To not want to give stuff away anymore

[namechange0178]

We are having work done on our house, starting Monday. Have been clearing out and sorting stuff the last few weeks.

We had one appliance which was expensive when we bought it. It's probably only worth 10-20% of what we paid for it now, and I didn't have the time or inclination to get it fit for sale. So I listed it on our local free site, hoping someone else could use it.

Lots of interest. First person who replied was a woman, 2 kids in her profile pic. Great, I thought, it will go to a family. Not that I really minded who it went to (or what they did with it). She sends her partner who arrives half an hour later.

The van they come in is being driven by someone who is clearly grappling with a drug problem. The other guys are equally "rough". One made a securely explicit comment to me as he came in (I was there by myself). Another starts wandering through the house making comments like "this is a massive house", "what you doing with the other appliances", "are you staying here at the moment". It felt like he was scoping out to come and rob us.

It's really shaken me up. I'm panicking they are going to come back and go after the other stuff. I felt/feel very uncomfortable that I gave them my address and I'm now wishing I had just dumped the appliance. AIBU to give up on giving stuff away after this experience?

Next time, are you able to simply leave goods outside (if it's dry) or in the porch (if wet)?

Terrible experience. But don't let this stop you. Just do not list things for people to come to your house. Donate it to charity- some specialise in electronic items.

That would scare the shit out of me, OP. I hate binning stuff but my DH doesn't like me 'drawing attention to the house' by giving the address out (you can't see the house from the road as it's down a track). We don't have much worth stealing though and the person who lived here before was obviously safety conscious as there are about 20 cameras rigged up and a pretty intense alarm system which we've never bothered to turn on

I'd be shaken up too, not cool.

We had to sell all our appliances prior to our kitchen being fitted. I found asking for £10-50 for each appliance (even though it was nowhere near the RRP) stopped any time wasters or dodgy sorts! If you've listed it for free it only takes a minute to add a price/description. As for getting it ready .... most appliances (apart from an oven) just need a quick wipe over.

The problem was that it was a big appliance (it took 4 guys to move it). There's no way we were able to get it out of the house or to take it to a charity shop to donate (which would have been my preference). Which would have left us relying on the builders to get it out on Monday - in hindsight that's probably what should have done

A lot of areas run furniture recycling schemes where they will come and collect stuff and take it to a centre where people on low income who need such items can get them. White goods are often needed too.