I joined my local Freecycle group about a month ago and since then have been able to declutter my house and pass things on. I've also obtained some books, though my main reason for joining was to give things away.
(www.freecycle.org for those who haven't heard of it)
A few days ago I offered a shoe rack and autographed poster of a band I no longer like, and I got a response from a woman who was interested in picking it up - but wanted it to be left outside. I thought it was kinda antisocial but forgot about it. This morning I offered a spyglass and some electrical tape, and the same woman contacted me asking for that stuff too. I left all of the things outside my apartment door for her to pick up and sure enough, when I left this morning the things were gone.
Around an hour ago I posted another message offering some old books and without fail, the same woman emailed me asking if they'd been taken yet. At this point, things started to get shifty. My first thought was that this could turn into a potential stalker-esque situation, because the woman has been interested in every item i'd put up - books of a variety of genres, a band poster etc. Then I really started to think and it occured to me that she might be running a 2nd hand store and re-selling things she gets from Freecyclers.
I looked at her user profile and it showed she lived in a certain Sydney suburb notorious for its flea markets and lower socio-economic status. I know that it might sound judgemental that I'm making that connection, but I'm just trying to gather as much information as possible and piece the puzzle together to make sense of why
a) the woman was so interested in every item I had to offer
b) she insisted on me leaving it outside for pickup, rather than coming in for one second to pick it up.
To top it all off, one of my neighbours (who I trust and am close to) said she saw a man putting the things I'd freecycled into a courier truck.
Maybe I'm paranoid, but this all seems fishy to me.
The thought of someone abusing Freecycle and making profit out of it infuriates me. It's non-profit, run by volunteers and was developed for all the right reasons.
I really had to rant. Thanks for listening.
Does anyone else have other similar stories? Anyone use freecycle and ever suspected something like this happening, or known someone it's happened to?