Wallapop: Caviar Prices and Chat Failures

Wallapop: Too Many Sellers, Not Enough Buyers, and Sky-High Prices

There's a pattern repeating endlessly. An ad is posted, the 'read' marker appears, weeks go by, and the item remains exactly where it was. It's not a broken app: it's a market where supply multiplies and demand deflates. The initial complaint, launched by a forum user, is simple and devastating: lots of sellers, few buyers. And below it, two culprits that participants point to: the app and the habit of many sellers pricing used goods as if they were new.

The diagnosis isn't from a single day or a single outburst. It's a litany of frustrations repeating with different protagonists and the same ending: the item nobody buys.

Why People Ask New Prices for Their Used Junk

As one forum user recounts, a used amplifier in good condition was offered at 499 euros, the same price as new in a hi-fi store in Madrid. The same price, not a cent off for having been used.

The pattern repeats with cameras. Searching for 'Nikon' returns, as they say in the thread, equipment from ten years ago priced at 200 or 500 euros. One user calculates that the logical price for these models is 50 to 70 euros. The second-hand photography market is, they argue, broken, and time fixes nothing: the ads remain there, months later, with their owners unwilling to lower the price.

Some summarize it bluntly: if you sell a bad product and also at a high price, that's what you get. They're not wrong. Nor is it just one side: the problem isn't only for the buyer.

The App That Doesn't Send Your Messages

Here the finger points to the tool. The chat fails, and it fails silently. Some messages never reach the other side; offers get lost in limbo; users uninstall and reinstall because the update doesn't work. When the communication channel goes down, so does the transaction. And the buyer who sees their message as 'seen' with no response goes elsewhere.

Location is another drag. Setting where you want to search is an exercise in patience that discourages even the most motivated. With this friction, the traffic of curious people skyrockets, and the number of real buyers plummets.

The Eternal Haggle: Why No One Closes a Deal for 10 Euros

If the price is already low, haggling is cheeky. As another forum user tells it, a child's stroller that cost 200 new was listed for 35, and someone still appeared asking for a 10 euro discount. The anecdote is laughable, but it describes the general climate: deals that don't close because someone wants to shave off cents at the seller's expense of time.

International comparisons appear several times. Central European countries, where—as one user says—haggling isn't common. In Spain, according to another, haggling has stopped being negotiation and has become a contact sport.

When Wallapop Works: The Honest Pricing Test

It's not all disaster. Two specific language books, valued at 25 euros, sold for 13. Listed at 5 PM, money in hand by 8:30 PM. An iPhone at market price receives offers within minutes. The sarracena is clear: when the price is logical, the product flies.

What remains for sale is the poorly priced junk. The available inventory isn't a catalog: it's a graveyard of ads that nobody dares to discount. And on this ground, the debate stands.

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The initial complaint was simple: the app doesn't work. The emerging response is uncomfortable. It works—when the price is right. What doesn't work is the seller's head. Or the buyer's. Or both. Nobody agrees on where the app ends and the market problem begins.

With these prices, the second-hand market should be dead. It's still here. And it still doesn't add up.