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.

That is unbelievable. People are horrible!!

This ^

Ugh free stuff on Facebook brings out the crazies. If you're trying the save a trip to the tip, my advice is to always charge at least £5. Or leave it out for someone to take away (surprising what people will take when left out).

So does ours, but they’re really particular (elfnsafety?) so won’t take electrical so I had to tip a working record player/double tape deck/radio (charity shop wouldn’t take it and I’m not dealing with lunatics on FB!) or a glass topped table. Had to tip that too, didn’t mind, the tenant had left it and told me to bin it! I’m going to start emptying the loft soon and hope I can be ruthless.

I, too, decided some time ago to stop giving things to family friends for similar reasons. Now it’s either the bin or burning more sentimental stuff. It gives me peace of mind.

People are crackers. Your post made me think of this comedian who made a song about giving away a free bed frame on Facebook

The husband should never have taken it in the first place

That sounds a fabulous idea. I'd love to have a turn with a different baby once in a while.

I find they go even quicker if you put a £20 sign on them.

Surely charity shops can bin stuff? I know they have to pay for it as trade waste, but they don't have to try to sell things that horrid people have dumped in their doorway overnight and which are only fit for the tip?

Our local charity shop sometimes puts things out for people to take free - items that are perfectly OK, but which they know they'd struggle to get people to pay anything for.

I suppose, if they somehow end up with an item that they can't get any money for, giving it away free does 'raise money' for the charity - inasmuch as they would have made a minus 'profit' paying to chuck it away as trade waste, so they've increased their 'profit' to zero!

I'd only give something free to a mate if they wanted it.
I've given stuff away for free and seen it up for sale 2 days later and some poor sod buying it. That poor sod is who I wanted to give it to for free in the first place. So now it's all charity shop or dump. I never give stuff for free to strangers.

With the stories of people taking the table as well, when they've put items on it with a 'free - help yourself' sign... are takers being cheeky/thieves or do they maybe think that the table is included in the stuff that's on offer for free?

Especially if all the stuff that was on it has since been taken - and now there's just a table left with a sign on it saying 'free - help yourself'?!

I disagree. As a society we should be trying to mend and repair and re-use.

On facebook marketplace it’s actually better to sell something for a low price than give it away for free. It reduces time wasters. If you give it away for free, people think you are doing them a favour by taking it away.

A few years ago we had a sofa bed to get rid off. Quite good condition but I didn’t think it was worth selling. Put it on free cycle (does that still exist?) and loads of messing around. People desperate and then blocked me when I tried to arrange a collection time - why they couldn’t just say sorry changed my mind?!

so put it on eBay for £20 and someone bought it and was thrilled! As others have said I think it’s the free bit that makes people extra batshit!

People don't read.

Leaving something outside your gate or house with a FREE sign is the way to get rid of it.

What has happened to people?

That's such a shame, we have an absolutely brilliant charity shop in our village.

It was the husband's fault for not checking it first. Those two obviously have a dysfunctional relationship where she barked orders at him to go and get this freebie, he didn't bother to check or send her a photo or was afraid of her. When he got back she was angry with him for taking it without telling her what condition it was in, or she was angry he was too blasé to care (and both obviously too incompetent to fix it; it sounds like something I could have done with glue and a few odd screws from the tool box, and I'm not even skilled at DIY or carpentry at all). So they argue, she tries to take out her angst on you, when you (logically) say no, of course, she screams at him to get rid of it, and after being screamed at, he smashes it on your lawn to make his small manhood feel better.

If they had been normal people they would have read the post carefully, possibly asked you if you could post a close up of the damaged parts you'd listed. In an ideal world, someone with carpentry skills like a retired granddad living nearby, would have seen the post, picked it up, fixed the damaged areas and either kept it for his grandkids or donated it to a Sure Start or children's playgroup visited by kids who can all play with it. But unless you knew a local DIY enthusiasts' page to share it on, maybe only the soap opera skanks saw the post.

Another poster has mentioned selling it for a very low price- I agree that's better and tends to get more decent people interested. Somehow normal people tend to think free items are suspicious and avoid them but think that £1.50 or £1 is a top bargain. Somehow if it's free, they think they are heroes by taking it off you when they're not.

Sorry to hear this. Crooks use eBay a lot and pretend to be "swindled customers". Can I check if you meant that PayPal took your money and gave it to this fraudster or that PayPal paid him themselves and kept whatever money was yours that was in your account? I would report this to the police and encourage them to investigate both eBay and PayPal for assisting crooks. It sounds like he has swindled and robbed other innocent people with the help of eBay before.

No good deed goes unpunished....

They probably wanted you to pay them to take it away!

I have been on Freecycle for many years, and it has never failed me.
It works both ways: I get rid of bulky/unwanted stuff for free and people get what they want for free, too.
I gave away a really, really heave coffee table to a young couple. It would have cost a fortune to get disposed of it. A divan bed base with broken drawers, a set of chairs with legs destroyed by our dog, an old bookcase, an old bike - you name it. In most cases, I leave things outside the house and don't even meet the people who come to collect. Completely stress free.

This^

If it’s in great condition…..sell it.
If it’s fabric and clothing, save 5 items and go to H&M and get £5 voucher for them.
If it’s bric a brac, take it to a lesser known charity shop in your area that is not in a prime location. They’ll need donations.
Books - do you have a local book depository phone box? Or give them to your friends.

Anything else put out front with a FREE sign

Oh god I knew this would be Facebook marketplace. I tried to give away a beautiful solid wood sideboard with one door that had a broken hinge. The amount of batshit responses demanding I deliver it immediately two hours away and to make sure I fix the door first! In the end, despite me saying it was a strictly two person collection job due to weight of it, one person turned up in a tiny Honda civic and I had to struggle to lift it into it two weeks post bloody caesarean section. People are wankers.