I am NEVER giving anything away again.

[Ohjakestopbeingatwat]

I’ve had it now with giving things away. I think I am just a twat magnet.

I put the children’s old wooden play market/kitchen thing up on Facebook, for free.

I put up photos and was very honest that it needs two new screws/wood glue as they have come loose and can’t be tightened, some of the paintwork is chipped, but if someone wants it, it would make a great up cycle project. If no one wanted it, it would go to the tip. But you know, it’s free and I know lots of people like a project.

Someone immediately said she wanted it and sent her husband to collect it a while later.

Then, all hell broke loose. She messaged me saying it was in a terrible state, the paint was chipped, the screws needed replacing - no shit Sherlock. That was the actual description.

She demanded that I come and pick it up. No. She kept on and on until I had to block her.

Half an hour later, her husband turned up again and threw it on my driveway, smashing it. So now, no one can have it to do up and it will have to go to the tip.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had shit like this. I don’t know how I attract these people. So never again. It’s the charity shop, or the tip.

There’s a lot of them about. Dear me. I do wonder sometimes if there’s actually an undiagnosed virus out there that’s been eating away at peoples’ brains over the last 10 / 15 years that we’re not yet aware of. Symptoms include: severe stupidity, spontaneous aggression and delusional entitlement

He came to the door, it was in the porch, I said again, careful as the canopy is wobbly, it needs new screws. He said, “okay, cheers” and carried it to his car.

Then like 3 hours later, he’s slamming it onto my drive.

Don't rely on house clearance.. they charge you a fortune. Don't rely on charities - SO picky. BHF refused most of my late mum's household goods. They classed some as 'veneer'. My mum's furniture was solid wood. We ended up chopping it up & skipping it. :-(
Glad to report that a cat charity was delighted with mum's sheets, blankets & towels!

Now the crazies know your address 😢

You need to find and join a local Facebook group that only allows posts for free items.

They’re usually well-moderated, and people behaving like that (grabbing things and then reselling or being rude) tend to get kicked out pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, the general Free Stuff side of Facebook Marketplace seems to attract a particular niche of crazy 🙄 — the no-shows, the “I’ll come at 7pm” who then vanish, or the ones who think “free” includes you delivering it to them 30 miles away.

The smaller, moderated community groups are so much better.

We once took a dollhouse, slightly better condition to the tip, and one of the staff nearly killed himself shouting and running to us when we were trying to put in wood skip!
He shouted at us to put in on the side because it would sell! It was a good job my DH was with me or I would have ignored him and put in skip, because I had my back to him and thought he was yelling at someone else!
Will say for giving away Olio is great, rude no shows etc are banned. And everyone has said thank you.

I will say selling on Facebook or any platform the amount of car breakdowns and being rushed to hospital is unbelievable.
And the amount who think 7 o’clock means after 9pm.
But I’m weird because I’m not answering the door in the dark especially in winter.
I now don’t give my address until they say they are setting off. I did give my village once and they apparently turned up and couldn’t find the house!! But I hadn’t give postcode etc! Then complained I didn’t open door!

But making an offer is an acceptable thing on Vinted....?

shame it was FBk -if it had been Olio for e.g. you could have rated them

I give stuff away regularly. Its very much site dependent what response you get. Olio is best I think. Freegle and Freecycle are OK. Never had a lot of joy from FBk people. Area also makes a difference. We are a street of private houses, Things put out front are usually taken. Housing association block behind us regularly put really good furniture etc out for rubbish. My neighbour often moves it to his wall, for salvaging for re-use by neighbours.

Needing exact measurements is not an unreasonable ask though. I hate it when people don't include measurements in the listing (as I always do), because then you have to pester them to ask.

How are people going to know whether something is going to fit in their car/ living room if they don't know its dimensions?

I haven't done Freecycle for years, but last time I lived in a city I used it quite a bit to dispose of things like leftover paint, tiles, gardening stuff, etc. Then one day I saw an ad asking for a laptop. I can't remember the sob story, but it was convincing.

I was going through a phase of thinking that if I gave and gave and gave into the world, some kind of karmic law would somehow shift my crappy luck in life. So I offered her my spare laptop, because I decided I didn't need it as much as she did.

