Is it just me... or have some people got a cheek?

[LucyJu]

Put some things on freecycle last night, and was overwhelmed by the number of replies, so unsure how to be fair about who should get what. But was also shocked by the number of responses along the lines of "I'll have it". No pleases, thank yous or other niceties. Is it just me who gets riled by this sort of thing (whilst thinking "Oh no you won't")?
And the things some people ask for! we've seen requests for laptops, digital TVs, specific makes of travel systems and even a caravan on our local board. Thinking of putting in a request for an MP3 player!

I don't care, so long as they pick up the stuff and go away.

I make it clear that once it's gone, I don't want to hear from them again.

The whole point is for people to be a substitute for a landfill.

What I think is cheek is when people take the stuff and then come back to diss it - or come to collect and then they don't like it.

oh yes, i emailed the moderator of our local freecycle boards to man about peoples lack of manners. i listed loads of baby.kids stuff and had people just messaging saying 'when can i collect it?' no asking if it was still available and please could they have it. oh no.

ask for an mp3 player, you never know!

That lack of common courtesy really irritates me too and I have noticed it on Ebay as well.

Thanks! Glad I'm not the only one. It's not as if I'm expecting people to grovel before me and thank me profusely for my cast-offs - but more that, if someone were kind enough to offer me, for free, something I wanted/needed, then I trhink a little common courtesy wouldn't go amiss.

Unbelievable am truly by the lack of manners. They probably only want it to sell on ebay as it is.

What's freecycle, it sounds good

oh i know one lady sells the stuff on, so if she emails i avoid hers

I wouldn't blush about that misdee - perfectly reasonable response IMO.

Freecycle is a forum where you can pass on things that you no longer want/need to others who might be able to make use of them. At the same time, you can receive others unwanted items. It's all done without money changing hands and I guess the idea is to reduce landfill waste and consumerism.
You can see all sorts of things advertised - from old paving blocks and broken tumble dryers to be used for spare parts to sometimes TVs, furniture or printers. Oh yes, and you can advertise your "wants" to see whether, by chance, anyone might be able to give you what you are looking for.

LucyJu
I feel exactly the same! I was stunned recently when I offered a piece of furniture by all the "Give me you address and I'll come and get it tomorrow"/ "I'll take it off your hands" type comments.

What I do is usually wait for a couple of days until I have all the responses I think I'll get and then choose based on my purely subjective view of their e-mails!

However there are some happy endings - in the piece of furniture I passed on, the new owner found some family photos at the back when he got it home. He came all the way back (12 miles) to return them, and also brought a bottle of wine as he was so pleased with the item.

oUrs is nearly all wants and the offers are things like boxes and broken stuff for parts, the wants are washing machines, cookers etc!

All the people on our one seem really polite and friendly and the ones I've met have been fine.
It doesn't upset me in the slightest that someone might sell my items on.
If they have the time, energy and outlets to convert my junk into cash then good luck to them!