When did it become so hard to give things away ?

[BethJ62]

Having a clear out including lots of baby stuff that DGC have outgrown and DD doesn’t want . Moses basket , clothes , toys.
As money is tight for many people I decided to give it away using a local Facebook site .
Simple ? No.
Despite me asking people to collect , every person who has shown interest has asked me to deliver . A couple of people have become a bit stroppy when I said collect only . Reminder - this is good quality free stuff.
Yesterday I waited in all day for someone who didn’t appear . Today someone who said she was desperate said she would be here at 10. I told her we are going out at 12 so she has to be here before then . 10 minutes ago she messaged and said she would be here at 2 !!! I reminded her the arrangement and she said she thinks I could be a bit more understanding!
Has anyone else experienced similar ? I don’t think I am unreasonable but maybe I am ??

We did a clear out a few years back - many local takers including teachers at local schools who wanted a bit of extra stuff (particularly if educational) for their nursery / primary classes.

Other stuff I just leave outside one the front path - someone usually helps themselves to it within a couple of day.

More expensive items I don't want or need I donate to the local HIV charity who are very well organised

See if you have a Baby Bank or Baby Basics near you. We have one in Sheffield and one in Leeds we support. They take a variety of baby equipment and clothes. X

Try your local women’s refuge. I emailed mine and they came and collected all my outgrown baby stuff - Moses basket, bouncy chair, steriliser etc and a stack of bedding and babygrows.

You're having a clear out, so to a degree, anyone taking your stuff is doing you a favour. It cuts both ways. Many people in real need don't have cars to collect things, have children that either need minding or have to come too for collection. And there are some people who will say yes to anything and then can't be bothered. It goes with the territory. As other posters have said, put it outside and let folk know it's for taking, it'll be gone before you know it.

Whoops sorry op it wasn't you that said people should be grateful, apologies.

I had exactly the same experience as you but I started selling everything for £5 and stopped having the problem. If it's free you attract grabbers that probably don't need it or have respect, they just want to nab all the free stuff and if they change their mind about picking it up there isn't a consequence

I have a perfectly reasonable bike that I planned to give away, as I'm buying a new one. Maybe I'll just leave out the front unlocked and wait for it to be stolen.

Give it to a local charity - it will be a local scrote that nicks it. Cancer hospices, HIV charities, Meals on Wheels - all good locally organised charities that will get something out of it

I wouldn't have the time or patience to have to deal with the time wasting characters on Fb, far easier to pass them to a charity shop.

We have 3 different ones in 2 high streets near us, if 1 shop hasn't got the space we just go to the next and they want the items, sorted.

i make sure everything is sorted, washed and nicely folded, and anything that's past its best goes into the recycle bin in the Tesco carpark near us, so it all gets used somehow.

I haven’t found this with FB but I do find it’s almost impossible to donate things to baby banks or charity shops. All the ones near me seem to be constantly swamped with donations.

No good if you live in a flat.

DH is always telling me when he was little you put a few ad in the paper and it was the first person to turn up who takes it. He always wants me to put the same on Facebook but groups usually have rules about first person to post etc. It can get really frustrating so if I think the charity shop could sell it I always take it there now.

In my experience Facebook is a terrible place for this. I put all mine on freecycle and it's usually pretty easy. We have a little porch roof over our front door, so unless it's raining I leave stuff out there at the time people have agreed. Only once had someone not turn up. I do however put clothes in a bag for the charity shop as people just don't seem interested in baby clothes unless top brands, and I'm not foolish enough to pay for those brands for a baby who'll wear it for all of a month

(I also dislike using Facebook because often all the stuff listed is totally public and I just don't like people having that level of info/dont like my name just popping up on selling/free feeds. I also refuse to use messenger. But as freecycle has been great in my area I've had no need)

Agree with this entirely - we used a community website (tbh honest where I live is really good for this kind of thing) so everyone was close.

I could start a whole thread on my views about Facebook (and Twitter for that matter) but probably end up being banned by Mumsnet and featured by lazy journalists at the Daily Mail who dont want to go and report news

I honestly think they think they are doing you a favour for clearing clutter up for them.

My ex neighbour used to give me her used art anf crafts (never ssked or wanted them). I am grateful of them try to be nice, I felt rude not to accept them so most of them ended up filling up our bin. Annoyingly they use our bin regularly too as theirs are always fully filled.

All those saying charity shops must be in a different area to us. The charity shops are hardly accepting anything at all. They already have too much stock it has been like this since lockdown.

Last time I gave away something on facebook - something new from Ikea, the same thing happened - she rearranged twice and then didn't turn up and then turned up the next day. I won't do it again.

Try the olio app instead. I find people on there tend to be genuine and grateful for stuff. Asking for delivery is banned and it’s only free things allowed.

Charity shps won't accept stuff either - it's time we stopped buying ourselves and others crap we don't need - stop with the pointless gifting

We have a local freebies site and people are like vultures on there, soon as anything goes on, it's claimed. Only ever had one person muck me about and I ended up blocking her.

Marketplace is a waste of time. Can't sell a thing right now. I did have a complete CF last year turn up offering £10 for something I'd listed for £20, cost about £70 new and was in perfect condition. I told them where to go. I might have been sympathetic if they'd asked to bargain but don't just turn up, offer less than the asking price and refuse to budge.

Some charity shops will collect.

Also local churches sometimes do, most have a discreet supply of clothes for those in need and are happy to have donations..

I volunteer for a baby bank and collect stuff all the time, we are always desperate for good quality kit (feel free to hit me up if you're in South London!)

I’ve had to weed out the groups I give things away in as I’m sick of this. The worst was when we were giving a double bed away. The guy was about 5 hours late, I said in the end not to come as it was too late and DD was in bed. Turned up 10 minutes later and the thing was cluttering up the hall so just said hurry up and go. Not even a thanks. I did laugh the next day and saw one of the metal runners lying on the path. Poor love must have missed it in the dark 😂

Does anyone receive the charity bags pushed through the letterbox ,?
The last time I had one was before COVID. This was a good way to donate stuff and convenient as they collected it

I find putting a nominal price on it on Facebook makes a difference. Offering things free seems to bring out the time wasters . Try putting for £1? You can always say "don't worry about it" when they collect but I find you get more genuine people that way