Tips to help when using Freecycle

hayley11

I offered stuff on freecycle for the first time last night....31 items

I've just checked my email and i've got 64 emails :eek: It's a good job i'm good with spreadsheets or I would be so confused!

I'm so happy with the response though, was worried I wouldn't get rid of it all but everything apart from some boxes (but can get rid of them on gumtree usually) has had at least one person ask for it. Can see my house being very busy this week :rotfl:

It's very addictive though isn't it? I want to start looking for more things to freecycle now :rotfl:

mandragora_2

Well done you! Hope it goes well!

You might want to consider setting a particular time aside for collections - someone I know through freecycle did a big clear out, then had a a mega listing session. She stipulated in her listing that pick-up/collection time would be between 9.30 and 2pm on a particular Sunday, and asked recipients to give her a time that they would be collecting (give or take an hour). She also said that if anyone didn't turn up, their stuff would be offered to later collectors in order to get rid of it. While it's a bit late for you to put that in your original listing now, you still might want to think about doing some sort of similar arrangement with co-ordinating collection times. Most people are fab, but you'd be surprised that there are people out there who will mes you about, who won't pick up, or who may even expect you to bring it to them - so a set aside time, limit it to one morning or afternoon, can work quite well.

competitionscafe

The most popular thing I offered was 6 bottles of wine left over from a party. I was flooded with emails but some of them were quite amusing. Eventually I gave them to someone who wanted them as prizes for a school fundraising raffle.

hayley11

mandragora wrote: »

Well done you! Hope it goes well!

You might want to consider setting a particular time aside for collections - someone I know through freecycle did a big clear out, then had a a mega listing session. She stipulated in her listing that pick-up/collection time would be between 9.30 and 2pm on a particular Sunday, and asked recipients to give her a time that they would be collecting (give or take an hour). She also said that if anyone didn't turn up, their stuff would be offered to later collectors in order to get rid of it. While it's a bit late for you to put that in your original listing now, you still might want to think about doing some sort of similar arrangement with co-ordinating collection times. Most people are fab, but you'd be surprised that there are people out there who will mes you about, who won't pick up, or who may even expect you to bring it to them - so a set aside time, limit it to one morning or afternoon, can work quite well.

That is such a good idea! I am definitely going to try and get everybody to come Saturday morning. I was a bit worried about people coming all throughout the week, would drive me mad! Somebody came to collect the boxes tonight, which I was so happy about

I have had a great response, every item has had at least one person ask for it and most people have asked for more than one item. Because they are all on spreadsheet, I got my OH to pick a letter for each item and the person in that box got the item, some people have ended up with more than one thing, some with nothing but I think that was the fairest way.

One person wasn't included though because they asked for every single item and the full quantities of them all which I just felt was a bit greedy.

I had somebody email me asking if I was post something, I said no because somebody was willing to collect it. Then he emailed back saying okay, can you email the dvd cases (which are in boxes!) So I said no sorry, everything I have listed, somebody is willing to collect it so i'm not going to post anything.

Going to send all the emails now. I never thought I would enjoy giving stuff away so much

AnnaDin

Don't forget to try www.realcycle.co.uk too as in our area (Manchester) it's bigger than freecycle. I have it as one of my home pages on internet explorer so I can check it when I want to, rather than getting the daily emails. I've enjoyed clearing my house and love the idea of giving things away. We've also done "Borrowing" too - I needed to check if my camera was broken or whether it just needed a replacement battery, so someone lent me their battery. There was a problem with my camera, so the battery went back to it's owner, and I gave him my camera for spares!
It's a lovely world out there!!

hayley11

Thanks for that Anna, I'll go and have a look at that

Can anybody give me some advice? I've asked everybody to collect on Saturday between 10am and 3pm. I've asked people to give me an hour in which they're going to collect and said that if they don't turn up during that hour or ring to let me know they're going to be late then I will give away the items to somebody who collects later. Well I have had a few people reply saying i'll come just before 3pm then I can get what people haven't collected. What do I do if 3 people turn up at once wanting to get things that people haven't collected? I don't want a fight on my hands!!

I was offering two motorola f3 phones, I got them dirt cheap last year and never did anything with them. As you can imagine nearly everybody asked for them. I emailed one lady telling her what i'd offered her (some envelopes that she'd asked for) and she just emailed back asking for the phones again! How cheeky is that! I also had a young man ring me this morning saying his mum had got something else but did I have one of the phones left because his girlfriend is due to go in labour and he lost his phone. I feel quite bad that I don't have one, but that's just stupid isn't it, i'm too nice for my own good

Sorry just another quick question...on Saturday when everything (hopefully) has been collected, do I email the freecycle group saying everything has now been taken?

karendb

When offering something, I always say I will leave the item at the front door with their name if I'm going to be out. This way, I don't feel obliged to hang around, particularly if someone can't give a definite time.

I really appreciated it recently when someone sent a lovely email, thanking me for the stuff I had given. I immediately offered them some more stuff that another Freecycler hadn't even bothered to respond to - they were absolutely over the moon and it really made my day, thinking about the little needy kids playing with the pre-loved toys etc. that had given my own such pleasure

MandyQue

hayley11 wrote: »

Sorry just another quick question...on Saturday when everything (hopefully) has been collected, do I email the freecycle group saying everything has now been taken?

Yes you do

parrotmad

I'm a huge fan of freecycle, have been using it for a couple of years now and have collected lots of useful things as well as given away a lot of stuff during a house move we had last year! I'm now expecting our first baby and it's been invaluable for collecting ealy new baby good which I am so greatful for.

Once you have been a member for a while you get to know the "grabbers" who never seem to list items themselves, and go for the high value things only that you might list so I ignore them and try to give an item to people who are genuinly in need of it (as far as you can tell!)

Happy Freecycling

serendipity2706

I've been on freecycle for a while now. Have received things for my student kids and myself and given too.
One of the nicest things, last year a colleague who has a mum in an OAP home, was looking for bits of wool for her mum to knit for orphans in Rumania or somewhere. I collected some wool from a freecycler on her behalf, then this year she emailed me again offering some more!
This is what it should be, an OAP is doing the knitting to keep her active and stem the boredom, and freecyclers are contributing the wool.