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CL Freebies

Andyman

Andyman

Scroungus Stereophilus
Subscriber
Any of you folks ever give away stuff on CL freebies??

I have done several items over the last two days and it's a little weird...

I've got some stuff we couldn't sell at our garage sale last week and that I didn't want to give to the Salvation Army because I thought they might toss it, so I've been doing CL Free ads on them. I basically want these things to get used somewhere down the line, I could curb them or set the in the scrappers truck across the street if I just wanted them gone, but this stuff could still ne useful to someone else.

Some queries make sense and you get a LOT of responses, but sometimes it's a bit weird in two regards.

I was giving away one of my 4 HP Laserjets and one of the replys wound up coming to me from 3 different names. First it was from Moe, then about 2 or three replies later I get s new inquiry on the thread from Larry, and then a bit later there's one from Curly?? Is this some sort of scambot pumping out responses?? I dunno??

Second I get a lot of folks looking for two items that are a bit dissimilar. I just posted for a set of new gas shocks for my 1993 Explorer and a Dyson vac that needs batteries. I had about 20 responses in as many minutes and 3 of them were from the folks wanting both. So what are these folks? Flippers? Scrappers? Folks with worn out trucks and dirty floors?

I dunno, it just has my guts saying WTF....
 
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You are braver then I am. GW or trash for me. I do curb stuff for the scrap man at the end of the month.
 
Years ago, I set out the original, cheap, poorly build, painted ugly as sin, mantle from my fireplace. And I do mean cheap. Within 10 minutes a lady was shoving it into her van.

I could have bought it back a couple of years later at a garage sale. When I laughed, they did not seem amused. I was.
 
I've had pretty good luck getting rid of things this way, often big things I don't want to deal with hauling away. 2 electric ranges, a hottub, an old tube TV.

You do get some wierd responses though. A lot of two or three word responses like "I'll take it."
 
I gave away some engine parts this week. Being a cheap SOB myself, I hate winging stuff in the dumpster if it can be used.
All that in spite of swearing it off forever a couple years ago. I had a HUGE mirror, and the Mrs. didn't want it over the bed, :no: so I put it for free on CL. One gal said she really had to have it for her hair salon. She jacked me around for 3 days. The fourth day she promised to come get it while I was at work, so I put it outside leaning against a tree. Came home to find it in a million pieces in my lawn.
 
We do a yard sale once a year. What doesn't sell gets put curbside and posted on a cl ad. I don't hold and do not answer the ad. I also state that in the ad. Usually all of the stuff gets picked up within hours. Whatever is left gets brought down to the Sal. Great way to clean house, especially when you have 4 kids.
 
Pre-CL days.... My dad put a washer and dryer on the curb with a sign that said "Free". They sat there for 5 days. He them changed the sign to read "$25 for both". That night someone stole them. LOL. We are all going to hell in a hand basket.
 
When my Dad and I lived in a mobile home park several years ago, we'd place bets on how quickly usable items would get snatched from the curb. This would be furniture, etc. Record was 10 minutes. My personal record... I had an old lawnmower that blew an engine. Old piece of crap. I rolled it to the curb, and by the time I reached the front door, some guy in a pickup asked if I was throwing it out. I said 'take it away,' and he did.
 
I've done several free items on CL and freecycle.org in the past. On CL, I just put up my address and said the item was out front. I immediately pulled down the ad after it was picked up. It's not any less safe than having the scrappers and random people drive by your house, unless you have a picture of a Mercedes and all your McIntosh gear in the background. Freecycle won't allow an address in the post, and it's always been more of a hassle setting up someone to come get stuff... but, it is at least picked up by a member of a controlled community web group and not a totally random stranger.
 
I used the freebies as I was hoping to get my stuff to folks who would use it, bit scrap it. I don't care if they flip it either. I just want to see someone USE it for something besides scrap.

I have scrappers across the street and lots come up the street the night before trash day too. Or I could just throw it out. One of the contacts did email me that he planned on scrapping the item, but I already had someone coming got it.

So what do you guys think? When you give this stuff away do you think it gets used or does someone scrap it?
 
I just tore out my 30 year old deck, 16'X18'. Listed the used worn lumber for free on CL. It was all gone the next day. It sure beat paying to have it hauled off.
 
opossumcrush said:
I just tore out my 30 year old deck, 16'X18'. Listed the used worn lumber for free on CL. It was all gone the next day. It sure beat paying to have it hauled off.
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Years ago we cut down my neighbor's birch tree. Maybe 25 ' tall with a 24" trunk. He couldn't use the wood, so I posted it as freebie on CL and it was gone in 3 days.
 
For the stuff we put curbside, I feel it goes to the local flea market. People would just load all the boxes without looking at the contents. I don't really care, because it is less stuff I need to get to the Sal.
 
Much better to belong to Freecycle to give stuff away. At least it is a moderated community. CL puts the free section right next to the personals section, and some of the people wander back and forth. (Ugh... too judgmental?)
 
Freecycle most certainly allows addresses to be posted, unless the local group or moderator sets up a rule about it. I've never heard of such a rule in all the local Freecyle groups I've belonged to.
 
Put out a couple of boxes of old car hubcaps after putting an ad on Craigslist, and they were gone within five minutes. Faster than a speeding pizza.
 
45rpm said:
Put out a couple of boxes of old car hubcaps after putting an ad on Craigslist, and they were gone within five minutes. Faster than a speeding pizza.
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Around here the scrappers get all the metal. I wanted this stuff to be used or at worst parted, so that's why I do 't just curb it.
But my guts tell me that the metal stuff might wind up going that route regardless.
Maybe I should sell it for a couple bucks to keep some of the scrappers away???
I've done that with dead receivers and tape decks before...:yes:
 
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