Selling/Trading During the Pandemic

[Bike from the Dead]

Hey guys,

I've been having second thoughts regarding buying/selling/trading while there's still a pandemic going on. I know I withdrew all my ads on here, The CABE, and craigslist all the way back in March, but I've still occasionally gone out and bought stuff for my projects, and I even bought a new project a few weeks ago. I always wear a mask, stay 6ft away from everyone as best as I can, and I always keep hand sanitizer nearby, and so far I've been fine, but I still hesitate to go out more often than I do.

That said, I still have stuff I want to sell/trade, as I don't like holding onto stuff I have no use for, and there's stuff I want to get for my current projects. I want to stay safe, and I want the people who buy my stuff or who I buy from to be safe, but I need to get rid of some stuff and make a little money while I'm at it. I just don't want to backpedal on where I've stood this whole time and be called out for hypocrisy.

So, what should I do? Wait a little longer until this coronavirus nightmare is over to start listing stuff for sale, or just go ahead and try to make some money, as long as I play it safe?

 

[handyandy1100]

I bought a bike off FB Marketplace a couple months ago. He said if I looked at it and wanted it to put the money under the welcome mat and the bike was mine. Never saw him in person. I did send him a picture of the money under the pulled back mat so in case the money was gone when he came to get it he would know I paid him.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Bike from the Dead]

I bought a bike off FB Marketplace a couple months ago. He said if I looked at it and wanted it to put the money under the welcome mat and the bike was mine. Never saw him in person. I did send him a picture of the money under the pulled back mat so in case the money was gone when he came to get it he would know I paid him.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

That's one way to do it...

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Yeah, I had a meeting with a guy this weekend, he was getting way too close for my liking. Tried to help me load the bikes on the rack, wanted to shake hands etc. You need to be prepared to spend time with people who might not be at the same level, precaution wise.
I don't think you'd get called a hypocrite for changing your position, the information is changing on a daily basis. You've just adjusted your guidelines based on current knowledge.

 

[baldwooky]

The Covid bike tax is real.
As a seller, you are mi$$ing out.

As far as danger.. I personally am not too concerned as I really don't touch anything other than money or a bike and I keep sanitizer in my car/home and roll with a badass steampunk'ed out facemask with active filters and respirators.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Yeah, I had a meeting with a guy this weekend, he was getting way too close for my liking. Tried to help me load the bikes on the rack, wanted to shake hands etc. You need to be prepared to spend time with people who might not be at the same level, precaution wise.
I don't think you'd get called a hypocrite for changing your position, the information is changing on a daily basis. You've just adjusted your guidelines based on current knowledge.

Yeah, when I bought The Trashliner Trike, a Space/Flightliner trike conversion, I hesitantly shook hands with the guy a couple times, but immediately used my hand sanitizer afterwards. And while he wore a mask, he didn't wear it ALL the time. It's moments like those that put me on edge.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Mask up
Keep the distance
Decline handshakes
Money in a plastic bag
Lysol the parts
Lysol the money

Continue living life!! That's how I've been handling it lately

 

[RustyGold]

I think I've been on four CL meet an' greets since the pandemic started. I bring the mask to be prepared...but, so far, nobody has cared. There is a bit of additional distance kept, and no handshakes...but, that's it. I'll follow whatever lead the seller gives.

 

[furyus]

Good thing our ancestors took care of all the exploring and establishing before we came along.

furyus

 

[Verrt]

I don't think you're a hypocrite for reassessing your boundries with newer information.

Main bits of new information being, masks and distance help more that we thought they would. But, the risk of permanent disability is also much higher than was initially thought, and hits a wider range of people.

Be prepared to feel like a D, though. Not everyone's as respectful of others with a different risk assessment to their own as RG is.
You will have to tell people to stand back, wear a mask, and not shake hands and cope with their indignation when you do.

However, you may want to wait until we see how much worse it's going to get with cold and flu season starting now. If it starts spiking in the next two three months, hold off until the warmer weather.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

I don't think you're a hypocrite for reassessing your boundries with newer information.

