Should You Trust People From Facebook Marketplace? (STORY)

The question is… Should you trust people from Facebook Marketplace? I want to share with you a story from my life where I gave someone trust… Someone random I’ve never met before, but I was planning to buy a very pricy item from them on Facebook Marketplace.

One random Friday I decided to open Facebook Marketplace to browse for something I needed, this item was a graphics card (GPU). Long story short if you don’t know what it is it’s a computer part that makes the screen show stuff. Well after some research on the internet, I go ahead and look for the specific card I wanted. After browsing and messaging a couple of people I come across a gentleman name Deyvid. His asking price for the item was a little over my budget so I asked if he is willing to negotiate. He comes back and says he can’t do anything lower than his asking as he needed the money for some personal things. Of course, this sucks for me because the condition of his item was fantastic and it even still had a warranty! After some back and forth I couldn’t get him to budge. He settled on saying if the item doesn’t sell by the new year he’ll let me have it for what I was asking. Now I obviously knew the GPU was going to be sold easily within the next day or so at this point I felt defeated as I was holding myself back from spending above my budget on this item I didn’t actually need. I was itching to get this deal but just wished he would say yes! An hour or so goes by and I come back at him with another offer slightly more than my original and again with no success, I got hit with the “sorry buddy, I can’t”. At this point, I was about to throw the towel in and move on… but something sparked in our conversation and I found myself just chatting with this guy. We started talking about what we do for work, what our plans in life are, and what hobbies we have. Surprisingly, I was actually just enjoying having a random conversation with someone over this random Facebook ad chat. When we got to the hobbies part of our conversation, of course, I bring up one of my favorite hobbies which is woodworking. Deyvid was surprised and very interested in this one specifically. He started to ask what I make and if I had some pictures. As a proud woodworker I of course sent him photos and showed some of my best work. A little while of chat went by and he hit me with an exciting comment… “Hey, maybe we can work out a deal for the GPU”. I was now super excited as I wanted to know more! Deyvid threw me a curveball and said “Be right back though I have to pick up my partner from work”. Now obviously I’m excited to know more and see if we can make a deal for his GPU but now I have to wait for him to get back. A short while goes by and I hear that familiar “ding” sound. I look over and it’s Deyvid. He’s agreed to sell the GPU for whatever the cost of a cutting board is reduced from his asking price. He goes on to tell me he needed a gift for his brother-in-law who is going to culinary school. Right away I hop on a phone call with him and his partner to discuss what kind of wood they want, the size, and the pattern. After some discussion, we come to the final layout and I give him the price, He says “Deal”! After I hear those words I got super excited because now I can get my GPU for an affordable cost and all it takes is some man-hours in the woodshop, which I already enjoy doing. During our discussion I can tell he has a big interest in how woodworking works, He mentions he is a computer programmer so hearing about these hands-on tasks is so fascinating to him. After hearing how interested he is in the project I decided to ask him a question. I said ‘Hey Deyvid, Would you be interested in coming over and helping me make the cutting board?”. His response “Oh my god, I would love to! That would be so awesome!”. So just like that I now invited someone over to my house whom I have never met and only spoken to over the phone for less than 20 mins. We made a plan for him to come by tomorrow early afternoon so we can start the project. I told him it was going to take two days to complete so he would have to come back the second day to finish up.

