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Giving things away is a massive pain in the ass. Have you ever tried to sell things on Craigslist or Facebook? Or even give them away for free? You get all kind

Giving things away is a massive pain in the ass. Have you ever tried to sell things on Craigslist or Facebook? Or even give them away for free? You get all kinds of dolts with all kinds of problems and complicated ideas about when and where to meet, assuming they don't just completely flake. There's haggling and begging and bizarre, sometimes unsettling interactions. As a result, I tend to just trash things more often than not. Buy my current neighborhood does a good job. People leave furniture and other items on the sidewalk regularly and other people take them (oftentimes seemingly instantly!). Half of my furniture is from the street, some of it very nice. And there are Facebook groups where people post stuff that's on the street, or things in their home they want to give away (though then you are back to making plans with weirdos). The main group I use is Buy Nothing... https://www.facebook.com/BuyNothingProject/ https://www.facebook.com/BuyNothingProject/ I find a lot of their policies/moderation to be excessive, but it works.

tmaly 4y ago
Giving away free is more trouble than it is worth. You spend so much time responding to people as if you are selling the item for $1000. I just tell them all, I am putting it out by the curb. First person to come gets it.
benj111 4y ago
eBay is by far the best for buyers not messing sellers about.
i_am_jl 4y ago
>People leave furniture and other items on the sidewalk regularly and other people take them (oftentimes seemingly instantly!). Half of my furniture is from the street, some of it very nice A bit of a tangent, but I was recently shocked to learn that there are places in the US where this is discouraged. I suggested leaving a couch out on the curb when the owner had the same reservations as you about FB/CL and I was told that the cops will come by and spraypaint "BEDBUGS" on any furniture in an attempt to curb the neighborhood/city/regional bedbug problem. I was told that second hand stores are similarly cagey about taking any used furniture, so the options are FB/CL or a dumpster.
- OJFord 4y ago
  > A bit of a tangent, but I was recently shocked to learn that there are places in the US where this is discouraged. I'm not in the US (UK) but I wouldn't do it myself just because I think it looks 'trashy'. It's also probably not technically allowed (unless you have a front garden/drive and it's on your property) - but local councils will collect large appliances/furniture by prior arrangement too, I imagine the details vary but one I checked a while ago for example would do one such collection a year for free, some small fee if you needed an additional one that year.
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  When I see someone leave out an upholstered couch outside on the curb during Seattle’s rainy season, I cringe a lot.
- dml2135 4y ago
  Bedbugs are a real problem. I'll dumpster dive almost anything, but I draw the line at mattresses and upholstered furniture.
wombat-man 4y ago
Too lazy to do buy nothing but I have a lot of friends that like surfing the page as a hobby. I just put stuff outside and list it on craigslist free. Usually gone in an hour but I'm in a city.
rahimnathwani 4y ago
I posted a double stroller (with 6 very clear pics and web links to the manufacturer's web site) on my local 'buy nothing' FB group a couple of days ago. Three people replied saying they could pick up 'tomorrow' (i.e. yesterday). 1st person: no reply to my DMs after 12 hours (even though I DM'd them a minute after they commented). 2nd person: wanted more info about the condition (which is clear in the pics) and needs to check with someone else before they commit. I'm still hoping it will be taken by someone before the end of the weekend.
dataflow 4y ago
Also apartment complexes sometimes have rules about who can carry furniture on the premises (for damage liability), so good luck hauling that massive bed/couch/etc. downstairs waiting for someone to pick it up... especially if you don't have friends/family nearby who can help at that precise time.
euroderf 4y ago
Finland has a good system for this. You can take no-longer-wanted household items to your nearest kierrätyskeskus ("recycling center"). They sort thru it, toss the unsellable, check over checkoverable things (think: stereos and sweaters and jigsaw puzzles) to verify they're OK (and affix a label), and put'em on a shelf with a price tag. These centers are a wonderful source of super-affordable second-hand stuff. The environmental benefits are yuuuge.
- koala_man 4y ago
  > jigsaw puzzles Wait, how do they check these over? Do they solve them to make sure that a quarter of the pieces aren't missing. Do they count the pieces in a 5000pc puzzle?
  - allan_s 4y ago
    A 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle does not have precisely 5000 pieces :)
    - vidanay 4y ago
      Why don't Jigsaw Puzzles have the correct number of pieces? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXWvptwoCl8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXWvptwoCl8
  - euroderf 4y ago
    I assume they just count the pieces !
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  Goodwill in the states does this, but you have to wait in a long car line for an hour to donate, so it isn’t hassle free. But we’ve been there a few times with toys and some furniture.
  - PebblesRox 4y ago
    I guess this varies by region. I've never had to wait more than a couple minutes to make a donation at any local thrift stores.
Gualdrapo 4y ago
Maybe that's a FirstWorldProblem™. Living in an impoverished area in a so-called third world country with absurd levels of inequality, most people cannot afford things that are considered for some as "basic" - nice bed sheets, a phone, a TV, pots and pans. Wherever I or someone offers something to give away in a Facebook Marketplace local group, within seconds dozens of people will ask you to give it for them, offer to go immediately to claim it and everything - as look as what you offer is in a decent condition.
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  China was like that also. If you had some furniture you wanted to get rid of, ask the guard or someone at the property management office, they know someone who would take it.
P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago
yeah, how dare other people have lives they need to schedule around, anyone other than this poster doing so is obviously a "dolt". stupid dolts, not realizing who the real hero of the story is! ---
- dottedmag 4y ago
  The author of the comment is giving things away, not selling them.
- crazygringo 4y ago