Main bits of new information being, masks and distance help more that we thought they would. But, the risk of permanent disability is also much higher than was initially thought, and hits a wider range of people.

Be prepared to feel like a D, though. Not everyone's as respectful of others with a different risk assessment to their own as RG is.
You will have to tell people to stand back, wear a mask, and not shake hands and cope with their indignation when you do.

However, you may want to wait until we see how much worse it's going to get with cold and flu season starting now. If it starts spiking in the next two three months, hold off until the warmer weather.

Thanks.

All the more reason to wear a mask and keep my distance.

Well, if any potential buyers or sellers don't want to respect my desire to stay safe and keep others safe, then I'm not selling or buying. I actually turned down a really good deal on a Huffy Rail back in May because the seller wouldn't ship it from Mississippi (I live in Oklahoma,) then told me he wouldn't wear a mask should I drive 6 hours one way to pick it up. No deal or sale is worth becoming another statistic.

Rats, I almost forgot about the flu season. That's definitely something to be concerned about, but the same rules for staying safe from the coronavirus should still work for the cold & flu, right?

 

[Verrt]

Rats, I almost forgot about the flu season. That's definitely something to be concerned about, but the same rules for staying safe from the coronavirus should still work for the cold & flu, right?

Same precautions, but if the infections rates go up in general because of the colder weather that means more people with the virus and more chances to catch it.

They may not go up. But for myself it's a wait and see what happens situation.
I'm trying to lower my exposures from now until we see what's going to happen in winter.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Same precautions, but if the infections rates go up in general because of the colder weather that means more people with the virus and more chances to catch it.

They may not go up. But for myself it's a wait and see what happens situation.
I'm trying to lower my exposures from now until we see what's going to happen in winter.

Good to know. Thanks. I'll definitely have to play it safe.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Same precautions, but if the infections rates go up in general because of the colder weather that means more people with the virus and more chances to catch it.

They may not go up. But for myself it's a wait and see what happens situation.
I'm trying to lower my exposures from now until we see what's going to happen in winter.

What was the sad emoji about?

 

[Verrt]

What was the sad emoji about?

It just sucks, is all.

That any of this has to be a consideration.

I've never done a risk assessment when needing to buy lumber from home depot before :/

 

[Bike from the Dead]

It just sucks, is all.

That any of this has to be a consideration.

I've never done a risk assessment when needing to buy lumber from home depot before :/

Gotcha. Yeah, this really is a lousy situation. I've had to pass on some really good deals and a lot of fun activities because I've found the risk is greater than the reward. My family's having a garage sale in 2 weeks, and I'm super nervous because I've seen how many people don't wear a mask or social distance at garage sales. It's like the virus doesn't even exist to some people, and we're practically letting those kind of people onto our driveway!

 

[handyandy1100]

Gotcha. Yeah, this really is a lousy situation. I've had to pass on some really good deals and a lot of fun activities because I've found the risk is greater than the reward. My family's having a garage sale in 2 weeks, and I'm super nervous because I've seen how many people don't wear a mask or social distance at garage sales. It's like the virus doesn't even exist to some people, and we're practically letting those kind of people onto our driveway!

Do like they do in stores and require people who come to your sale to wear masks or go home. I think if you provide masks most unmasked people will put one on if they really want to see your stuff.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Do like they do in stores and require people who come to your sale to wear masks or go home. I think if you provide masks most unmasked people will put one on if they really want to see your stuff.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

I can run that idea by my parents, but they aren't as worried about this pandemic as I am. That in and of itself worries me.

 

[macncheese]

“Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of--something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat's side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possesed your soul have been but hints of it--tantalizing glimspes, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest--if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself--you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say 'Here at last is the thing I was made for.' We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the things we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.”
― C.S. Lewis

 

[Bike from the Dead]

“Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of--something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat's side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possesed your soul have been but hints of it--tantalizing glimspes, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest--if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself--you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say 'Here at last is the thing I was made for.' We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the things we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.”
― C.S. Lewis

What?