MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Janine profit from a Freecycle telly?

marich

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" - go on , Janine - put a little more love into the world . If you got it for free , give it for free .

Lovejoy_Peacemaker

Freecycle's basic ethic is to ensure that as much as possible goods that are still useable gets passed on and kept out of dumps, landfills etc and that means where it can be changed ie wooden fences for firewood, old clothes for rags, or insulation etc it helps the planet and the fundamental root economy of the members and their communities.

However there is nothing in the rules that says that things can't be sold on and therefore given a new lease of life that way.

Obviously true green freecyclers would rather see it given away, but in truth we live in a "FREE" society where everyone is entitled to dispose of anything they own in any manner of their own choosing as long as it causes no harm to anyone else.

So yes too right she can sell it if she wants too!
And if she feels guity later she can always give back the money or freecycle whatever she bought with the money when she no longer needs it!

Shain

We have given lots away on Freecycle (and also received a few lovely things) and only got ripped off once, when posting a diamond and sapphire ring (v small, not worth much, but I wanted it to go to a good home). The person who got it, allegedly for her daughter who'd been in a car accident, (Sandra, here's hoping you find this reference to yourself) refused even to give me a quid for the postage, let alone actually say thank you. I was hurt, and annoyed I didn't recognise a skanky liar for what she was, but you have to go by what you're told on-line.

Other people have been lovely, and I personally would feel bad selling something that a basically decent person had given in good faith. If Janine does sell it, at least half the money should go to charity, I'd say, unless she can say hand on heart that she's REALLY that broke...

LOUY_2

Yes - sell it and make money.

Afterall, we are all here to save money. And saving money is not just about minimising expenses, but also maximising income.

Sheepster

She might as well sell it on, go knock yourself out hun and all that, it's not like Freecycle isn't full of people doing that anyway, and only a fool will be deluding his/herself if they don't think this is the case.

That's why I've stopped bothering with my local Freecycle (Calderdale) one, because you will be reunited with your stuff at the Broad Street car park car boot sale the following Sunday. It's scammer city, and this from other freecyclers who have chatted to me via e-mail warning me about donating anything worth more than stuff all on there.

Nowadays I give to charity shops.......or actually take them down the tip. Don't see why I should be helping some car booter, staying in waiting for them to turn up, when I can instead dispose at my own leisure.

Ebenezer_Screwj

The advance of technology makes a lot of things obsolete very quickly and if Janine can get £50 for a load of junk, good luck to her. In any case it's her TV now, she can do what she likes with it.

Justamum

I'm lucky in that I haven't had to buy a tv for years, and the most recent one we were given is a very nice flatscreen! There would be nothing wrong in Janine getting £50 for her old tv, but if it was me I'd just give it to the person at work.

MadeInTheDark

If something is given to someone via freecycle it is their property to do with as they wish. People need to get off their high horses.
People that donate things on freecycle have chosen to do so, and can obviously afford to, but they should not presume that everyone else is equally as able and financially comfortable.

kalaika

I can see the point of view that legally it's her TV to do as she wishes, and that if she can make a profit out of it (and wants to) then she can go ahead. I can also see that she would be particularly likely to go for this if she really needed the £50 for whatever reason.

However, the whole Freecycle ethos works on there being people willing to give away items that are still usable (and could be alternatively be sold if the giver wanted to). She has been fortunate that someone on Freecycle gave her a TV to create this situation. Now that she's in the opposing camp and has an excess of TVs then, barring the financial reasons for needing the cash, to me is just appears to be a little selfish if she is happy to receive goods for free but then not return the favour to someone else if she has the opportunity to (be it by giving it to a colleague, a stranger on Freecycle, a charity shop, whatever).

freddy27

Absolutely. Why not. The donor should have tried selling it before putting it on freecycle:j