Freecycle- people asking for too much?

JoolzS

Claire_Bear wrote: »

I've noticed a lot of offers saying they will only give stuff to people who leave their house phone number in the reply, and no mobiles allowed. Which is pretty annoying for me as we don't have a landline in our student house at the moment. I guess people who automatically give their number just want to make arranging pickup easier?

It's a shame if people won't respond to mobile phone numbers. I tend to give my items to the first polite person who also gives a phone number (mobile or landline) in their email. I hate playing "email tag", so being able to simply phone the person who wants my item makes my life a lot easier.

Julie

mumoftwins

There was a wanted post from a guy asking for a rotary dryer recently, well I had one plus a cover so I emailed him back saying he could have mine and when would he like to collect?

His reply was " My address is..............just drop it off tomorrow" - no please, thank you or anything else, so I'm afraid I didn't "just drop it off" and I still have it to offer

emilyblythe

I love freecycle, I have given away lots of things to people and recieved some much needed items. I hate the i'll have it emails worst reply was ring me with your address i'll be round at 5pm, that got delted, just a please and a thank you are all thats needed.

nelly05

our local one is ok. we have some good mods. I tend to use my requests for when we do an event at school to raise funds and we request things that can be used as prizes.

If i do ask for anything i try to be polite but not cheesy and always say thanks

When we get stuff for school we do private replies to the relevant people to save cluttering up the board.

It can be very abused and i had one fella came from 25 miles away for an old video - he saw what it was, thought it was a dvd recorder and he left with a humph. He always applies to anything electrical i have ever posted

LOL

dekaspace

biscit wrote: »

I usually wait 48 hours (so as not to advantage those who are permenantly on the net) and select someone at random. If I preference, I preference people who live or work close by or will be passing through.

I have sent an email to selected winners only to have people not turn up to collect. Now fine you may ened up with another item or not be able to pick
the item up, but it would be polite to say "sorry, can you offer it to someone else."

Some groups have a rule against "sob stories" and I approve of this, I delete emails from people laying it on thick. I don't think personal circumstances make you more deserving, the idea is to keep useful stuff from gathering dust or cluttering landfills, not for hard-luck cases to. Besides I may be disadvantaging someone in worse circumstances who is too good mannered to go on about it. In my book, just saying "I'll have it" is more polite than an email explaining personal circumstances.

I can understand that but personally I like to explain things in great detail(a sign of my autism) so it often seems I have a sob story and in some ways it is a bit but I feel like just saying "I am interest in your item, if it is still availble can you tell me" is often seen as me just being greedy so its hard to work out the correct thing to say.

Recently my computer got destroyed in a house move(well just some parts) and someone listed a water damaged PC saying they got a new one from insurance and would offer it to someone who needed the parts, I replied and told the truth and the person who got it was a regular freecycle freebie collector.

On the same note as my pc was broken I couldnt reply to the ad in time! Sods law.

mumoftwins wrote: »

There was a wanted post from a guy asking for a rotary dryer recently, well I had one plus a cover so I emailed him back saying he could have mine and when would he like to collect?

His reply was " My address is..............just drop it off tomorrow" - no please, thank you or anything else, so I'm afraid I didn't "just drop it off" and I still have it to offer

A few times I have said to people offering something that I am interested but dont have own transport but am happy to pay petrol costs plus extra for incovenience but could they email back yes or no just incase someone else offers similar furniture and I can ask them instead.

Most times I dont get a reply, once or twice have been told that would be ok but they work long hours or dont have transport themselves at least they reply to me and on the same note some say they are desperate to get rid of it due to say a house move or getting new furniture then they are still listing it a week later after I have wanted it but they say they arent willing to transport.