Filtering through the crap.

July 7, 2006 1:58 PM

Giving away stuff to the bestest person.[mi]

So I'm giving away this antique sewing machine on craigslist, and I've gotten waaay too many responses. How do I find out who is most deserving? Or should I just give it to the first email I got?

I've got quite a few emails from ppl who seem deserving (i.e. someone who has a group of elderly folks who would like it, although, the email was written in all caps with horrendous grammar), but I have no way of confirming.

I'd give preference in this order:
Folks who have a group home/charity; family that needs it; person who is too poor to buy one and needs it; some person who just loves the look of it and wants to add it to their condo to complete the 'look'.

Any simple way to figure out which emails are for real? Are scammers (i.e. need it for my sick mom but really am going to sell it) quite common on the FREE section of craigslist?

I've also considered having someone donate x amount of dollars to y charity and bringing the receipt as proof, but I'm not sure how that'll fly.

posted by eurasian to grab bag (14 comments total)

I feel the fairest way is to give it to the first person who responded, but I could see giving it to the most heartstring-tugging email, too.

If you do that, though, just pick one based on your gut feeling, give it away, and don't worry any more about it. There's no point in trying to confirm stories or require charitable donations for an item you're giving away anyway -- what difference does it really make if they turn around and sell it? It's not really scamming you at all.
posted by occhiblu at 2:01 PM on July 7, 2006

whoa. no wonder why they came out of the woodwork. antique sewing machines are worth a lot. did you get it appraised?
posted by lester at 2:05 PM on July 7, 2006

i'm sorry--i didn't answer your question. it appears that you have an extremely valuable gift. whoever i'd give it to should understand it's worth, and be able to take full advantage of it. i'd recommend some kind of charity organization.
posted by lester at 2:07 PM on July 7, 2006

This one is about from the 40's or so. On ebay, the ones that are much much older, that require a foot wheel and whatnot go fora bout 100 or so. I mean, the couches they give away on craigslist are worth more.
posted by eurasian at 2:17 PM on July 7, 2006

Reply to the "needy" respondents with a probing question couched inside a tender note of consolation ("Sorry to hear about your mother. What type of cancer does she have? Does she suffer too much?). Scan their replies for inconsistencies, i.e. symptoms that shouldn't show up. But that's an awful lot of work. I'd just give it to whoever sounds the most honest and hope for the best.

I would, however, skip the poor grammar, all caps one. Not just because it's likely a scammer, but also because I hate poor grammar.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 2:26 PM on July 7, 2006

Ask them a few more questions. You could even ask for a phone number so you could call and discuss it with them - talking with someone on the phone might give you additional clues about their honesty. As occhiblu says, it does come down for the most part to a gut feeling - does this person really sound like someone who teaches sewing to orphans, or does something seem a bit ... off about them?

As far as the prevalence of scammers in the free section, I really can't say. I've made a few postings for free stuff, and the biggest problem I've had is people flaking out on me. My new rule in the case of an item like this (something you'd like see going to a specific type of person) is to let them cancel once, and then move on to the next person on the list if they flake again.

On preview: I share Terminal Verbosity's aversion to the all caps, poor grammar e-mails for generally the same reasons. They hurt my eyes.
posted by Aster at 2:38 PM on July 7, 2006

I'd be tempted to ignore all the long dramatic stories. Give it to the first polite and cooperative sounding person who gave a reasonable one sentence explanation of why they wanted it.

Judging by some of the freecycle listings I read, many people participate because they like reading the stories, so..
posted by Chuckles at 2:51 PM on July 7, 2006

I don't know if there's an established etiquette for these things, but I'd say first come, first served.

However, for the future, it would be perfectly fair to run a giveaway in the form of a contest—for example, the respondent has to come up with the most outlandish hard-luck story, as judged by you (with points off for poor spelling, grammar, and punctuation). This would give you some entertainment value, and at least make the scammers work a little.
posted by adamrice at 2:54 PM on July 7, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Well, you have to interview them, and get some type of proof of who they are, then decide if they deserve it. A lot of work.

Or you could sell it and donate the money to a worthy cause. Maybe enough to get them old ladies some nice new sewing machines.
posted by parallax7d at 2:58 PM on July 7, 2006

First-come, first-served. Or your favorite (for whatever arbitrary reasons float your boat) of the first five, since you got a lot of immediate responses. Investing too much emotion in who gets it kinda defeats the purpose of offering something for free on Craiglist, IMO.
posted by desuetude at 3:11 PM on July 7, 2006

unless you couched your original craigslist posting in terms of "I'm giving this to the one who gives the best reason for wanting it" it only seems fair to go first come first served. some people may have stories they didn't bother to mention because they didn't think you wanted to hear them.
posted by juv3nal at 5:15 PM on July 7, 2006

Why not do some research on charities in your area and give it away to one of them? You'll get a tax receipt and can be 99% sure it's going to a good home.
posted by orange swan at 5:32 PM on July 7, 2006

I second parallax7d's suggestion, to sell it and give the money to a deserving charity of your choice. The problem is that offering it for free is that you may get a lot of bullshitters who just like the idea of getting something for free, and you're forced to wade through their responses with no idea of who is most worthy or who will actually use it.

Selling it will weed out a lot of these people who just like it because it's free.
posted by jayder at 5:48 PM on July 7, 2006

If you're that concerned, I don't know why you're giving it away thru craigslist. Get it appraised, sell it for that amount, and donate the money.
posted by elisabeth r at 6:54 AM on July 8, 2006