The problem I have had more with "free" on Craigslist is that I get a lot of super-flakey people who reply immediately and then don't show up to take the item after a bunch of coordination effort. I've stopped listing items for free on Craigslist, and I either (1) list it for a more-than-fair but nonzero price, or (2) put it out on the street with a sign that says "free' (only for items that will obviously disappear quickly). Adding the price on Craigslist seems to weed out the worst flakiness-offenders.
I don't know how I didn't think of this. I was just wondering if there was a way to filter Craigslist down to just local (<2 mile radius), but street-free works perfectly.
I've lived places that weren't dense enough for it to work. But in a fairly urban environment, provided that the item is not total crap, it tends to go fast. I have had cases where I found a taker after I left my front door to take the item out but before I had set it on the sidewalk. :D
I've had a fair amount of such hassle. I find delivering the things, assuming they are small enough as I have no car so it will be done by cycle or by taking a detour on a run, at a time if my choosing works.
I also ask directly in the listing that people let me know approximately where they are without me having to ask, and I ignore anyone who doesn't - this weeds out the people who just mash "can I have this" or "is this still available" without actually reading the listing, who are most likely to be time wasters in my experience.
For higher value items in the current C19 climate, insisting I deliver locally also stops people taking unnecessary journies between risk areas, and puts me in more control of my risk profile.
I've found this on Freecycle. They way around it is to ask a question in the offering post. Anybody who doesn't answer gets excluded and the problem goes away.
This. I always put a fun question like "tell me your favorite knock-knock joke in the subject line of your response email". It filters the bots and I get a laugh.