Imagine my surprise when a very well-dressed young woman turned up in a fancy new car (I was cycling everywhere at the time because I couldn't afford to get my ancient car fixed), grabbed the laptop, gave it a cursory "That'll do" glance, and left without thanks. A lesson for me in not believing in woo-woo "kindness is rewarded" bollox!

Last week i advertised some free items. Loads of interest! I messaged eveyone back with my address

nobody actually came

'
I"m afraid your experience with that
awful woman typifies the e
behaviour of some parents today.

In that they really that think other people, various organisations and the State are ultimately responsible for providing and looking after their children,

I think she may well of have really wound the child up with expectation about your gift,

Dont worry, Forger about her, You did your best,

I really don't bother anymore with Charity shops these days, they are so fussy and picky, And will not collect. Even if you can barely walklike me,

Whatever happened to good old local Church Jumble Sales..

Or the good old Rag and Bone Man re Steptoe
and Son?

Not true at all. I got one that sounds like it was in similar condition. We got a replacement piece of wood to replace a broken section and painted the whole thing to look like a mini extension of our own kitchen, complete with fake granite worktop. It's fab, if I say so myself, and played with nearly every day.

Don't give up OP! I'm sorry, these people sound absolutely awful, but there are nice people too!

Some people just cannot read and comprehend, OP, even though technically they can read. The amount of people who can't seem to accurately read emails is staggering, for example.

We are in the Black Country and still have the rag and bone man with his horse and cart! If it was an old washing machine, that’s a different story, put it on the drive it’s in a van (or on a horse and cart), within an hour!

Why would people set out before they know your address though?! I wouldn't - what if you didn't reply and I was just driving around a random town without an address?!

I’ve taken a break from putting stuff on marketplace unless I really need the space back because of crap like this.

We had a spare sink waste thing still in the box, it was a good brand so I listed in on there for a couple of quid less than the cheapest one in the shop. A guy messaged me saying I could buy one in Toolstation for a similar price. I pointed out this one was branded, metal, etc then he sent a screenshot of the Toolstation one, a link, etc. In the end I told him he better get himself down there first thing and blocked him!!!

There are a lot of people on vinted who don’t understand this basic truth and think they are running some kind of personal shop.

I ask them what time they we be setting off and to message to confirm they are coming? If they give a time and confirm they are coming I give my address.
The amount of times I have given random people my address and whether I will be home is too many!
It’s like delivery people giving you a 2 hour window!
I prefer Olio as I just leave outside my door.

You still have a rag and bone man with his horse and cart? No way! How old is he? (The man.) Last time I saw such a thing must have been around 1985 in a suburb of Newcastle. His call went "Rag and boh-hone!" with his voice going up a bit on the "boh". I would really love a photo if you have one. I'm so delighted to hear that this still exists! The original form of recycling, eh?

On the other side of this, man down the road put a child’s slide out for the refuse to take. My DIL spotted it, brought home, cleaned it up and my grandchildren haven’t stopped playing in it so thank you that man !

I use one of the local ‘I need a whisk’ groups which have the slight advantage over market place that the admin will throw people out of the group for rude behaviour.

It’s still not always great though. Low value items like clothing bundles people mess you around and say they will collect in a few days but don’t so I’ve taken to saying the first person who can collect that day can have it.

I’ve given away large high value items with a better experience but still get rude people.. like the woman I gave a smart TV to who then sent me a grumpy message saying it had no cable..and then no response when I apologised but said she’d be able to pick one up very cheaply.

Also I gave away a bed frame which I said had to be picked up on a certain date because I had nowhere to store it and needed it out of the house before my small children came home… I messaged the man who said was picking it up a few minutes before he was due to arrive to say to park on my drive and he messaged saying he couldn’t make it anymore but would get it in the morning! The nerve!! I told him no and someone else gratefully came to get it within the hour.

Quite young actually, they have kept it going! I think our part of the Black Country is one of the only places that has kept the tradition. I’m not from here, moved from London 5 years ago, I was a bit shocked when I first heard/saw them!

How horrible that this has happened.. People can be such twats when had such good intentions 🙁