That reminds me, I need to keep an eye out for the next old roof slates ad…

Someone has flytipped a load of slates near me. I get a bag full whenever I walk passed, tidying up and getting some slates I need.

We have a very weird thing in Australia: “council clean-up”

Council-run tips charge regular punters to get rid of stuff, but (presumably as some sort of concession to this) every 6 months your street will have a council clean-up day: everyone just dumps all their shite on the verge outside their house, and the council come along and collect it all for free.

This has spawned a cottage industry of people roaming the streets picking through the piles of stuff awaiting collection. The only thing weirder than seeing what people are throwing away, is observing what people are pouncing-on the moment it hits the verge. Some stuff is obvious like scrap metal (there is a bloke who goes around removing the stators from anything with a motor) – but have seen people walking off with all manner of absolute tut.

Obviously it’s a good thing to re-use anything and everything somebody can find a use for, but part of me is irrationally uncomfortable seeing somebody picking through my rubbish.

I’ve joined an ebike selling group on Facebook. You see the odd ‘proper’ e bike, usually with no reassurance it’s legit.

But it’s overrun with guys churning out BSOs with conversion kits on them, batteries cable tied to Y Frame suspension bikes or on a seat post mounted rack, bikes without a front brake, motor bike headlamps fitted to the tripleclamps on old downhill rigs, twist throttles that will do 50mph and ‘fine if you only use them off-road’. It’s rare to see anything first less than £1000.

I find the psychology of it interesting. With eBay it was all about winning an item so you had stuff going for crazy prices. The FB marketplace psychology seems to be more about feeling like you’ve got a bargain even if you didn’t actually need it.

Also, people are just chancers. Less spectacular than the guy unthread who thought he’d get a 4k bike for free but my wife advertised her road bike at a really good price. About ten replies within about ten minutes, everyone asking if she’d take about half what she’d asked. Is this a sideline/hobby for some people?

My mate got rid of his ancient sectional concrete garage (with no roof or door) for free on Marketplace. Two blokes turned up in a truck, took it apart, loaded it up and drove away.

I’ve picked up some really lovely bits and pieces for free of market place.

and sold/given away some stuff too

best not to expect to much and always be polite

my wife advertised her road bike at a really good price. About ten replies within about ten minutes, everyone asking if she’d take about half what she’d asked.

That’s pretty much my experience of the most popular Spanish app for selling stuff. Advertised a pond liner for 20€ (it was in perfect condition and probably cost about 80 new), immediately get someone offering me 10… ended up giving it away for free I was so pissed off with the chancers 🙂

Also, people are just chancers

This is certainly my experience. List something for 50 quid, thinking “I’d be happy with 40, but no less than 35”.

“I’ll give you a tenner”

my wife advertised her road bike at a really good price. About ten replies within about ten minutes, everyone asking if she’d take about half what she’d asked.

That’s when it is time to have some fun, I’ve been known to reply to the message offering me half with a price 50% higher than advertised. It is normally met with “but you cant do that, it is advertised at XX”. Followed by a very sarcastic reply that it must be Ok as you’ve just offered me half…

By then somebody who isn’t a chancer has normally taken it for a fair price.

I saw one, where by a kettle was being offered, for free. The prospective collector said they wouldnt come and get it unless the seller “made it worth their time” and included a matching toaster.
For free.
The seller met them halfway and offered to give it to them for half price instead.

Someone posted a garage forecourt canopy for scrap yesterday.
Collector dismantles.

And another common one “cement garage, collector dismantles and removes” (clearly asbestos)

There are always nutjobs who think the world owes them something.

On the flip side weve off loaded loads of stuff on our local site though. Perfectly good bits and pieces that are not worth the time or effort to sell, but also dont want them in the house. I like to see a piece of furniture ive been stubbing my toe on for months go to someone who clearly appreciates it and will make good use of it. Better that than it go in a wood chipper.

Is Kev “Blackhound” still on here? He gave me some chairs that were on their way to a skip around 2007. I moved them on a week or two a go.

I’ve got some grass and dandelions here, free to collector. You just need to bring your petrol lawnmower to gather it all up.

Then there are the serial ‘Is this still available’ people – they just try to get first dibs on every single thing they see then go off and look on Ebay to see if it has any resale value. Those are the ones you never hear from again. I have mentally blacklisted all of the people on my local groups that do that.

Love it… My name for is :

“The Virtual Flytip”

We got a nice free sofa, armchair & cushions that a local mum couldn’t sell, few years old and from John Lewis or similar I think. They even dropped it off as they had a big van for moving.

Obviously we breached etiquette by sending her a nice bunch of flowers. Should’ve complained that there was no coffee table instead.

My wife advertised a load of free Christmas decorations before Christmas (no longer her preferred colour scheme).

