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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Profiteering from freecycle??

23 replies

madhattershouse · 27/08/2010 02:31

This is my first post so please be kind ! I have just had "heated discussion" with other half about freecycle. He wants me to try to get him some items that he then wants to sell on. I feel that this is morally wrong..that is not what freecycle is about . Am I wrong??? I know you will have views..please enlighten me..

OP posts:

sapphireblue · 27/08/2010 02:44

No you're not wrong. I'm sure it happens an awful lot but it so isn't what Freecycle is all about.

caramelwaffle · 27/08/2010 03:01

Tell the lazy sod to do it himself if he so wishes.

sapphireblue is quite right.

ravenAK · 27/08/2010 05:37

I wouldn't rush to help him out with it, tbh.

If I put stuff on FC, I give first preference to 'real' FC-ers, iykwim, who actually have a use for whatever it is.

Failing that, if it goes to someone who's going to sell it/fix it & sell it/weigh it in for scrap then I've no problem with that whatsoever: it's out of my way & not in a landfill.

Maybe you could devise a standard message, something like: 'Hi, if no-one else takes the off your hands, we'd be happy to, with a view to selling it on.'.

But tbh I'd let him set up his own account & get on with it.

SeaTrek · 27/08/2010 07:42

The most offensive thing is that he has asked YOU to do it!

I know, well I am pretty sure, that some of my bulkier freecycle items were sold on. I know they were worth selling on. Although I would have preferred them to go to people who genuinely needed them, at the time I just needed them to go, and quickly, and there was no way I could get them to the charity shop (and I doubt whether they would want anyway). Everything else I have that is charity shop suitable goes just there.

sanielle · 27/08/2010 07:49

Freecyclers who don't mind, will say (suitable for bootselling) somewhere in the email usually. I find that really offensive that your husband would take things that people are attmpting to give away. Seems really mean. I dont think YABU at all.

WillbeanChariot · 27/08/2010 08:07

We give and take a fair few bits on freecycle. I try to give to people who will use things, but you can't be sure. In fact I freecycled my much loved but in need of repair and ancient car to someone who said they could fix it and I still worry about whether it has been scrapped :-(. A friend picked up a quinny zapp with extras on there recently, the woman had twins and was getting rid of two! She just took the one she needed cos she felt it wouldn't be right to cash in. Having said that i'm sure some people just go round with a van and car boot whatever they collect. Still better than landfill I think. So I think... Your H is BU to ask you to do it if you'd rather not. But I don't think it's U to ask for stuff on there as long as you don't lie about why you want it. Sometimes people just want it out the way- if they want to be careful about who it goes to they can ask why people want it.

Fiddledee · 27/08/2010 08:08

When you freecylce you can't determine what will happen to it. I tend to freecycle stuff that I can't be bothered to ebay (usually items with a value less than £10) and have no value to a charity shop. If they want to car boot it then they can and I can tell there are people that are making money like this. Don't think its an easy way to earn money but so be it. I wouldn't go let alone set up a car boot.

DingALongCow · 27/08/2010 08:12

I thought the only idea behind Freecycle was to stop things from going to landfill. I am sure that a lot of things I have given away have been sold on and I dont care. I could have sold them on myself or given them away to a charity if I wanted to. The fact that people come to my house and save me a trip to the tip, or having to store this stuff until I come across someone who genuinely needs is a major convenience for me. Sometimes I do get a Freecycle email from someone who does seem to be in genuine need and they get first dibs, but I have no way of knowing if they are lying or not.
As long as they arent ending up in landfill and are continuing to be used I'm not bothered. I would be more concerned about the load of old toot he would be coming back with and filling the house with personally, and I certainly wouldnt be helping him with that.

justabit · 27/08/2010 08:15

No you are not BU. On my freecycle they say if you are intending to sell on you should say so. Then people know and they have the choice wheter to give to you or not.

lizardpoisonsspock · 27/08/2010 08:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

maduggar · 27/08/2010 08:19

If you declare in your post or email that you want the items to sell for profit, then it's ok. Then the giver hands over the items knowing they will be sold. Its morally wrong if you dont decalre it though!

