Free cycle dilemma.

[Paisleydad]

I offered a fridge / freezer on freecycle.

You don't get much in a message other than 'Can I have this'. I offered it to someone who I hoped would need it, but after a few messages and a short phone call, I feel certain that it will be sold on.

My work brings me into regular contact with a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of attitudes towards giving, and something feels really wrong.

Just say you changed your kind of it bothers you so much.

Say its no longer available, via email to them. Then ignore them.

Call British Heart Foundation or similar to collect it from you.

*mind

Just say it's no longer available 🤷

The thing is that once you give something away you can’t control what the recipient does with it, if you want to do some good with it then give it to a charity, either for them to vet the recipients or to sell and have the money go to a good cause.

I put stuff on eBay for a low figure and donate anything I get to Shelter. Gave up on free cycle due to c.f. requests.

You don't want it any more, so what's the issue? If you think it's worth money, sell it yourself. If you can't be bothered...

Would you feel it was ok that they sell it on if you had sold it yourself to them? Why? How does what they do with it affect you or the universe or anyone?

How is this a dilemma?

If you want someone to turn up & take the damn thing away, what does it matter what they do with it afterwards?

If it's about the money, sell it yourself.

If it's not about the money, let Mateyboy pick it up & sell it on.whatever, or cancel him & call BHF as per suggestion upthread.

The point of free cycle is to avoid landfill

It is avoiding landfill..

I cant see why it's a dilemma. They're taking it off your hands. What happens next is irrelevant. You could say no to them and give it to someone else who could sell it too.

I would say it’s not available anymore.

I agree with the general sentiment. Freecycle has only ever been a pain in the arse when I've used it, but I've just wanted whatever it is out of my house. What happens to it then is out of my control.

I get it OP. You chose to list it on Freecycle rather than sell it yourself as you hoped it would go to someone who needed it but could not afford it. It's annoying when you are trying to make something available to vulnerable people & scavengers out to make a buck are determined to get in your way.

Maybe someone doesn't need a fridge/freezer, they need an oven but can't afford one. So they want to take your free fridge/freezer, sell it, and buy an oven with the proceeds.
Or maybe they already have a fridge/freezer but just fancy another one for the garage to keep all their booze in.

If you want to do something charitable, sell it and give the proceeds to charity. If you just want rid of it, don't be so picky about who wants it. That's my advice.

I thought this was going to be about a free bike from the title.

Freecycle isn't limited to only vulnerable people.
Its purpose is to keep stuff out of landfill, not to help the needy.
If you want to only benefit poor people you need another outlet, Freecycle ain't it.

Why does it matter? If it helps someone by giving them a bit of cash and helps you by having someone collect it for free, and keeps it out of landfill that's a win.

I agree with those saying you should give it to charity if you’re fussy about whether it’s sold on. If you think it’s valuable enough to be sold on, there’s nothing to stop you doing that yourself. If you don’t want the hassle of that - and given the likelihood of very little return, I wouldn’t blame you - you can give them away to save them simply being dumped; at which point they are no longer yours. It would be nice to think they went to someone in desperate need, but unless you’re expecting every applicant to make a full case for why they deserve an item, you may not get to choose.

Had the same experience with freecycle, some people clearly do it commercially. Which would be fine I guess but I object to being lied to, pretending they're going to use it etc. I made an an excuse and gave it to someone else.

As a rule of thumb, people who use the words please or thank you or are clearly attempting to be polite in a language they don't know much of, tend to actually want the item. The people who just say 'is this still available?' tend to say that to almost anything, and half of them are cheeky gits who will then ask you to deliver/never turn up.

Sometimes it is for someone else. How many people have a van and need a fridge freezer? What if they ask a local man with a van to come collect the freezer and gave them your number to liaise with you collection times? It is cheaper to pay people to collect items than buying a new fridge freezer.