Please Stop Trying To Sell Your Crap On Facebook!

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Well, we haven’t had a good rant in a while. So pull up a cup of Joe, cause here I go! Todays toxic topic is Selling your crap on Facebook Group Pages! LEACHES, Parasites and just dumb ass stuff. By the way, if you are guilty of this crap, you may not want to read on. To the tools that insert their $49,000 brochures on the Chris Craft Owners page Facebook. Stop it. Sell it on ebay. Hell, we have a FREE classified page. By the way if you read the insane confusing ad, it’s really 85 bucks. And by the way you can by these reprinted and they look new as well, so make sure its not a new one for 85 bucks, cause you will be one pissed off person. And thats the kinda BS you deal with. Why ebay at least has some sort of recourse.

Yikes Woody? Whats this all about?

Yes, now the ACBS is selling stuff on their facebook page? To be fare, this is a way to have you see their classified page. But is it competing with their sponsors?

It’s rude to walk into a fun party and start hawking your crap. So stop. Now, you may point at us and say, hey you sell ebay stuff. Yes from time to time if something is silly, strange or the seller is crazy, we feature it. BTW, ebay is a sponsor.  We have asked the CCABC folks about their facebook page being highjacked by people selling stuff, and they hate it. And keep playing whack a mole with the dirt clods using it that way.

Loaded up the comment section with sideways photos

So what provoked this rant? Just the other day we featured someone on ebay selling a treasure trove of stuff found in a storage unit. Boxes of photos and Record Cards from Chris Craft. After we all scooped up the photos in literally minutes, the seller re thought his strategy and jacked all the prices very high, and started plastering it all on Facebook and yes even on Woody boater in the comment section. Many of us have begged for a better plan. And to keep it all together in some sort of way. To have it scanned and sell the scans, and donate the original photos to a museum.

Dealer in Portland Maine

Hey listen, we are in no way saying don’t profit from your find. You deserve that. But, do it in a different focused and respected way. Find one place to handle this. And think of the “larger picture”. How many can benefit from the find instead of a few. We are planning on donating many of the photos we purchased to the Algonac Museum. These are local history there, and everyone should be able to enjoy them.

A young boat worker at Hacker in Michigan – Story to come

I could go on and on.. Oh I want to. Like selling stuff on Boat Buzz, or in the comment section here. Or those crappy made up photo shop art of Ebay. The AFT Wipes that keep trying to sell a Conrad Essential Guide for 300 bucks.

mmm, I think I will buy the $300 one. YOU CAN BUY THIS NEW, for 50 bucks at Classic Boat Connection.

I just cant stand people trying to take advantage of people that are new to our passion. Its what was the key driver to create WoodyBoater. You should be able to enjoy a passion, hobby type thing without dirt clods trying to take advantage of you. And even worse are the Tube heads that think they have a true treasure when its really a pile of junk. AHHHHHHHH! Why can’t everyone be honest and try and make the world a better place.
Okay, my rant is over, I am okay now. We can all go back to toilet seats on eBay.

43 replies
  1. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    Just stay off Facebook and you will be a happier person. There is no good reason for any of our clubs or legitimate organizations to be on Facebook. CCABC’s decision to go there destroyed the participation on the Buzz which has drastically reduced the value of being a club member.

    Selling things at crazy inflated prices is another issue, but to me that is the buyers responsibility. Jerry Conrad’s book isn’t an impulse buy that someone outside the hobby is going to see and shell out $300 for. Anyone buying that book should know what it is and what it should cost. At least they should be smart enough to use Google.

    • Flash
      Flash says:

      CCABC’s decision to start a Facebook page didn’t kill Boat Buzz, the smartphone and social media culture have killed Boat Buzz. All of those types of Forums are slowly dying as they require you to go to a site, log in, and individually search out threads and comments. FB, Instagram, Twitter, Snap Chat, etc all allow you to quickly scroll past all the irrelevant comments and junk(trust me, there’s a lot of it) without the lag time of going back and forth. There is an app for these forms and maybe that would be something the club could look at as an upgrade, but I’m not sure if it makes sense for them.

      • George Emmanuel
        George Emmanuel says:

        Flash’s comments are spot on. We cannot control every Tom, Dick and Harry that wants to start a Facebook site. But what we can do is learn from the competition. I’m a long-time member of AOMCI and ACBS and am Treasurer for AOMCI. AOMCI is in the process of completely building a new web site and I’ve contributed my input telling the council to pay attention to Facebook and why folks are using it so much. IMHO, the CCAB site was the best of all marque clubs because they have segregated (bad word) categories. If I have a question about wiring, I go to that area and I get good answers thanks to loyal, dedicated members. Ask the same question on Facebook and you get all kinds of goofy answers…So for me, I prefer the web sites of the long-established clubs. But look at the numbers. If I had something to sell I’d use every venue I could.

    • Matt
      Matt says:

      I know, but its too large. I need about an 8 ft boat. I do have a small 11 ft boat here at the house, made by the same brothers and the Boatress Uncles. It might be cool to have it towed behind.

