Do you have a garage you could use?
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We do, if we take the cars out. But there is no way H and I could haul any of these pieces by ourselves.
Ask a couple neighbors to come over or stand in your driveway or something while they are there. Show them the furniture and ask for the money before they take it out of the house. The extra people are extra eyes and show the buyer you’re being cautious.
You’re moving soon and your house is nearly empty
Anyway because you gave so much away on Buy Nothing! 
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FB Marketplace is much better than Craigslist IMO.
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I’ve sold a lot of stuff on FB market and am looking this spring to clean out a lot of my house so will be doing a lot more. Some things that I’ve learned/have worked for me:
- Ignore all ‘cashier’s check’, ‘wire me’ stuff - those are all scams (and those attempts have been made on Craigslist too).
- I click ‘local pick-up only’ (I don’t have the time to set up shipping)
- If it’s small and I’m busy, I do “porch pick up” - person can leave money under the mat.
- Otherwise, I’ll meet them at the door.
- I’ve had people come into my house to get large pieces of furniture. Usually I’ll have my husband there so I’m not by myself. Just make sure to check the buyer can fit the piece in their vehicle!
- Some people do Venmo (and many buyers have asked me to) - I don’t, I always require cash (even for items that are $150 etc.). My understanding is that a Venmo transfer can be retracted within a few minutes of making it - I’d rather not run that risk after selling someone an item. Everyone I’ve dealt with thru FB Market (and Craigslist) has been very nice - but I just don’t want any complications.
- Once someone has said they’ll be coming for an item, I change the FB Market listing to “pending.” This slows down the messages.
- Know that people will respond to your ad via Facebook Messenger - just play around with that so you are comfortable. I prefer not having people contact my personal email or cell phone.
- I cross post to several local “online yard sale” groups in my geographic area when I post on FB Market. There are thousands of people on these, and it expands the reach of the posting.
Conmama -one side note (and not to be discouraging but just as a heads up!): I’ve had several friends try to sell pianos - they have ended up donating to schools, etc. Very hard to move. I hope you are able to sell yours, though! I will say my friend felt very happy knowing kids were playing her mom’s piano…
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Thanks everyone! Your advice has been very helpful. Hopefully our buyers want some of the pieces which will make it easy, but we will likely still end up having to sell/give away others.
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As I put in my response to Conmama a year ago…before I use Marketplace, I take pictures and post on my own FB page which goes to friends and friends of friends only. They get first dibs…and they are either people I know…or a friend of someone I know. Everything I have tried to sell this way, I have sold to someone I know…and quickly. This includes a car…and hard things to sell like a huge TV armoire.
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I’ve never used Facebook Marketplace, but we have used Craigslist and Next Door. We never had an issue with scammers, but we did have issues with no-shows. We were selling H’s old lawn mower and someone contacted us and said they wanted to buy it. They said they’d come get it Tuesday at 3. Well Tuesday at 3 came and went and they didn’t show up and we never heard from them again. We eventually sold it to our next door neighbor’s gardener who was expanding his garden/lawn business and needed another mower.
I always shoot out an email to friends, family, and co-workers before I post on Craigslist or Next Door. Depending on the item, I might also donate it or arrange a large item pickup. I work at a church school and they have a bulletin board where church members can post ads and stuff. I usually ask the ladies in the church office if I can put a flier up. We did that when we needed to get rid of a recliner and extra card table. One of the alter guild ladies sent over her son to pick it up.
We’ve also had garage sales in the past when we moved. Twice a year our HOA does a big neighborhood garage sale and we would put stuff out, but never sell anything because all our neighbors were selling the same sort of stuff. One time we had a lady steal stuff from our garage sale…
My co-worker acquired an artificial Xmas tree when her mother moved into assisted living. She didn’t want it because she and her husband already had an artificial tree that they liked. She posted an ad for it on FB Marketplace and next door. She got more than 50 messages about it, within just 30 mins of posting the ad. They sold it that very day!
