We said we wouldn’t do it again but we did…and got the same result

What a shame. I am into recycling where possible. Never used Freecycle, but have used Gumtree with very low prices for great condition stuff. But little response. Most stuff goes to charity shops.

We are also having a clear out and advertised many times very cheaply and the scams are untrue "I will send a carrier and he will give you gift vouchers, I am terminally ill so can't come, Will put a £100 into your paypal account and then the driver will bring the rest of the money"

In the end after selling dining room suite to nice guy phoned the local hospice and all being collected next week for their shop.

Some people have no shame and when I sent message back to one message saying "Don't bother, this is a scam" the reply was I am calling the Police as money gone in (it hadn't)
Beggars belief how people think and operate.

I had the sad task of emptying my parents house to prepare for sale this time last year. Covid was an issue with charity shops over stocked and a limit on how much they would take if brought to them. In the end it was 12 different organisations that took things from garden tools to a sewing machine. I had 25 boxes of 'bric a brac' that were taken along with larger items. I think Dorothy house. It was British Heart Foundation that were the best and took the unwanted sideboard, beds that others had left. The local Freegle group was very good and really no messing as I had a limited time to deal with things. It is possible to read over reviews of posters there before dealing with them. Lastly the Council collected three large items for a fee of I think £30.

IrishDancing

BHF are brilliant, haven’t let us down yet! Other buyers/recipients not so good, have regularly been let down by people who “will get back” to us but never do. So rude!

BritishHeart Foundation also do free labels on their website to enable postage of most everything else!

You know what it is - because it’s free and no real investment it’s easy to not bother . However we got a splendid 1931 Singer sewing machine and travel cot from freecycle and give stuff but usually clothes and toys etc give to charity shops and offer free stuff to the neighbours via our road what’s app group - we never charge neighbors nor any others but one woman took my great aunts writing bureau which we have seen up for sale for £49 in a nearby sea side town . I look at it and consider buying it back as was my great aunts even tho too big for our house and not in good condition- altho somebody had polished it - for sale I presume .

Froglady

That meant to read soup maker not soul maker!!

Ooo I would have been interested in a soul maker 🤪🤣

I'd recommend the British Heart Foundation, it just needs to be in good condition and if it's furniture it needs a fire safety label.

Facebook is great for getting rid of stuff. When we downsized, we put everything in good condition that a charity shop and relatives did not want outside the house, put a message on the local Facebook Marketplace and within minutes there were texts and calls. The whole lot disappeared in about 45 minutes.

Yes, I have used both freegle and freecycle. Mixed opinions really, but you do gets lots of time wasters, and people who promise they will come and never do. But also lots of lovely folk who are so grateful that they follow up with a thank you email, which makes all the grief worth while.

We are in a similar situation. Downsizing. I'm going to rent a storage unit, shift everything we don't want to that, and get a house clearance chap to give us a price to take the lot

I have never used the kind of sites you describe, for the simple reason that as far as I know we don't have them in Denmark.

We have sites where you sell things, and my experience with them is much the same as the OPs. And our postal service has discontinued Cash on delivery service, so I am not willing to trust complete strangers who want things sent by post to pay me, either before or after they receive the goods.

What we did when we moved and had to get rid of stuff was to try to tailor our need to whoever we offered the things. There was only one charity interested in books, so when they had taken what they wanted, the rest was offered to hospices for the dying - who here, at least, are very grateful for light reading matter, as are clubs and care homes for Aids suffers.

We had considered prisons as recipients too, but did not need to contact them.

Clothes, shoes, bags, camping equipment and household utensils we packed up and distributed to various charity shops.

When we cleared my parents' home, I managed to sell a good deal of unwanted furniture, by simply opening the garage and sticking a sign outside. I had also put notices up in the local supermarket. It helped that there were a couple of weekends and public holidays at the time we wanted rid of stuff.

A table outside with stuff you want rid of and a notice: Help yourself - no charge, worked well too.

I use lots of sites… Trash Nothing, Freecycle, Olio, Pre-loved, Nextdoor, Shpock, Free Ads and even Facebook to give things away.

There’s ALWAYS people who promise to turn up and then don’t. I only give them one chance. If they don’t come they don’t get the item.

If there’s more than one person who asked I will offer it to them, or even the next person. But I do screen the responses. I don’t believe in first to ask will get, and I always respond to polite requests.

If I get ‘I want that thing’ then they’ll go to the bottom of my list. I figure if you want it, then ask. And it doesn’t cost anything to say please and thank you.

I did have some garden chairs that I no longer needed during lockdown, and put them outside the house with a sign on saying ‘Free - Please take these before I take them to the local tip tomorrow.’ They were gone within an hour, and a note was left on my doorstep saying ‘Thank you for the chairs,’ with a little bag of sweets. (Didn’t eat them tho)

Just have to be careful that whatever you put out isn’t wrecked or strewn across the street or you’ll be in trouble for fly tipping. Great if you have a garden - I don’t so had to keep an eye on the chairs which I’d placed against my house.

If someone is collecting, they would need to come between times suitable for me. Got fed up years ago of waiting around for people who didn’t turn up. I usually say anytime between 4-7pm after that I’m not available.

If you use Trash Nothing, your item can be posted on several sites in the area so long as you’ve joined up to them.