  Have you ever tried giving away stuff or selling it on Craigslist/Marketplace...? There really are dolts out there. It's not normal scheduling, it's bizarro requests and just scummy stuff like you arrange to sell something for $40, go meet them somewhere with the item, then they insist they've only got $20 take-it-or-leave-it because they know you already went to the trouble to bring it and meet them and at this point you'd rather just cut your losses. "Dolts" is being generous, really. Or you're giving something away for free and they want you to travel an hour to them to deliver it... not to mention the constant requests for info about the item that is already answered clearly directly in the listing. Dolts.
  - P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago
    The poster is giving it away for free so your complaint is not what they were talking about. But if that's a common problem for you, tell them up front before meeting them it will be payment in full or you'll walk away. They're wasting their time too.
    - crazygringo 4y ago
      The poster literally said "Have you ever tried to sell things on Craigslist or Facebook?". So yes my complaint is what they're talking about. And no, I don't need to tell them it will be payment in full. That's already understood by any adult. And why wouldn't they still pull the same trick? (For the record, I don't sell it to them, so they do waste their time but it wastes mine too.)
sys_64738 4y ago
Craigslist responses for free stuff are wacky. Can you hold it for me? Can you deliver it for me? Say what.
- molotovh 4y ago
  This is something I see all the time, asking for delivery on large items like furniture. If you're getting a $100+ item for free, it shouldn't be too much to ask that you do the legwork to arrange transportation.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - filoleg 4y ago
    Yeah, but how can you be so cruel to not be willing to deliver those old (but still very valuable) large speakers for free to a single mother of 12 that lives about 1.5 hours away and ruin those kids' christmas that way, you monster (despite your ad explicitly stating that it was a pickup-only item)? /s I had a few annoying experiences trying to get rid of perfectly good items for free (as well as a good number of non-problematic perfectly smooth experiences). But those few annoying experiences seriously make me feel hesitant to deal with it again. Casually browsing r/ChoosingBeggars from time to time isn't helping the situation either.
cpsns 4y ago
> Giving things away is a massive pain in the ass. Have you ever tried to sell things on Craigslist or Facebook? Or even give them away for free? I admit I don't know the situation in other places, but where I live it's trivial to give things away for free, or to donate them. There are multiple non-profit second hand stores where you can quite literally just drop stuff off outside their door at any hour of the day. They'll access it and if it's fit for resale they'll put a small price on it and handle the rest. I've seen examples of towns that have specific "free stuff" weeks where people put out things that aren't garbage and anyone can take them. I quite like the idea, because it means people know they won't have to root though actual garbage.
Semaphor 4y ago
Where I am, there are very often boxes with "to take", there's a city wide Facebook group for giving things away, and our German nextdoor clone also has many people give things away for free in the neighborhood. For books, there are also public bookshelves, and for clothes, there are charitable organizations. I've used all of those multiple times (mainly to give things away, but also getting things for free), and it's not a hassle at all.
- Arnt 4y ago
  I've given away about 30 things on ebay-kleinanzeigen, and found that it varies from zero hassle to considerable, mostly depending on the kind of item but also on pure luck.
  - Semaphor 4y ago
    I never went to ekz as I heard nothing but horror stories about it.
    - Arnt 4y ago
      I assume that the people who ask for more photos and yet more photos behave the same way on other platforms.
      - Semaphor 4y ago
        Never met any of those on nebenan.de ;) Never had anyone ask for more pictures at all
thiht 4y ago
> Have you ever tried to sell things on Craigslist or Facebook? Or even give them away for free? I’m in France so not on Craigslist or Facebook but on LeBonCoin. When I moved out I sold most of my furniture (table, chairs, desk…) and gave away a few things (pans, toaster…). Giving things is even easier than throwing away, people come the same day to take it away no matter the size. I’ve never had a single issue with selling stuff online. People are nice and happy to get stuff at a discount, or free stuff. I’m an avid reader of /r/ChoosingBeggars on Reddit because I find it funny but it doesn’t relate at all to my experience. > You get all kinds of dolts with all kinds of problems and complicated ideas about when and where to meet, assuming they don't just completely flake. Again, not my experience. The seller gets to pick the spot, that’s common sense and I’ve never seen anyone pick on that.
- AdmiralAsshat 4y ago
  Agreeing where to meet is a common American thing that stems from a mutual feeling of paranoia. Namely: - The seller doesn't want the buyer to know where they live in case the buyer comes back to stalk them. - The buyer doesn't want to meet the seller is some random alley carrying cash, lest the seller rob them. For this reason, most Craigslist transactions I've had where the thing being sold was over $100 in value, we'd meet in a mall or bank parking lot, where no one would be stupid enough to try to rob the other party in broad daylight.
  - rssoconnor 4y ago
    I recently learned that my local police have designated areas in their station's parking lots for these sorts of exchanges: <https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/staying-safe/buy-and-sell-exchange-zones.aspx https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/staying-safe/buy-and-sell-exchange...>
User23 4y ago
This reminds me of the classic Simpsons trampoline gag[1]. [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=clKqZZynW9E https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=clKqZZynW9E
givemeethekeys 4y ago
> Giving things away is a massive pain in the ass. I give things away on Craigslist and sell things on there too. It is pretty simple.. put up good pictures, good descriptions, and treat the people who are picking your unwantables as people who are doing you the favor of taking those items off your hands. It’s quick.
vishnugupta 4y ago
In the Netherlands there’s a place called “Boomerang” where one can dispose of used or partial broken things. The workers there (I guess some are volunteering) sort them out, repair and put them up for sale. So really good stuff are available for really low price. All that is to say, it wasn’t pain in the ass when I was in the Netherlands.