Woman replied and asked if they could be delivered to her, which MrsB agreed to do. Upon delivery the woman didn’t even say thankyou.

We got a nice free sofa, armchair & cushions that a local mum couldn’t sell, few years old and from John Lewis or similar I think

Last name wasn’t Symonds, was it?

Ha, I’m guilty of skip/rubbish diving, ended up making a fair bit of money selling lengths of network cable and old IT equipment on ebay back in the day. Rescued a couple of bikes recently as well, use what I need and the rest goes to the bike charity, even if it’s scrap they’ll get something for it.

A recent selection of the joys I’ve had on FB marketplace:
1. “Don’t suppose you’re travelling to X (20 miles away) soon and can deliver it to me?”
2. “Can I have it half price because it’s all I’ve got in my account?” (It was advertised at £10 – think this bloke needs to sort his priorities)
3. “I can collect straight away even though you’ve just told me someone else is already coming for it”
4. Turns up in a Mini and is surprised when the double bed frame doesn’t fit inside.
5. “Can you hold it for a week until I can get there to collect it?” Followed 5 minutes after you agree by someone who can come straight away.

On the other hand, we’ve had some good stuff for free or very cheap. Never paid more than £50 for a decent sofa and got my lads 24″ B’Twin bike for £7 because it had been left outside and had a little bit of surface rust on it.

I’m a big fan of Facebook marketplace aka. “the tip that comes to you”.

The queue to get in the tip is actually usually longer than the time it takes for someone to snap up my tat.

I’ll even slap a price on some stuff – it usually goes quickly and the people seem chuffed eg. old fitted wardrobe doors £20, child car seats that have been through 10 kids already £10-20, ikea bookcase £75(!)

We’ve been getting rid of unwanted furniture on FB marketplace recently.

Holy sweet mother. Aside from the usual garden variety time wasters, we had:

– Folk turn up to collected massive chest of drawers (6 drawer high and 2 wide). Drove 1hr 30 to get here (looked like the woman had persuaded a friend with a big car to do her a favour). It didn’t fit. We gave them a refund and thanked for damaging our furniture. Advice given on tape measures.
– 2nd set of folk drive 1hr to collect. In a Hyunadai i10. Bloke isn’t for giving in – I lend him a socket set and he dismantles the trim in the car until it fits. Bungee the boot shut and off he went. An hour of my life wasted.
– Getting rid of a reasonable quality pine wardrobe for £20. Woman comes round. Spends 10 minutes in our house fannying about. She was disappointed it didn’t have a solid wood back, and she really wanted a solid wood back. As in very fine quality antique furniture standard for £20. Absolute roaster – wanted us to hold it for her for a week while she “thought about it”. I think it’s just a hobby for some folk.

One of my neighbours is quite keen. His approach is put a price on everything but say free if you pick up at whatever time suits him. By his reckoning he could give away a skip full of busted asbestos or japanese knotweed so long as he asked for money first then said “free”.

Try Freecycle if you want to be astounded by the brass neck of some people.

Yep, I quickly gave up with that. If I want to get rid of something now I just dump it in the nearest woods.

Last name wasn’t Symonds, was it?

Haha, might just have been yeah.

Try Freecycle if you want to be astounded by the brass neck of some people.

MK Freecycle currently has a bag of sugar, free to collector. Was left in her sons new house and he ‘doesn’t use sugar’.
Or his bin, seemingly.

I’ve tried giving stuff away on Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace. Its much more hassle than actually selling stuff. Inundated with messages, then no shows and just general hassle.

I either just list stuff for a nominal sum now. If they turn up on time I just give them it, although most of the time they do insist on giving me the fiver or tenner. Or it goes on the facebook curtain twitcher community page for free, at least that way they are local which avoids idiots who have driven 2 hours and seem shocked a kitchen table won’t fit in an Aygo

The netherlands have a really good system for this. Every now and then ( can’t remember how often) there is a day for clearing unwanted stuff. You put it outside your house in the morning and folk just pick up what they want or you can sell it on the street without a license

I think the free market might be once a year but putting stuff on your step for free pickup is more frequent

The netherlands have a really good system for this.

Think that happens in quite a few places in Europe, to me it makes perfect sense. Surely it’s better to have this sort of re-use going on rather than a cycle of tipping and unnecessary manufacture? Plus, you get an insight into the strange tastes of your neighbours without having to specifically befriend them.

That said, I have lots of perfectly good stuff I should get shot of (most of which I wouldn’t even want any money for) but the prospect of dealing with the type of zoomer described on this thread puts me right off. Or spending the time getting stuff out and photographing it.

Had a woman turn up to collect 2 free single mattresses in a Golf.  With a bit of effort it’s amazing what you can get in a Golf if you really want shot of it!

