A moral conundrum | reselling after a fix-up
Back when Freecycle was a thing, they had a policy saying that you are not supposed to resell an item you pick up from Freecycle. And Buy Nothing groups have the same rule in place, mainly to keep people from joining the groups merely to get inventory for selling.
The point of Buy Nothing is to keep stuff local and out of the landfill, and Freecycle had the same purpose.
This makes clear sense to me, and when I suspect someone in my group is just snapping things up willy-nilly for reselling, I skip on by them and I give my items to someone else.
I am wondering, though: is there any moral wiggle room when you've received a free item and then rehabbed it, thus adding value?
Here's what triggered my thinking:
Someone wants to buy my quilt
You know that white-and-blue quilt with matching shams that I got from my Buy Nothing group, with the stains and the tear?
I mended the rip (very imperfectly!), using some scrap fabric.
And I addressed the stains with lots of Oxi-Clean soaks, multiple trips through the washing machine, and some sun-bleaching.
The set looks pretty darn good now, and it serves nicely for the summer season, when my down duvet is way too heavy.
Anyway, someone saw my quilt online and sent me a message asking if I would sell it. At first, I was weighing whether or not I wanted to part with it, but then I remembered I got it from my Buy Nothing group, which means selling it is probably against the rules.
Ok, but what if you invested time/money?
If you pick something up and then immediately resell it, that's clearly an issue.
But I am wondering if that changes once you've invested labor or materials into fixing an item up. No one would have wanted to buy the quilt and shams in the as-is condition I received them. They are only sale-able because I invested in them (mainly time!
I also thought about that dirty, spattered bookcase I got, with the shelf partially melted away.
I bought legs for it, turned it upside down to hide the messed-up shelf, cleaned it, and sanded, primed, and painted it. It is nothing like what I originally picked up.
In this case, it would be fine to resell it, because it was just a Facebook Marketplace freebie, but it is a good example of how you can add a lot of value to something that was junk to the original owner.
Or, remember that old tallboy Freecycle dresser that was one of my first painting projects? I always wondered if it would be ok to sell it after all the labor I put into it (and I also bought new hardware for it).
That's a theoretical exercise, though, because I left it behind at my old house, and I have no idea what has happened to it since.
(And honestly, I do not care, because I don't want anything from that bedroom!)
ANYWAY.
Another thought:
Does motivation matter? Or elapsed time?
If you're trawling Buy Nothing groups looking for inventory, then you know what you're doing. And you're looking for a quick flip.
But if you get an item, fix it up, own it for five years, and then sell it, is that any different? Are you still bound to the Buy Nothing rules, even if your initial motivation wasn't reselling?
I might be overthinking this
I have theories about why this might be the case, but I am a person who is very conscious about following the rules and doing the right thing, and this means I spend perhaps more-than-average amounts of energy considering moral conundrums. Ha.
It's possible that it would be just fine for me to sell my quilt, and honestly, if I'd chosen to do that, no one would be the wiser (until now. Ha.)
But ultimately, I think I want to keep my quilt because I like it. 😉
(Full disclosure: I did consider whether or not that was selfish of me, because the person wanting to buy my quilt had a specific attachment to this exact quilt, while I just like it because I generally like quilts with white backgrounds. So I sort of wondered if I ought to be kind and send her my quilt because it means more to her than it does to me. THIS IS WHAT I'M SAYING ABOUT THE OVERTHINKING.)
I don't have an answer for you, but if it makes you feel better, I'm one of those over-thinkers, too.
I don't have a clear answer either, but I don't think you should feel bad about wanting to keep the quilt - it's yours and you love it.
As for rules in general, I tend to question them a little more (I mean, not everything which is legal is necessarily right and vice versa), but in general I think about whom it affects. I don't like it when people resell things which are intended for people from low income backgrounds or for people to find in general (like from little free libraries). I also think about where the money is going (not for you specifically, I mean in general). Having said that, if you've spent a lot of time and effort fixing something which no one is likely to want, I think there's more argument for reselling it.
...I also did not mean to use the words 'in general' so much haha!
I think the original intent matters- you should only take things you want yourself. If you don’t do anything to it and then don’t want it, it’s nice to offer it free again, following the original owner’s intent. If you rehab it, use it for a while, then I feel you’re free to resell it (recouping something for your time and money invested).
That said, free cycle is a “gift”. I’ve always hated gifts with strings attached. My husband’s family gives gifts or hand me downs like this. They feel they still control the item (and by extension the receiver) once they give it to them.
Once I sold something that my dad had passed on to us. I apologized to him, and he asked why I was apologizing and said that once he gave it to me, I was free to do whatever I wanted and that it wasn’t his anymore, so he didn’t care. It felt so freeing, and I try to look at gifts or hand me downs that I give like this, too. It gives me as the giver more peace as well.
But I get the overthinking lol!