tmaly 4y ago

Giving away free is more trouble than it is worth. You spend so much time responding to people as if you are selling the item for $1000. I just tell them all, I am putting it out by the curb. First person to come gets it.

benj111 4y ago

eBay is by far the best for buyers not messing sellers about.

i_am_jl 4y ago

>People leave furniture and other items on the sidewalk regularly and other people take them (oftentimes seemingly instantly!). Half of my furniture is from the street, some of it very nice A bit of a tangent, but I was recently shocked to learn that there are places in the US where this is discouraged. I suggested leaving a couch out on the curb when the owner had the same reservations as you about FB/CL and I was told that the cops will come by and spraypaint "BEDBUGS" on any furniture in an attempt to curb the neighborhood/city/regional bedbug problem. I was told that second hand stores are similarly cagey about taking any used furniture, so the options are FB/CL or a dumpster.

OJFord 4y ago
> A bit of a tangent, but I was recently shocked to learn that there are places in the US where this is discouraged. I'm not in the US (UK) but I wouldn't do it myself just because I think it looks 'trashy'. It's also probably not technically allowed (unless you have a front garden/drive and it's on your property) - but local councils will collect large appliances/furniture by prior arrangement too, I imagine the details vary but one I checked a while ago for example would do one such collection a year for free, some small fee if you needed an additional one that year.
seanmcdirmid 4y ago
When I see someone leave out an upholstered couch outside on the curb during Seattle’s rainy season, I cringe a lot.
dml2135 4y ago
Bedbugs are a real problem. I'll dumpster dive almost anything, but I draw the line at mattresses and upholstered furniture.

