VarageSale
reviews and complaints

I am having a problem with one of the admins, &I need to talk to someone as soon as possible.
My phone number is
[protected]
I will appreciated some one call me ASAP.
Her act was so wired & unexpected that made me think that she might prefer to support someone with western name than foreign name.
That could be the only reason, I can make a conclusion regarding this conduct.

I was shocked that I can not see Calgary community in my list, then I find out the I was revoked. For seeming the message to update the picture to make Facebook picture, which I don't know why it has to be linked but I didn't reply. The reason I was hospitalized for covid for more than 5 weeks and Tasha Penney didn't get me even the change to come back to be active on the app again. Just because I open the message and close it means that I was not following the rules.. this doesn't make sense.

Date: April 28, 2021 Was approached by an admin stating that I was posting too many ads, and thus had to move to the small business area. I asked her how many ads I was allowed as it doesn't say in the rules. She told me it didn't matter, and that I had to be moved to small business. She told me that I had until May 8th to move my ads. I moved a few ads, and then realized that you can only put one ad. We ran a business and sold it in 2020 so we are selling what is left. She told me that I could link our website or Facebook business page there, as you can't post ANY ads. I am no longer a business so I don't have a website or business page. I wrote up an ad linking it to MarketPlace as that is where I will be selling my stuff. Again, she told me I couldn't do that. She then told me that NO ONE was allowed to sell new items on the site. I sent her 25 members (which I found in 5 minutes) who were selling new items. She didn't like my answers so she terminated me instead. I have been a member for years with over 1300 praises, and I believe no strikes against me. I also told her that the rules should state clearly what defines a small business.

Tasha Penner banned me because I had to make a new account as I lost my email account associated with my old account, I explained I can't recover the password and I was banned from the Calgary page. She previously banned me on my previous account because I accidentally posted a duplicate listing. A few friends have been banned for less from this same admin. She is very rude, not easy to deal with and will not help you in any way, she just patrols VarageSale like she is a supercop. On Facebook there was a post by someone about her and how she treats people which was not surprising, many people have left VarageSale simply because of her.

A few years ago while on Facebook, I was mercilessly stalked. I became so alarmed that I contacted the authorities and deleted my Facebook page. I had been a member in good standing in the Keswick Varagesale group until one day, about two years ago, an admin named Stacey contacted me and demanded that I provide a working FB page. I tried to explain why I preferred not to have one but that didn't matter to this person. She blocked me from using the Keswick varagesale. Up until that time, I had never been late to an appointment, I had always kept my word and did what I said I was going to do, I had positive reviews and gave positive reviews. When I sold a couple of items, the buyer stole the item and lied about leaving the money. I blocked her and went on with my life. The thief didn't get blocked but people like me get blocked. Another seller Sandra Daniel who I enjoyed dealing with, was also blocked by this same admin. Please note that this woman is a bully and likes to push imaginary authority.

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Johann Brunz and I have an account on Varage Sale in the Brazoria county area in Texas..
Lake Jackson to be exact and I sell many things and lately I have been getting harassed by this admin named Vicki Tharp. She is from Angleton. She is constantly asking me why I have so many watches for sale and frankly they are my personal collection and she does not stop harassing me. It is not the first time that she sends me messages in the middle of the night like today for instance at 2am and begins asking me the same thing in regards to my watches. My phone wakes me up as a result of her messages to me. She always does this in the middle of the night. She has nothing else to do but harass me. I would like for her to be removed from admin and I would like for her to stop. She wakes me up with pointless messages and begins with her constant harassment about why I am selling this or that. This site does not have restrictions on how many watches I can sell and it isn't her business as to my personal watch collection. There are many people here selling similar items such as baseball cards and what not and I believe she is deliberately targeting me. Please remove her at once.
Johann Brunz

Sari here messaged me about an item and when I wasn't willing to take the low ball offered amount they blocked me. Can't stand the people on varage sale. Already selling things for low prices and they want to haggle and haggle. And when they don't get their way they act like entitled brats. Thanks for blocking me, now I don't have to worry about getting low ball offers from you.