BubbaAndBump · 27/08/2010 08:20

OMG no, YANBU - freecycle is for people who need it IMHO - although the following post on 'wanted' made me scoff today - cheeky poster wants the bloody moon on a stick!! Taking the piss much do you think?...

Type WANTED
Subject The Following Are Needed Urgently Please; Only If In Good Condition

Location

Description Solid Wood Wardrobe & Chestadraws. 2&3Seater Settee Chairs,Solid Wood Dining Table & Chairs,Tall Fridge Freezer,Washing Machine, Electric Cooker, 2 single wooden bed base. All must be in good working order please. Also, if by any chance you have an old car, but in good working order, ill be happy to take it off your hands. Thanks in advance.

fedupofnamechanging · 27/08/2010 09:02

Bubba that ad is seriously cheeky. Solid wood furniture is really expensive.

notrightnow · 27/08/2010 09:12

But Freecycle isn't about people who need things getting them for free. That is a side benefit. It's about stopping things going to landfill. Some Freecyclers get all indignant about people selling stuff on, in my view because they want to feel that warm glow of helping someone who they perceive to be worse off than themselves.

That said, you will incur some flak for this and it may be against the rules of your local group, so your other half should sign up himself and do whatever it is he wants to do.

BubbaAndBump · 27/08/2010 09:12

I know! I'm surprised they haven't asked for a litte pad in the country to go with it all!

EricNorthmansmistress · 27/08/2010 12:41

YABU
I like freecycle as it saves me taking stuff to the tip, saves effort and the environment. I don't mind what people do with it really, I just expect people to ask politely and turn up on time. I use it a lot for giving and getting. There are a lot of things that are worthless here but worth a lot in DH's country, so we collect bits up to take over there in the van, either to give to family or to sell to help with the cost of the journey. I don't see a problem with this - if we never gave but always took then maybe. I have given away a washing machine this week btw.

porcamiseria · 27/08/2010 12:43

I dont think its wrong actually. better than landfill at the end of the day

BubbaAndBump · 27/08/2010 12:48

Yes, I agree better than landfill, but how do you know you won't be beating someone who needs it to the item?

DreamTeamGirl · 27/08/2010 12:49

I own & moderate 2 Freecycle groups, so feel qualified to comment on this one

Our guidelines are that people should be thoroughly transparent so for example
We allow wanted's for Car Boot requests for, and we say that if you are taking something to sell you should state this in your reply to an offer

A lot of people dont care where things go, but others like to feel they have done someone a good turn and helped them out (myself included)

I personally feel very aggrieved when I spot something I could have easily ebayed or cheapcycled but that I freecycled being sold on

So I would suggest if you (or he) does do it that you are transparent about it
We ban people who repeatedly do it, cos its in our terms

NewbeeMummy · 27/08/2010 12:51

I think it's wrong, I really think Freecycle is there to help out people who can't afford things.

I would be really upset if I found out anything I had freecycled had been sold on, I often get a lot of replies to the items I freecycle and try and pick the person who needs it the most.

moomaa · 27/08/2010 13:00

I don't mind my stuff being sold but prefer transparency. I recently put on a big list of things and someone replied asking if they could have everything that was left once others had a fair chance to take bits they wanted. I was glad to get rid of all the odds and ends and thought it was a good way to approach it.

Lots of people had said that they wanted all of it though and they must have wanted it for car boots because the stuff was so diverse that noone would want all of it.

Original poster

madhattershouse · 28/08/2010 00:03

Well I feel vindicated in standing my ground now!!! He's being a git about it.. he's totally computer illiterate so if I don't do it he's stuck! Oh well, that's the LAST time I tell him about anything on freecycle unless we need it!

OP posts:

morganlebuffay · 28/08/2010 00:12

imo Freecycle is about getting rid of things you don't need quickly. I really don't care who takes them, & if they have the time and the energy to car-boot something then good on them, maybe they need the money more than I do anyway, and tbh I don't really care if they're millionaires as long as the unwanted item is out of my house. I dislike sob stories on Freecycle and the idea of giving it to the most 'deserving' (or best spinner of sob stories). It always puts me on guard, rightly or wrongly; I'd rather someone just said "I'll have it please" and sold it, than felt the need to spin a heart-wrenching tale of woe and then, er, sold it.

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