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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that Freecycle has turned into a nasty greedfest?

99 replies

stickybeaker · 03/04/2009 19:12

I used Freecycle 2 years ago when pregnant with DD. I got some great stuff for which I was REALLY grateful. I was polite, collected on time etc. I also responded to other peoples (reasonable) requests and offered stuff I no longer needed.

Cut to now... I went back on there (signed up to start receiving emails again), as I'd really like a sofabed but can't justify buying one. Anyway, I am horrified at peoples 'needs'. Every day someone asks for a car, there's been requests for flat screen TVs, tumbledryers/washing machines/dishwashers/ X-boxes & pets (which I REALLY don't understand). There are also always posts re-offering stuff due to non-collectors (who are these people?) Is this a nationwide thing or just the South East??? It's horrible. People don't even give good reasons for their unreasonable requests, and they aren't polite about it.

I'm going to stop looking because it's doing my head in. Deep breath....

OP posts:

butterscotch · 03/04/2009 23:04

Wow I've just joined FC and seen loads of Wanted but as a newbie thought it was maybe how FC was???

Don't want to get slammed but my friend joined and has been collecting clothes (babies & childrens) toys etc.. and selling them on BUT she is telling the people who she is responding to thats what she is doing (via carboot) and they are happy I have responded to a few and got no response which kinda leaves me with mixed feelings ;-?

Helen31 · 05/04/2009 10:36

at dilemma's and Sidge's heart-warming stories. Definitely outweighs all the grabby ones. Thank you!

Tryharder · 05/04/2009 11:24

My local Freecycle is a lovely group - I post loads of offers, reply to as many wanteds as I am able and in return get given loads of stuff (DS2 has never had a new item of clothing in his life bless him apart from what my mum buys him as she's sorry for him ). I have met loads of people through it - there's a real community spirit.

I really love freecycle, wish I had discovered it years ago.

StayFrosty · 05/04/2009 11:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HappyChildminderBerkshire · 05/04/2009 12:30

Those are lovely stories but TBH I think most Wanteds are not so heartwarming! Today on my FC someone requests a digital radio, UNUSED, for their budgies to listen to during the day.... FFS! Also a car but it MUST have MOT with time to run!

wotulookinat · 05/04/2009 12:32

I like Freecycle - I have had some great stuff and given stuff away to very grateful people, but there is a minority who spoil it.

I responded to a wanted ad for a double pushchair the other day. The lady said she was in great need of one ASAP. She then started asking about what model it was and what colour - erm...you either need one or not. THEN she said she was too busy to collect so could I deliver! Needless to say she didn't get it.

BouncingTurtle · 05/04/2009 14:00

Somebody has just put in a request for a mobility scooter and a car. Trouble is, on the mobility scooter post they mentioned they cannot drive!!

So WTF do they want a car for?

MamaHobgoblin · 05/04/2009 14:13

Our local group is ok - there are mostly more offereds than wanteds - but you do see the same names come up again and again asking for stuff, or responding. I just got rid of a (pretty good, but unwanted and old) travel system - all the bits - and had about half a dozen responses. All but one were 'asking on behalf of someone else' which automatically gets a in my book. None of the initial responses explained why they needed it, and only one said please. I emailed everyone for further details to help me decide and some of them didn't bother replying.

And then I discover that the person I did give it to (and I delivered because she doesn't have a car!) is one of the more prolific 'wanted' people in the group! I feel a bit of a fool...

wotulookinat · 05/04/2009 14:18

You feel like you've been stolen from, don't you?

Original poster

stickybeaker · 05/04/2009 14:46

I love that post frosty.

I dislike the posts from childmiders requesting stuff. Not sure why, I just think that they should have thought about what resources to allow them to do their job appropriately (by this I mean pushchairs and car seats).

OP posts:

wotulookinat · 05/04/2009 15:50

You're right, Stcikybeaker. I offered a double buggy again today and a lady asked for it. It wasn't until she got here that she told me she was childminder

wotulookinat · 05/04/2009 15:50

And I wouldn't be amused at my childminder putting my son in a second hand car seat.

PrammyMammy · 05/04/2009 16:05

I offered a double buggy too and a childminder asked for it, but she told me in her email. Seems strange though, because i think i would have these things already if i were a cm.

HappyChildminderBerkshire · 05/04/2009 17:40

Ummmm have you seen the rates that childminding pays??? Yes perhaps a CM should budget for a £300 double buggy, or perhaps she should see if she can get a perfectly good one secondhand for free and use all that money for resources for the children! I made a loss of around £120 last year as a CM and it would have been much worse had I gone for an expensive double buggy - I only spent £40 on mine.

SalBySea · 05/04/2009 17:43

collectors are kinda doing the people "offering" a favour though. I had to get rid of a sofa bed recently and the lowest removal company quote was £60.

GypsyMoth · 05/04/2009 17:47

I happily gave some outgrown garden toys to a childminder recently. It was for the forthcoming summer and she needed our tractor and digger to add to her new sandpit. So can't see what's wrong with that!! She budgeted for a lovely new sandpit and thought the toys would be a good addition instead of just the buckets and spades!! Was happy for them to go to her!

