Freecycle Etiquette

ubamother

It is so hard to tell - I go by a bit of manners, and anyone who puts a landline phone number on their email. Clearly other people on my freegle are tired of those who just reply 'I'll have it' and leave a mobile number - or those who repeatedly don't turn up having sounded like they genuinely wanted the iem. Many people now add a rider on their offer asking for polite responses, that people only request if they have the time and means to pick up, and that they will only respond to those who leave a landline number. This can help limit the number of emails a bit. That said, you start to recognise the names of regular offerers, and I am most likely to offer it to a regular as I know they have a history of giving away stuff and are less likely to ask for what they don't want, or put it on ebay!

ubamother

Janiceatkins wrote: »

Thank you for your help.
I was offering a dyson DC14 and was totally overwhelmed by the e mails.
I think I may have chosen the wrong person looking at the replies.

I shall just have to learn from the experience.
Thanks again. Jan.

I know the 'wrong person' feeling too - the best thing I find is to remember your 'job' in this is to keep the item out of landfill not to meet someone else's needs - that's just a nice addon! I find this attitude helps me worry less about whether I've made the right choice!

rachbc

I differ from many others on this. As far as I'm concerned the collector is doing me a favour taking away stuff I don't want so I give it to the person who can come and collect it soonest. Saves me a trip to the charity shop or something going in landfill. I certainly don't feel that someone needs to 'deserve' my cast offs, and so what if they sell it on ebay - if i was that bothered I'd do the same myself!

lauren_1

I choose the politest, I'm always pretty wary of begging e-mails (I gave away some quite unusual items inc a handmade old fashioned crib, only to see them come up on ebay a matter of hours later)

I really get annoyed when I get 'yeah il have it, ring me 07744477774' or 'plz consider me 4 the kids stuff'

Seakay

I usually give it to the first email that i receive, as long as they can collect at my convenience. Remember - it's something you don't want. You are saving it from landfill - don't torture yourself by considering the future life and owners of your ex-possessions!

I then write an email on the lines of - "This item has now been offered to someone else. I will keep your details in case of non-collection".
cut and paste it to all respondents (manners hurt no one and I look on it as a sort of "Pass it Forward" thing) and keep a couple in case there really is no collection by your first choice.
I have found that however quickly I get up a TAKEN message, or even TAKEN STC, on the Freecycle message board, because it is not attached to the original offer people often don't see it.
I have asked the board monitors (wrong term, can't think!) if there is anyway of putting the TAKEN message next to or(even better) instead of the original message, but they say no.
Last time I offered a tent and gazebo I had a response within seconds, and so the TAKEN messages were on the same page; I still got 34 subsequent requests. Of these 6 thanked me for taking the trouble to reply, which in my experience is better than average.
Remember, it's YOU doing the good thing, you can't be responsible for everyone's motives, morals and manners!

jollymummy

I always go for the nice polite emails too and must say every Freecycler I've met have been lovely. Gave some leek plants away last night and had a very nice chat about gardening

kat74

One thing that I'm aware of on freecycle (and similar sites) is when they say :
"I'll collect at 6 tonight, what's your address". Then, after I've given my address, they need to re-arrange the collection.
I don't like saying "sorry, saturday's no good, I'm out", as I don't want strangers to know when my house is empty (most likely me just being over-cautious, but you never know!).
If this happens, I feel more comfortable saying "sorry, saturday's no good, I have visitors" or something like that.

Tiddlywinks

kat74 wrote: »

I don't like saying "sorry, saturday's no good, I'm out", as I don't want strangers to know when my house is empty (most likely me just being over-cautious, but you never know!).

I agree about not saying I'm going to be out - I usually say that I'll leave the stuff in the porch and mention that I'll be in and out to the dump and in the garden so they shouldn't bother knocking as I may not hear them - that way they'll never know if I'm there or not or whether I'll be back shortly.

Then again, now you all know so my secret is out:rotfl:.

WeirdoMagnet

I made the 'wrong person' mistake the first time I freecycled. You live and learn. Now I put the 'Fair Offer Policy' wording, not so much for people who won't see it for a few hours, but for me to be able to pick what I consider to be the best response. I don't reply to anyone until I've picked the successful person, and then I BCC all those who have replied saying to say thanks for their interest but the item has gone subject to collection.

Personally, I think the people who take care in their reply are likely to fit around you for collection, rather than those who say 'I'll take the lot' or my other bugbear, text speak, like they are so busy they don't have time to reply in a cordial fashion!

I successfully acquired something on freegle recently, and was told about 4 times by the chap donating it that he chose me because I had the politest reply! I didn't think it was that polite, just normal!

Hi xxx,

We're about to move into a new house, and would love to give your standard lamp a good home. We're around all weekend, so could pop over and collect as and when is best for you.

I might be too late, but either way thanks for your consideration.

Georgina

For me, I have to be in the mood for freegleing, the same as eBay. You almost have to be ready to be a bit messed around, so it doesn't come as a surprise! Maybe that's just me!

Georgina

falady

I'm like many others who have replied - I go for the most polite reply. I can't stand text speak or rudeness. I don't use our local freecycle much, but when I reply to an 'offered' post I'm always polite and send a thank you afterwards. I have been known to take some homemade cakes or a bottle of wine round when collecting something as a thank you too. I've made a really good friend through freecycle and I'm sure some of that was down to a shared view on how important it is to be polite!