I never give to the first person that responds. They are the gimme types. They either sell the stuff, or hord it all in their attic, that is if they bother to either to reply to your e-mail or come get it if they do. I think some have auto reply to all freecycle e-mails and sort through the offers later. Lame I say. That tactic does not work with me. I take e-mails for about 1 week and then give to the person that either needs it most of I feel is most appreciative, or just made me laugh in their response. "I'll take that" does not meet any of those requirements. I love it when folks say HI "my name" say what they want and a little about why they want it. And are polite enough to sign their name. I just posted a freecycle list of things. Subject was somthing like "102 misc items". I got over 40 replies. That was a month ago and I am still trying to sort it all out. I reply to 1 or 2 at a time, to not get too confused and offer the same items to more than one person. All seem very greatful for what I give them, and stay to talk a little, which is great for me, since I can not go into public due to severve chemical sensitivities. I usually drag them out to my garden for show and tell. I ask if they are interested in seeing my garden first though. The last lady that came, offered me tons of leaves from her propery when she heard I was allergic to the moldy hay I picked up from a farm. This lady is even going to chip up the leaves for me. I am so happy. I need the leaves since the ground under a few of my trees is bare either from the leaves blowing away, or me stealing them for mulch. She said she had like 2-3 feet of leaves under her masive trees. She is trilled to have found a home for them. I also learned a lot of useful gardening tips from her. She said that she has no fire ants due to the fact sugar ants eat fire ants. She said you can't kill your sugar ants if you want he fire ants gone. Wow, what a tip! Fire ants like poor dry soil and the sugar ants like the nice loose stuff. She said if you do not have that kind of soil, to leave out flower pots of good loose soil for them to live in. Due to her good gardening and ant control techniques, she has converted her whole street to organic. Major feat, since my whole street uses toxic chemicals that they do not bother to sweep off the sidewalk. I have to walk in the street to avoid the junk. She sets a good example, others are anxious to copy. I was so impressed. She offered to bring the leaves to me, since I can't drive due to car fumes, but I am eager to see her property and said my hubby will bring me over there. I said, I wish I had something to give you then I said, oh I just gave you a lot of things, including a brand new printer. I guess when you give someone something you no longer want it really does not feel like you are doing much. I feel the leaves are worth more to me than the printer, and other things. Free cycle is great despite the no shows, the rude e-mails from the demanding sort, the folks that want and never give, and the folks that make tons of appointments to pick up their things and still never come. I give um one chance now and move on, especially if the do not e-mail to say they were sorry they forgot. I have a list I keep with names and e-mails of no-shows, folks that came but took a long time to do so folks with auto e-mail replies, I'll take that" folks that do not bother to answer e-mails folks that show up folks that are very nice So if I get more than 1 request for an item, I can look through my list and stick with those that come and are pleasant. When I am more selective in who I offer stuff to, I have less problems with no shows. Mary

Karen, thanks for your generous offer of advice on Ebay Selling! When I get it together a bit better, I'll be contacting you for sure. I have threatened for 5 years to sell on it, but just haven't gotten set up with PayPal mainly, plus the other thing I sorta worry about is doing that first Check Out, I'd hate to screw that up! I have a score of 100 and have made purchases exactly 100 times since 2002, but have never sold yet, but at least I'm established well enough for buyers to "trust" me ... do they dare lol. The main thing that is preventing me now is that I'm not organized enough to run it properly as a small business. I really want to keep up with my profits (hopefully no losses!). My daughter is moving very soon, and all her furniture that is filling up my basement, and causing me to be unable to get to my stuff, will finally get moved. They are in the process of looking at houses now. Should be out of here soon, but in a nearby neighborhood! I can't wait to get my bathroom and bedroom back again! It's been 6 months now. Thanks again Karen ~tenderlee

We have a large (4,000+) Freecycle group in my area so you can imagine the number of posts. I have given away several times but have only received once. You have to be sitting on your PC to catch something because with so many members, items are claimed quickly. I am venting and being judgmental here but my ideal give away would be only to people trying to help themselves or someone with an unusual need. What I see very frequently are post like "single mother of (fill in the blank)and one on the way". I really bite my tongue...I mean fingers. One guy smoked the entire time he was picking up while holding a BABY! Plus his car was filled with questionable items that one would normally put out of reach of a small or any child. He explained that he and the baby's mother were getting married and that's why she wanted the flowers that I offered. I wanted to pull back my offer and ask how the baby dealt with the smoke! There, I got it out--Slam me if you must.

Don't give up on freecycle, email the owner/moderator for your group and tell them why you were frustrated. They'll never know if you don't tell them! I agree 100% that it depends on how the group is run. (The email address for group owners is listed on the home page for each group, towards the bottom.) I belong to several freecycle groups and some of them are such a mess because the moderators don't have any control over them. I co-own/moderate the local group (2800 members) and it runs smoothly because we have rules - if we didn't it would be chaotic! We only let people post one wanted request per week and the same wanted can't be posted more than once a month. I have given and received LOADS of stuff through freecycle. I've had lots of no-shows as well, but since I usually tell people to come by and get stuff off my porch when I'm not home it's not a big deal. I just move down the list and offer it to the next person who wanted it! Sally