Generating money with Freecycle and Ebay
I discovered Freecycle a year or so ago and thought it was a really great idea. Basically instead of throwing away various items you no longer have any use for you simply give them away for free and by doing so decrease your impact on environment.
The other week a friend of mine picked up a brand new sofa worth £700 (Around $1400) simply because some rich jerk’s spoiled wife did not like the colour and asked her husband to get read of it. Then another friend of mine picked up a supposedly faulty, half a year old 37″ LCD TV which simply needed a new fuse.
I have decided to have a closer look myself. Fair enough, there was a lot of junk on offer but I was able to find a bunch of valuable items as well. I have actually managed to pick up a 5.1 surround sound PC speaker set from this guy just down the road from me and sold them on Ebay for just under £30 ($60). The only difficult part is being quick. You need to claim the item pretty much as soon as the listing is posted because somebody else will usually beat you to it. If I had all day I would sit in front of my screen and do just that. Every now and then you would see real quality items up for grabs and if you lucky enough you can make some real money. You can always just keep the item for yourself too. Good luck!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:26 am
This is also the reason for people on Freecycle saying a day will be needed to decide on the recipient, and it is given to the most deserving. Sorry i’m not a fan of making money out of other people’s (usually) kindness of giving the items away rather than selling them themselves, they are usually not foolish and know the item has a value.
I think you are taking the opportunity from someone who is probably more deserving of the item, say, for example, a household who cannot afford a new TV but would be ever so grateful to have one donated to them! Please don’t exploit the system, or if you do chose to, please explain your intentions of selling the items on ebay. That way the person offering the item can make a better informed decision as to who should be rewarded with the free item. Also i hope you offer items as well as take them – it is a two way community!!!
From a fairly long standing freecycle member!