many people are either selling/buying with no intention of doing so in good faith.


Most recently my wife and I sent emails to "buy" with no reply. Then I see the same post again? We offer the price range they're asking for!


Selling is even worse. I had one guy call me to meet at a certain time and place to buy my phone. I call back to confirm the location and price before going. I'm there on time and call the guy who says he's there but with friends having lunch. Can only assume he'll be a little late and call when ready. I walk around for an hour and finally called him. No answer! Other than that we get a lot of inquiries, then after all is confirmed they disappear and don't reply anymore.


Is it me or do others feel the quality of people posting on this site has deteriorated? Very frustrating.

The volume of our classified ads has increased dramatically in the past 6 months with well over 500 new ads each day ... with so many people posting no doubt there will be some who are unreliable... not sure how we can police this as we are not operating the classifieds for people looking to do repeat business selling new stuff (like Ebay for instance)... so warning/banning people will not have much effect as most post only once.. open to suggestions...


Interestingly, we used to run Champagne Mixers in HK at the Mandarin Oriental.... we'd ask for rsvps the week of the event as the venue could hold max 300... for the initial one we cut off the bookings at 300 and barely half showed... for subsequent ones we'd cut off the bookings at 500-600 RSVP... and we'd et about 300 show up.... I think there's something in the water in Hong Kong eh...

Ed: just me venting and wanting to see if others share the same experience. Couple years ago I sold my car on here. Complete transaction took less than 2 weeks.


If it's not the water than it must be the pollution in the air!

Yeh! Same happened to me ppl email me that they really want my sofa and ask me to keep it for them for 3days and after 3 days email me they are busy wait for 2 more days and at the end arrange a time for viewing it but there was no one show up the number she gave never rings and end up I waited for the whole evening! and my matteries they ask me keep sending me sms but a week later said they can't take it know! WHY there are so many of these kind of ppl who are just wasting their time and others creating inconvenience to other! What is their purpose behind for doing there?????


I am born and bought up here!

My experience applies to all ethnicity's, not just locals. On the other hand, I have done a number of good transactions with people here but it's just the time wasters that are irritating. As a common courtesy don't they think it's a matter of simple manners to let people know they decided not to meet up as planned?

One thing that frustrates me and something that only seemed more prevalent in recent years is people bargaining. I can understand if the product you are selling is expensive... but sometimes you are letting things go for a really good price and people just want to have at least $20 off just because they feel a need to bargain.


I also remember someone messaging me saying that they'll offer $50 more than whoever wants to buy it. so they could secure the sale for themselves. I just told them, no thanks, and they seemed almost miffed! To me, $50 was nothing compared to the overall price of the product and that kind of method just left a bad taste in my mouth...

I had experienced it 2 weeks ago wherein all was set to pick up the item and when my husband was on the way already, the seller says her daughter wouldn't like to sell it anymore. Not only our time is wasted, added there is the phone calls and sms being made... =(

China is the worst place I have ever been for potential buyers to mess around.


As far as holding stuff goes, rule 1. Don't hold stuff unless the person has been to see the item, you have shaken hands on the deal and they have paid a deposit.

I used to not really understand why people would say in their classified posts: "no time wasters please". I thought it was rude and a bit off-putting, especially when you're trying to sell items and appear, at least as a first impression, like a friendly person.

Recently I had a couple of encounters where the "no time wasters" quote would have been useful in my own ads. People would tell me they're interested in an item, then ask me to text them, asking for multiple extra photos and information. I'm usually very patient (and naive perhaps) and would accommodate - taking time to re-describe the item, taking extra photos, chatting to ensure the product is re-described properly. Only to be asked, at the end of the convo, for a ridiculous discount, sometimes upwards of 50% or more of my posted price. When I politely say that the price is too low, the 'time-waster' would say, sorry, it's above my budget (but the asking price was listed there all along!)

Dear Time-Wasters:
I know it might be a hobby of yours to kill time here and have a bit of chit-chat - seeing how low you can go, only to abandon the buying in any case anyway since you never meant to buy in the first place. You probably get some sort of weird satisfaction from just messaging and bartering for the sake of bartering. If you're really intending to go cheapos and slash the asking price by half (or more), please, instead (i) don't even ask - look for something that's within your budget on the site; (iii) speak up from the get-go that you intend to make a demeaning offer so that the seller can decide to not waste more time on you, way sooner; and/or (ii) think of all the useful things you CAN be doing instead (cleaning your apartment, going shopping outside, making meaningful conversation with your friends/family, watching a cool film, doing exercise - anything!) while you're not wasting your own and people's time here.

Sincerely,
A Frustrated Seller

PS - I've had some good transactions. People are generally cool. And I've grown wiser now!

Btw Ed, is there a way we can ban the time-wasters if they, on multiple occasions, make ridiculous counter-offers, or, if we have evidence that they're just in it for the chit-chat and had no intention to buy in the first place? Aware that there's no reputation system on here like ebay, or carousell - I'm sure users have similar experiences.