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.

Think of all the time you spent advertising items, taking photos and messaging messers

Much easier to just go to the local recycling plant

I've never encountered anything like this. The trampoline story sounds made up.

No, less funny but she gets a lot of support from a group of women on there who I suspect give her cash regularly. They pounce on anyone who raises any concerns about her constant sob stories so everyone else just stays clear.

I advertised a little tikes fire engine toddler bed for free. The bud chunky plastic kind. Bloke turns up.to.collrct it in a fiesta. His boot was full of bags. And he had a carseat in the back seat. Tried to fit half if it in. I suggested moving the car seat to the front so he could fold the back seat down. But that want a option as he was picking up his dad! In his defence he had no idea what the was collecting. But how his partner thought it would fit is beyond me.

Just recently there have been lots of posts on our local FB selling group offering shoes/clothes as 'brand new, didn't fit so thought I'd offer someone the chance to buy before I return' for just a couple of £ less than they claim to have paid. I can only assume there is something dishonest going on as why on earth would anyone take the time to try to sell an item if they could return it for a full refund. Any why would anyone pay almost full price to get an item second hand when they could just order a new one and have come-back if it's not right.

Some of them get quite annoyed when no-one responds but oddly there seems to be a battle to get some of them

@pantsofshame - we get that with baby formula. Whenever anyone tries to comment people jump on about how they are just trying to help mums save some money. Not sure why anyone with a formula fed child would be selling unopened, in date formula.

Agreed to sell an item I advertised on fb. Woman said could I keep it and she’d come for it on Saturday as she was working during the week.

Agreed, time came and went. I messaged her and said couldn’t she just have messaged if she’d changed her mind so I wouldn’t have waited in. She said ‘Fuck off and get a life’. Charming.

I sold a massive double pine wardrobe for cheap on eBay years ago. The couple turned up and complained there was a hole at the back. I explained it wasn't a hole it was where I'd started dismantling as per their request and the 2 sides were no longer held together. They
Left a bad review on eBay. I then advertised on gumtree and a lovely couple came a took it. The original couple then contacted me saying they did want it after all and got extremely annoyed when I told them I'd sold it.

Another one was I listed my kids double storey playhouse on a selling group on fb and one woman commented that she wanted it, it was one of those groups that said you had to give first option to the first commenter. I messaged the woman but got no reply, then when other people started commenting she kept leaving comments telling them that she was first and they couldn't have it. This went on for hours with her still not replying to me, but having plenty of time to monitor fb. I got so fed up I just listed it on another selling group and sold it there. She was not happy when I commented that it was sold and no longer available 😂 😂 she had a massive rant which eventually ended with "I wouldn't want your poxy shed anyway" 😂

Some people sell online because they need the money it brings.

Some people sell online because they don't drive and can't get to a recycling plant.

Some people sell online because they have mobility issues which means having people come to collect is much easier.

The local recycling plant isn't viable for some people.

Yep let's just bin every lightly used item because it's too much effort to take a photo of it and send a few messages.

Isn't there enough stuff going to waste already without loads of perfectly useable stuff getting "recycled" (i.e. burned or landfilled)

We should be encouraging everyone to buy and sell secondhand.

I had people going mad for an old hoover I was selling on Gumtree, about 20 responses in the first half hour. I very politely said to one woman that I had someone coming for it but if they didn't show up I'd let her know. She then proceeded to message me every few minutes sounding increasingly deranged, saying could I deliver it to the 8th floor of a block of flats way across town. Had to block her in the end.

Posting stuff for free just seems to bring out the vultures, same people messaging about any item, presume they are selling it on which is not really in the spirit.

I had a chair that I couldn't give away, so I listed it for £20 and it sold. When the bloke came to pick it up he told me a long convoluted story about how he wanted it for a Santa grotto, which I just found confusing.
DS said 'well done Mum for not letting him guilt you into giving him the chair' but the reality was I'm too gormless to notice hints

@happinessischocolate

Oh god, the 'I commented first so I now own it' CF 🙈

Do Facebook pages still have these rules?

I find the "seller has to sell to first commenter" really stupid too. I have stopped selling on them - I want to sell to the person I think is most likely to collect and someone I am happy to give my address to!

I have no idea as I deleted all the selling groups after that palaver, and I've never used eBay again as they allowed the bad rating the buyers gave me despite me sending photos proving there was nothing wrong with the wardrobe.

I used to seek loads of stuff but no matter how cheap you listed it there would always be some bugger offering half the price 🤔

I used to be on a recycling page where I started to recognise the same names wanting absolutely everything whether it was baby clothes, furniture or anything in between.
And as for the 'I'll take that' as if they were doing someone a favour. Ugh.

I deleted my Olio account (the app for giving away food that would otherwise go to waste) because this weird obsessive woman would travel something like a 40 mile round trip for absolutely anything I listed, even a few little bits of fruit that were about to turn. Anything at all, she'd contact me within minutes of listing it. So I couldn't pretend someone else had already asked for it. Then she started bringing random stuff with her to give to me. There was no option to block a user on that app (there may be now) so I stopped using it because it just felt really disfunctional and uncomfortable.

Yes, there are a few of those on ours. Although one tends to add a sob story. His son has so many bikes stolen and needs one for commuting it's almost unbelievable.

Especially as I know his son is 6yo.

Stole the housepipe made me laugh out loud 😂

We moved into house and had a huge trampoline- the previous sellers hadn’t taken. Advertised as free just dismantle yourself.
Had one woman and her mother turn up with a tiny car, no tools. I lent them some tools and they lasted 10 minutes before giving up and saying they’d return - they never did.
Next few were some guys with again a tiny car and one screwdriver. Thankfully dh was in for that so he helped them take it apart and they did in-fact
manage to get it in their Micra. It did however take practically all day.
I generally list something for few pound if I want something gone and people turn up, rather than free as they just never turn up.
I stopped with freecycle as I had ds old pushchair that I’d spent loads on as a single parent, I was so proud of myself for saving and getting it. Wanted someone to make use of it and a woman turned up just took it and left, no thank you or anything, so I stopped.

I gave away a kids bed recently, good condition so had lots if interest. I offered to the first person to comment who arranged collection, then re arranged, and again. After a few days I messaged to say can you let me know of you are having it as if not I'll go to the next person who commented. Got an arsey message back about her being a stay at home mum of two so far too busy to collect a bed 🤷‍♀️ Why ask for it then?!