Again: Alternatives to ebay

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Balham is hardly deprived. Two doors up is under offer at 850k. ;-) But I suppose it's more accessible being on the tube.

[Jules]

There is the issue that the person / organisation that most appreciates them is not necessarily the one with the deepest pockets, though - which is where ebay doesn't work so well, but Freecycle does (assuming you don't default to giving the item to the first responder)

cheers

Jules

[Andrew May]

But the problem then becomes one of deciding which of the half dozen or so respondents is the most deserving. "My daughter has been looking for one of these for ages, can I have it please" can just as easily mean "my daughter has been looking for one of these to sell at the next car boot sale".

I have taken to searching past posts to at least find people who have offered items in the past in the hope of at least finding someone who follows the spirit of Freecycle. The problem is that the Yahoo! search facility seems to be flaky so I cannot be sure that I am getting a true picture. Obviously I am not going to give a laptop to someone who as posted three received notices for the same in the past three months.

Andrew

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not sure how you tell a 'Freecycler' is a worthy recipient or just on the make, though?

[tim.....]

I just can't be bothered to go to any effort to get rid of my stuff. With Freecycle - you pick up at my convenience or the next person gets it.

I just gave away about 500 pounds, new value, of photographic stuff that I haven't used in ages. Obviously the 2nd hand value was a fraction of that, but still worth it to some people (but not me!)

tim

[Mark]

I'm not sure what's wrong with giving to the first responder. At least they're keen.

That reminds me of a car boot sale where a friend of mine was selling a stair gate (for keeping toddlers downstairs) and an old lady came up with a sob story about her granddaughter coming to stay and she needed a stairgate and only had 50p. My friend sold it to her. Later on they found the very same stairgate on sale. No sign of the little old lady!

Too much hassle IMHO. If I use freecycle to get rid of stuff it's (partly) because I can't be bothered to go to the tip.

[Mark]

I wish I was on your freecycle group!

[matthelliwell]

Who cares? I just want to avoid dumping the stuff, partly because I hate going to the dump and partly to avoid adding the the volume of stuff dumped. If they then go and flog it on ebay, good luck to them. If I was that bothered about it, I would've sold it myself.

Matt

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You snipped the bit I was replying to. And taken out of context it changes the meaning of what I wrote.

I have a very convenient tip. Right beside a B&Q too - so can often combine visits.

Fine. But I'd be happier if the recipient was honest about it then - rather than the usual flannel. Because the whole idea of Freecycle was mutual *free* help - not to feed a business.

[tim.....]

It bothers me

I got around this by ignoring anybody who said "I'll take the lot" and making sure that each person only gets one item (or set)

tim

[Andrew May]

I've also had a couple of emails along the lines of "Regarding the item you are giving away. I can collect it at the weekend." No mention of what it was or why they wanted it. Even if it wasn't it looked very much like a standard email sent to a load of advertisers. Needless to say the item had already been taken.

Andrew

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Mark saying something like:

That's a common tactic at bootsales, where the earliest buyers to appear at the pitch of newbies are often other traders. Scummy behaviour, imo.

[Mark]

I'd rather someone took the lot rather than arranging separate visits from several people (who don't turn up). Particularly if there are some items I cannot get rid of. (I got some perfectly functional interiors doors which I have advertised three times on freecycle and no-one wants them.)

[dave]

Late reply - but the brilliance of above comment, I feel, has been overlooked :-)

[Jules]

Yes, there is that. If it's a charity or whatnot then that seems easy; for individuals I'd try and get things to those who knew what they were talking about (but I found with the Cambridge list that it was almost like a community in its own right - striking up conversations with other freecyclers was quite common).

Of course for crap like clothes or shoes or other "don't care" items I'd just sling 'em to whoever got there first. But for more complicated goods I'd do my best to try to let them go to someone who sounded like they'd get some use / enjoyment out of it, rather than just stuffing it on ebay.

On that note, the local list to where I am now is horrible - people genuinely treat it as a web-based thing rather than a mailing list... I really can't be arsed to load up a browser and navigate the site to see what "item #1747" is or look at some bad photo that someone's left on there. Urgh. Never tried the search mechanism...

The local list's all free dogs and free cats and people asking for bars of pure gold - f*cking annoying! Nobody ever seems to want anything sensible or attempts to give away anything remotely useful.

cheers

Jules

[Andrew May]

Although I am often surprised at what gets taken and what does not. I had half a dozen people wanting quite small offcuts of walnut and about the same wanting the bricks that I removed from the disused septic tank discussed here earlier in the year. But two packs of brand new sanding disks that I had bought in error and a bunch of electrical stuff got no takers. This is in Cambridge.

Andrew

[Jules]

That does seem suprising - although I'm a compulsive hoarder when it comes to DIY spares, so I don't think I ever tried getting rid of materials / consumables like that when I was on the Cambridge list :-)

I think they'd get snapped up pronto where I am now (lots of folk around here do their own DIY, and maybe that's less true of Cambridge + area)

cheers

Jules

[Pete Verdon]

I tend to go for the one who comes across as a functioning human being in their email, as opposed to the illiterate and retarded that seem to make up a fair proportion. Not because the latter are inherently less deserving of free stuff, but because the former are more likely to actually turn up when they said, with a suitable means of taking their acquisition away with them.

Mind you, the current batch on offer is all bathroom stuff that won't come to any harm in the rain, so can sit on my drive until it gets collected or goes to the tip.

Pete

[Mark]

It's not just me then. I often get replies like "PLZ KAN I HAV THE STUF M8". It's email not ****ing SMS!

I wish freecycle would complete the move away from yahoo. I really don't like their privacy policy. You have to opt out of all their sites individually and there's 120 of them :-(

[Andrew May]

Is Freecycle moving away from Yahoo? What are the plans? I have often thought that a decent web-based where it was possible to look up who had requested/taken (or not collected) items in the past would be useful.

Andrew