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.

It works fine if you are able to reach out to decent people!

I was a part of a Baby hand me in group from the very start. It’s grown to thousands and thousands of members, with multiple groups in the city. I’ve been given lots and given away lots. It makes me happy that others can reuse it for no cost to them. And it’s lovely to see things pop up again and again to be enjoyed by multiple families. A handful who take are hard work but most are polite and collect without any issue.

Well they've got a right to refuse to take stuff stuff once they've had a look at it if they see it in the flesh and realise it's not right. Expecting home delivery is off, but that's not limited to hippies.

I find that people are much more pleasant if you put a nominal price of £5 on the item. You get some crazed lunatics when you're giving things away for free. They act like they're doing you a favour.

I probably posted already here: don't

I donate to charity or to the tip directly

I agree with this.

The behaviour was awful from the buyer/collector but what you describe is really poor condition.

I once gave away a bmx bike to a youngster. Explained to the mother it has sentimental value. They spray painted it fair play but that wouldn’t have cost a lot as they did it themselves. Didn’t use it much. Then tried to sell it for £400. Absolute arseholes.

Update your FB with details about what happened and the person who did it.
Go to tip.

Our local tip has an area called ‘still good to go’ and it’s for items that are still useable or need a little tlc. We take most of the kids toys there that can’t be handed down. I don’t even sell stuff on marketplace anymore.

If I do sell on marketplace I’ll usually deliver so that any weirdos don’t know where we live for the reasons like in the op!

Anyone sold on EBay. I did for a while until a few years ago and it got so ridiculous I stopped.

There had been a few instances of CFery from buyers but final straw was when I sold a solid oak chest of drawers. There were a few little marks - nothing more than wear and tear and nothing wrong with the structure at all. Lots of photos posted, including the little marks on the top. I ended up letting it go for £20. Bloke rocks up to collect it and goes over it with a fine tooth comb. He complained it wasn’t as advertised and the marks were more than slight - they weren’t, and they were all documented in the photos and the description.

He’d paid by Paypal, and I told him he could leave it if he wasn’t happy and I would refund him, but he eventually took it. I got a message from EBay the following day, to say that they had frozen my PayPal account and were refunding him because I had failed to deliver the item. No amount of persuading EBay or PayPal would change their view - even pointing out that the listing actually specified cash on collection. So he ended up with the item plus his money back.

It was some time after that, EBay added cash on collection to their payment options because apparently it was happening all over the place - if you pay by PayPal you get their buyer protection, so people were paying, collecting and then claiming refunds. Never again.

There are an (un)surprising number of entitled, brass necked CFs out there.

Sad but true.

Yes, baby and small kids’ clothes is one thing that’s ideal for giving away.

But then they’re no problem to send/collect/deliver and you’re usually sure that they’re going to someone who can use them. Not to some money-grabbing eBay chancer or on-the-make hippy.

Had a bad experience with the BHF where they said on the phone they'd take certain items, then the guys picking them up said 'nope we don't accept that' and basically called me a liar, then fucked off while we were moving the last few things they were supposed to take outside. Wouldn't use them or give to them again, as that cost me money to get another lot of people to remove the items and they'd have taken the lot in the first place.

I have a theory that quite a few of these 'something for nothing' people just want things to sell on, so don't want anything that needs work or isn't perfect.

I volunteer for a food bank type event, and we have food given to us from the local supermarket.
We are not allowed to put out of date food out for people, in case they try and sue. This seems crazy to me, as I would happily buy / eat out of date food, as long as it tasted ok.
I can’t imagine someone coming for free food and then trying to sue a charity. Then again….

It's against the Freecycle rules because the object there is only to keep decent stuff out of landfill and money never to feature, but outside of things like that, I don't think there's anything wrong with selling it on, especially if the person did upcycle or improve it. It's theirs now, they can do what they want with it. If you wanted money for it, you could have gone through the risk and hassle of selling too. Generally you just wanted it gone, and it's gone. What the new owners do with it isn't your concern.

We refuse to sell anything online anymore. I can't deal with the idiots on FB Marketplace or the scruffs on Vinted asking me if I'll accept 75p for something I've put up for a quid. Everything we get rid of that's in good condition (usually clothes) goes to charity. DH has a friend who runs a service that gives nice/branded clothes/trainers to homeless people, so we give a lot to them and our local BHF.

I have had some success giving stuff away on FB to be fair...a couple of TV's that worked fine, some furniture. These were done via a local groups that are pretty well policed though to be fair.

One of the TVs I gave away, the guy was on a bus going past our house when the post went up and jumped off at the next stop and ran back to get it. My other half was so impressed he gave him a lift home with it 😂

That’s awful! I tend to put things on gumtree for £5, if the person turns up with cash and was easy to deal with I let them have it for free.

Oh, I have 3 Facebook friends 🤣 I’m no threat!

Years ago I found selling stuff on FB and ebay brilliant. Now it's far more hassle than it's worth. Our local charity shop used to take anything and everything and it was brilliant for buying bits too, now they're really picky and have hardly anything in there. I hate just dumping stuff but every other option has just become a hassle unfortunately. Still take the odd thing to the charity shop but not like I used to.

I’m paying to have a lovely large solid wood dresser removed by the bulky waste team as one of our dogs chewed one of the 16 handles - bad enough to see it not bad enough to stop use. The rest of it is perfect and would cost someone £800 to buy. The charities all say things have to be undamaged so they’re a ‘no’ and I really can’t be bothered trying to give it away for free as I’ll get the inevitable delivery questions. Sad isn’t it ?

I’ve had the same on Freegle People asking if ‘it works’. Yes the last time I used it but it’s free and doesn’t come with a guarantee. I’m not really bothered if your grandma just died. Yes I have given it to someone else who actually turned up because you didn’t bother to let me know you weren’t coming as your phone had died! Charge it!

People can be awful. Advertised my old hamster cage on Marketplace as well as some hamster keeping groups- the cage was 100x50cm, really roomy, and came with a new wooden wheel (£20 on it’s own) and a boatload of ramps, bridges, all that kind of thing.

One person who was meant to collect never turned up, another wanted me to post it at my own expense as they were on UC and couldn’t afford to contribute to shipping (it was huge and would have cost a bomb!) and my favourite was a person in Edinburgh who wanted it but insisted I’d need to drive it to them. I live in Wolverhampton. And don’t drive. 🫠

Went to the tip in the end and the wheel sold on Vinted, couldn’t be arsed with people messing about over a free item.

The phrase no good deed goes unpunished and sometimes it's the people who get something for nothing who always expect more and this is in alot of walks of life. (Examples a relative handed out Christmas food as part of a local charity and people complained, I worked in hospitality and the people who paid the least sometimes would demand things that were not possible )

I have given away things on Olio before and it seemed much better with people coming to pick up and appreciating what you gave (although Olio seems to work better in city centre areas whereas FB has a bigger reach)

I think I am just a twat magnet
No @Ohjakestopbeingatwat, facebook is a pondlife magnet.

Putting things on for free attracts nutters and chancers.

I now only list on our very local pages (avoid FB marketplace like the plague) and I add a nominal charge like £3.

It filters out the want it for nothing brigade and if they are nice I say just have it.