Ive rawdogged it with my real name, and a bare email (no alias), no vpn, bone stock chrome, and they still need a video selfie from me. im not comfortable with that (though i might cave eventually, i need to look at cheap shitboxes, dont know of any oother sites like that)
thanks all
Step 1: Don’t sign up for Facebook
I haven’t had Facebook in years, but I’ll admit the marketplace is pretty damn good for finding secondhand deals. Luckily (unluckily) my wife doesn’t give two shits about being spied on so I browse it from her phone
Marketplace was fantastic for buying and selling all sorts of stuff for years, but it is now plagued with fake listings and scams and all kinds of undesirable shit now. The scammers seem to have no problem whatsoever cranking out new accounts on the regular, and Facebook doesn’t seem to give a shit. Any time I report any of the scam listings I get a response from FB about 3 weeks later saying they did nothing wrong, so they took no action. Fuck Facebook.
It must be location dependent, but our local marketplace is a goldmine (it also might just be an FB group, not sure where all that’s at these days). Every now and again you get some dufus trying to pull some shady shit, but this is a small town where most everyone knows each other, and people are pretty quick to call it out.
and what else do I use? Craigslist dead as he’ll, autotrader and the like have comparitively nice cars
If you’re looking for cheap cars, check if your state/city/area has a govenment auction site. In minnesota we have MNBid and you can usually pick up impounded vehicles or old govenment fleet vehicles for dirt cheap.
Have you tried going to some of those lower end local used car lots? Before cl and fb we used to look through the newspaper and go to used car lots. I know you’ll pay a little more than from a private seller unless you haggle, but at least there’s a selection. No Facebook required.
I recommend autotempest as it searches multiple sites.
it searches what autotrader, eBay, Craigslist, and cars.com
all those are either empty or have relatively nice car
I want that 3k dollar civic with a mild oil leak
The problem is what you’re looking for is far less common than it used to be.
The bottom has dropped out of the market. Cars under a certain value are usually scrapped and/or parted out. You will find them occasionally but it’s getting rare. In my local area I find that Craigslist has the best selection of beaters, but it’s still difficult to find anything worthwhile under $4000.
Might be time to consider a motorcycle, scooter, or e-bike of you can make it work
Edit: one more thing. There are ways to browse FB marketplace without an account.
and how? no account?
Not sure what country your ein, but if it’s one with a non-graduated license program (basic test lets you ride any size bike) please do at least a 2-3 day basic course. In America, they allow you to skip the permit stage but give a proper explanation of controls. It’s so worth it. Please don’t learn from your uncle first.
Price is dependent on area. I’m close enough to a major coastal US city to commute (not California) and I can find those $3k civics. They’re just 2005ish not 1995ish now. I bought a not-dead-yet 99 ranger for $2k this year which WA impossible in 2021 for “work” trucks. $3k is a healthy goal, imo. The bottom of the market has come down in the last year.
As for browsing fb marketplace, I can’t get any to work. I try browse at work and it often doesn’t work. I refuse to sign in there. The tips and hacks are outdated, as far as I can tell. If you have recommendations, I’m all for it.
As for a motorcycle, maybe I’m just fortunate to afford a cheap 00s one for fun, but the weather really literally rains on my parade. Commuting on one means your locked for ~9 hours into that vehicle as your ride home. Weather can change. We get 30%+ afternoon summer thunderstorms here all summer and it sucks. Yeah, there’s rain gear that works well, but even if you ignore the higher crash risk in rain, you have to bring the gear with you (cargo bag) or wear it (sweat like hell) so that’s a compromise. If the climate is drier, the winters warmer, the summers not so humid, and in a more bike-friendly region, that all of course improves viability. I couldn’t beleive the number of bikes I saw in Mexico. Obviously, people make it work, but it’s tough. Different countries have different views on hear, too - that’s a big expense potentially