The netherlands have a really good system for this. Every now and then ( can’t remember how often) there is a day for clearing unwanted stuff. You put it outside your house in the morning and folk just pick up what they want or you can sell it on the street without a license

Seems to have been really common round here over the last year or so. I think it started in the first lockdown with people putting trestle tables of books, kids toys etc out front after they’d had a clear out with an accompanying note on the Facebook curtain twitches page “free, come and collect on your daily walk”.

I think it’s mostly because Freecycle just ends up with car booters calling dibs on everything, leaving it on the kerb at least cuts the faff.

I think it’s mostly because Freecycle just ends up with car booters calling dibs on everything

Yeah, that’s kinda what I said earlier – they just send out blanket emails asking for everything then take their time to decide whether they actually want it and never bother to respond to messages.

Exactly @matt_outandabout! Ruddy chancers.

Had a woman turn up to collect 2 free single mattresses in a Golf. With a bit of effort it’s amazing what you can get in a Golf if you really want shot of it!

We sold a decent Smeg single range cooker a while back after moving house (buyer didn’t want it) and the people collecting turned up in an Audi A1. Couldn’t believe they got it in!

That said, I have lots of perfectly good stuff I should get shot of (most of which I wouldn’t even want any money for) but the prospect of dealing with the type of zoomer described on this thread puts me right off. Or spending the time getting stuff out and photographing it.

This is me to, my garage and flat are going to qualify for me to be on an episode of Hoarders soon but it’s mostly half decent but small/no value stuff (clothes, shoes, pots & pans, misc electronics, garden furniture, tools etc. etc.). I just can’t be arsed to try and flog/freecycle it given the hassle involved that this sort of thread highlights but also doesn’t seem right taking it to the tip – so it just accumulates argh.

I might pay someone just to cart it all away but then there seems a 50% chance it will just end up fly-tipped regardless if they say they’re a licensed waste carrier.

Had a woman turn up to collect 2 free single mattresses in a Golf. With a bit of effort it’s amazing what you can get in a Golf if you really want shot of it!

I put a motorcycle sidecar in a mini once ( just the chassis and wheel and attachment arms – no body)

I see a lot of stuff out now on my recycling round.I think a lot of it is because charity shops have been closed. The current book I’m reading, Ford County Stories by John Grisham was a find on the round and yesterday I read the Lady in The Van and before that All The President’s Men. I’ve a few other books in the to read pile as well. Today I came home  with a Stanley 8m tape measure and I’ve also brought home quite a few dinosaurs for a friends grandson. I’ve a couple small wooded chairs in the garden that make great pot stands and last week in one day I came home with 2 bike stands, one a floor mounted wheel stand the the other a folding wall mounted one.

Had a woman turn up to collect 2 free single mattresses in a Golf. With a bit of effort it’s amazing what you can get in a Golf if you really want shot of it!

Amazed/confused by these “free to collector” posts, I stuck 2.2 tonnes of broken up concrete shed base slab up for £1 on the off chance it would save me a £100+ in skippage. I was telling a friend about it, and she said “that’s about what I need!” She came back the next day and spent the afternoon ferrying loads back to hers in the boot of her Alfa 159.

With the help of her son. I originally wrote: “spent the afternoon ferrying loads back to hers with her son in the boot of her Alfa 159.” but that didn’t sound quite right! 😀

I put a motorcycle sidecar in a mini once ( just the chassis and wheel and attachment arms – no body)

Amatuer.

I encountered a proper loon on marketplace last week:

My in-laws are looking to downsize and move closer to us, so we’ve been keeping an eye out for bungalows in the area that might match their very exacting standards.

Up pops a very badly spelled advert for a bungalow that didn’t really describe the place too well, but the pictures of the inside looked ok so well worth trying to find out more…

I asked where it was listed as I hadn’t been able to find it on the usual property websites.
Answer – I’m just selling it on here.

Fair enough thinks I, where is the housedo you have a floor plan or any photos of the outside of the house?

No floor plan and photo 2 (a photo of a window in front of a patch of grass) is the front of the house. No mention of location.

I was trying to work out where the house was located as the description was odd and the price didn’t match up with previous sales in the area, so asked what street it was on and asked again for a picture of the house from the road.

Got ghosted for 24hrs so commented back that she perhaps ought to consider using an agent to sell to ensure prospective buyers can get the info they require…

Apparently I should have known that she wouldn’t pass out her address online! How on earth she was expecting to sell a house I don’t know.

In the interim I had actually managed to find the place on google maps and found the “heart of ‘village x’” actually meant literally the last house in the village and they would never build further than that house as the east coast mainline runs 10yds from the back door!
I assume she’d also valued the property herself too as the asking price was £100k more for the 2 bed semi than the 4 bed detached on the same road sold for last year…