I agree with the "level of intent" line of thought. If you snatched something up for free b/c you knew you could sell it and of course profit then that goes against the purpose of the group. You have taken (said specific items mentioned) and taken strides to improve the item through cleaning and repair. You and used these items and found value in them. If you choose to sell them at some point - as their value has increased through YOUR efforts- I don't believe you are blatantly breaking rules. ( I also weigh the fact that you also pass along items on the buy nothing pages so you are an active participant and not using the items to your overall financial gain) if that makes any sense
I'm all for reselling a free item provided you've done work on it to make it more useful/functional. I don't think a quick paint job would count ( just pass it on as a blessing to others) , but stripping, massive refurbishing, new hardware, major effort count as an investment to value. (Goodness, some of those shelves and tables you've fixed up seemed beyond hope! The time, the sweat you put into it!)
Again, once a gift is given, it's your to do with as you will. Unless you were specifically asked to return it to the giver once your use end ( then its a loan and not a gift) , I think you can sell or give away as you wish.
As someone who is a rule follower, I think that if you get an item, fix it up, own it for five years, and then sell it, it's totally fine. You've certainly met the spirit of the law. I think it's fair to argue that it's not even exactly the same item (based on what you put into it.) You took it to use it, then you actually did use it, and that's exactly what the rule makers want.
Do you think you'll take on more rehab projects once nursing school is over? You really are good at making things beautiful.
Another random thought that seems tangentially relevant. If I receive something on Buy Nothing and give it to a friend knowing that they would enjoy it, I wouldn't expect that friend (or other future owners of the item) to also be bound by the BN rules.
I also agree that fixing up the quilt and waiting several years highlights that your original motivation was to keep and use the item (spirit of the law vs letter of the law...). Taken one step further, if you get free paints and canvases on BN, then paint a beautiful picture, must you never sell the picture?
[Looking up the official BN rules online...]
"Reselling: There is no rule against the reselling of Buy Nothing Project gifts outside of the app, but reselling must be done in ways that build trust. You simply need to share your intent to resell a gift when you request it. Givers are always free to give as they choose, and the disclosure of reselling respects each participant’s right to make informed and mindful choices about their giving. Many people are happy to give gifts that will be sold elsewhere to support organizations they respect, to help neighbors make a living by reselling, or to provide materials for artists and craftspeople who reuse gifted materials in their work. It is the responsibility of people who resell gifts to openly and clearly explain this when they ask for gifts they’d like to resell."
I think you're fine if you want to sell it to the inquiring party. Maybe you could consider their offer if it covers the cost of buying a comparable item? But perhaps you love your quilt and want to keep it anyway!? Endless fodder for overthinking minds! 🙂
Another random thought that seems tangentially relevant. If I receive something on Buy Nothing and give it to a friend knowing that they would enjoy it, I wouldn't expect that friend (or other future owners of the item) to also be bound by the BN rules.
I also agree that fixing up the quilt and waiting several years highlights that your original motivation was to keep and use the item (spirit of the law vs letter of the law...). Taken one step further, if you get free paints and canvases on BN, then paint a beautiful picture, must you never sell the picture?
[Looking up the official BN rules online...]
"Reselling: There is no rule against the reselling of Buy Nothing Project gifts outside of the app, but reselling must be done in ways that build trust. You simply need to share your intent to resell a gift when you request it. Givers are always free to give as they choose, and the disclosure of reselling respects each participant’s right to make informed and mindful choices about their giving. Many people are happy to give gifts that will be sold elsewhere to support organizations they respect, to help neighbors make a living by reselling, or to provide materials for artists and craftspeople who reuse gifted materials in their work. It is the responsibility of people who resell gifts to openly and clearly explain this when they ask for gifts they’d like to resell."
I think you're fine if you want to sell it to the inquiring party. You could consider their offer if it covers the cost of buying a comparable item? But perhaps you love your quilt and want to keep it anyway!? Endless fodder for overthinking minds! 🙂
If it's an honest question of needs changing over time, I would either just pass the item on for free or charge just enough to account for any time and materials invested. I grant I'm biased because I've benefited from this very situation via my beloved car. The person that sold it to me only wanted $1000 to account for fixing the AC and tinting the windows, as he had inherited the car in the first place. It's not that the seller didn't care about the car--on the contrary, he wanted someone that would appreciate and take care of it.
I honestly don't know how I feel about flipping sometimes. There's certainly enough "stuff" out there, and I'm glad it can provide an income stream for some while keeping useful items in circulation. That said, I'm certainly guilty of being beaten to an item at a thrift store by an obvious flipper and being passingly perturbed because I was looking for said item to actually use in our home.
I am/have been members of both groups and know the rule. But if you rehab an item, then I think you can sell it. You put work into it. Slightly different but I have sold items I curb/trash picked or even got from a garage sale free pile. I have no problem doing that. I am saving things from the landfill.