Show HN: FreelyWheely (A better Freecycle). | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: FreelyWheely (A better Freecycle).

freelywheely.com

7 pointsjsvaughan9 comments

So here is is: http://www.freelywheely.com

In short: FreelyWheely is a place where you can offer your unwanted belongings, for free, to someone who can make use of them.

The longer version: Although there are similar things, Freecycle particularly in the UK, you only have to visit a tip to see that for the vast majority of people it doesn't work. Masses of useful (even sellable) items being thrown away, lots of unsorted items being sent to landfill. It needs to be easier to find a new home for something you don't have a use for any more. Freecycle has many issues - worst of all the fragmentation and need to find your "local group", but also you can't tell if something is still available, no photos, terrible password policy, no categories... I could go on.

What next: Tech wise, a mobile app, searching. But more significantly a marketing effort to get more things listed.

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So here is is: http://www.freelywheely.com

In short: FreelyWheely is a place where you can offer your unwanted belongings, for free, to someone who can make use of them.

What next: Tech wise, a mobile app, searching. But more significantly a marketing effort to get a critical mass of users

Your terms are putting me off a bit:

"3. Privacy and Information Disclosure

FreelyWheely has established a Privacy Policy to explain to users how their information is collected and used. You further acknowledge and agree that FreelyWheely may, in its sole discretion, preserve or disclose your Content, as well as your information, such as email addresses, IP addresses, timestamps, and other user information."

The bit about enabling you to sell my information like email addresses, IP, timestamp, etc. for your own profit doesn't look friendly. When I give you my details you need a big "we won't give people your personal information" notice. Also, as you're keeping a DB of personal data [for purposes not directly related to the business it appears] are you registered with the relevant gov departments.

Looks good, are you integrating with Facebook? That's the only way I think you'll get the traction you need to make this good.

Also I think being registered as, or committed to register as, a charity would help to win people over.

One idea, have some posters for supporters to print and display (eg at their school, tip, workplace, etc.) - if you wanted it could even have a list of recently available items (with dates and locations).

Tiny bug: "Request item (only 3d 4h days left)"

Great to see someone tackling encouragement of reuse.

I've registered, but at the moment have nothing to offer, and there's nothing within 100 miles of where I am.

Traction will be difficult. FreeCycle in the UK has traction and so does work to some extent - I've frequently both given and received.

To gain traction you might need to piggy-back some other location-based idea or service, some reason to have people remember and come back.

Just a thought.

Yeah absolutely. I'm hoping that getting stories in the local paper, combined with flyers and that sort of thing will get it working in a small area, and then it will spread. Is all about the critical mass of users though.

I would:

* Show the item location and item owner on the item page.

* Let me filter by location

and if I owned Freeycle, I would:

* Get it off Yahoo! groups and provide a decent web interface

Show location > will do

Filter > when you sign up it uses your location to filter items, but maybe that isn't what you meant. Perhaps pre-sign up you can enter a location to filter items?

I don't think it makes sense to require an account to filter location.

Also, look on this page: http://www.freelywheely.com/listing/item/bath-toy-bucket Where is the item from?

Freecycle already have an international website that you can use, http://www.freecycle.org/.

However, and it's a biggy, the individual Freecycles act automonously to some extent and some choose to stay as a Yahoo! Group instead. If you want to watch several groups then this is annoying.

Rant:

Freecycle lost its charm for me when I got booted out of a group for being in another group. My local city is poor and we get posts like "old pyrex oven dish, only a few breaks, lid missing, needs a good clean". Because of that I wanted to belong to the next City's group where the rich people get rid of stuff you'd actually want. But apparently that Freecycle is all about ensuring that poor people don't get nice things ... grrr. I contacted the central team about this and they said, roughly, "some groups make up their own rules that differ from the objectives we claim to work by, sucks to be you".

I haven't gone through the application very thoroughly, but it's good to see something spreading outside of the Yahoo Groups set up.

Thanks for the effort.

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