quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Apologies for being so snippy. ... put me in a pretty foul mood.

No worries. BTDT

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
It's only logical that the service provider would want you to use their interface, ...

For future reference: You don't have to. Not much, anyway.

Yes: You have to have a FB account, just like you have to have a SF account to post to SF or see members' profiles to respond to a Classifieds adverts.

But you don't have to give FB any sensitive info about yourself, have a bunch of posts to FB, have a bunch of detailed stuff about you in your FB profile, etc. And while you do have to use FB Messenger to reach out in response to Marketplace adverts, you can do so using a desktop browser (see below) and then arrange to carry on by phone, text message, email or whatever.

Just be aware that, as others have suggested, one of the advantages of FB Marketplace is it can help you vet buyers and sellers. So if you chose to be a non-entity on FB, some sellers/buyers may be wary of you.

Re: Facebook Messenger on a mobile device: If you're using a mobile web browser, FB will insist you use the FB Messenger app on that mobile device. Solution: A mobile browser that has an option to tell the site it's a desktop browser. Brave can do this, for example.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Good news is, I found another one just now on Craigslist (I've been watching for one for a month or more) and the guy is actually talking to me.

Glad you found what you needed in a way you found tolerable

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:

Why not create a gmail account and make a facebook account and fill in as little required info as possible. Facebook only verifies the email address so you can make up alias name.

Not so sure about what they do... I created my account years ago and IIRC birthdate was required. I entered a false birth date. Years go by and at some point I looked at my profile for some other reason and I noticed they had changed my birth date to the correct one!!! Creepy

I bought some low voltage landscape lights off Marketplace once. $150 bucks worth for $10, new in box, from a cute young lady living in a nice middle class neighborhood who decided her husband was never going to install them and she wanted them out of her garage. When I showed up in my Miata, top down, she offered to just trade the lights for a ride in my car... It was the most pleasurable Marketplace experience I have had!

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Re: Facebook Messenger on a mobile device: If you're using a mobile web browser, FB will insist you use the FB Messenger app on that mobile device. Solution: A mobile browser that has an option to tell the site it's a desktop browser. Brave can do this, for example.

So can Chrome.

Choose "Desktop site" from the Chrome settings drop-down menu (three vertical dots in the upper right hand corner of the browser) when you're on Facebook's webpage on your phone, and you can then utilize Messenger from your phone's Chrome browser like on a regular computer.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
... I noticed they had changed my birth date to the correct one!!! Creepy

Are you certain of that?

Heck, I've got all sorts of unlikely profile information in mine--incl. unlikely school locations, courses-of-study, graduation dates, etc.

I originally claimed I lived in Mogadishu, Somalia. But that led to me getting adverts in Arabic, so I changed it to West Undershirt, State, U.S. Despite the fact I clearly post from where I do, and even geo-tag my photos, they still think I live somewhere else.

They have my correct birthdate. I really do not care. (Interestingly: I went to school and graduated before I was born. Neat trick, eh?)

I use FB 99-44/100% for keeping in touch with friends (IRL friends) and family. In fact: Of the (looks...) 97 friends I have, only two of them (?), three, maybe (?) are people I do not know IRL.

Used to have a lot of non-IRL FB friends, but the political wrangling became tiresome.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
... I noticed they had changed my birth date to the correct one!!! Creepy

Are you certain of that?

Certain as I can be, so IDK. No one else has access to my account that I know of.

as has been mentioned many times -- be careful

this case is developing as we speak:

https://www.cbs17.com/news/loc...-mans-disappearance/

man went to sell his SUV on Sunday -- hasn't been seen since.

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