Freecycle is it corrupt??

Gothicfairy

I tried to get rid of some of my book collection through freecycle and gave up. I had over 100 horror/crime books and it took so much sorting out as they wanted the title of the whole lot and the age and condition
Where what I had put was " over 100 horror/ crime books free to good home"
Then the guy who wanted them never turned up so I gave up for a year or so until I posted a wanted ad.

I wanted a mobile phone (not all singing and dancing, all it had to do was ring out and in and text..Didn't care the colour or size ) but that again became so difficult that I gave up all together and never did get a phone.

ginnyknit

I dont think Freecycle is corrupt I just feel that a lot of second hand dealers hang about on there swooping up the bargains. I have not been at all successful on there and am frustrated by it. I went today to a local charity shop to try and buy a couch and the manager said that people hang about waiting for the deliveries which also makes me suspicious.

grayme-m

lechat wrote: »

and what's wrong with asking for a caravan? I had one that if I knew about freecycle a couple of years ago would have given it away! I know people with old scooters and lawnmowers sitting in their garages too.

I don't think we have the right to judge what people ask for, its pretty easy and quick to delete the messages after seeing the header if it's irrelevant or if you don't want to read wanted ads then i'm sure there is a setting to filter ur mail into different folders to delete. Granted not everyone has the best of intentions, but thats the world these days. No point dwelling on it, is my opinion

It seems that the phrase 'beggars can't choosers' has been used for all those years, with blatant disregard of the appropriate use of email filters.

It's often not just a request for a caravan, a scooter or a lawnmower, but it must be a particular make, model, colour and condition... oh and delivered as they don't have a car unless you can deliver one of those too?

Course you can filter them all out, but sometimes the cheek of some people can get too much for the others.

lightisfading

TotallyBroke wrote: »

I too live on the borders of 3 freecycle groups. I posted a WANTED message across all 3. One site didn't show it I emailed the mod asking why? They replied it was against the rules to cross post messages across freecycle sites. There should be a length of time before asking the same Want of another site. I apologised for breaking the rules. Lo and behold a couple of hours later someone posted a Wanted message to the site but asking for about 5 different things. Now I thought there was a limit of the number of things you could ask for in 1 month.
It's a case of allowing some rules to be broken and others not.

It's annoying I know but bear in mind that unless the group is very small, the mods can't possibly moderate every posting. Quite a few groups have the system where posts are first sent through the mod for checking, once someone has 'proved' themselves as sticking to the rules they get put on unmoderated posts which go straight to the group. Therefore if someone has come off moderation and then posts something thats against the rules the mods can't stop it going through. It's not perfect but there's no other way of doing it (unless the mods have nothing else to do with their lives). If you see messages that are breaking the rules maybe politely point them out to a mod - if they're any good they'll chase it up and talk with the offending member or put them on moderated posts.

brightonman123

i always thought the idea was that the 'wantee' collects.. any onedemanding delivery as well should be banned..

geez, thy'll be wanting stuff brand new, and gift wrapped next.. ;-)

brightonman123

ps.. i reckon twitter will be the death of freecycle (on yahoo groups, at least)- offers/wants going straight to the great british public, and beyond, no moderation, no delay..

yikes!

lightisfading

brightonman123 wrote: »

i always thought the idea was that the 'wantee' collects.. any onedemanding delivery as well should be banned..

geez, thy'll be wanting stuff brand new, and gift wrapped next.. ;-)

In general, I agree with you, because of the amount of people who seem to think that freecycle is a shopping list.

However, do bear in mind that freecycle is the most useful to the poorest sections of society - that sofa being offered because the (comparitively) rich owner has bought a new one, but is desperately needed by a poorer person who just doesn't have the money to buy it, for example - and poor people generally don't have cars!

So yes.. I agree with you about people demanding delivery - but there's a difference between 'demand' and 'politely request as they have no option'.

cjb02

freecycle is great.

I have given things away - which saved me time taking it to the dump and an individual got some thing they wanted (for free)

I have got things from freecyle that I wanted and saved cash, awesome.

I dont like the begging/wanted adds but so what, I am not here to judge.

I dont like the guy who runs my local one but that's a personality thing. he does his best, so respect to him as he does put a lot of time in.

If it goes to some one who is a trader, I have never spotted them. beats me throwing it in the bin, although so far, I dont think a trader has ever taken anything of mine but if they have, so what.

Freecycle is a win/win situation for all concerned and that includes Mother Nature.

mandragora_2

I liked freecycle, gave away a kitchen, motorbike leathers etc etc; got a great washer/dryer for my son - however somewhere along the line (and I imagine on freecycle, as I don't use that email account much) I picked up a bug that briefly sent out 'vacation' replies off the back of my account - two messages left my a/c to tell the truth. The mods were so snotty about it (and I worked out what the problem was and sorted it within days) that I gave up with them. Now if I have summat, the list goes : offer to family, then mates; then will the charity shop take it; can I flog it? Finally, if none of the above, tip, possible re-sale, landfill.

Shame, as I liked freecycle, but I don't need the preaching/holier than thou attitude. I there's a problem, tell me and I'll sort it, guys.

CrazyCatLady

I've read through a few of the posts on here but the thread is too long for me to read all of it. I just wanted to add my two pence to the "should Freecycle be used by traders?" debate.

I noticed some posters saying that "it's MSE" to make money from used items. Yes, of course it is. But MSE is also about people giving their time and economic expertise for FREE. What would MSE be like if you had to pay a membership fee or if you were bombarded with flashy banner ads and Google adsense?

People conveniently forget that the reason this country is in the financial ruin it is in and people are in heaps of debt, like half the members of this forum now, is due to greedy fat cats just out for the money they can make, who say **** everyone else - the bankers, the CEOs, the gangsters, the corrupt politicians etc...

If there were no people out there willing to give some of their time or their used possessions away for free I dread to think what the world would be like.

Freecycle isn't just about saving the environment and getting rid of your rubbish, it's about karma, about giving out what you hope to receive. And just doing something out of the kindness of your heart. If you were a struggling, poor, single mother and had to choose between a new fridge or clothing your baby, wouldn't you be glad some kind soul was good enough to give something away?

And wouldn't we all be happer if the whole world had the tenets of Freecycle?

Ahem, I'll step off my soapbox now...