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 05/04/2009 17:59

I've never had a bad experience and I'm in the south east. I don't reply to every email cos that would take ages but apart from a couple of people who never got back to me it's been great.
I was a bit annoyed tho when a man responded to my 'wanted cot mattress' then when I collected it he said 'oh it's smaller than usual but you can get cots the same size'....it didn't fit the cot I already had been given.....I wish he had told me before!

SalBySea · 05/04/2009 18:10

"I have also been known to respond to the ' I'll have it, call me on blah blah ' with a curt ' no you won't because you're rude '"

I'm sorry but I just dont get this! Surely its on there cause you need to get rid of it and they are saving you the hassle of a trip to the dump or clearance company fees!

I considered putting my sofa bed on freecycle but ended up going with a clearance co purely because my baby is due any day and they could come round within an hour from calling it and I'd be rid of it and able to sort the spare room. Had I gone with freecycle I'd have given it to whoever could collect it quickest and I'D have been very grateful to THEM!

I dont care how many pleases someone put on there if they werent free to take it off my hands till next weekend!

Salme101 · 05/04/2009 18:49

I've given away quite a few things and found my local group (B'ham, approx 3,000 members) to be pretty nice. I haven't had any no-shows, everyone has been polite and I've had nice thank-you emails from most of 'em, too. I do check people's profiles before I reply, as there are definitely some people out there who apparently say 'yes please' to everything going

Also, I once gave away masses of National Geographics to a teacher for his common room, and I tell you, he was hot

wotulookinat · 05/04/2009 19:59

EightiesChick · 05/04/2009 20:54

I'm not on it at the moment but have been. Yes, there were quite a few rude replies but also polite requests, so you could always just give stuff to the polite people.

Like Salbysea, I see it as a convenient collection service that gets rid of stuff I can't be bothered taking to the tip. Ebay would only very occasionally seem worth the hassle, and since my work has a private 'for sale' ads bit on the website, if I really want to make money back on something it's easier to sell it on there as the buyer will be local.

It's much harder than I ever imagined to get rid of some stuff - for example, some old Playstation games were turned down by our local children's hospital on health and safety grounds and when I tried to get Oxfam to collect a wardrobe (they did advertise that they'd collect furniture donations) I was told 'Oh no, we aren't taking any more wardrobes till the winter' (in a tone that suggested I should have been telepathic and known this already) 'and anyway, you'd have to carry it, we can't due to health and safety...' Our local council does a collection service but they will only come round on one given day in the next two months, usually - as in, 'We can get that on Thursday 21st May between 8am and 5pm' and if you can't wait the whole day on that specific date it's no good. So tbh, if someone will come to my door and take the pesky thing away, then I'm not so bothered about what they do with it afterwards. If people want to put the work in to take the stuff to car boot sales and whatever, then fair play to them as I can't be arsed.

Having said all that, the requests for laptops, designer shoes etc are pretty laughable. Our local group had a rule that you had to offer something first before you could ask for anything (saw one person offer paperclips to meet this requirement!) and you could only put in one 'wanted' request per month, to keep the nonsense down a bit.

wotulookinat · 05/04/2009 20:56

Offering paperclips??!! That's hilarious!

SalBySea · 05/04/2009 21:38

yip selling stuff is such a pain in the @ss, it takes ages and you get so many time wasters and weirdos.

have sold books on Amazon before and it was so much hassle, had to keep checking your emails to make sure you dont miss a purchase and all those trips to the post office - more hassle than its worth

and as for car boots - I only ever seem to break even (petrol and admission and bacon butties and tea) and find them depressing so if someone was willing to pick up my junk and recycle it through car boots for me than great! I can think of many things I'd rather do with my weekends!

freecycle is a two way thing - MUTUALLY beneficial! so I think its very petty if people want their butt kissed for stuff that they want rid of! When I do a charity shop drop off I dont shop around for the one that grovels for my bag of unwanted stuff!

I'm pretty sure that the clearance company who charged me to take my sofa bed will be selling it and not dumping it (cause it is really nice and in good condition) but TBH he did me a service as I needed rid now! If I'd had more time I'd have free-cycled it and been just as glad to be rid of it.

MrsMerryBunnyGirlHenry · 05/04/2009 21:50

On a separate note last year I gave away lots of my brother's belongings on Freecycle after he died . I was really upset by the attitudes of lots of the people who promised to collect - it was January, and I would go to the cold, vacant house where he'd died, in order to meet the Freecyclers. Loads of them never bothered to come, nor did they bother to call to explain. I meant to write to Freecycle to complain, but had better things to do, like grieving. I'd be much less likely to give things away on Freecycle now.

fruitbeard · 05/04/2009 22:01

I don't think people want their butts kissed but courtesy costs nothing and people who post in txtspk saying 'yeah, I'll have it/give it to me' or the equivalent are just downright rude. There's no excuse for that.

I've just posted a wanted for offcuts of lino for a stage set I'm building and have already had responses and met several lovely people today picking it all up. Have also met some lovely mums/mums-to-be freecycling DD's old baby gear. There is good out there, honest!

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