Free Items Garage Saled

Yeah, you gave them away free, so you really don't have a right to dictate what the next person does with them. Lots of people make their living on Craigslist or Ebay re-selling things. I think you should move on from this one.

Look at it this way---maybe the clothes didn't fit who they were intended for, they were sold for, say $10 to buy a couple of items at the thrift store. At the end of the day, you still helped them!

My elderly granny and her sister, an amputee in need of a little extra income to make ends meet, used to go to every garage sale (before CL was around), buy whatever they could on the cheap, and sell it at weekend flea markets. Even after they gained enough experience to know what was worth buying, they worked hard for the few bucks they made this way, schlepping and organizing lots of random "stuff" week after week. They were too old for the job market.

I'd guess that the folks who benefited from your generosity may well have been in need. Most people's "need" is pretty much invisible to others. They may have big medical bills, have a child needing extensive therapies, be unemployed, have an upside-down mortgage, be recovering from credit card debt; the list of possibilities is long.

I've learned that there's no benefit to anyone, and only harm to myself, to suffer over events like this (and life is full of them). You can let your feelings off the hook if you just think of them as "using" your free items in the way that works best for them.

My clothes we once stolen from the laundry mat at our apartments when I was in college. The next weekend they were on display for sale at a neighboring house for their yard sale. I grabbed back what I could, but much of it was already sold.

It's annoying, but not totally unexpected for CL. Hopefully the family needed the money they made...so maybe you did help a family in need. Next time I would donate the clothes. There are many charities that will pick them up. If you want them to go to a family look into a local pregnancy center or ask a church. Your intentions were good, I am sorry you were taken advantage of.

You are stressing over small stuff.

You helped someone - GREAT!! Instead of being pissed off - look at it this way - you helped them MORE because they got MONEY they needed for something....so really - you helped them - just not in the way you THOUGHT you were helping them.

You are making a mountain out of a mole hill in my opinion...You donate to AMVETS, Purple Heart, right? They in turn sale the items...you are helping someone in need.

DO NOT STRESS!

You are expecting too much. If you give something away, you are giving it to them, to do with as they wish. The things arent yours anymore, so forget it. Maybe the stuff didnt fit, or was outgrown quickly or who knows.

I don't think its silly, but if you want to help a family in need next time take them to a women's shelter or something like that. Its the only way to know for sure that you did good for someone in need.

Sorry that happened to you.

There are people who turn a VERY tidy profit by buying and re-selling items on craigslist. Once they buy it, it's theirs to do with what they want. While it does suck that someone took advantage of your generosity... I wouldn't be too upset.

Yes it is silly to be upset. You gave them away therefore they are no longer yours to decide what to do with. If you had donated them to the Salvation Army or Goodwill you can be sure they would have resold what was in good enough shape to sell. Even your Church (if you go) probably would have saved them and sold them in their yearly "Yard Sale", unless they had an immediate need for them.

Your heart was in the right place giving them away, but for future reference if you don't want someone reselling stuff you give them for free ... well don't give them away. That's really the only control you have over what others do. And just out of curiousity ... what made you think the family who took them were "in need"?

how do you know you didnt help someone in need. my hubby and i had a garage sale today, and the money is going to be used to buy things like diapers that otherwise we wouldnt be able to afford. Do you know what they spent that money on.

in the 80's when CD's were first coming out, I gave my brother my 2 foot stack of classic rock albums. They said they would like to thave them after i offered them. I thought they would LOVE them. A month later I was garage saling, followed a sign, and low and behold- its a sale at their house. ALL those albums were out for sale- and not only that, out in the hot sun- it was 100 degrees that day. I was really hurt that they would do that.

My twin sister got in an accident and smashed up her fender on her Mustang. (in the 90's). She cried and sobbed a moped around all day. She was crushed that her beautuful car was bashed in. She didnt have the money to fix it. I felt sorry for her, so I handed her 500 bucks to go toward fixing it. 500 bucks! And a week later she decided she wasnt going to fix the car after all. She just drove it around with a bashed in fender. SHE KEPT THE MONEY.

I had a good freind who was a single mom of 4 kids ON WELFARE.. She always said she never made it check to check AND NEVER HAD ANY FOOD but always claimed God provided.
One time I gave her 50 bucks to help her out. The next day they arrive at my house with trash from MCDONALDS. She could have bought three times more food with that money in the store than eating there.

