Freecycle Review
By Mrsl
So, I’ve mentioned it several times throughout my website, I’ve “bigged” it up on Mylot and now I’m going to tell you all about it!!
What is Freecycle? Freecycle is a locally run group located on Yahoo offering a way to get rid of all your unwanted items, and I mean ALL!! The groups are run by volunteers who act as moderators and the groups are run, primarily to prevent unwanted items going to the tip or ending up in landfill. You can list anything from garden waste to cars if you want to but remember it is all to be given away. Nothing is for sale, nothing is to be sold on unless you have the express permission from the person who gifted you the item/s.
Each group works slightly differently but have the same basic principle, Everything is free, no link scams & be polite!!! You have to apply to join most groups, this is usually done with a quick “Why do you want to join” email. You will also need to subscribe to either the emails or the digest to prevent your membership, which is free, being deleted. You’ll also need a Yahoo email address. They also have rules about food, animals & car seats.
Ok, so you’ve joined your local group, you’ve been approved and have cleared out your shed. You find various bits and pieces, half boxes of tiles, old tyre, some paint etc etc. You no longer want them but don’t just want to throw them away. Log in to your freecycle group, click on the message maker, each group does have slightly different ways of posting but generally a message maker is available. You have 4 options for listing, OFFER, TAKEN, RECEIVED & WANTED.
For your shed items you select OFFER, then list where you are by either typing in the general area or the first part of your postcode. Give the listing a title e.g. Various or you can list everything separately and in that case you would type Box of tiles. In the body of the listing, describe exactly what you are offering, how many, damage, good condition, what it could be used for and if you want them collecting by a certain date. If listing everything on one post, number items to make it easy for people to specify what they want. Once your happy with what you have written, then submit it for the moderator to approve.
You item should then appear sometime that day, generally everything goes within hours and people will collect from you very quickly. It is a great way to get rid of anything, even if it’s old or broken. One mans junk is another mans treasure!!
As the post titles suggest, once you have promised the item, post a TAKEN listing. The steps are exactly the same, but instead of describing what you have, just type something like, “Now taken STC, thank you for all your interest”. If you receive one or two emails requesting your items, reply to them even if it’s promised however if you get flooded with requests, a TAKEN listing is the best way to say thank you but now gone! Being polite is a huge issue on Freecycle, as one day someone may offer something you want but because a past issue, they won’t even consider you! STC stands for Subject To Collection.
If you request something from another user and your lucky enough to get the item gifted to you, either send a personal e-mail saying thank you or post a RECEIVED listing. This is done in exactly the same way as OFFER & TAKEN listings.
On the other hand, you may really want or need something. Your a little tight on money or want to see if anyone has it to gift to you before buying. You log in to your group and list a WANTED post. This is done in the same way as OFFER, TAKEN or RECEIVED listings and it is a good idea to say why you want it and if you can collect or not. These are better received than just “I want a……..”. More importantly BE APPROACHABLE!! Most people are on Freecycle because they want to help out others and generally it works really well.
It does have a down side as well, some people join, list a post for example, offer or a Nintendo DS. This receives an overwhelming response from other users, each one receives an email saying something along the lines of “Hi, this has now been taken but you can get one here for a very cheap price” followed by a link. The user clearly has never had a DS to gift but posted it in order to scam all the respondents. This isn’t tolerated by users or the moderators and it is you that has to report them to a moderator, so if you don’t know their email, post a “Can a mod please contact me” listing using any of the listing options and a moderator will get back to you, usually within 24 hours. You often find other users will respond to you as well to see if you have the same issue as them.
Your email inbox can also get pretty full, so you do need to pay attention if you are looking for responses to your listings or a response from another user about something you want as they can be easily missed.
I am a member of 4 Freecycle groups that cover and surround the area I live in, I have listed items, received items and posted wanted listings that have been successful. Not everything you offer will be requested, you won’t get everything you ask for and wanted posts are the least successful. Some groups tend to get a lot of WANTED posts where others tend to be mostly OFFER listings, it really depends on your local Freecycle group. You must be prepared to collect items and if you can’t get there as arranged, let them know!!!
Don’t ask for something and then just not turn up because you can’t be bothered. You may find people ask for things and then never collect, this is annoying but just relist your item or offer it to the next person who asked for it.
Freecycle is a really good system but is only as good as it’s users!!! There are literally hundreds of Freecycle groups covering many countries. If you know of any that cover a different country, let me know at support@areyouasbusyasme.com so I can keep everyone upto date!!
Mrsl
Freecycling Countries
Freecycle is active in these countries :
Albania
Andorra
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Bermuda
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Canada
Cayman Islands
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Estonia
Fiji
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kenya
Korea, Republic of
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mexico
Morocco
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Other
Pakistan
Palestinian Authority
Panama
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saint Lucia
Serbia
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tanzania, United Republic of
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Virgin Islands (U.S.)
Zambia
List supplied by Freecycle.org