to say no to this woman?

[OutOutLetItAllOut]

ive just listed a load of stuff on freecycle, and within 10 mins of finishin listing it, 1 woman has emailed me about 6 of the things, and i know i have given loads to her b4, she always manages to get in there first.
would i be wrong to let the next person have it? or should it be first come first served thing?

It's entirely up to you who you give it to, do you suspect that she's selling things on?

You can give it to who you like! I've had people ask for stuff I've posted immediately but don't pick them. I wait for a bit then skim all the emails before choosing someone I like the sound of.

You can give them to who ever you want to, it doesn't have to be the first served, this is unfair on people who don't have regular access to the internet IMO.

thats what i think, she seems to be hunting for anything even slighlty useful and sayin ''i'll have it'', to anything. so i think it means other people will miss out.

I'd purposly not give anything to someone that said "I'll have it".

Of course you can choose - lots of people operate a system where they wait for 24 hours after their initial offer and then pick from whoever has replied in that period.

Does this woman ever offer stuff herself? On the other hand, if she always collects promptly and efficiently you might decide that that's more important to you than choosing a "deserving case" who might then muck you about - your decision.

I'd definitely not give something to someone who says 'I'll have it' I expect at least a please and a thank you and sometimes even a decent reason why they want it. I like them to grovel a bit, in other words .

There are so many bloody time wasters and chancers on freecycle

I don't see this at all

surely the point of freecycle is to keep the stuff out of landfill

why does it matter if she is selling it on? Sell it yourself if it makes you feel cheated

and wanting people to grovel or make a case... well, I think things may have gone to your head a little - you are getting rid of unwanted stuff for environmental reasons, you are not scattering largesse to the populace

Well yeah, greensleeves, obviously the primary reason is to keep things out of landfill, but if you get 30 requests for something you're giving away I think the least people can do is be polite. They're getting something for nothing after all

Personally, if someone isn't polite then they can sod off.

I think everyone has a different system.

We usually wait 8-12 hours, edit out those with no manners and get dd to pick a number at random which matches one of the remaining messages.

On rare occasions we need rid of something quickly, then we say that in the message and go with whoever says they can collect it soonest.

It is entirely up to you who you give it to.

I tend to wait 24 hrs before deciding who to offer it to first (and these offers always have a timeframe - e.g. if you can pick it up by Monday at 5 pm, after which time I will offer it to the next person) but other times I will just give it to who replies first (unless they are rude) - all the better in those circumstances if one person can take the whole lot.

I have various criteria I use to select a Freecycle recipient.

I dont give it to the first person, I wait a couple of hours generally to see who has emailed. But generally not much longer because I always leave it to the last minute and need it gone asap.

When a suitable amount of time has gone by, I see who mentions when they can pick it up. If they are polite and say they can collect that day and have a van (if applicable) then I contact them and offer it to them.

They have to be polite but they needn't grovel. They are doing me a favour too after all. But I dont want an impolite person coming to my door - a real grabby "I'll 'ave it" type, I mean.

So collect when I want and polite. The rest is a bonus.

Choose someone you like the sound of!

I've just given away a tumble dryer and I couldn't believe the amount of replies saying, "I"ll have it!" then 5 mins later getting another msg of the same person saying "well, can I come and pick it up or not?"

I eventually gave it to a lovely couple who who asked very nicely as they lived in a tiny flat with no outside space and where pregnant with their first child.

Isn't there a fair policy whereby people wait a few hours so that those at work who only get the daily digest can also get a look in?

I think it is entirely up to you who you give it to. My criteria are pretty much identical to Sloanypony.

I usually put in the post 'priority given if you can collect either X or Y - please let me know when you can collect when you reply'. You would (probably not actually) be amazed how many people say they want something and 'I can collect whenever suits you' only to not then reply to your messages and then wonder why you have offered elsewhere a couple of days later!

Our freecycle has an optional 'fair offer policy' which means you set a deadline (maybe a day or two) of whenever you want and then you choose who to give it to after that. I've done it with things I know will be more popular. Only had one bad experience, with a pond filter/pump (brand new) I gave away. It was clear when they turned up that they were going to sell it on.

Re the aim being to keep it out of landfill, its not just about that though is it, its about letting other people benefit from something you no longer need for FREE.

I never give anything to anyone who isnt polite and am amazed at how blunt people are when asking for something, and how specific. Someone asked for an Aga or Ramgemaster only cooker on ours the other day! No please or thanks either.

The people say when offering items 'and dont give me your sob stories because I'm not interested' make me laugh, might try it.

Our local freecycle specifically requests that we DON'T automatically give to the first person that responds. They ask that you consider the reasons people give for requesting so you can ascertain if someone is genuinely in need of it. The also say it avoids people setting automatic responses so they can snap up everything. We also have a daily digest which collates the offered items and if you only receive the messages once a day you'd always miss out!

Give the items to whoever you want!

I was so tempted in my last Freecycle ad to ut "I only give to people who display basic manners." Unfortunately my husband told me I was being unreasonable and arsey. So I didn't.

Still waited a couple of hours and gave it to someone polite. I really hate the rude people who just say "I'll have it". I actually still have an XBox gathering dust as I couldn't bear to give it to anyone as they were all so rude.