Around here anyway, if you’re looking to SELL something (not give it away), you’ll probably make a little more $ selling items on Marketplace than a garage sale. I never ask much but people at garage sales are expecting DIRT CHEAP. And the thing about garage sales are…what do you do with all the stuff you didn’t sell?
Years ago we did garage sales until one year I said never again! It was fun - an event - when the kids were young - they loved preparing, helping, making $. Now if I have a significant item - like a piece of furniture I put it on our neighborhood FB page/marketplace - anything small goes to a thrift shop.
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I have sold and bought a lot on Facebook, but usually through our community yard sale site. We are a relatively small community and if anyone acts shady, the word will get out so there is built-in self-policing of the buyers and sellers. The only issues I have had over my many transactions is people not showing up when they say will. And yes we have let people into our house to carry out furniture (I don’t want to lug it down the stairs!!) The Facebook yard sale sites (and Marketplace) are so much more efficient than in-person yard sales at getting your item into the hands of someone who wants it and will pay more than $2 for it. Our yard sale site is so active, I can always tell when someone on our street has sold something… car driving slowly, looking at house numbers, pulls over and gets out, returns in 30 seconds with a bag in hand and drives off! Happens regularly…
I concur with @Jolynne_Smyth that if you are selling furniture, make sure they can fit it in their vehicle! My D sold all her DC apartment furniture on Marketplace when she moved back home due to pandemic, and she has some crazy stories to tell about people trying to fit big items into/onto their small cars!!
@abasket - agree you’ll get more for items for sale on FB marketplace than at a yard sale. For me, the appeal of a yard sale (I’ve been compiling stuff for a year or so!) is that it’s all out there at once. FB market take a bit of time to go back/forth with a buyer, arrange a time. I really only do that for bigger items. I also price moderately low on FB market so it moves quick.
As for the inevitable stuff left after the yard sale - folks in my area contact Purple Heart (or other veterans’ group I believe?) and schedule a pick up (from stuff they’ve left in their driveway) for the Monday after the weekend sale. End goal: none of it ever goes back in the house!
Update: H found a person who will buy furniture (and will pick it up). The guy will take everything we are not planning to move. Not top dollar - but it’s easy.
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We’ve had that issue too. People say they want to buy the item and then they never show up. Or they show up two hours late. So annoying! I get stuff happens, but come on!
@Embracethemess My BIL once sold a dresser to a guy who strapped it to the top of his little hatchback. Funny story: a co-worker of mine was selling a piece of furniture on FB marketplace. The couple who wanted to buy it rented a U-Haul truck. My co-worker’s apartment complex has underground parking for residents and visitors. My co-worker had no idea they were going to be in a U-Haul, so they told them to park underground in visitor parking. Well the overhead clearance of the parking garage entrance wasn’t high enough for the top of the U-Haul truck and they got stuck. The guy driving the truck was so stubborn that he kept trying to rev the truck up to get it through, further damaging the top of the truck and the ceiling of the garage. Well, eventually a tow truck had to be called to pull the U-Haul out and I imagine the couple had to pay quite a bit for damage to the truck and the parking garage.
Quite a story. I think the problem is that a lot of people have little to no experience operating a vehicle of that size.
Over the past year I have been selling things on Nextdoor or OfferUp more than FB Marketplace.
Yesterday I listed a bike rack that has been sitting in the garage for years on OfferUp for $25. I was willing to just give it away if I didn’t get a response. Within an hour of listing it I had a guy tell me he would pay $25 and would pick it up after work. He showed up right when H got home and we loaded it into his car and collected our $25. Before I marked the item as sold I had two others contact me.
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There’s an article in the recent AARP newsletter talking about the best way to sell things and Facebook Marketplace came out on top. Better than yard sales, Craigslist, consignment shops etc. Some items may sell better at a pawnshop, like guitars.
What kind of piano? The older ones are often tough to move unless it’s something special. We are going to be selling our 20 yo Yamaha upright soon, and are hoping that it is still has some value.