Not sure what you mean, is there a typo here? What seller wouldn't want someone to pay them using F&F where there is absolutely no effective resource should there be an issue? Did you mean to say avoid the buyer who won't pay using F&F? Or maybe avoid the seller who insists on F&F? The latter is definitely true, even for F2F transactions.
Drones for sale on Face Book seem to all be scams
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I noticed this as well the other day when I was looking to see what deals were out there, and also to see whether posting my services doing roof inspections or property mapping would be viable. All of the ads for drones seemed to use borrowed DJI photos, and all linked to one of two websites for "discounted" sales of name-brand drones. Googling the reviews of these websites left me with the impression that these were scam websites (i.e. you enter your order and credit card details, and you never receive a product, etc).
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You're not missing anything. I suspect it will be gone (forgotten like Myspace) in several years.
anotherlab
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I wouldn't bet any money on that. MySpace never made a profit. Facebook reported a net profit of $39 billion for 2023.
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"In July 2005, Myspace was acquired by News Corporation for $580 million and, in June 2006, it surpassed Yahoo! and Google to become the most visited website in the United States. It generated $800 million in revenue during the 2008 fiscal year."
Source: Wikipedia - Myspace
Afraid of face to face. WOW, are you afraid they are going lure you to their house, shoot you and steal the cash you brought with you? I am sure glad I live in the wilds of WNY. I keep saying the urban folks are different from us hicks.... guess I am right! Listing on FB Marketplace placed the seller in a little town in NW PA. 40 miles from me. Couldn't get him to even answer when I demanded a FTF. There doesn't seem to be a way to go to FB for validity. Doesn't FB demand some kind of registration?
If the FTF took me to the slums of a city I would reconsider.
If the FTF took me to the slums of a city I would reconsider.
No, I'm afraid of what I would have to do should I happen to meet with a scammer who mistook me for a target, I'm afraid for him! Crime happens everywhere, not just in the "slums" and I just don't feel like taking the extra risk associated with FTF meetings in parking lots. If I were a buyer wanting to do business online and the seller demanded that I meet them FTF instead, that's red flags for me. This isn't like meeting a family member or a co-worker for a casual transaction but instead you are dabbling in an area (called the online marketplace) known for rampant fraud where the majority of criminals hang out, and for what? To sell a couple of personal items? That's ridiculous. Especially when you can do the deal online but I guess that's not an option for the uneducated and defenseless seller who doesn't know have to protect themselves online and who sees security in cash and prefers to visually seeing who they are dealing with...I know some people still depend on those factors. I would understand if anyone is not comfort in this new world of online and more used to dealing FTF. I understand if an item is too big to ship or the sum of money is too much to "transfer" or the goods need to be visually inspected, no worries. But taking those risks for a drone? LOL. Not your fault but if you have to ask about FB and "registration" and have questions about "validity" then that should tell you what you need to know; it doesn't exist. It's 2024 not 1994, there's really no need to drive 40 miles even for rural folks....those days are gone; that's what UPS/Fedex/USPS is for. Just so you know, I would not even meet someone in the police station parking, you'll get ripped off there too. There's nothing safe about transacting your money or funds in or near a police station.
DroneTats
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My experience has been that 90% of everything I've purchased on FB is a scam. I just stopped buying on Market Place and even stopped reading paid ads because they're even worse.
anotherlab
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That was at its peak. They never obtained the business model that Facebook achieved with the data collection of their users and tying that to ads served to that user.
Nothing lasts forever, but Facebook will be around for a while.
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As will the extremely popular DJI drones in the US
In all seriousness though, your crystal ball is no better than mine. Nobody knows for sure what tomorrow holds.
anotherlab
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Hopefully, they can refuse to pass that legislationAs will the extremely popular DJI drones in the US
In all seriousness though, your crystal ball is no better than mine. Nobody knows for sure what tomorrow holds.
Grandpa
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This crystal ball has been in my possession for quite some time. Anytime you guys need to know anything, just ask me.
Isn't it the other way around LOL?
Anyways, while there are certainly scams, there are great deals out there too. I found a guy selling a Mavic 3 Pro Fly More Combo for $1,000. I met him and grilled him about why he was selling it for so cheap. He claimed he bought it to "film his horses" but that it scared them and he never really learned to fly it well and just wanted to get rid of it. Seemed fishy since he was working at a pizza joint in a sketchy part of town...and he owned horses?
We test flew it, worked fine. The batteries had 1, 1 and 3 charge cycles. He unbound it from his DJI account. I bought it. Been awesome.
Couple weeks passed and I forgot an SD card when I got to my job site. So I shot to internal memory. Plugged in drone when I got home and lo and behold......there were a couple videos in internal memory.....showing scared horses running away from camera on a small ocean front ranch. Guy was 100% legit. Made me laugh
I used to look at those sales as well. The ones that pop up in the drone forums seemed to be worse. I found many with photos scraped randomly from the Internet and with doctored pictures of people replaced with other faces. I reported them and in most cases, nothing was done.
I quit those forums and just browsed the Marketplace. I actually got a great deal on an almost brand new M3E kit with the RTK module and 5 batteries for $3500 CDN. Warranty and Basic Care Refresh good for another 16 months. The seller was a surveying/IT company only a 120 miles away. I drove there with the cash and was able to certify that everything was in order. That's the best way for me to be certain I won't run into trouble with an online seller.
I also actually got a great deal on eBay for a brand new Matrice M30 kit from an Australian surveying company that had extra. I had to purchase extra batteries, but considering that investment, I still came out $thousands ahead.
I quit those forums and just browsed the Marketplace. I actually got a great deal on an almost brand new M3E kit with the RTK module and 5 batteries for $3500 CDN. Warranty and Basic Care Refresh good for another 16 months. The seller was a surveying/IT company only a 120 miles away. I drove there with the cash and was able to certify that everything was in order. That's the best way for me to be certain I won't run into trouble with an online seller.
I also actually got a great deal on eBay for a brand new Matrice M30 kit from an Australian surveying company that had extra. I had to purchase extra batteries, but considering that investment, I still came out $thousands ahead.
I've reported them too. It's the same person under different names cluttering up Facebook marketplace!
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