[evie2]

can someone explain freecycle to me, I've tried to use it but I must be doing something wrong

[arugula]

Don't they just love it?

I can't comment as no-one operates it round here.....

[mumofstig]

er.....you post what you want, or what you want to get rid of, and a matching person or 10 comes along......the giver then decides who gets the goodies and then it gets collected. Simples

Signing on was a pain in the youknowwhat though, and it took ages for my acceptance mail to come through before I could join in the fun

[orchardlady]

I would recommend that you sign on for daily supplements to free cycle rather than an e mail each time someone places a post, otherwise your in box gets full of rubbish.

Free cycle is a wonderful way to keep items out of land fill. So for example yesterday I placed Wanted post on Freecycle of a plastic cat carrying basket. I received an e mail from a fellow freecyler and we arranged for me to collect it. I got a cat basket and she got the space in her cupboard. Of course you are not always s o lucky so don't bother asking for a Porch, laptop, house in the South of France etc but I have received some wonderful items and indeed given some great thing away to.

If you see something posted that you would like just reply to the post and if the person who has the item thinks you should have it well lucky you and the'll get back to you.

Some tips.

Always be as polite as possible when asking to be considered to become the new owner of an item.

Turn up on time, you would be amazed how many times I've been left in the lurch with no shows. I never ever offer to that person again.

You of course can stipulate that you might like an item to go to a charity or you don't want it sold on etc. but often that's not relevant if let's say you have some hardcore  or a spare roll of turf knocking around.

Some items I've received are.

Draughtsman's set, bone handled in velvet lined leather case.

Beautiful tweed mans overcoat.

Perfect fit dinner jacket

Fabric

Bath time toy ducks

Things I've given.

A brand new ipod shuffle (went to a local charity)

Some decent furniture

Funky teenage girls coats and clothes.

Driveway shingle

45 gallon oil drum.

 Worth doing.

best of luck.

[joyfull]

I am on 5 local ones and have had some great things ranging from motorbikes through to a Christmas tree and decorations (thanks Julie  ). I have also gifted quite a few things that were of no use to me but obviously useful to somebody else  . I get hundreds of emails but luckily can use my works computer to check them regularly as sometimes you can miss some items if you have the daily digests.

[evie2]

Yes it's the signing on that's doing my head in

[Madame Cholet]

weve got  similar sites called freegle great idea.

[N.WalesIdealist]

I've just registered, but signing in is driving me mental.  I've not yet a received a confirmation e-mail...frustrating.

[grendel]

I am a moderator on one group in kent (run by my uncle) and its difficult as a moderator has to do the work, they get an email from the site to say there is a prospective new member, then have to log in and approve them, if the email disappears into that black hole called spam filter (and yahoo's are particularly good at marking .yahoo addresses as spam) then it gets tricky. so you either turn off the spam filters and get repeated offers for certain performance enhancing drugs, of you lose a few membership applications.
Grendel

[arugula]

That sounds a bit of a nightmare Grendel. I think its useful you told us that, thanks!

[N.WalesIdealist]

Does sound a lot of work, thank you for volunteering!

I've had my e-mail now, just waiting to be approved by the mods of the various groups I've joined.  There's someone in North Wales giving away animal feed, topsoil and lime...

[Zippy]

I would suggest you set your Freecycle to send you individual emails each time something is posted so that you get an immediate heads up. If you have a daily email you may find everything has been taken by the time you get your daily bulletin.

[ex-cavator]

I would suggest you set your Freecycle to send you individual emails each time something is posted so that you get an immediate heads up. If you have a daily email you may find everything has been taken by the time you get your daily bulletin.

Totally agree with Zippy, but you'll get inundated with emails, particularly if its a busy group. So, create a dedicated 'Freecycle' folder, and in mail options set up any email containing the word 'freecycle' to go into that folder, and to be automatically deleted after, say, two days. That way you can go into the folder & check for any goodies as frequently as you like, but you won't be overrun with old posts if you don't manage to get into it for a couple of days or more.