Here is what my hubby always says: Anything that is free has no value. Unless someone worked for it with thier own sweat, they will never value it.

Gail

Definitely let this one go.

Having said that, we gave our old dining room set to a family "in need" and found out three months later that the father SOLD IT TO HIS MOTHER for $200 b/c she really liked it. Needless to say, I was peeved as well. Some people just have no class and I like to think that if they are doing this, they must be really hard-up for cash.

I had this problem when I found out that some casual friends of mine were going to the local thrift store (where I donated my clothes and other items) and then would re-sell the items on E-Bay. I was mad about it for a little while because I had donated those items so people could get low cost, good quality items and they weren't being used for the exact purpose I donated them for. I kept up the "mad" about it until I found out more about one of those friend's circumstances from another friend. What I found out was...
Even though they didn't actually wear the clothes (or use the donation in exactly the way you had planned), you still helped a family in need. Maybe what they really needed was cash for ... groceries, dr's bills, electricity, water, heat, phone and not more clothes to wear. You helped, just not in the way you expected to. Feel good about that and let the rest go.

I wouldn't care in the least. Perhaps the clothes ended up not fitting or what they needed or even liked in style. Perhaps this is still a very needy family and could use the $5 that free bag of clothes got them at the garage sale.

I see nothing wrong with a bargain shopper doing what they can. It's tough times. I've gotten things for cheap at garage sales and resold them at ebay. Just because the garage saler doesn't have the time or know-how to make a profit doesn't mean the buyer shouldn't.

Honestly, this is why I have so much stuff sitting around. It has value, but I don't know who will value it. It's not so much that I want to realize that cash, but I don't think its fair for someone else to take advantage of me by turning around and selling it. I would probably feel differently about it if I was just giving it away on CL, but if I offer a stroller to a neighbor that I could consign for $25, and then she sells it at a garage sale, I'm bothered. So I either have to have my first garage sale, strike up a relationship with a consignment shop, or have the good feelings and tax deduction that come from donating my stuff. Right now, inertia is winning.

I would be upset. You were trying to help someone. However, when you post and offer something for free then you cannot know who they really are. It is a shame.

We had a garage sale and a lady tried to convince me a wagon that I was selling, new in the box, for $25 might be on a recall list and she would take it off my hands for $5. I told her no. So, that night I went on line, looked it up and it was NOT on a recall list and still being sold in the stores for $75! I told my husband what she did and he said someone handed him a business card for a consignment shop and told him she would take things off our hands. Well the next day we had our sale and this lady showed up again. Found out she was the same lady that my husband spoke with. She offered me $10 for the wagon. I told her the price was now $75! She was ticked off, but I knew she was going to resell it! She was being sneaky and I don't play that game! Anyway, I ended up selling it to a neighbor for $25 and we were all happy!!!

Without reading the other responses, I will offer my opinion. I would be slightly annoyed. I mean, you were trying to be generous, kind and helpful, not trying to get someone some extra spending money. On the other hand, I would say, let it go. Life is too short for letting something like this upset you for long. Maybe they needed some cash more than the clothes. You get a check mark for good, let their chips fall where they lie.

I think it is understandable that you are upset, but when you give something away you really have no control over what happens to it afterwards. Next time try donating your things to Goddwill or another charitable institution. Then you are doing good in two ways, you are helping poor families have access to needed items, and you are supporting the people who work at Goodwill or wherever who really need those jobs.

My thoughts on this is that anyone who takes the time to go get something for free just to sell it and get the money must really need the money. Don't know the details here, but I tell that to myself when I give stuff away because maybe they needed money for food more than they needed the clothes, but getting the clothes was an avenue for them to put some food on the table. I get that this isn't always the case, but it is what I tell myself so I don't get too upset if something like this happens.

my friend had a yardsale sold items for a quarter, had two ladies come and dicker her down to taking a bunch for less than she was asking, THEN FOUND out the ladies worked for a consignment store, They were buying yardsale stuff cheap and then consigning them for a huge mark up.

I would be miffed, but it's not worth it, just let it go out into the universe and don't hold on to the bad feelings.