Bought a $35 roller blind from VarageSale seller Oct 15 2020. While installing it I noticed that one bracket was defective so the blind could not be mounted. I contacted the seller. She told me it wasn't defective and asked for photos. I sent the photos and she replied that I was lying and that she would not give me back my money. Photos attached clearly show that one of the brackets does not fit into the blind. While writing this I included the Sellers name but got a prompt saying that name has already filed the issue. I don't know why she would contact Admin fully knowing that she sold me a defective item.
Please advise as to how I can get my money back.
Thank you,
Lyn Cartier

I have had so many wonderful interactions with the community members of VarageSale and the only 2 negative interactions I have had is with the Calgary Admin!

I have deleted all my listings and with how hard life is I cannot be bothered and stressed with a control freak admin for the use of an App - that's supposed to be a tool to connect me to ppl and an App that is supposed to be easy to use!

First warning I received was for not putting a beaded necklace under Handmade. Which is stupid really because Handmade as a category was only made popular in the last what 10-15 years? So when you think about listing your item you ask yourself what is it? It is a Necklace which falls under Jewelry Necklace. Next question is How was it produced - by Hand therefore it is Handmade. Instead of not being a one track-minded administrator and guiding me
properly and because she is admin she bas the power to remove your listing- my point of view is wrong and therefore I deserved a warning and she immediately removed all of the listings I just posted under Jewelry instead of Handmade. Which is crazy because if someone asked me what the item was I would say that it is a Necklace first and foremost.

It's stupid that the community is managed by someone who can only think one way and administer their rules accordingly. Thank God this person is not a lawyer or someone who has more power in society because this is why the world is so messed up! Even Ebay gave you options to categorize your items and not just one category because sometimes items can be categorized under two categories! I wonder how LGBTQ will be classified under such a black and white system that has very little room for error and does not examine context or intent. Why have a person do the job when you can let AI who can probably even programmed with less rigidity to accommodate and understand these things and can be less hurtful about it?!

Second and final warning warning I was given was not « pricing items / listings separately » ...another ambiguous enforcement of their rules. So I priced the item individually because I only have one of each item/ design technically speaking. However, i also use other apps and out of habit and again an App is a tool that if different from the user. Having rules is one thing but how humans use tools and the app there is a thing called flexibility and creativity. This Calgary administrator has no concept of creativity or even marketing! On the title I indicated 2 for $15 or 1 for $10 and proceeded to name the item. In her view as a community Admin, i did not price the item individually —-which again is very stupid because I did because Under the Price i put $10! I listed the item for $10! The only different thing I did was to market the product using the TITLE to indicate that there is an option for the buyer to also purchase 2...but I only have one of each item so the buyer would need to add another item (because i priced it individually as $10 —-which was the rule!). Other Apps DO NOT Reprimand or punish their users for having a different point of view or seeing things differently ——and not even on purpose to go against their rules but because your head is wired differently!

It is sad because « the other ways of knowing and thinking » is lost in the context of the claimed culture of this administrator. There is no inclusivity in the way Varagesale rules are carried out because of how they are enforced and how the rules are translated. You are told you signed up for those rules before joining the community—-which really is what oppressive systems reason out when you go against the norm and just tend to think differently and not purposefully or intentionally desire to go against their rules!

I did not even wait to be removed from the app and have voluntarily and willingly removed all my listings and have decided not to support this app. I already took a long break and fid not choose to argue when i received my first warning because I was so frustrated...all the Hardwork erased just like that because i failed to categorize the item the same way that admin would. So stupid because even the English language has flexibility in its uses! Literature can be interpreted differently! Languages all over the world don't always have words that signify the same meaning...and people's brains are not wired the same! So unless you are the admin or think like the admin and interpret things as such then you will be punished. Again, thank god there are better things and apps, marketplaces in life and even people who have a wider range of thinking and functioning as it would be extremely sad to be subjected to just Varagesale's rules and Calgary admin's interpretation of them!

I am filing a complaint against Leeann Matthews the admin person in charge of Varagesale. After may emails to admin office, I finally received an email from her that my account has been removed for selling hand sanitizers on my page which I have purchased for my staff and then we all got laid off. Not working for two months, barely making ends meet, needing to make ends meet. I have purchased masks and gloves from varagesale and others are selling hand sanitizers as well that are still available to buy. I have posted mine on there as well, I still see everyone selling theirs on line but my account was blocked. After many emails to LeeAnn saying I will remove them from my page she still rudely said I am not eligible for an account with varagesale. People are posting what people are asking for to keep safe. I bought them for $10 and selling them for $10 not a penny more. I don't need 10 bottle at home when I could use the money for food for my son. As you can see with my account, I have over 100 praises with other single moms who we all depend on second hand everything. I am asking for my account back in this difficult time and not post what is on the list of what not to do. I have given you my word. I depend on second hand stuff to get me by under regular occasions.

