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Buying from Leboncoin


mint
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Just getting the facts right in my head before I charge ahead...........

If you saw something you liked and you'd emailed/telephoned the seller and agreed price/time to visit, etc.

You go and look at the thing, like it, but it's too big to put in the car and you need to return with a van or similar.

What happens about payment?  Do you pay for part of it and the rest on collection, perhaps?

Haven't seen anything yet but I am looking for a sideboard and I don't want to tread on toes so I need to get the request over in a way that is firm but friendly [blink]

PS:  Have been doing stuff like "polite requests" in French Class so this is very topical for me [:D]

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I have bought 3 items by cheque in february, all of size suitable for posting. People on boncoin tend to be amateurs and few have PayPal. Everything is covered by an email, posting cheque, arrival cheque, dispatch goods, arrival goods; establishing a paper trail if there are any problems. If you collect or get delivered make sure you get receipt identifying the goods and sales price as proof that the goods are not stolen and file for house insurance purposes if relevant with picture or digitalise in a virtual file.
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We bought a small table from someone on le Boncoin. I telephoned and left a message. The owner rang me back, we arranged a date / time and went to collect it. She and her compagnon were very hospitable, they helped us get the table into our car boot and then invited us up to their flat for a fruit juice. I am sure we could have asked to go and see the table before we promised to buy.

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We've bought lots of things from leboncoin, despite my french being far from comprehensive. I try to use emails as much as possible as it is obviously much easier than the phone. Personally I wouldn't worry about leaving a deposit unless you're unable to collect in the next 1 or 2 days. and paying cash makes everything simpler especially if you're clearly foreign imo.

I am yet to meet somebody who isn't friendly and helpful when buying on leboncoin.
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I also have bought a number of things of Leboncoin, in all cases the sales have gone smoothly, I bought a car, left a deposit, in cash, came back and paid the balance with a CA bank cheque which the owner verified in advance with the bank, no problems at all.

However be aware that there are a large number of arnaquers on there, if it is too cheap, ask yourself why, caveat emptor !

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Interesting and helpful answers, Jimmy and Racerbear.

Thank you.

I now feel emboldened to look and buy![:)]

Chances are will have to go back with a "man and van" as I am looking for a sideboard (just to hide all the clutter in my kitchen/dining room) and also a biblioteque to house all the books that I alas cannot stop myself from accummulating.

More than ever tempted to buy books as I sneak in the odd easy-read French one.... 

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Hello Sweet

Are you looking for an traditional French sideboard? They're usually very big in my experience. There is a furniture depot in Angouleme, I don't know where you are these days, but anyway it's stacked with loads of traditional secondhand furniture. The place is not far from the Girac hospital and occupies an old railway station at Saint Michel. We usually go once a year for a poke around.

http://www.lacavernedudenicheur.com/

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Thank you, Sid.

I giggled when I saw your link.

Yes, I'm looking for a sideboard but NOT a sarcophagus![:D]

That place looks interesting and I'm going to make a note and go have a poke round, perhaps for bookcases.

Was thinking of you only yesterday when I saw the carpet cleaner in the garage.  THAT is a pretty big piece of kit too, n'est-ce pas?

Spring cleaning sooooonnnnnnnn!!!

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[quote user="sweet 17"]Yes, I'm looking for a sideboard but NOT a sarcophagus![/quote]

Thinking differently then if you have an Emmaus nearish to you it might well be worth a visit.

Sometimes it is possible to find absolute treasures there, if you are lucky.

Sue

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Thanks, everyone, for your interest in helping me solve my little problem and for your helpful replies.

Found a nice, plain one in cherry wood about half an hour from our home.  The picture looks nice so just need to go and look at it now and hope it's not too scratched or alternatively not too highly polished (as then the scratches won't show).

Too big for the car so will have to find someone with a van to go and collect but it's very exciting, buying furniture this way, and I am looking forward to ringing the person tomorrow.

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[quote user="woolybanana"]Watch out for woodworm. Check under and behind and the backs of cupboards and drawers. But then maybe I am teaching you to skin polecats![/quote]

Don't know about polecats, can skin a banana though!

Seriously, nice to see you back, Wools.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote user="ericd"]To add to the positive feedback, I have sold and bought a few items from Leboncoin. Always been a success........but in case things don't go as planned, I always keep a litre of petrol handy nearby.......never had to use it yet!!!!  [:D][/quote]

Greatly encouraged, I did ring the person.  Went to look at it and it seemed perfect for where I wanted to put it.

But, oops, no way will it fit in the car.  Also, it was in a first floor flat...........

Anyway, I wanted it as it "ticked all the boxes", so OH left 50 euros with the lady and left me to sort out a means of transport!  How typical is that?

I asked around our village and eventually located someone with a big enough camionette to get it for me.  Then, of course, the start of the "truite" season was last weekend and he said he couldn't miss his fishing; so this evening was the first available opportunity to get it.

Then, I had to ring the seller, explain about coming to pick it up and that the person I would be bringing "n'est pas très grand".  You'd realise by now that I have adopted the French habit of under-stating things:  that is, pas très grand for he's only a little 'un, so can you make sure your husband is there to lend a hand?

When we got there (me finding the place again was nothing short of miraculous) there were not just one man but two to help.  But, mon dieu, it looked twice as big and felt ten times heavier than I'd anticipated!

Anyway, tout est bien qui finit bien.............OH paid our neighbour, over and above what he wanted, he had a drink with us and we also gave him a bottle to take away.  Now he's promised to bring his wife to meet us and have an apero on a nice evening as today's [:)]

Now my sideboard is installed in our dining kitchen, looks like it's always been there, blends in well with our existing furniture and I am feeling very self-congratulatory but also most grateful to everybody on here who's helped to allay my fears.

