Freecycle (Merged Thread)

daleigha

it has always enraged me that
a. people have the cheek to ask for high value items, and
b. that the mods do nothing about it
- but now i see its a cunning plan lol!! i know it works for me - im always ranting to the OH when i see someone asking for a playstation or something, and always say i'll never give them anything of mine when im offering, so it really does work!! one woman was posting wanted ads on a regular basis for virtually everything you would need to get married (dress, shoes, bridesmaids dresses - in a particular colour & size of course!! - and table decorations!!) as well as everything you would need for a new house - her name is etched on my memory now lol!! :eek:

Morty_007

(Hiya Pam, By the way! Didn't see you there this morning sorry!)

Morty_007

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I have a winner (remember this is JUST if you have one hanging around doing nothing).....

WANTED/EXCHANGE
I have a 2 bedroom flat in ****** towers blocks, 8th floor facing the
sea so excellent views, gd neighbours.
I wanting to exchange to $$$$$$$, !!!!!!!! or %%%%%% into a house or
masinette with 2 bedrooms, ideally with council as have housing benefit.

Not blooming greedy or anything!!!!

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Cardew

lil_me wrote: »

I am also aware members sometimes use the site to sell on.

lil_me,

As the voice of reason on Freecycle can you answer a question please.

I believe most groups ban taking(or requesting) items for resale; or at the very least must declare that they are traders.

It must be very easy indeed for owners/moderators to recognise these traders and yet nothing seems to be done about them.

What does your group do?

Personally, I feel it is the biggest turn-off in Freecycle. I can ignore the pathetic begging requests of the 'I know its a big ask' variety. However I hate the thought of being deceived by these dishonest ***!!** who seem devoid of any principle.

A woman on my group, who found she had been deceived in that manner, said she felt violated!!


P.S.
My group banned a gigolo who advertised his services - at least he was being honest!!

Ken68

Sadly Cardew, as if often the case, if you can't control a
practice best to allow it, otherwise the law becomes in contempt.

Cardew

Ken68 wrote: »

Sadly Cardew, as if often the case, if you can't control a
practice best to allow it, otherwise the law becomes in contempt.

My point was that you can control it, or at least make it difficult for them.

You can ban them. Sure they can rejoin using another name, but unless they use another PC they can be traced.

Name them and shame them!

lil_me

Reselling - We do have people flagged up for this, but can only persue a complaint if the 'gifter' has an issue with it. Many do put that they don't mind resellers or that they don't want resellers to ask. Yes members can be banned from sites, yes they could reregister but IP searches usually help with this.

The simple thing is, it comes a lot down to member's being a little 'webwise', self moderating by noticing the frequent wanters and choosing who they gift to. We don't ban requesting to resell as this would be pointless but we do ask that members are honest if this is their purpose.

To name and shame anyone for anything we'd need concrete evidence against them or our position legally could be a very difficult one. We do also take complaints regarding misuse in other ways, such as members being rude to others after being turned down for an item, spam mail being sent etc. We will contact regarding the complaint immediately, if there are 3 contacts about the same member they are usually banned. We have a very close contact with other groups in the area and pass information frequently, if a complaint is made about a member in one area the complaints are mentioned in every other area they are registered in.

People are sadly victims of deception on a daily basis these days, for example last week my mother dropped money in a bank, a lovely lady offered to help her find who picked it up because she'd seen them do it, when the CCTV was checked after my Mother went back in, the kind lady who offered to help her look for the woman who picked it up was the woman who took it! We try our best on Freecycle to reduce risks as much as possible but we're not the fraud squad, we can only try our best.

**A house exchange request** would not be allowed. It's pretty simple, if an item would end up on landfill (a council flat wouldn't) then it can usually be offered/requested on Freecycle. Our rule set, a policy adopted across many sites in the North East. http://uk.freecycle.org/groups/toon/rules.php

Cardew

lil_me wrote: »

Reselling - We do have people flagged up for this, but can only persue a complaint if the 'gifter' has an issue with it.

Thanks for this.

The problem is that most people will not have a clue if their goods have been resold - but the moderators will know.

Even publishing the occasional list of those who have taken the most items would bring matters to people's attention.

Not 'naming and shaming' but listing those wonderful people who have saved so much going to the tip;)

"Mr XXXX in 3 months has collected 5 fridges, 4 w/machines and numerous other electrical appliances and saved them from the tip. Well done Mr XXXX"

Ken68

When naming and shaming, it should be done quietly.
Otherwise genuine givers and takers will think the whole group is infected and move to somewhere more respectable.

brightonman123

i have given/got several items via F/C - one 'offerer' even dropped a large item off, which I hadnt expected them to do- gave them some petrtol money, as was going to use that forthe bus fare anyway..

as to people moanin about 'wantee's getting stuff, then selling on ebay etc, why didn't THEY think of that?

quite enterprising, though against the spirit of freecycle blah blah..