Please allow me to have my account back. I could be reached at [protected]@yahoo. ca or [protected] Danielle Cera

I recently entered the world of of online selling as an effort to minimize and release many of my personal items. Unfamiliar with platforms available, I downloaded a couple of apps.

While I have become a top rated power seller across various apps - I was not given the opportunity to even sell on VarageSale. The reason for automatic denial was due to ‘unclear' photo. I believed my photo to be ‘clear' - regardless I changed my photo to another clearer image. But honestly - the admin didn't even give me the courtesy to add me back - she basically said ‘no.' The administrator that denied me access had no much more of a clearer photo than myself (it was of her and her significant other - thus minimizing her own face.)

I had already posted my items before requesting access - ** this is important because many of my items were in the same quality level of the administrators. After a market review and analysis there is statistical evidence of her wrongdoing: Denying access of other users to control market share.

I was given access to other adjacent markets but would like to stay local. This business approach of administrators on power blitz's for power/market control is not viable. They will continue to lose market share and users to other online platforms with just as much credibility and that don't discriminate.

This administrator is in Missouri City, Texas. Katherine Sodek Langner. Below is the market review. My resolve would be access to sell and buy in my own backyard.

Varage Sale Community Statistics

This analysis highlights three different Varage Sale communities. Missouri City, Texas (my own neighborhood & access denial from administrator for ‘unclear photo') has the lowest market penetration & lowest community penetration. Which means fewer people allowed to sell in community. Select group of people controlling market community sales. Noted: I have been allowed access to sell in inner city and other surrounding suburbs. As an active community citizen of my community I simply would like the ability to participate in my own area. I am an active top rated seller with other platforms. Access denial appears calculated by administrator to control market share.

Missouri City, Texas :
Population: 74.5K
Members: 6.2K
Items: 44.3K
Community Penetration : 14% (low)
Market Penetration: 8.3% (low)

Sugar Land & Richmond (Houston Suburb Currently Combined)
Population: 100.5K
Members : 14.2K
Items: 35.1K
Community Penetration:40%
Market Penetration: 14%

Inner Loop Houston (Major Metro)
Population: 454K
Members : 44k
Items: 67.8K
Community Penetration: 65%
Market Penetration: 9.7%

VarageSale used to be a community of individuals who shared a mutual love of buying and selling gently used items. This community was built around some key principals: safety, respect and open communication. I have been using VarageSale since 2014 and in the last few years I have seen a decline in this community and I believe the main reason for this is the lack of enforcing rules by absent community admins.

In the last couple of months I have had several people arrange for pickup and not show up. I have left items sitting out all day long without so much as a message from the potential buyer indicating that they are no longer interested. When I reach out to those same buyers to ask if they intend to show up or would like to arrange a new date and time I do not receive a response back. Some do not open my messages.

When I try and report these 'no shows' to the admins who are to enforce a "3 strike and you're out" rule those admin do not respond to my messages leading me to believe that those same no show buyers are not being dealt with accordingly.

My resolution is to have better admins/mediators for each community or in the alternative have the following feature implemented:

Top Members: Only rewarded to those who meet the criteria currently set out by VarageSale. There are plenty of terrible buyers and sellers who are awarded Top Member status and they certainly do not deserve it. Top Member should be awarded to buyers and sellers with a clean track record of selling items as described and buyers who show up, do not low ball, and practice honest and reliable porch pickups.

Instead of the 'Praise' feature have a rating feature similar to that of Facebook Marketplace. Buyers & Sellers should be rated on the transaction. For example, if they did not show then there should be an option that the person rating could check off showing that the buyer did not show (ie. Reliability - rated a zero out of 5). I believe that a new rating system would make people more accountable and force those 'no shows' to, at the very least, send a message to the seller indicating that they are no longer interested.

I believe that this will weed out bad buyers and sellers and make VarageSale the community that it started out as and was intended to be.

