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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to sell the item I just got off freecycle?

192 replies

2point4kids · 24/11/2008 13:32

I use freecycle a lot. I offer things I dont need/use any more and I accept things that I would find useful. Probably offer as much as I accept.

Today I collected an item that I asked for as it would be handy for me and I will use it.
I just collected it and its in much better condition than I expected, with extras too.

I am very strapped for cash at the moment (arent we all?) and I am selling off as much of our stuff as will make money on ebay and here to try and make a few extra pennies.

If I dont sell it, I will use it and it will be useful but I dont need it and thats the criteria that I am selling off my own stuff on...so....

AIBU to sell on this freecycle item? Could make me about £30...

OP posts:
Original poster
2point4kids · 24/11/2008 20:43

Good idea. Will do

OP posts:
wotulookinat · 24/11/2008 20:48

2point4, I haven't read the whole thread, just your first point and I am shocked. I understand your predicament, but it's wrong to do that. You'll feel bad if you do.

callmeovercautious · 24/11/2008 20:51

YABU.

PavlovtheCat · 24/11/2008 20:56

I think, technically, YABU, however, whenever I give something away on freecycle, I do so knowing there is a chance (likelihood) that whoever buys it might well be buying to sell on. There are some regular users who surely cannot just need that much stuff? Anyway, the way I see it...if I can't be bothered to sell it, or if I am struggling to sell it, but some-one else can make £20 or so from it, good luck to them, they obviously have skill/desire/time/effort to do what I cannot. If I want money from it, I will sell it. Freecyle often do me a favour by taking it away from me, save me having to get rid of it. Good on them if thats what they want to do. But I would prefer it went to some-one who actually needed it, and therefore I select who gets it on that basis (what I know, if I dont know, cant do much about it)

BUT for that very reason, I would no freecycle any more than £20 or so in value of goods. If it is more than that and I want a good home but no money made I will take it to a charity to sell or local Resettlement Agency to sell for a small amount to those on benefits.

smeeinit · 24/11/2008 20:59

sell it if thats what you want to do.
its yours to do what you wish with.
YANBU.

thisisyesterday · 24/11/2008 21:00

yes, yabu.
as other people have said, the person offering it could have given it to someone who actually needed it.

makes me mad when people do this. you try and help people by giving them something they need, and they just go and sell it.
not on

Flightattendant4 · 24/11/2008 21:36

I can't believe the amount of stick OP is getting.

If she had planned it in a deliberate way, just to make money, she would be deserving of some of the comments expressed here...however she didn't do it deliberately and I really think some of you are being a bit knee jerk about it.

I gave away something once and a bloke in a posh suit turned up in a new car to take it away - like he couldn't have bought one himself, three times over - that made me a bit cross, because it seemed greedy and/or tight of him.

But I gave away something else that I could have sold and a young girl came to get it and I am pretty sure she wanted to sell it on - and I honestly did not give a damn.

I think actually that every single transaction is different. It depends on a lot of factors, especially the people involved and their attitude.

I have no problem with a person such as OP being involved with freecycle. There are plenty of other types I would be mad about if they took my stuff! Save the wrath for the real abusers of the system.

knockedgymnast · 24/11/2008 21:44

OBJECTIVELY:

Why take the piss out of someone elses good nature? There could be someone out there who really needs it and you're gonna sell it to make money??

Also, the person who was giving it away, was going to with the view that it would go to good use to someone who couldn't normally afford to buy it??

SUBJECTIVELY:

The person who put it on the site obviously had no use for it and could of, themselves, put it on ebay.

If you put it on e-bay and get some money for it, in the long run, you will benefit, so everyone's happy

morningpaper · 24/11/2008 21:47

I put stuff on Freecycle because I HOPE someone might want it, and I am TOO LAZY to take it to the dump

NCbirdy · 24/11/2008 22:29

Well it seems very clear that there are lots of POV on this but, as has been said, you don't need our permission to do as you see fit. I like the idea of the chocs but I would say that, if he had found out you sold it that would seem a little insulting IYSWIM.

I guess you have to decide what you want to do and go forward with a clear consience. The facts are that the person did not want it, they gave it to you and therefore it now belongs to you.

My personal choice would be to not sell, that does not mean it should be yours

Miyazaki · 24/11/2008 22:34

I wouldn't, personally.

It is against the spirit but not the rules.

Have only read op but sure it has been pointed out that you are keeping it out of landfill which is the main point of freecycle whether you sell it or not.

It's just a bit tacky. Like if somebody gives you lovely hand me downs, and your dc wears them/or not - you pass them on. You don't put them on ebay. It's like you pass on that lovely good intention. Karma. Give a little love to the world.