It’s the next morning and he gives me the text “I’m on my way”. You might wonder if I was nervous and part of me was. Is this guy a murderer and going to kill me and my family? Of course that’s going to cross my mind but I try and stay positive. I wouldn’t have invited him if I didn’t get good vibes from the messages and phone calls we had. After some relaxing he arrives, I meet him at the door and give him a handshake and invite him into my house. Right off the bat, he is as friendly as I expected. I help him bring some stuff inside and he goes right to my mother and introduces himself and actually gives her a six-pack of beer (he asked me beforehand) as a gift/thank you. Not only does he bring gifts for my mother but also brings me some beautiful deli cuts to try! After the introductions and getting to know each other more we both head out to the garage to start the project. I get him geared up in my woodworking apron, I slip on my overalls and I crack a beer for us to sip as we get going. I start to not only show but teach him all of the steps that go into making a cutting board. After showing some examples of the milling stage I ask him “would you like to try it?” He responds “Absolutely” with excitement. I go ahead and sit back as he is now the one getting to build his brother-in-law’s cutting board. Hours & beers go by as we continue milling the lumber down to glue up stage. Finally, we are ready to glue up aka meaning the end of the day is coming. We go ahead and apply the glue and clean up the shop. We step inside and start to chat a bit as we wind down from all of the work. He pulls out a bottle of my favorite liquor and asks if I’d like to have some. Of course I say yes as… well it’s my favorite liquor! I take two cups out and he says “unfortunately I can’t drink as I still have to drive home”. Now he’s reminding me that he doesn’t live just down the road but an hour away and I think to myself man it would suck driving that far home and then back again tomorrow. I turn to him and ask “If you want you can crash here to save the need to drive home and back, and you can drink!” He responds “That would be amazing!”. Now some people reading this might think I’m crazy. I just invited some random guy from over an hour away to my house and now my spare bed. Most people would NEVER in their life trust someone to even enter their house let alone sleep there. After getting to know this guy I had to have some faith in humans that not everyone is bad and I can actually gain a friend through showing some trust. Well, the night goes on, and my partner and best friend join us as we drink away and install that new (but used) GPU into my computer. Deyvid pulls this random ancient slang dictionary thing that apparently I never knew we owned and starts playing a game where he goes to a random page and tells us a word and we have to guess what it means… this wasn’t an easy game let me tell you. Everyone exchanges laughs and the night eventually comes to an end. I help Deyvid get set up in our spare bed for the night and go to mine.

The next morning comes around and I get up to walk the dog at 7:30 am. I walk to my window and peek my head out, I see Deyvids car still there and turn to my partner and say “Phew, he’s still here”. Yes of course I had some crazy thoughts as anyone would but I just had to double-check! The morning goes on and Deyvid sleeps in a bit as he mentioned he would do the night before. We eventually get up and get some breakfast in us and then get out to the garage to continue the cutting board. Again, I give him the lead in some of the tasks and show him the process as we move along. Finally, it comes to the finishing stage and we go inside to prep for finishing. We go ahead and put our first coat of finishing on and wow! This has to be one of my favorite cutting boards I’ve ever made! We wait for the first coat to dry and then realize the finishing step might take a really long time and it’s probably best he does the rest at home so it can soak overnight. We pack up his stuff and wrap the cutting board for transport, we hang out for a bit longer but then say our goodbyes. I lend a hand with his stuff and walk him out to his car and give him a handshake goodbye.

So let’s go back to the question. Should you trust people from Facebook Marketplace? My answer to the question would be… within reason. I don’t think you can give a yes or no answer to this question. I think you should use your judgment but also give some people the benefit of the doubt. I just gave you a perfect example where I put myself in a vulnerable situation and walked away from it with an amazing story, pictures of my favorite cutting board yet, a new GPU, and best yet… a new friend! That’s right, Deyvid and I have spoken multiple times since his visit and we already planned our next woodworking project we’re going to build together. It doesn’t end there, the job he currently works at had to lay him off unfortunately and he’s thinking about trying something new, so I went ahead and offered him a position in my company. I’ve never been the type of person not to trust people unless I had a reason to, if you have a problem where you can’t trust anybody please try and give people a chance. Use your judgment but don’t label everyone because of one bad experience or discomfort you have. I’ve met many people on Facebook Marketplace who think if I knew their address the day before I was picking up the item I might rob them or something. I’ve also had bad experiences an example is when I trusted someone to give me the rest of the money when they get paid and never got anything in the end. All I’m trying to say is we need to make this world a better and more trusted place…. be the one who starts that! Most people aren’t that bad.

The cutting board Deyvid and I made.