Freecycle. They said please so they got the item.

Cardew

davkt wrote: »

If you don't like the way freecycle works no one is forcing you to use it. All the groups operate under some very stringent rules and there is very little local flexibility. David

Like everyone else I admire the concept of Freecycle, but I most certainly don't like many aspects of the way it operates.

One of the 'very stringent rules' is surely that resale of goods is not allowed or traders must declare their status.

I have never heard on a single instance where a trader has declared their status and it is patently obvious even to casual users that it is abused and abused by traders.

To moderators the traders must be far more obvious and yet what action is taken? Indeed there is anecdotal evidence that some use their status to their advantage!!!

I must say that I find the 'no one is forcing you to use it' defence of Freecycle rather lame! Is constructive criticism not allowed?

Nobody doubts the hard work and effort put in by many of the Moderators, but as can be seen from the posts on MSE that a great idea is being tarnished - indeed ruined - by the plethora of begging requests and traders operating with impunity.

Ken68

Surely a committed trader/dealer would be the owner of the group, or a moderator.
And the charitable aspect is hardly up to 'nursing the sick' standard or helping out as does Jimmy Saville.
Far better to give unwanted items to a charity shop.

larmy16

drutt wrote: »

Yes, I once responded to a wanted message for a black metal double bed. I emailed to say that I had a barely-used, *silver* metal double bed that she was welcome to collect.

She never bothered to reply. Clearly a free silver bed didn't fit in with her colour scheme.

Drutt, I recently responded to an offered notice for a double divan. I am never lucky so just put it down to experience. Imagine my horror when I just happened to look in my bulk folder (still not sure what this is or does) and there was an email from the girl asking if I still wanted the bed, as she would have to reoffer it.

I was gutted. Not just because I missed the bed but because I must have seemed so rude!

Yesterday I advertised something myself and both responses went into my bulk folder again. Luckily I look now. A man responded. Happened to be in the area and he came round within 10 minutes. He may have been a dealer??? Anyway a useful but bulky item was out of my house within the space of half an hour!!!:D

He e mailed later to thank me and wish me a happy Christmas. That is the spirit of Freecycle I think.

Ken68

See Larmy, you glad it's gone, dealer or not.
To give you an idea of the value of things, a few weeks ago I bought a decent modern oak table in the auction, nice looking including 4 chairs...£6, this puts things into perspective when the cost of collecting a free item in a rural area is usually thereabouts a fiver.
Your dealer, Larmy , if he was a dealer ,would have to sell privately to make any money. A sofa would have to be in pretty good nick to even be accepted into a local auction.

lightisfading

There may be one or two dodgy moderators but the vast majority put many many hours into their groups for no return. I built up our local group to around 1000 members before passing onto a friend - she gave up recently because she'd been abused and threatened for trying to get rid of all the resellers and no shows :mad:

I think part of freecycle's problem is its 'advertising' of being able to get big things like beds, tvs, etc. I wouldn't ever expect to get things like this for free as they could be resold instead. However I've had curtains (brand new and sealed, 2 lots - i requested any, condition no issue, for helping keep our cold house warm), bakeware, plant pots, books, packaging materials etc. All items that frequently get sent to landfill that I could use. I'm always as polite as possible and upfront about collection - I mention in my wanted post or my first reply email that I don't have a car and ask where they're located so I can see if I can get there by bus.

As for giving away, I've given people a set of scales, big bag of lego (specifically mentioned it was very dusty and would need cleaning), star wars toys etc. Various items have been brand new but I haven't mentioned that in the post to deter re-sellers. Not had any problems really apart from someone who sent their rude teenage daughter to collect complete with gang of mates.

Ken68

Hi lightfading...when you see an offered item that you want what is the procedure for when you are the owner or moderator.
I don't think other members of the group would object to them taking preference.

lightisfading

There is no special procedure, when I was the mod I'd reply just the same as everyone else and make no mention of it.

The only difference is that mods will likely be first in as they have to moderate so many of the postings in the first place! but not much they can do about that.

HugoSP

I do respond to wanted posts.

If you are looking to avoid sellers, you could do a lot worse than looking for wanted posts. These people usually have a specific need, and whilst you may or may not consider it cheeky for them to ask, it is unlikely that they will sell on what you could offer.

On the subject of people selling the items on - one freecycler near me actually posted a wanted for items to sell at car boot sales.

Now there are two responses to that:

1) Bloody cheek

2) At least they're honest - you donate to this person knowing your stuff will be sold on.

To my mind, careful wording would be needed in the subject line, and the accompanying post.

KxMx

I gave away a dismantled shed a few months back, had a flood of replies. Any that were in txt speak, really rude "i want" or "i'll have" and those that gave a phone number (expecting me to ring them up and say yes you've got the item- I got about 6 numbers!) were automatically deleted and not even considered.
It went in the end to a couple who wanted to use it as a playhouse for their son, which they had told me in the initial response.

I have also got rid of some books and an old piece of carpet through wanted ads, just hadn't got round to offering, and then I saw the wanted ads.

KxMx

Okay this one takes the biscuit- sent off a few offers yesterday to get them done, had an email today saying will collect asap and giving me mobile number!