Potential Marketplace buyer demands seller ship their furniture 400 miles away to where she lives, seller blocks her in response: ‘Alarm bells went off in my head’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Nov 24, 2025 6:00 AM EST

Many transactions happen thanks to the internet. People sell their art, second-hand clothes, unused furniture, and many more items they no longer have use for. In exchange, they get a decent amount of money and more storage space, and everyone is happy.

One has to remember, however, that just like in any retail scenario, when they decide to sell something online, they must deal with annoying customers. Customers who will try to get their way, even if it means taking shortcuts or scamming their way there.

Take the seller and buyer in the story below as an example. The seller was looking to get rid of an older dining room set, so they posted it on Facebook Marketplace with two conditions–pickup only and cash only. Despite these conditions, one potential buyer demanded that the seller deliver the furniture to her house, 400 miles away. And when she was denied, she still tried to get a hold of the dining set in any way she could. 

Up until the seller decided to block her.

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  • Some people later claimed that this was an obvious scamming attempt. Keep scrolling to read the full story and decide for yourselves.

  • Loading furniture into removal truck
    via MartinPrescott

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Potential "buyer" wants me to deliver furniture over 400 miles away!

    I have an older dining room set listed up on FB marketplace and Nextdoor. It is an older set, nothing special or antique.
    via RyashaAldatan
  • In the ad I specify PICKUP ONLY. (Oh, and CASH only, no online payments.) This one person messages me and asks if I will deliver to a town over 400 miles away.
    via RyashaAldatan
  • Not just NO but HELL NO! I am not going to load up my truck and drive over 800 miles round trip on the promise that you will pay me when I get there.
    via RyashaAldatan
  • It would cost me more in diesel than I am asking for the set. That's when it turned from entitled twit to probable scam in the making.
    via RyashaAldatan
  • This person claimed she had some movers picking up her furniture from my city (how convenient) and she would have them pick it up because she was sick and couldn't drive that far.
    via RyashaAldatan
  • Alarm bells went off in my head then. I was pretty sure the next message was going to be that she would send me a check for more than I was asking and have me pay her "movers".
    via RyashaAldatan
  • Not stupid, not playing, instantly blocked...
    via RyashaAldatan
  • Woman typing message on Facebook
    via Tranmautritam

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • BravoNZ As a non-american, can someone please explain me why cheques still exist? These stopped being a form of accepted payment in this part of the world about 15 years ago.
    via BravoNZ
  • OP RyashaAldatan Some places have a surcharge when you use a card for payment, typically about 3%. That's about the amount the credit card companies charge the merchant for processing the cards. I write about 5-6 checks a year because of this.
    via RyashaAldatan
  • Pristine_Reward_1253 Never should have entertained it in the first place.
    via Pristine_Reward_1253
  • OP RyashaAldatan As my husband says...All offers are entertained. Some are more entertaining than others. I was dubious when I saw the area code on her text, though many people now keep their cell phone numbers when they move. When she asked me to deliver that far away I laughed my butt off.
    via RyashaAldatan
  • Icy_Huckleberry_8049 this is probably a scam. Happens all the time when you try to sell something. Just put "local ONLY - NO deliveries or shipping"
    via Icy_Huckleberry_8049
  • OP RyashaAldatan I DID put "local pickup only, cash only." Absolutely a scam. At first I thought it was just entitled dips&%t, but the following messages had SCAM in bright neon red letters.
    via RyashaAldatan
  • shashoosha I'm sure that's exactly the scam she was trying to pull! Glad you caught it.
    via shashoosha
  • Jademunky42 Banker here, I've actually had clients who fell for this exact scam. Kinda shocking how many people don't understand cheques are not the same as cash and it takes time to clear.
    via Jademunky42
  • Spare-Article-396 I once was giving a house full of furniture away. Really great stuff, too. It wasn't my house, but an out of state client's. Anyway, had I had any room, I would have taken all of it. Know how many pissy people were put out that I wouldn't deliver the free furniture for free??
    via Spare-Article-396
  • Zealousideal-Toe3175 tell her that her "movers" better not be in a hurry as checks take 10 days to clear, and nothing is leaving your possession until that happens.
    via Zealousideal-Toe3175
  • Alice-003 They always start off polite, then the "movers" appear out of nowhere like it's the twist ending of a bad scam movie
    via Alice-003

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furniture aita seller friends facebook buyer entitled blocked facebook marketplace money entitled people selling
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