Who are these insane, cheeky people on Freecycle, FB Marketplace, Gumtree etc.?

[BurgerChops]

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been sorting out my house and posting free stuff online.

Most people who've come to collect stuff are very nice and completely normal but there are some absolute loons. Who are these people? Why are they so dumb and/or downright bizarre? How do they exist in the wild with things like jobs, families etc.?

So far I've had:

• I posted an advert for a bath of women's size 8 clothes with pictures of each item. Woman messages me to ask whether I have one of the items in a size 12 like I'm a suburban outlet of H and fucking M.
• A couple of people have arranged to collect things and been very active in real-time updates of their arrival time. And then never show up. Just plain weird.
• I had one guy who arranged to collect a chair but never showed up. Then he messaged me later than day thanking me for the furniture. I'm assuming he was messaging multiple people and collecting multiple items. But I quite like the idea that he showed up to a random house saying "I'm here to collect the chair" and the homeowners were too polite to send him away so just handed over a couple of their dining chairs.
• I advertised loads of massive cardboard moving boxes. A couple showed up on bikes to collect them. They looked perplexed for a while and had a bit of a row (they were Chinese, I couldn't understand what they were arguing about), then wobbled off home with them balanced on these bloody bikes. I do wonder if they actually made without being knocked over or arrested.
• A woman who walked around to my house with her dog to collect some stuff. Her dog had a massive diarrhea attack on my doorstep. Bless her, she was really apologetic and brought a box of chocolates around the next day to say sorry. But that's half hour of hosing and bleaching and Jeyes fluiding my front garden that I'll never get back.

Simply saying that she couldn’t understand them as they spoke another language was sufficient.

And unless the PP saw their passports, she can’t now their nationality and is guessing their race.

I was giving away some free 2nd hand furniture. Free upon collection.

Someone messaged me to ask if I could deliver it as she was pregnant so couldn't collect. She also lived 50 odd miles away.

Marketplace is where my inner snob comes out. I don’t overprice stuff (only really sell when I want something to go) and always generally it gets collected within <48 hours. I give clear descriptions with full postcode, model number, dimensions etc.

If you can’t communicate in grammatical sentences and open communication with “address?” when the full postcode is clearly stated in the ad then I don’t bother engaging. Until we’ve agreed a price and a pick up time I’m not giving out my full address!

I’m also mercenary and will sell to the first person to agree a quick pick up time & reasonable price - if it’s Saturday I’m not waiting until Thursday next week when your husband can borrow his workmates’s aunty’s truck when others will come tomorrow.

Where does the saying “needs gone” come from? I’ve never heard it in real life, it’s peculiar to marketplace.

Not sure if she was going for the sympathy favour. From a complete stranger.

Was selling a Stellar Frypan , brand new , still boxed for £15 . Had a text from a man offering £10 and a dozen eggs !

I once put my old car up for sale. A man asked if I would drive it 50miles to him so that he could just buy the wheels (for a fraction of the price), and not the rest of the car. I didn't even know what to say to that!

🤣🤣
I often post on freecycle and sometimes collect items but I do have a laugh at some peoples posts some one posted wanting ‘A large television’ I though how cheeky. Surely any tv would do if you didn’t have one but they required ‘A large’ one

Certainly :). So do I. But I understand your response.
Tbh I did wonder afterwards if wording it this way will make it seem like the issue is in asking for something. Not in my view. I only really meant the more extreme examples of manner-less cheeky fuckery.

Oh FFS, lots of people can recognise the Chinese language when they hear it. Would you not agree that the enormous majority of people who look Chinese and speak Chinese are, indeed, Chinese? The poster was adding context to the story that's all. Do jog on.

We once advertised a large chest freezer for free, a lovely young couple turned up in a tiny car. They did get it in eventually but we still laugh about them driving round with it still stuck in there.

A woman who walked around to my house with her dog to collect some stuff. Her dog had a massive diarrhea attack on my doorstep. Bless her, she was really apologetic and brought a box of chocolates around the next day to say sorry. But that's half hour of hosing and bleaching and Jeyes fluiding my front garden that I'll never get back.

Are you suggesting she planned this from the start and knew her dog would shit on your driveway? She offered to clean it up afterwards and she came round and was very apologetic and brought a box of chocolates. That doesn’t sound too CF to me.

I've given away loads of stuff on Freecycle. Rather than it cluttering up the garage.

I've realised the hard luck stories of people wanting things believe they are the real victim.

Some people are cheeky with their requests but I just ignore them.

However, I've given away a t.v. that was requested because I just didn't use it when we got our new one. He wanted it for his son's gaming and was really pleased to have it.

I gave away a fancy mans wristwatch that only worked in daylight. I made this clear in the listing description, that it needed to be re-set every morning. The guy who collected it was delighted to have it.

I delivered something once to a chancer but they were only a couple of miles away and I wanted the item gone.

I'm annoyed with people who say they want something i.e. a couple of towels from the half dozen or so I'm giving away. So, I keep them back and they never contact me.

So I end up re-listing just two towels. Don't care what they are used for once collected from me.

I was giving away a double bed for free, but collection only.

I was asked if I'd deliver it an hour away. No please.

I also got told someone needed it as their baby was sleeping on a floor.

Freecycle was good in the beginning. It was the first time I ran across the aggressive entitled man. I had a smart phone to give away, pretty good offer in those days. One man wanted it but wanted me to take it to him, when I said no, he could get a bus ticket out to me for £3 which didn't seem a lot for a £50 phone he went on about meeting him halfway. I don't have to meet you anywhere, I expect you to come to me for a high value item!

@BurgerChops I.must confess I'm howling at the dog diarrhoea on the doorstep
Sorry 🤣

I spent ages putting stuff online for sale, barely got rid of anything! Might as well take it to charity. I do think it’s a good way to get rid of big things that won’t fit in the car though

I've stopped giving out my house number until people text me to say they're on their way. They get my full postcode and which end of the road so they can plan their route/get the right bus but not my house number. If you're serious, you'll text (I certainly have done for things we've bought/collected).

Lots of random people wanting stuff and then not following through. I just offer it elsewhere and because they don't have my house number, then they aren't going to turn up and cause a problem (lone female).

YES
Also 'il pick it up saturday'
Me: what time?
Them: well we've got stuff to do in the morning, so afternoon probably
Me: can you give me a rough idea of time?
Them: between 2 and 4
Me: can you be a bit more specific as i've got stuff on
Then: not sure yet as its when my other half gets back from work
Me: okay so when do they finish?
Them: 2 so it will be after that
Me: okay shall we say 3 then, give you plenty of time?

• on the day, gets to 3 -

Me: are you still coming? Them: yeah just running late sorry ...turn up at 3.45

I put a (imo) faulty toy for free on a local fb page. (I had tried taking the item back to the shop and they insisted it was meant to be that shit there was nothing wrong with it 😡)
I explained in my post this is a new toy but we can't get it to work properly but if anyone wants to have it (free) and try their luck they are welcome to.
A lady collected and then later messaged me to complain it wasn't working. Well duh. I'd been upfront in the post about it and I was the one who had wasted £30 and an hour returning unsuccessfully to the shop!!

Bloke bought an old racing bike from us and paid £100 late last year. He still hasn't collected it. Has made 3 appointments so far but something has always come up. Apparently he's due to collect early August.

Should I charge him storage?!

I put a medium sized piece of furniture on freecycle including measurements.

got a message asking whether “it would fit in a car?”

This thread is so funny.

A minor daytime TV presenter turned up to buy something my Dad was selling on facebook. Then proceeded to haggle with him on the doorstep. Dad was a bit miffed.