wombat-man 4y ago

Too lazy to do buy nothing but I have a lot of friends that like surfing the page as a hobby. I just put stuff outside and list it on craigslist free. Usually gone in an hour but I'm in a city.

rahimnathwani 4y ago

I posted a double stroller (with 6 very clear pics and web links to the manufacturer's web site) on my local 'buy nothing' FB group a couple of days ago. Three people replied saying they could pick up 'tomorrow' (i.e. yesterday). 1st person: no reply to my DMs after 12 hours (even though I DM'd them a minute after they commented). 2nd person: wanted more info about the condition (which is clear in the pics) and needs to check with someone else before they commit. I'm still hoping it will be taken by someone before the end of the weekend.

dataflow 4y ago

Also apartment complexes sometimes have rules about who can carry furniture on the premises (for damage liability), so good luck hauling that massive bed/couch/etc. downstairs waiting for someone to pick it up... especially if you don't have friends/family nearby who can help at that precise time.

euroderf 4y ago

Finland has a good system for this. You can take no-longer-wanted household items to your nearest kierrätyskeskus ("recycling center"). They sort thru it, toss the unsellable, check over checkoverable things (think: stereos and sweaters and jigsaw puzzles) to verify they're OK (and affix a label), and put'em on a shelf with a price tag. These centers are a wonderful source of super-affordable second-hand stuff. The environmental benefits are yuuuge.

koala_man 4y ago
> jigsaw puzzles Wait, how do they check these over? Do they solve them to make sure that a quarter of the pieces aren't missing. Do they count the pieces in a 5000pc puzzle?
- allan_s 4y ago
  A 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle does not have precisely 5000 pieces :)
  - vidanay 4y ago
    Why don't Jigsaw Puzzles have the correct number of pieces? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXWvptwoCl8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXWvptwoCl8
- euroderf 4y ago
  I assume they just count the pieces !
seanmcdirmid 4y ago
Goodwill in the states does this, but you have to wait in a long car line for an hour to donate, so it isn’t hassle free. But we’ve been there a few times with toys and some furniture.
- PebblesRox 4y ago
  I guess this varies by region. I've never had to wait more than a couple minutes to make a donation at any local thrift stores.

Gualdrapo 4y ago

Maybe that's a FirstWorldProblem™. Living in an impoverished area in a so-called third world country with absurd levels of inequality, most people cannot afford things that are considered for some as "basic" - nice bed sheets, a phone, a TV, pots and pans. Wherever I or someone offers something to give away in a Facebook Marketplace local group, within seconds dozens of people will ask you to give it for them, offer to go immediately to claim it and everything - as look as what you offer is in a decent condition.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago
China was like that also. If you had some furniture you wanted to get rid of, ask the guard or someone at the property management office, they know someone who would take it.

P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago

yeah, how dare other people have lives they need to schedule around, anyone other than this poster doing so is obviously a "dolt". stupid dolts, not realizing who the real hero of the story is! ---

dottedmag 4y ago
The author of the comment is giving things away, not selling them.
crazygringo 4y ago
Have you ever tried giving away stuff or selling it on Craigslist/Marketplace...? There really are dolts out there. It's not normal scheduling, it's bizarro requests and just scummy stuff like you arrange to sell something for $40, go meet them somewhere with the item, then they insist they've only got $20 take-it-or-leave-it because they know you already went to the trouble to bring it and meet them and at this point you'd rather just cut your losses. "Dolts" is being generous, really. Or you're giving something away for free and they want you to travel an hour to them to deliver it... not to mention the constant requests for info about the item that is already answered clearly directly in the listing. Dolts.
- P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago
  The poster is giving it away for free so your complaint is not what they were talking about. But if that's a common problem for you, tell them up front before meeting them it will be payment in full or you'll walk away. They're wasting their time too.
  - crazygringo 4y ago
    The poster literally said "Have you ever tried to sell things on Craigslist or Facebook?". So yes my complaint is what they're talking about. And no, I don't need to tell them it will be payment in full. That's already understood by any adult. And why wouldn't they still pull the same trick? (For the record, I don't sell it to them, so they do waste their time but it wastes mine too.)

sys_64738 4y ago

Craigslist responses for free stuff are wacky. Can you hold it for me? Can you deliver it for me? Say what.