There is an admin, LeeAnn Matthews, who admins for about 90% of the local communities, ( 2 hour range, ) who refuses to let furniture refurbishers/upcycled furniture post their furniture in the REFURBISHED/UPCYCLED FURNITURE section.
She says if you do it for a living it can't be posted there. She allows 1 ad in the Small Business category where you can state what you do but you can't sell your pieces.
IF you try to make a discussion post, letting your followers know that you haven't left the platform but have been forced to remove your ads and can only be found in the small business section, she removes that post and threatens to revoke your membership.
She has removed all of my ads as well as every other refurbisher I know, (and I know my competition, there are a LOT of us!)
It almost seems like maybe she refinishes furniture under a different name and wants the competition gone?
In any case, she has revoked dozens of artists memberships and is ruining not only the platform, but people's livelihoods. It's literally taking food out of my family's mouth and making rent hard to make because out of 25 communities I'm in, I can post my adds in 4!
PLEASE, review this nut!
I've already explained I'm not an actual registered business. She said I'm making money on the sales, so I can't post my refinished furniture in the refinished furniture section. Now really... does that make sense? This platform is for MAKING MONEY. With her line of thought, EVERYONE who sells on Varagesale is making money, therefore should be considered a business, therefore cannot post in the appropriate sections but must only post one ad in the small business section.
I admin for two communities... If we made a rule where people can't post in the appropriate section because this will lead to sales and therefore be considered a business for the seller... do you think we'd have people on the platform for long?
Do you know how many furniture artists, and other sellers for that matter, have told me they have left because of her?
You want a platform that dies a slow death because of one nut job admin who is allowed to control 90% of the communities with an asinine rule like this, she is how you do it!

I have been having the worst experience with varagesale, this admin by the name of "andrea Kelly" has revoked my account a while ago even after telling her that I wouldn't be breaking any rules I think that was about 3 months ago. My husband also has an account, and this power tripping admin has gone as far to revoke my husbands account for no reason at all. The only reason she could provide was that it was me using it, unfortunately for her it's my husbands account with his name attached to his Facebook account. Me and my husband are not 1 person I'm not pleased with this woman, this just means she went onto my husbands Facebook page snooping to see who he is married to... or she has been stalking my account because she revoked my VS account 3-4 months ago and now she revokes my husband's account that he uses. The kicker of this all is this admins andrea Kelly does not have her Facebook attached to her VS account like the rest of my admins, it says shes verified with Facebook and email yet no one can see that... but I can see it with all the other admins... power hungry admins need to be removed asap!

I made a deal with a seller to purchase an iPhone X for $200. I sent the first $100 before shipping and was supposed to send the second $100 after receiving the item. After several weeks of waiting for the owner to ship the item he told me that instead of going through with the deal he would just return the $100 because he didn't want to keep me waiting. I sent a request for the money to be returned and it was declined twice. I did not receive the item or a refund.

Clothing containing real fur

Tasha Penner says it is taxidermy, not allowed
I say clothing is made by furrier, not taxidermist, therefore should be allowed
Taxidermy is the mounting/stuffing of animals

There are alot of fur coats, hats, lined boots advertised on varage sale, but my grandmothers headband not allowed?

Rules should be same for everyone

Helle Kim, as previously discussed if you want to indicate that you live in butte hills you also need to specify that you will meet in Calgary. Right now your ads only indicate pick up.

Kim Robinson
about 6 hours ago
Kim Robinson
I just tell people what general area I live, as they have no clue where in Rocky View County I actually am. I am always willing to delivery as per rules.

Tasha Penner
about 5 hours ago
Tasha Penner
Unfortunately your if your ads are indicating your location then you also need to indicate you are willing to meet

Kim Robinson
about 5 hours ago
Kim Robinson
You know that in the "Details" section of any ad for anyone it does show where that person is willing to meet to transact right?

Tasha Penner
about 5 hours ago
Tasha Penner
Yes but not everyone abides by that. We actually have to remind at least one member from outside the city about 2-3 times a week

Kim Robinson
about 5 hours ago
Kim Robinson
Well I do abide by it and if anyone has complained, then at that point I think you have a valid issue with me, until then, I think you need to concentrate your efforts on those that are not abiding by that rule.