MinkyBorage · 24/11/2008 22:38

yabu, if you don't want it, you should put it back on freecycle

brokenrecord · 24/11/2008 22:53

If you need the money more than you need the thing I think you should sell it. I Freecycle stuff and would have no problem with someone doing that if they were hard up. Silly to keep something that is a 'fun item' when you need the money more. As others have said, the point is to keep stuff out of landfill sites.

walkingbus · 24/11/2008 22:58

YABU

notcitrus · 24/11/2008 23:44

My local freecycle points out that this is OK - freecycle is to divert from landfill, not a charity. If someone wants to sell the stuff I can't be arsed to, good luck to them.

TheLadyEvenstar · 24/11/2008 23:57

I own and run my local freecycle group. I started it up when pg with ds2. Things were tight financially and it sure helped me out. In fact 14m on when things are not tight I still get ds2's clothes from there and when he has outgrown them i freecycle them again.

People like you do sicken me...regardless of how skint i am i would not sell something I had got from freecycle for 1 it is against freecycles morals. Freecycle is about helping others not helping yourself. If you don;t need the item re advertise it and let someone else have use of it!!!!

Flightattendant4 · 25/11/2008 06:27

I think it's really harsh to say it 'sickens' you, LE

Imagine how OP must be feeling

'Like if somebody gives you lovely hand me downs, and your dc wears them/or not - you pass them on. You don't put them on ebay. It's like you pass on that lovely good intention. '

Yes, for sure - I agree with this. but that is different.
The person giving you hand me downs is thinking specifically of you and your child, it is a loving gift, specifically for you. It is done with the intention of you enjoying the gift.

Freecycling some item which you simply don't need any more and cannot be bothered to sell, means putting it out there for whomever wants it/asks for it, it isn't a gift aimed at that person, it is not personal if you see what I mean.

It's done in order to get rid of something.
It's true it might be done in a kind, hopeful-it-will-help-someone-out sort of way, but it is generally to benefit the giver as much as anything - they want it gone.
And even if not, they can specify if they don't want somethihng sold on, if it bothers them that much.

I for one would not object to someone changing their mind about one of my things after they had received the item. You can't always tell what something will be like. I once asked for an old bed and when it arrived it was horrible - the family were pleased it would be used but I hadn't the heart to tell them I wouldn't be using it after all, and in the end it sat outside my house and then went to the tip, it was unsafe. I don't think it would have been appropriate for me to give it back! And truthfully it would have been necessary for me to sell it in order to get rid of it, as the council doesn't take stuff that heavy. Luckily when we moved the landlord took stuff away for us.

OP didn't need her item, but wanted to make use of it - and now she has seen it she has changed her mind.

I think she should be free to sell it on for £30 without compunction.

Flightattendant4 · 25/11/2008 06:29

Also LE, what do you mean you 'Own' your local group? Is it part of the national Freecycle organisation or something similar you have set up yourself?

smeeinit · 25/11/2008 08:23

TheLadyEvenstar - get a grip!
sickens you?
its not a crime to sell something that you have been given you know.

TheLadyEvenstar · 25/11/2008 09:03

Also LE, what do you mean you 'Own' your local group? Is it part of the national Freecycle organisation or something similar you have set up yourself?

Yes it is part of the Freecycle network. But every group has an owner, a person who originally startd the group up after applying to the FN, then going through a lot of questions etc.

I am the group owner.

Flightattendant4 · 25/11/2008 09:23

Oh Ok. Although I do struggle with your use of words there - surely it is something owned by its members, it doesn't belong to you, - if you think it does I would be a little concerned about how that affects your attitude to the whole thing.

TheLadyEvenstar · 25/11/2008 09:39

Flight,
The group is owned by myself and has at the moment almost 6000 members. Ok sicken was a bit strong but it does annoy me when someone takes something they don't really need just because it is there. There are people who genuinley need things and others maybe like this lady take the item before others get a look in. The things I have taken were things I needed and just could not afford at the time.

Maybe its just me but i thought the whole point of freecycle was to help those who needed helping not help those who wanted to help themselves to a financial gain from a freebie,

LazyLinePainterJane · 25/11/2008 09:49

no, the original point of frrecycle was to reuse or recycle goods that would otherwise go to landfill. Nothing to do with helping people who need it. Those with an agenda have turned it into a "help the needy" enterprise, with their competitive sob stories on posts and complaints that items should go to those who need them most.

You seem to forget that without those who take the items (and not just the good stuff, those who give away items that no-one in their right mind would think anyone would want) freecycle would be nothing, and the stuff would be going to landfill.

Yes, freecycle can be a lifeline for those in need, but that was not its original purpose, but I'm sure you passed the moral high ground test....

brokenrecord · 25/11/2008 10:06

I haven't Freecycled for a while and maybe things have changed now, but my problem was finding takers for items, rather than people taking stuff they didn't really need. In my group this was a common complaint. That's why I stopped and went back to charity shop giving.

wotulookinat · 25/11/2008 10:14

I do have to say that I agree with TheLadyEvenStar. The original owner could have sold it but gave it away to help someone out. It really makes me cross when I have given things away on Freecycle or to a friend and then see it end up on Ebay. Why bother taking it if you don't need it? I could have sold it myself and could have done with the money!