molotovh 4y ago
This is something I see all the time, asking for delivery on large items like furniture. If you're getting a $100+ item for free, it shouldn't be too much to ask that you do the legwork to arrange transportation.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- filoleg 4y ago
  Yeah, but how can you be so cruel to not be willing to deliver those old (but still very valuable) large speakers for free to a single mother of 12 that lives about 1.5 hours away and ruin those kids' christmas that way, you monster (despite your ad explicitly stating that it was a pickup-only item)? /s I had a few annoying experiences trying to get rid of perfectly good items for free (as well as a good number of non-problematic perfectly smooth experiences). But those few annoying experiences seriously make me feel hesitant to deal with it again. Casually browsing r/ChoosingBeggars from time to time isn't helping the situation either.

cpsns 4y ago

> Giving things away is a massive pain in the ass. Have you ever tried to sell things on Craigslist or Facebook? Or even give them away for free? I admit I don't know the situation in other places, but where I live it's trivial to give things away for free, or to donate them. There are multiple non-profit second hand stores where you can quite literally just drop stuff off outside their door at any hour of the day. They'll access it and if it's fit for resale they'll put a small price on it and handle the rest. I've seen examples of towns that have specific "free stuff" weeks where people put out things that aren't garbage and anyone can take them. I quite like the idea, because it means people know they won't have to root though actual garbage.

Semaphor 4y ago

Where I am, there are very often boxes with "to take", there's a city wide Facebook group for giving things away, and our German nextdoor clone also has many people give things away for free in the neighborhood. For books, there are also public bookshelves, and for clothes, there are charitable organizations. I've used all of those multiple times (mainly to give things away, but also getting things for free), and it's not a hassle at all.

Arnt 4y ago
I've given away about 30 things on ebay-kleinanzeigen, and found that it varies from zero hassle to considerable, mostly depending on the kind of item but also on pure luck.
- Semaphor 4y ago
  I never went to ekz as I heard nothing but horror stories about it.
  - Arnt 4y ago
    I assume that the people who ask for more photos and yet more photos behave the same way on other platforms.
    - Semaphor 4y ago
      Never met any of those on nebenan.de ;) Never had anyone ask for more pictures at all

thiht 4y ago

> Have you ever tried to sell things on Craigslist or Facebook? Or even give them away for free? I’m in France so not on Craigslist or Facebook but on LeBonCoin. When I moved out I sold most of my furniture (table, chairs, desk…) and gave away a few things (pans, toaster…). Giving things is even easier than throwing away, people come the same day to take it away no matter the size. I’ve never had a single issue with selling stuff online. People are nice and happy to get stuff at a discount, or free stuff. I’m an avid reader of /r/ChoosingBeggars on Reddit because I find it funny but it doesn’t relate at all to my experience. > You get all kinds of dolts with all kinds of problems and complicated ideas about when and where to meet, assuming they don't just completely flake. Again, not my experience. The seller gets to pick the spot, that’s common sense and I’ve never seen anyone pick on that.

AdmiralAsshat 4y ago
Agreeing where to meet is a common American thing that stems from a mutual feeling of paranoia. Namely: - The seller doesn't want the buyer to know where they live in case the buyer comes back to stalk them. - The buyer doesn't want to meet the seller is some random alley carrying cash, lest the seller rob them. For this reason, most Craigslist transactions I've had where the thing being sold was over $100 in value, we'd meet in a mall or bank parking lot, where no one would be stupid enough to try to rob the other party in broad daylight.
- rssoconnor 4y ago
  I recently learned that my local police have designated areas in their station's parking lots for these sorts of exchanges: <https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/staying-safe/buy-and-sell-exchange-zones.aspx https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/staying-safe/buy-and-sell-exchange...>

User23 4y ago

This reminds me of the classic Simpsons trampoline gag[1]. [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=clKqZZynW9E https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=clKqZZynW9E

givemeethekeys 4y ago

> Giving things away is a massive pain in the ass. I give things away on Craigslist and sell things on there too. It is pretty simple.. put up good pictures, good descriptions, and treat the people who are picking your unwantables as people who are doing you the favor of taking those items off your hands. It’s quick.

vishnugupta 4y ago

In the Netherlands there’s a place called “Boomerang” where one can dispose of used or partial broken things. The workers there (I guess some are volunteering) sort them out, repair and put them up for sale. So really good stuff are available for really low price. All that is to say, it wasn’t pain in the ass when I was in the Netherlands.