Seen about 5 hours ago
Tasha Penner
about 5 hours ago
Tasha Penner
We do, but I have received a complaint thus the contact

Kim Robinson
about 5 hours ago
Kim Robinson
Strange, I have only dealt with 1 person in a long time which was yesterday and she was more than happy to drop by as she was in the area. I would like to see proof of this complaint please.

Seen about 3 hours ago
Tasha Penner
about 3 hours ago
Tasha Penner
Unfortunately all complaints are lodged confidentially. And the complaint stated the ad didn't state that you would meet but pick up was outside of the city.

Kim Robinson
about 2 hours ago
Kim Robinson
It clearly states that I am willing to deliver within Calgary and Airdrie in the "Details" section, so I don't know what else you want me to do.

Seen about an hour ago
Kim Robinson
about 2 hours ago
Kim Robinson
Details
Posted in Clothing, Women, Tops, Extra Large
Kim is willing to meet and transact within Airdrie Alberta, Buy N Sell and 1 more

Seen about an hour ago
Tasha Penner
about an hour ago
Tasha Penner
Your ad states pick up so in your ad you also need to indicate willing to meet

Kim Robinson
26 minutes ago
Kim Robinson
So clearly you have an aversion to the word "pickup" in my ad. You may want to also discuss the use of this word with Andrea Suzanne, Carol Niemela, Aurelle Sandermann, Kim Lovelace, and Verlea Imbery to name a few! People in general do make private arrangements through the messaging system and understand what is meant by "pickup." I just think you are over analyzing it all.

Seen 24 minutes ago
Tasha Penner
21 minutes ago
Tasha Penner
Kim, if you are not willing to also Indicate in your ads that you are willing to meet then perhaps you shouldn't be advising in the Calgary community. Members do not review profiles. If you want to indicate where you are located then you also need to indicate you are willing to meet

Kim Robinson
20 minutes ago
Kim Robinson
and that is clearly stated in the "DETAILS" section of my ad.

There are to many controlling admins for an area that has a 30 minute drive radius. For example I just moved right outside of Calgary, don't know anyone but can't get accepted into the local communities less then half hour away because the admin of Carstairs, I know people from Airdre cannot even get accepted by Cochrane when they are all so close. The admins are being selfish because they want full control of selling and deny their own community the right to save money on things people could need and save on for work or home. It's highly unfair and not at all the way a local community treats people who are local. Anyways thank you and I apologize for the negativity.

I'm living in a hamlet in Sutton West Ontario and was told to "change my location or will be removed".
My location was found by navigation services and I'm listed under Georgina Ontario, which is technically accurate. The township I live in is Georgina and the town is Sutton West which consists of 3 towns in total. My area in Sutton west is just a hamlet called Jackson's point. Mailing address is under Sutton west. The administration in keswick and Sutton group said I cannot be in the group because I am in "Jackson's point and not Sutton". She is going out of her way to be a jerk after finding out we are posting sales from a First Nations person (my husband). She is clearly not allowing his reserve to post in the area after being on the site for a few weeks and suddenly it's a problem when a First Nations logo was present on one of my postings that we are a First Nations seller.
Can my husband please open his own VarageSale as an admin for his reserve on Georgina Island to include our area?

There are way too many people selling faulty items on this site/ app. I have been used to using marketplace and for some reason I never had such terrible experiences there. I had a problem with someone who sold me faulty fur coat. I admit it is a risk to buy a fur coat, because if it has hasn't been stored properly it could be damaged from anywhere and you may not see until you get home. But atleast in letgo, people can report a seller and even leave a review (to some extent.) Here, there is no responsibility given to the seller. One person dropped off a notebook with 3 pages clearly ripped out. The admin is literally justifying this by saying maybe she forgot the page count. That's not even the point. She never advertised the page count, but how could she forget, she used and then ripped out a few pages and is advertising this item? The second person sold a shrunk wool sweater that wouldn't even be acceptable to give to charity. I think twice before donating things to goodwill, because I know it's not a garbage dump but here we have people selling their trash literally for money. On top of that, admin says we want to promote neighbourly sentiment so you can't leave bad reviews. In stead, you should get into fights with people, report to admin, to no avail and hope and expect to get that person kicked out of the site. This is more like destroying good neighbourly feeling and creating mistrust rather than anything else!

Anna Seth (on Varagesale)