Should i give my item away on freecycle

jaibaby

nazziek wrote: »

I am very new to freecycle-i only heard about it a few days ago so dont hav much experience with it.

I think the people who are being choosy about who their stuff goes to are missing the point.

The purpose of freecycle is not to make u feel good about urself-its about keeping usable items out of landfill. thats it. nothing more.
Since i've found out about freecycle i'm really regreting all the usable things i've thrown away. Would it have mattered that the person who might have bought them from me would have been able to afford new? no. they would hav stayed out of landfill. And would it have mattered if they had sold them on at a carboot sale? no, they would hav still stayed out of landfill. And who knows, whoever might hav bought them at carboot might not hav been able to afford new and got a good deal.

If ur looking for the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from helping those in need i dont think freecycle is the place for u because u hav to give without wanting anything in return other than knowing that ur doing ur bit for the planet.

Maybe u should donate to furniture aid instead where people on benefits etc get a discount on the furniture or people who cant afford it get it for free-but keep in mind the general public can also purchase it (just without getting a discount).

I got rid of a printer, which a charity shop would not accept. My "point" was that traders are cashing in on sites like that. I don't agree with sob stories either. If someone can collect it asap, then brill. But when someone is constantly getting stuff off there to just sell on, it's wrong. I don't care about "missing the point". Yes, it's to keep the stuff from landfill. I had others email me asking for the printer. I gave the ok to the first one. Just to prove that there were others interested. Yes, ok, they may have all been traders. That I'll never know. I suppose it comes down to the fact that I would never do something like that. I would rather someone who needs it, have it. And it is nothing to do with "feeling good" about myself.

hermum

On ours you can't sell donated items unless you're a charity if you are found to be taking things to re-sell you are banned.

easy

hermum wrote: »

On ours you can't sell donated items unless you're a charity if you are found to be taking things to re-sell you are banned.

And how on earth is that policed ?

nazziek

jaibaby wrote: »

But when someone is constantly getting stuff off there to just sell on, it's wrong. I don't care about "missing the point". Yes, it's to keep the stuff from landfill. I had others email me asking for the printer. I gave the ok to the first one. Just to prove that there were others interested. Yes, ok, they may have all been traders. That I'll never know. I suppose it comes down to the fact that I would never do something like that. I would rather someone who needs it, have it. And it is nothing to do with "feeling good" about myself.

Yes its wrong-of course its wrong but thats the risk u can either choose to take or not take. We dont live in a perfect world where everyone has the same ethics and morals.

hermum

easy wrote: »

And how on earth is that policed ?

Apparantly quite a few have been caught out, it's quite easy to see who's selling on as they're the ones who need everything that's offered.
In our city there are only a handful of carboots, so you could easily be caught out. How they actually prove it I don't know.

flipper_2010

On the old Bexhill/Hastings ones the rule was, you just had to say if you were selling them on. Also on the posts you could say not for selling on if you didn't want it sold.

Which I think worked quite well.
And it helped people clear out a whole garage as you could just list it as a car boot job lot and you could get rid of the whole lot in one go.