  2. Matt
    Matt says:

    I could not agree more. Facebook has been death to many social outlets on the subject. BUT to its credit, is a great channel to find new folks. Its all in how its used. We ONLY use facebook to generate leads to our stories. Others should do the same.

  3. Greg Lewandowski
    Greg Lewandowski says:

    Matt, the Algonac marine museum will appreciate your generosity. Thank you!
    The administrator of our Michigan chapter Facebook page does a great job of not allowing people to advertise to sell there. She will quickly take down any such post with a message regarding it not being tolerated. Although I am not a Facebook user, I think it has been an asset to the chapter relative to interest in the hobby and generating new membership. If handled responsibly, it can be a good thing.

  4. Troy in ANE
    Troy in ANE says:

    Love the header of Albert G. Frost!

    That is the dealer that Yorktown was shipped to when she left the Cadillac plant in 1957.

      • don danenberg
        don danenberg says:

        I’d like a closeup scan, high res, of that lower, left, window, in the header photo, please?

        I think I see a boot-stripe there.., possibly a Chris-Craft logo.., In a place on the hull that we, today, place our registration numbers.., or is that a sign on the deck?

        No relevance to Algonac?

  5. Andy in Middletown
    Andy in Middletown says:

    You know I agree with the not selling stuff on non-selling Facebook pages… and I actually love this blog and have contributed a few times… but if you are not on Facebook actively, you are missing the boat, litrerally.

    You say you want younger generations to participate in the dialog and hobby, but you do not want to communicate how we communicate. You can not have it both ways. This story was in my Facebook news feed this morning, that’s how I got to the page, not by clicking on a blog post on the page itself. I’m a 35 year old with a 1954 chevy, a Parsons 1960 Lake N Sea and a 1956 lyman in the family as well. I’m an AACA mber, an HCCA member and a past AOMCI member (i never went on the aomci website or message board, login was too clunky and message board was old, i still go on their facebook page almost every day) My Facebook page is filled with posts about boats, planes, trains, cars etc. From all the major clubs, plus some cool photo pages. I am currently upgrading my post war lionel layout for my 2 year old, so I joined some buy/sell lionel Facebook pages. I can get my vintage tastes satisfied at one location, Facebook, and not have to ‘surf the net anywhere else. You guys can complain all you want on here, But without Facebook I’d never have seen it. Ohh and by the way, I’m ‘old’… the 20 something’s and teenagers out there says Facebook is for OLD people, they don’t use it at all… how are you gonna reach them?

    I have to go now, my 2 year old want to watch some Shirley Temple videos on tv and I need to bring up YouTube on the Firestick… (We don’t have cable or dvds either!)

    • Matt
      Matt says:

      HAHAHA! Thats exactly right. We also feed the Instagram feed which also gets the stuff out there. Facebook is a double edged sword. But glad you are here.

      • Andy in Middletown
        Andy in Middletown says:

        I love you guys Matt. Don’t meam to rant, but thought my perspective would help the conversation.

        When I sold my 1938 Farmall F-20 last summer, it sold to an 18 year old through a Facebook marketplace add. I had posted on antique tractor webpages, online classifieds and craigslist! There are buy/sell groups to post stuff on… the general interest pages should be left add free, supporting your original rant

  6. Matt
    Matt says:

    Thats a great point Andy, yes Facebook has a market place for such things. The temptation is to use the feed for selling stuff. We all get that. Facebook is like watching TV, it feeds you stuff you may not be aware of. Where as selling sites are there for someone to search for stuff. Its two different ways to recieve info. BUT, getting it on a facbook page that is a fan site or club, is kinda like highjacking a peacful place to sell something. Its a subtle difference, but does come off a little crass and a miss use of the idea of the page. many of those pages from smaller orgs, are not monitered all the time. Its no different than Spam. by the way, last year, we killed over 600,000 spam comments on Woodyboater by all sorts of slime. Our classified page is slimed on daily with around 20 different slime bags trying to sell concert tickets and other crap. its a never ending game of whack a mole

  7. Jim Staib
    Jim Staib says:

    The “Bible” for sale looks like a first edition. They have better photos than the second edition. Most people don’t know what is in the book and the really useful page is the one with your boat on it. Being in the business I use mine so often I have one in the office and one in the warehouse.
    30 or so years ago some of the literature was reproduced. Don’t remember the details maybe Wilson can chime in.
    Back to snow plowing.

    • Wilson
      Wilson says:

      Sorry Jim, I don’t recall,,,but like you I have two copies of Jerry’s book….One at home and one here at the coast. By the way…you should quit shoveling snow and come on down…It was 72 here yesterday. Instead of shoveling snow, I spent the day picking up and burning pine cones.
      I’m not on FaceBook…wouldn’t know how to get there….but my wife is…I wondered recently why she was asking questions about Chris Crafts….Guess she was trying to be helpful to some questioner

  8. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    I don’t know what facebook is? Is it that phenom some call fakebook?
    Oh well, Boat Buzz is on life support, my Scout 30 is having major surgery on her fuel tanks, and I have a whirlwind in my shop to play with. Life is good…but the times they are a changing!
    Can’t wait to have lunch at the Palm Gardens
    John in WET and Warm Va

    • Wilson
      Wilson says:

      John: I had to drive to Miami recently…I detoured thru Tavares on the way home to see how they were doing with the waterfront and tried to figure out how you’d drive to Palm Gardens. I didn’t see any signs on the highway. Do you know the way by car ?

