Phonesafe - good or bad to use?

[eldar]

I'm going to sell my car on PH, and it appears I have the option of phonesafe. Any one any experience of using it, IE does the benefit of putting off canvassers outweigh excluding buyers who can't or wont use premium rate numbers?

Its a run of the mill car, nothing special, if that makes any difference.

[///M3]

Well, when I was looking for a used car, I ended up with high phone bills! The seller obviously doesn't get these costs but there are some buyers you may miss out potentially.

In my experience, you could just put in your advert 'no advertising agencies' and not use phonesafe.

[LeeThePeople]

I think it puts a lot of people off tbh, I know ive not enquired about cars because I dont want to use a premium rate phone number to do so.

[gj88]

It gives me confidence in the seller if I see phonesafe. I dont know why but it does add a bit of faith. I just email the seller to make initial contact anyway. If I get a good responce I'll give them a call. If a get a responce in 'txt spk' I take my business elsewhere.

[Nash_wrx]

I have recently sold and bought via PH
and used phonesafe as seller and a buyer
you can always add an Email address in case ppl dont fancy paying the premium rate unmber

[nottyash]

I never used it and had knobheads phoning me in the middle of the night joking around. This was only a month ago. Its not premium rate I think its about 10pence and if there serious they will pay it if not, there not worth bothering about.

[Nolar Dog]

nottyash said:

I never used it and had knobheads phoning me in the middle of the night joking around.

Never really given it much thought having contacted sellers with and without it.

However if it stops the kind of behaviour quoted above then it's got to be worth using it I would say.

[nig-gtv]

I think if a buyer is serious then a few pence extra on the phonecall won't be a deal-breaker. On this basis it probably tends to cut out some of the timewasters. If people are that stingy they could email you and ask you to phone them!

[AB]

You can get a free sim card, stick £10 on it and put that number up? I quite often send a quick text when looking, which you cant do with Phonesafe?

[hornetrider]

gj88 said:

It gives me confidence in the seller if I see phonesafe. I dont know why but it does add a bit of faith. I just email the seller to make initial contact anyway. If I get a good responce I'll give them a call. If a get a responce in 'txt spk' I take my business elsewhere.

This. I sold recently and didn't put any number on the ad at all. I vetted the emails first, then offered my mobile number.

[eliot]

I called about a car on the autotrader with similar system. I called via my VOIP phone and it burned my remaining credit in short order - I didn't realise how expensive it was to use.

[sjj84]

hornetrider said:

gj88 said:

It gives me confidence in the seller if I see phonesafe. I dont know why but it does add a bit of faith. I just email the seller to make initial contact anyway. If I get a good responce I'll give them a call. If a get a responce in 'txt spk' I take my business elsewhere.

This. I sold recently and didn't put any number on the ad at all. I vetted the emails first, then offered my mobile number.

I did the same. Didn't want any agencies calling me or time wasters. Sold the car within a week.
Now I'm looking to buy, I prefer to ask initial questions via email as I tend to ask things that the seller will probably need to go and look at the service history etc which is easier for them to do in their own time rather than with me hanging on the end of a phone. Personnally if it's only a phonesafe number then I would more than likely not ring it.

[Gizmo!]

I put a 'real' number, but it's registered with TPS, so shouldn't get any commercial calls. I silence the phone when I don't want bothering anyway.

[uuf361]

I didn't use it when I recently sold my car - in fact I forgot to take it off and the ad went live with it and changed it to have my real phone number.

Rather bizarrely - I view ads using it with suspicion and would move on to the next car.......just my opinion though......

[eldar]

Thanks for the experiences. I think I'll start with a mobile & email address, and see hopw that goes.

[OnlyMX5ives]

Its a con, its simply is an easy way for PH to rake in cash.

There aren't millions of agencies going to call you, you might get one IME.

If someone won't give me their no. (and their address) I'm not travelling with the cash to buy their car.

If calling on a few cars it does add up, 'phonesafe' is up to 37.5p / minute x 5mins x 10 cars = too much IMO.

Edited by OnlyMX5ives on Monday 11th May 08:33

[Whitham]

Can anyone help I'm trying to buy a BMW I keep phoning the contact number which is through phonesafe it just rings and then cuts off I've even tried to use the E-mail link used by piston heads but I have never had a response does this mean the car has been sold?????

[Baryonyx]

I've been considering this for the past couple of days and I've just removed the phonesafe option from my advert. To be fair, I've found you can't send a text to the service, so when you're usually send off a quick enquiry to a seller about their car you have to do it by email (which people naturally check far less than they check their phones!).

That said, I do think the PH advert service is a good one as it gives you the freedom to lay out your advert as you want to, and reading a well written advert that has had some time spent on it (even ten minutes opposed to ten seconds) is always encouraging about a car.