After living in a foreign country (or even your home country actually) for years, you tend to..uhm, accumulate stuff. Lately, I’ve been getting rid of things we don’t need any more – either giving it away to friends who would need them or to the flea market (something that me and my sister has gotten hooked with, will blog about it soon) or sell in the local online classifieds like Dubizzle.
What’s the main challenge with selling used stuff online? Well, aside from people haggling like they want it for free, there’s an issue with meeting, the location, the directions!
Most of the buyers I’ve encountered didn’t have a problem locating me. All were sweat-free transactions so far…until today. The lady buyer had a hard time locating me using the directions I told her via text message. Deira is always a maze for non-Deira residents and the struggle is real – she circled round and round until I thought she would tell me she’d cancel the deal every time my phone rings. “Forget it! F Deira, I’m driving back home!”
We finally met after 30 gruelling minutes of phoning each other back and forth, me running around like a crazy mad woman in the streets. When we met, it was awkward, I was frustrated and apologetic, she was a bit angry.
Lesson learned, before agreeing to sell any item, the following conditions should be met:
- They should have Whatsapp or anything where I can send the Google map link to my location.
- They should be able to virtually navigate with the help of Google maps before coming.
- They should have data while on the road to access Google map if they haven’t navigated the location in their minds before coming.
Otherwise, don’t bother.
While I was walking back to my office in the hot afternoon sun, I realized as the sweat trickled down my back, was the 50 dhs (US$13.5) even worth it?
I spent that 50 dhs to buy myself chocolates to cure the stress and aftershock effects of my panic attack.
Finding Backroads 
I rather think that the meeting place depends on the size of the item. When we sold a cupboard, bed, and mattress, the buyer took the items from the flat. The other time, when a mobile phone purchased was not suitable for the person it was bought for, it had been sold to the buyer in the mall’s food court. I guess you’ll have to ask ahead if the person is familiar with your preferred place of meeting if the item is easy to carry or small. If not, a mall is always a good place for deals.
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