The other thing I do, is look for Wanted Ads, people looking for specific items, and message them asking if they’d like whatever they’re looking for. One elderly lady was amazed that I’d offered her a walking stick - and delivered it to her as I was passing her address later that day. Have stayed in touch and she now has a new lease of life and isn’t so worried about going out on her own.

Also, give lots of bits and pieces to playgroups/preschools, schools and scouts/cubs/brownies if they were suitable. (I used to teach so PLENTY of items to give away)

I used to donate regularly to charity shops, but can never find one now in my area, that can take things after 10am which is ridiculous in my opinion.

My last go to is a charity called Help to Collect, who support Kids Charity. They collected a huge amount of items from me in one go, and I was happy to see it all go. There’s lots of charities who will collect, you just need to Google which ones.

Good luck for future gifting @bytheway - but make sure to do things YOUR way, in YOUR timescale.

Yes I recommend the larger charity shops who are reliable in collection and grateful for the donation. They do need fire labels on upholstered items, not unreasonable.
I'd also recommend charging a nominal amount for items on other sites, seems to make them more valuable to the recipient and so more worth picking up!

I've had similar experiences Bytheway. After numerous letdowns, I now collect my stuff and store in the shed and take it down to a charity every few weeks. I do this on an ongoing basis to ensure that I do not let my hoarding habit take over.

I totally disagree. Nearly always had excellent results giving and getting on Freecycle. E.g. last week I put an office chair on Freecycle. Excellent condition but scuffed on arm. It was collected within 3 hours . I always give a good description and ask for a possible collection time. I wait for a polite request..chair went to second person as first just said can I have it. Very annoyed at collecting a mattress and bed. Bed a different size to that advertised and mattress very stained in spite of being told it was clean..we have got to take both to the tip. I will be more careful next time as some people aren't honest about the condition and use Freecycle as a free rubbish disposal site. But please don't take good stuff to the tip..we need to keep stuff out of landfill

I have got rid of things for years on freegle. You need to have a short dialogue in the message box to see if a) they are serious or not and b) also to see if you feel comfortable giving them your address. I’ve only had one person not show up. It is frustrating!
If you just want a whole load taking away BHF are excellent.

You can also post ‘for free’ items on Gumtree, Facebook Market and Nextdoor. People who live close by are more likely to show up.

I do hope you can find one way of passing things on. It’s a really important thing nowadays to recycle as much as we can. And there are a lot of genuine people who are struggling financially.

I’m a regular freecycler and have not had any problems at all. Once or twice the collector has texted to rearrange the time at the last minute, but never been let down. I suspect it depends where you live.
I’ve also given large furniture to British Heart Foundation. They collect when they say they will and are very efficient.

Yes and I was put off using them because a few things I give away the same person put them on Facebook for sale and I said I give you them for free and she said not my fault your a soft touch. So I now give anything I’m getting rid of to local charities to drop off or them pick up. And I’m helping them too.

Yes, we have a local Facebook group for helping local families in need. The idea is you post your unwanted item with a photo and the first person to request can collect but then give a suitable monetary donation to the charity.
It beggars belief that there are comments like “yes if it’s still available “ or “yes if you will deliver” Honestly! No manners, it makes my blood boil!!

I use Freecycle fairly regularly- no Freegle close to me - and find it a great way of getting rid of large items that the council would charge to take away. Two very large and heavy bookcases went last week. Of course there’s the ones who want bells on - free delivery etc - but I’ve always had several people interested in items so if someone is too fussy or doesn’t turn up just get in touch with the next on the list.

I've used Freecycle/Freegle to get things for the home and to give things away.
I good way to spot timewasters is to see what sort of response people give. I offer to those who take the time to say 'yes, I'd really like this, when can I collect?' and ignore those who leave a v short message and a mobile as they usually don't show up.

That meant to read soup maker not soul maker!!

Experienced something similar a few weeks ago. I had no room for a medium sized chest freezer in my kitchen anymore. Put it on a local site. To be fair I went in order of people asking. 2 no shows one person kept saying tomorrow, tomorrow. I left it at the side of my house for them to collect it. Still a no show. Last person turned up a few hours after telling him it was available. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to give free stuff away.

Yes, I use Freecycle to offer things and have before resigned after getting the runaround several times.
But I have rejoined and it's a lot better this time around. Just put a soul maker and a coffee and herb grinder on this morning so I'll see how it goes. No good keeping things thst I'm not using. Ic it doesn't work out, I'll take them to charity shop.
But people do annoy me when you are giving something away for free and they mess you around- think it's because it's free that people think it doesn't matter if they don't turn up. Weird psychology!!

I am using Freecycle less because of people not turning up, or saying they wanr something and then not responding.

The worst we had was seeing something we had given away on Freegle for sale at local auction rooms a few weeks later (it fetched £20)

I don't mind dealers on Freecycle, but I don't like them on the local recycling page, which is expressly intended to be for people up cycling and recycling things. We get everything from old doors and plant pots to items of furniture suitable for painting or staining and making new. It worked really well until the owner expanded the are from Hometown to Homecounty and the dealers moved in. It's not what the site is for (if people just want rid of something there are places like Freegle and Freecycle) and it lessens the chances of someone getting an item they can work with.