So.....anyone thinking of doing the same sort of thing, I can truly tell you that it can be really interesting and could save you lots of dosh!

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  • 1 month later...

Bonsoir Eric et Pacha (and all those who have contributed here)

I had hoped to get a photo to show Eric the new sideboard but, alas, I have some technical glitch with the camera but I promise that I will be very proudly showing a photo when the problem is sorted.

Once the sideboard was in place, I cleaned and polished it and then I left it empty for 2 whole days.  On the third day, OH tentatively said do you think it would look better where our dresser is now and the dresser put in the place of the new sideboard.

Of course, I'd been thinking the same thing for 2 days and hadn't liked to mention anything as the furniture was so heavy and it would half kill us to change the position of the 2 items.  But, once the thought was out in the open, there was no avoiding the issue.

So, I emptied the dresser, OH unscrewed the top and bottom half in order to make moving it easier.  It didn't quite work out like that.  We hadn't reckoned on the weight!  However, to cut a long story short, I can state that by dint of some Heath Robinson contraption involving 2 blankets and sliding and pushing the items half a foot at a time, we eventually managed to change their places.  Eric, I will show both pieces of furniture in place if you are still interested by the time I have recounted all and sorted out the camera!

By then, I'd become addicted to leboncoin.  And I've bought 3 other things in as many weeks and about to buy something else on Tuesday.

Anyway, the next item was more furniture!  But, yes, I was looking for a low table for my veranda (which I keep mentioning) but what I found was a whole suite of a canapé, 2 fauteuils and a table basse in rattan and cane.  We already have some Lloyd Loom chairs on the verandah but I couldn't resist the bargain.

When we went to buy the cane suite, the owner came to meet us at a pre-arranged point and took us to his house.  When we got there, we found that the house, the garden and the wife were all as charming as the owner.

We fiddled about trying to get it all into the car.  I had had the foresight to ask the owner whether we'd need two cars.  Mais, non, he'd assured me, one car was "suffit".

Eventually, we crushed everything in but OH couldn't get into the passenger seat at all so he had to drive (although it was my turn to drive) the car home with his knees squashed up against the driving wheel.

After we got home, the owner emailed to see if we managed OK and then said he'd like to see a photo of the furniture on our veranda.  As the camera was playing up (as explained earlier), I invited him and his wife to come and see for themselves.  So now, they will visit us on the next market day in our nearest town!  Oh, they were such interesting and delightful people that we look forward to another meeting....LOL

Next, I was idly looking at the site under "linge de maison" and, would you know it, I saw a bedspread that I thought would look perfect on our bed. 

 

 

 

 

Next, I was idly looking at "linge de maison" on the site and saw a bedspread

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Please excuse me for writing further but this is a continuation of the previous post as I don't seem able to move the page up and down to insert new things.

As I was saying about the dessus de lit, it was lucky that it was only 5 minutes drive away.  We went in pouring wind and rain, quite an orage, to the house.  By golly, the house was a veritable castle, in fact such as made my so-called "chateau" in Charente Maritime seem like a shed that is barely suitable for human habitation.

The owners, however, ushered us in as though we were long-lost friends although we were all wet from the rain and were wearing our shabbiest dog-walking clothes as the dog was waiting in the car to go walkies afterwards.

The bedspread turned out to be "ancien", hand-knitted and kept in cellophane with a strong scent of lavender!  I ask you, would it be normal not to have bought it?

Then, the curtains, sorry for the long drawn-out account but I did say on my "curtain" thread that I'd write about my purchase on this thread.  When I couldn't find curtains near us on leboncoin, I decided that I'd look in "cold" parts of the country where people were more likely to have curtains.  Indeed I found these 4 very long, very wide panneaux "brodé" and in écru colour.  Then I had to ring the owner and persuade him to agree to send them to me.

He was quite grumpy to begin with, wanted to know if I lived in Lyon and wanted to know whether I'd take 2 panneaux instead of 4 as a friend of his wanted two.  Well, je ne suis calé pour français as I would be the first to admit but I did manage to get him to read an email.  Easier to write than to speak, right?

Then he rang back and said OK but you'd have to pay the colissimo of 10 euros.  I said, but of course, I will send you a cheque for the curtains and the coli in advance and you only need to send it after you receive payment, OK?

He sent a brief email to say that he'd include the coli in the price!!!  As they say, you could have knocked me down with a feather.

3 days pass and I had another brief, almost curt, email to say that the payment was "bien reçu" and that he'd send the curtains "rapidement".  3 more days pass and the parcel, securely boxed and fastened, was brought by the factrice.

The curtian, ah, the curtains.  They were handmade with rufflette tape and hooks in place.  At the hem, there was a heavy wire carefully stitched in so that they'd hang nicely.  I think they are, if not 100% cotton, at least with a high cotton content.  Fabulous and a perfect fit so that all the parts of the verandah where the floor to ceiling glass is will be shielded.

So, you see, I don't think I'll go to the shops for anything until I have looked in what is now my favourite shopping place first [:D]

3 days later, I had a very curt message saying that the payment was "bien reçu" and that he'd send the curtains "rapidement" 

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Sorry, about the disjointed post and things out of place.  Could't seem to edit to make better sense as the page doesn't appear to allow me to get to near the end of a long post to correct it and I was scared to use the return key as I'd already lost a couple of long posts I'd written this evening.

Grrrr..........I now remember why I stopped posting for a time when the new supposedly "improved" forum was put in place[+o(]

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