What do you think of these Freecycle Wanted Posts?

zztopgirl

I had the final straw yesterday when someone posted a want and were actually hoping that somebody may have just purchased one this week that they didnt want. I really cant see people going out to buy stuff just so they can give it away on freecycle. I emailed the poster to say they would find it easier to go and buy one themselves than hope for a giveaway. They did email me back and said someone else had said the same thing!:rotfl:

Needless to say, i have cancelled my membership, it was one begging email too many.

cartimandua51

When I was part of London Freecycle (BiiiiiG!) I filtered out the Wanted ads using the Tools in my email programme. Cut down on the aggro no end. People who want things usually read the offered ads.
When offering stuff I usually stipulate when they must be collected (usually give two or three time slots) and if they are batches (eg bags of books) also stipulate all or none, as I'm not a public library.
I've found that if you lay down your ground rules clearly it makes for a pleasanter experience all round.

squidge60

i gave up with this because i got so sick of the wants (as in laptops suites in a special colour ! etc .what i do now is put it in the charity bags that pop in the letterbox .ok some people are going to have pickings but it gives me a good feeling to know ive tried to do good.

cartimandua51

Make sure they really are charities - there's a lot of "con" organisations whose fliers look like charities but who actually sell the goods on for profit. No registered charity number is the giveaway.

bathgatebuyer

Wkdwill wrote: »

Some things people ask for are unbelievable
Laptops, decking, punchbag, guitar amp, fish tank, digital piano.

Pity they weren't asking in the Edinburgh area as I've got 4 old guitar amps in my loft at the moment that are going to be the next thing I list. Also got a punchbag up there too!

IamJen

I'm still digging Freecycle. Yeah, there are some mooches (we had one person claim to have had an engagement ring stolen). But guitar amps, and fish tanks...those are just the kinds of things that people *do* have in their garages taking up space.

hannoja

That person really may have had an engagement ring stolen... though I see why you're cynical and you're very possibly right

Why on earth would you have it all sent to your email? I just log in as and when I feel like it and have a browse. Am I missing something..? That way, you can just do a search for 'Offer' or whatever.

There should be a Freecycle section on these forums (fora? lol) as I've seen a few threads like this one. It's a shame that something created for good has left a bad taste for some of us, but I suppose there's a good and bad side to everything and it's up to us to try and see the nicer side of things..

continualdiamond

I still use freecyle. I agree about the wanted ads though, it does get pathetic, especially when i see 'cars'. I had one that was very sneaky, a wanted post for a Wii and an offer post for an Xbox 360. I emailed them about the 360 and got a reply saying, i had to have a Wii to give him in order to have the 360 :rolleyes: .

I must admit though, i do wanted posts now and again. About 2 weeks ago my hoover packed in while i was hoovering, so i did a wanted post and within an hr had someone offer me one. It turned out to be a member who id given something to and they'd just bought a new hoover, so wanted to give me something back. So that same day ended up with a hoover, that is actually pretty good.

ScoobieGirl

Since I set up the rules on my email to move items with wanted in them to one folder and offered, taken etc to another it's been a lot easier to handle. My perception of how many wanted items there are has changed - it felt like most of them were wanted, but only about a third are.

As other people have said it's not the volume of wanted ones that wind me up. Loads of low value one would be great, I've got tonnes of stuff in my garage that I've kept because it'll come in handy one day that I would love to be used rather than binned. I've got rid of tiles, small bits of plasterboard, tv ariel etc. Some of the stuff I had even advertised on Freecycle with no takers only to see a wanted ad a few weeks later.

I used to get wound up by the adverts for laptops and 3 piece leather suites in blue only, without so much as a 'please', but no-one will give them something of that value if they can't even say please, so now I just laugh at them and hit the delete button.

Ms_Chocaholic

I've been offering items on Freecycle for some time ... I recently offered two tables (without chairs). One went no trouble, to a couple who wanted the table for her "art and craft project in the loft conversion".

The other one I've still got as, despite several people emailing me for further info on the table, they haven't had the decency to even reply with a "thanks for the information".