      • Dave
        Dave says:

        Head west a few blocks from the intersection of 19 and 441 out of Tavares. Cross the bridge going over the Dora Canal and take a right across the street from the Hurricanes Dockside Grill sign. Heading there in 10 minutes!

  9. RYAN
    RYAN says:

    Matt, i’m with you regarding selling boat stuff on Facebook. On the Lyman Boat Owners Assiciation page we are now pushing 2000 members and never really had a great forum so Facebook has taken that roll. It is a double edged sword because there is a lot of misinformation posted which can be detrimental to members and the boats themselves. We also have a problem with people joining the page just to try and sell their boat. I delete the post immediately and send them a message telling them as a non profit we rely on the small fee we charge to list boats in our quarterly magazine “The Clinker” and on the website in order to stay afloat. Most are understanding but some cop an attitude about it. Some people expect to use our group and resources for their own profit which we strictly prohibit. Same goes for posts regarding sponsors and other companies. No advertising because we backlash from other sponsors. Facebook has been helpful growing membership to younger people and I think the LBOA does that better than anyone.

    • Andy
      Andy says:

      Ryan does a great job replying to Lyman owners looking for help on the FB page. The 2000 members have been brought closer together because of the posts on FB.

  10. Dino - KX6D
    Dino - KX6D says:

    Facebook is an asset and brings new people into our world. Its not a bad thing. Most inanimate things are not bad…people are bad. Don’t shoot the messenger (facebook) for the misdeeds of the few. I actually appreciate the For Sale adds in the appropriate Facebook pages because it furthers my education. You Old Salts (meant respectfully) have been around a long time and I know you’ve seen it all before. I’m a ham radio operator and the Internet has just about killed that hobby. Having done it for so long I too get frustrated at all the new people in the hobby that ask stupid questions without taking the time to learn it like I did pre-Internet! But I have to remember, as we all do, that they are learning too. So I try to use grace. Greg covered it well. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Address the “problem”!

  11. Wilson
    Wilson says:

    Back around last Thanksgiving I thought I’d lost my wife…She took up with some guy in Louisiana on Face Book who was trying to give away an old Chris Craft cruiser. He had apparently gotten her sympathies and she couldn’t bear to see and old boat go to the burn pile.

  12. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    Yeah…old salt, guilty! The saving grace for me, an educated oldie, is that I can reject the new age “friends” vehicle and just GO BOATING! With you guys I have enough real boating friends…at age 70 I will out last some and check out prior to some…but I will be GOING BOATING right along. Sure our hobby, and my county Historical Society need new members…and I don’t see them out there in this new age…but no need to bitch about spilt varnish….just keep on boatin.
    Wilson, Jim’s drive to the Gardens info is right on…plus there might be a for sale sign out there now….just follow your nose to the burgers and bikers!
    See you all in Tavares AND Mt. Dora.
    John in Va.

  13. Mike K
    Mike K says:

    I used to visit boat buzz regularly, often by clicking on the teasers on this page

    But a few years back they stopped showing photos to non members.

    I considered joining but it’s mainly Chris Craft guys , and a few riva pages for the rich guys (matt, etc)

    They don’t seem to take to kindly to other owners one popular poster on the site kind of gave me a hard time about my model boat
    on a different site

    So if I see some teaser here I’ll take a look

  14. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    That header is awesome. Albert G. Frost had that location on Forest Ave in Portland and he had a marina called Frost Harbor on Sebago Lake, Maine where my grandfather kept his boat. I can’t tell you the joy I had roaming about the marina docks and the boat sheds smelling the varnished and painted woodies. I sure would like to time travel back to 1959 or so.

  15. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    Btw, one reason many are going to f/b is that its much easier to post your pictures and videos since Photobucket killed photo posting on forums by requiring a $400 licensing fee ANNUALLY to link from their site to any 3rd party sites. There is a fix for that if you want to search “photobucket fix extention” for whatever internet browser you use, but most users at my age don’t know the fix or understand how to implement it.

  16. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    I’d post a picture of Frost Harbor Marina except my picture/document storage drive caught the same flu Matt has apparently and my tech support (son and daughter) are doing disk repair and recovery to hopefully get all files back before going to backup drive for archived data. Back up your digital pictures people.

    • don danenberg
      don danenberg says:

      You should know this?

      If it is, indeed, of the ‘first printing’ (see previous postings),
      It just might have the best photo resolution?

      My earliest version is seriously dog-eared, hurting ‘book value’ ?

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