Tips to help when using Freecycle

vivw_2

csarina wrote: »

I have mixed feelings about freecycle.....I have given a lot of stuff especially when we moved 2 years ago and we had to shed quite a lot. I have not recieved much myself.....an electric slicer, 50 balls of wool, some of which I sent to a fellow MSE'r and an office chair. It does annoy me when people do not say thank you.

WE had an experience recently which really left me openmouthed. I had offered our kingsize bed....we had decided to buy a new one. Several people replied so I put the names in a hat and drew one out. Eventually the person contacted me and arranged to collect the bed that night which was fine.

They turned up a ?girl and a chap, the girl stood by and watched the chap wrestle with the bed base, I took pity on him and helped him carry the two bases and then the mattress down to their van. When he opened the door I was horrified, there was no floor covering on the floor and it was covered with what looked like engineering grease, the bases and mattress were just shoved in......I was stunned......the girl came down with one drawer from the bottom of the bed in her hand and got into the front of the van, the chap had to go back for the other 3 drawers. The bed was in very good condition.......I hate to think what it was like by the time they had driven home and unloaded it. We did wonder if the chap had to wrestle the thing out of the van into the house and up the stairs whilst lady muck stood and watched. They did not even say thank you as they drove away...........speechless does not even come anywhere near how I felt.............

The girl may have had a back problem, just had surgery or could be pregnant......or as you indicate just lazy. Unfortunately after giving something away its no longer yours to say what happens to it.....difficult I know

MATH

I've got rid of quite a bit of stuff on Freecycle but haven't taken anything yet.

I usually pick from the first five responses. If someone is obviously rude or aggressive I will skip over them. I'm not to precious about whether it goes to a needy cause or not (some of those pleading one look a bit suspicious to me anyway.) And I've found some obvious dealers to be the most promt and reliable about collecting quickly. After all, it's stuff I don't want why do I care what happens to it then.

To avoid any problems I would recommend being honest about the item you are offering and what you expect of the collector. eg, I make it clear in my offer that I expect the item collected within 24 hrs of my response at a time suitable to me, and that I will not assist with loading or removing from my house. After 24 hrs if the item is not collected, the item is offered on.

landregistrylass

I must say that Freecycle is like life.......... sometimes you are disappointed but when you do meet someone genuine it refreshes your faith in people. My daughter had to set up home again after life with an abusive partner, and Freecycle was such a help. Now she is more settled she is able to offer in return.

Introuble28

Hello all

I am a bit computer illiterate to be homest and I have just joined Freecycle.
Unfortunately, I have no idea what do do! I cant find anywhere where I can see what people are offering or where I can post things I have.

Can any of you clever freecyclers help me?

Patchthedog

Hi

This is how I access my local Freecycle groups Ilkley Freecycle, Keighley Freecycle and Skipton Freegle.

Sign up with Yahoo. See below:-

http://uk.my.yahoo.com/

You get a Yahoo email address.

Then you can join the Freecycle groups via Yahoo by choosing Groups and searching for your local Freecycles. Then you have to apply to join the group and get accepted by the moderators - shouldn't take too long but not instant. Then you can regularly browse the groups and post things. Make sure you don't sign up to get emailed every new post as you will get overwhelmed.

Anyway this is how I did it. I believe that you can join Freecycle direct by going on the Freecycle website and choosing you local groups, unfortunately, I can't seem to work this one out.

Now I just go on My Yahoo and all my groups are there under My Groups and it is a quick matter of browsing the latest posts.

Hope that this is helpful.

Best wishes

Anna

Penelope_Penguin

Introuble28 wrote: »

Hello all

I am a bit computer illiterate to be homest and I have just joined Freecycle.
Unfortunately, I have no idea what do do! I cant find anywhere where I can see what people are offering or where I can post things I have.

Can any of you clever freecyclers help me?

I get OFFERED posts sent as e-mails. I post WANTED by sending e-mails to the address Iwas given when I signed up

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the existing thread to give you more suggestions.

lightisfading

I am a bit computer illiterate to be homest and I have just joined Freecycle.
Unfortunately, I have no idea what do do! I cant find anywhere where I can see what people are offering or where I can post things I have.

When you joined up was there an option like 'daily digest' or 'emails' or 'read on website only'? The standard is to get every message posted sent to your email account (so if you signed up for it using a yahoo account you don't use normally, maybe it went there??), though freecycle groups can be very busy and sometimes a bit much for your 'regular' email account!

As mentioned before, your account will have to be approved by a mod before you can post/view posts, but this should be visible via the group's home page (go to http://groups.yahoo.com, make sure you're signed in, and click on the group - this should come to a page with something like 'welcome to xxx freecycle, these are the basic rules, have fun, blah blah'

At the bottom of there there should be an email address to send posts to, if your account has been approved. Remember to read the guidelines on the main page about post format - you need to put something like 'offered: sofa (mytown)' (but do check), the rules may sound a bit strict but some groups are huge and people don't want to read every post in full to know what they're offering/asking for!

Then you can join the Freecycle groups via Yahoo by choosing Groups and searching for your local Freecycles.

Just to elaborate on this, quite a few uk groups are now officially known as 'freegle' not 'freecycle' (some concept though!!), and may well not come up if you just search for freecycle - so do a search for freegle as well.

The main freecycle website is http://www.freecycle.org/group/UK/, freegle's is http://www.ilovefreegle.org/groups/ - both basically the same thing, there was just a little disagreement

Stefano_2

Hi- I've never used Freecycle before, but I need to get rid of a wooden Gazebo/Summerhouse as my wife wants the space it occupies used for a greenhouse. I've just joined my local group and offered the item with picture and explained the item needs to be dismantled by a competent person and removed properly.
My concern is that some chancers will come, get halfway through dismantling and/or break it or start trying to hammer it apart and damage it and then disappear (going for more tools/lunch/buy fags etc) never to be seen again leaving me with a mess and a busted item no one else will want.
My reason for trying to dispose this way is that I can't do the work myself (ill health/disability) and am happy to give it away as long as someone doesn't mess me about.

How do you assess people from the replies and how can I choose who will be reliable (assuming anyone wants thr thing!!)

Stefano