Lost faith in freecycle

[Farmer_Gyles]

i have totally lost faith in freecycle now
i'm in a place that's roughly the border of 3 different freecycle areas
i've given a few bits away on one of them but joined the other two so i could give away more - got tons of stuff to go

posted to one of the new groups the other day, asking for bike or pram wheels so kids can build go-karts - message rejected cos need to offer on that group before asking (have given away stuff on other freecycle groups)

so offered stuff on the new group today - messages rejected cos gotta lump different offers into one message (not a problem on other freecycle groups)

waited in all day for people to collect stuff i'd offered - no shows - and when someone did come round, he had bluetooth headset on and was asking what else i was giving away and "you've got my email so let me know" - gave me the impression he was just scrounging to sell stuff

offered some more stuff on new group this afternoon, but posted it on neighbouring group as well in case it got rejected by new group - new group rejected message for cross posting on other groups - i replied to admin saying i cross posted cos they keep rejecting my offer posts

offering stuff on freecycle (and it's not "junk", it's good stuff, sellable), is just too much hassle
could make money at car boot sale but that's hassle too and i want the stuff gone
a trip to the dump tomorrow is gonna feel soooo good

[madmax]

Ditto F_G. Ditto.

[Farmer_Gyles]

woke up this morning to a pile of abuse from croydon recycle admin starting with "what a f***ing retard you are .... " - not the kind of thing i would expect from an administrator of any organiser of something like that
probably only got the balls to send that sort of abuse by email ......

i get 3 sacks of croypost for every trip i make to the dump ..... no fuss, no hassle ....

[kernowyon]

the guildford one seems ok, there are the occaisonal a***ole on there but in generaly no problems. you will always get the Wanteds for laptops etc but thats the nature of it s'pose, whatever the system people will abuse it. I posted a wanted ad for a piano stool for my middle daughter, have had one time waster reply and always miss out on the ones that get posted. it is amazing how, when they do appear and are taken the very next day one appears on ebay within 5 miles of Woking - funny that

[spud57]

We have recently moved house and had given away loads of stuff during the past 3 months on freecycle. Also received a few really useful bits ( like an old wheelbarrow for our new garden ). No real problems so far, no abuse just one small brush with a slightly snotty moderator about posting things on your home site first ( had done and i thought you were supposed to be encouraged to re-home, re-cycle ?? )
But in general I think its all going a bit wrong, the good feeling is gone and humans being what they are, why am I surprised and disappointed?

[Farmer_Gyles]

well i did get an enquiry bout stuff from a bloke who i saw had given lots away on freecycle - he came and collected, nice chap - and he's offered me a footy goal for my son and he's starting to grow his own veggies so i've offered him seeds and seedlings and pointed him to this website
so not *all* bad ....

[Two_Sheds]

There are good and bad on Freecycle, as in all other areas of life.

I have one question: please don't be offended. If your stuff is sellable, why don't you sell it? on eBay?
I find the buyers are more serious on there, as they are parting with actual money, even if its only a quid (I recently Freecycled some junk, but had no takers, even after a month. Stuck it on eBay, just to see, and I got a grand total of £1.20 for an iron, £1 for an exercise bike, and 50p for a table. The most important thing was that I GOT RID OF MY JUNK, hurrah! and WITHOUT ANY REAL EFFORT). Sorry to shout.

BTW*
I get a little sick of the hectoring on freecycle, people moaning about other people who re-sell stuff (not that I do). If someone wants to sell the tatt that I can't be bothered with, then good luck to them. Its none of my business what they do with it, frankly. People take stuff out of skips, charity shops, the dump, what's the difference?

[Alison]

Agree with you there Two Sheds, if I don't want it then I don't care what somebody else does with it so long as they don't skip it as that would defeat the object. Not had many problems with our Freecycle (although there are a lot of greedy g*ts out there who think they can get a car or the like without paying and some of the sob stories annoy me!) but have some more stuff to get shot of so will have to see if it's deteriorated in the past few months.

[kirsty b]

The group I'm on is mostly ok too. I've had a couple of no-shows but mostly I can get rid of stuff, or pick up a few useful items.

[Shortie]

I can see both sides to this one. The Freecycle I'm part of now is new and the one I originally joined was about 10 miles away and people didn't like it so I left

I'm now part of a much smaller local one and I've given away quite a few bits and the people have been lovely. I've had replies to my "Wanted please" request of a buggy when some a-hole stole mine from right outside the front door in the minutes it took me to nip back in and get the kids on the walk to school.

You get to know who to avoid too... it took me 3 attempts to deliver a fish tank to a guy (didn't feel comforatble giving my address for him to collect) which annoyed me because each time we specified a time and he promised to be there. On the third time his wife was in but he still didn't have the curtousy to be there himself. Needless to say when I offered my sofas up on there 2 weeks ago and he replied, he didn't get them.

Oddly enough I tend to look more at the 'Wanted' requests to see if I have something to help them out.

[Farmer_Gyles]

the no shows and scroungers are annoying - but it's the overall hassle and the abuse from an admin that put me right off

[kirsty b]

That email you received was definitely out of order

[everdream78]

woke up this morning to a pile of abuse from croydon recycle admin starting with "what a f***ing retard you are .... " - not the kind of thing i would expect from an administrator of any organiser of something like that
probably only got the balls to send that sort of abuse by email ......

We've been plagues by emails like this on our freecycle groups - all but one has come from a spammer, not a genuine mod.

Try contacting one of the other mods and keep the email for evidence.

[Paul Wagland]

I've never had a problem with people collecting, but I guess being in a good sized town I have lots of choice when it comes to picking a new home for my unwanted bits (it's amazing how rude some requests can be though!).

My main gripe is people asking for unreasonable things, including a car (with MOT, if you please) and a furnished flat.

[joolzabb]

i have only recently found freecycle and have managed to offload loads of stuff from the loft much to my hubbys glee. every wanted i put on has never been answered and the moderators seem to pick on me for not listing properly, cross listing, etc,etc,etc when i have done everything correctly and two seconds later lo and behold the same thing has happened with someone else and thye keep doing it. why me?
i used to ebay a lot but when the postage hiked up people didnt want to pay for stuff. same goes with car boot sales and with the amount of travellers, and non english speaking residents local to me (not meant to be offensive) it either goes for nothing or gets nicked.
i love the idea of freecycle but do think theres a lot of people who just grab everything and probably dont actully want it.
joolz x