Man who bought £25 second-hand cabinet left gobsmacked by seller's odd request

Two men argument
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images/Tetra images RF)


One man thought he's got a seriously good bargain when he found a second-hand cabinet online for £25.

However, he was left stunned by what happened after he picked it up from the owner.

Andy Coates, known as @AndyWoodturner on X, took to the site to share the tale of the cabinet as he revealed he was left gobsmacked by the audacity of the seller.

Originally, he decided to simply tell his 8,975 followers about the bargain he found. He wrote: "I have to go out to get food...and although ill, I will put a mask on and go to collect this...how could I not for what they want for it!? Nice cabinet to restore and put back into use...it's almost identical to my M&W...will need a new door making, but that's a simple job."

However, after collecting the cabinet and paying the guy the money, Andy was back online to update his followers about the strange turn of events.

He added: "Well, that was an interesting hour. Went to collect it. Bloke says, 'I've had none other people contact me about it. But you were the first, so, here you go' [sic].

Andy said he gave the man the £25 he'd asked for the cabinet and left to go and do some shopping at Tesco. However, when he was there, the seller rang his phone.

He said the guy told him he 'wouldn't be able to pick up the cabinet' as it was sold. However, Andy told the man he'd got confused and called the wrong person as he was in fact the guy who had just bought it.

However, after putting the phone down, it rang yet again. After Andy asked the guy what he wanted, the seller said: "Well, the other man, the one I thought you were, asked for my number and called me. He said that the display box is a tool cabinet, and worth a lot of money. He said he'd have given me £125."

Andy was confused and asked the man why he was telling him. "Well, I was thinking, if you could bring it back, I'll give you your money back and five pounds for your petrol and time," said the man.

Stunned at the request, Andy replied: "That's not going to happen, mate. You advertised it, I came and paid what you asked, and now I'm going home."

The man insisted that the cabinet could be "worth hundreds" when it's restored. Andy replied: "And he's not wrong. But none of this concerns me. You sold it to me, and I bought it. It's now mine."

The seller replied: "But I could have got a lot more. I could have restored it and got even more."

Andy agreed again, saying: "All true... but not my concern. It's now mine. And will remain mine. And now I'm going to hang up and get off home."

The many told Andy "thank you for nothing," as he told him: "You're welcome."

The thread of tweets quickly went viral, racking up more than 238,000 views and hundreds of likes. Many people replied with their own similar stories of cheeky sales interactions in the comments section too.

One person said: "In the antique shop I once had a silver christening set for sale. Customer said 'CanI have it for half price as I don’t want it for a Christening?' Quick as a flash my husband said 'I want a Ferrari but just to sit on the drive, do you think they’ll sell me one for half price?'"

Another person added: "One of our holiday let visitors said ‘Have you got anyone booked for next week?’ No. ‘Well can we stay on an extra week for free then, seeing as it’s empty?’ Again, no."