AIBU to not return items "to the group"?

[MoonCowbag]

I'm a member of a hand-me-down Facebook group for our local area.
One of the rules of said group is that if you take something from the group then you should return it to the group when finished with it.

I have used said group to hand on a lot of our baby things that weren't worth the hassle of selling on and I think it's nice for things to go where they are needed/wanted. I have also had a few bits from the group myself here and there.

The issue I have is that quite a surprising amount of stuff posted on the group never gets claimed by anyone (I guess there is only so much free baby crap people need!). I have bits that I got from the group and no longer need, which I cannot get rid of via the same route.

So WIBU to pass these on via other avenues (e.g. give to friends outside of the group/give to charity - I would never sell on anything I got for free)? I can't see the harm in doing this, as long as the stuff still goes where needed, but technically this is going against the rules of the group.

How would they know?

Could you post to group and if it isn’t claimed in a couple of weeks, pass it on elsewhere.

I would post it on the group for a week and if nobody wants the item(s) then pass on elsewhere

I don't think they would know. Although there is a spreadsheet that is meant to be used to log everything handed on via the group, and then to log each subsequent handing on. It doesn't seem like many people actually use this though. I haven't added anything that I have handed on to it myself, because honestly I don't care what happens to anything I hand on. Once it leaves my house the other person can do whatever they like as far as I'm concerned.

I guess this was more a question around the morals of not following the group rules to the letter.

See what the group mods say

I think it's probably a poorly worded rule, but the spirit of it is that it should be 'offered' back to the group as first dibs. If no one wants it it's not unreasonable to post it elsewhere - they can hardly expect you to store things for the group indefinitely!

As long as you've offered it to the group and there are no takers, then I'd say it's fine to give it away to someone outside of the group for free.

It would be another issue if you didn't offered it to the group or sold out on to someone.

You can't be expected to store stuff no one wants for an indeterminate amount of time.

Post exactly this query in the group. There must be others in the same situation. Perhaps the rules need changing, to it must be offered back to the group?

That group sounds more hassle than it's worth. A spreadsheet??

Ask the mods if the rule could be updated to say it's offered back to the group initially but if after say two weeks no one expresses any interest, it can be given away to a charity or similar group. They are probably trying to prevent things being sold on so it's worth building something in that forbids that.

Agree that you should speak to the mods about the rule, perhaps they could set up a vote in the group for which local charity shops the goods should be donated to if the items are not wanted after a period of time when offered back to group. Depending on group size could pick 2-3 most popular to ensure people have a few options for dropping off.

I've donated to groups like these and I imagine, like me, most people who donate items are simply glad to have that thing out of their own home and care little for what happens to it next.
I'd think you were a bit of a CF if you sold them, but also aware I could see them myself if I cba

Or advertise them in the group as something like "if nobody wants this by '3 weeks from now' will send to 'XYZ' Charity"

Why don’t you just contact the group admins and ask if they can be passed on elsewhere or else returned to them for them to store whilst waiting for someone else to be interested.

What's the worst that could happen if you don't? Probably just removed from the group, I would just offer it on group and after 2 weeks dispose of it else where.

Thank you. You are all echoing my thoughts. I'll contact the admins to ask about the things I've posted, and had zero interest in, to find out what they want me to do with them. There are plenty of other good causes that I could pass them on to around here... I might also suggest that the rule is updated.

The group rules are quite... over zealous... "you must not request things that you don't need to use immediately, you can only request things for your own child who lives with you (e.g. grandparents can't request things if the children don't live with them), you must not hold onto items for a future child, etc"... so not sure how my suggestion will go down...

I totally understand that they don't want loads of people joining the group and selling on donated items to make a profit (although personally I wouldn't care! If someone takes my junk away then they can do what they like with it! I'm far too lazy to try and sell the vast majority of it myself) but it is a bit intense. The spreadsheet made me chuckle (although that is not actually in the rules, just encouraged).