Terms for Freegle Users

When the website was upgraded in 2016, a new set of 'Terms of Use' and related good practice guidelines for using Freegle Direct were introduced. The wording was discussed and agreed by poll on Development Group in August 2016. Since then, there have been a few tweaks as our technology has changed. The version below is the current one (1.7.21) on the website.

Terms of Use

We could give you a ten page long Terms of Use. Like you'd read that.

As far as we're concerned, it's simple:

• Use Freegle to pass on unwanted items direct to others.
• Everything must be free and legal.
• Be nice to other freeglers, and they'll be nice to you.
• We don't see or check items offered - see our disclaimer.
• Freegle communities may have additional rules. If you have questions, find your community from the Explore page and use the Contact button.
• Please keep yourself safe and watch out for scams.
• Objectionable content or behaviour will not be tolerated.
• If you see anything inappropriate, suspicious or just dodgy then please report it .
• You must be aged 13 or over, as there is user-generated content.
• We won’t sell your email address or personal data to anyone else - see privacy page.
• We will email you posts, replies, events, newsletters, etc. - control these in Settings.
• We will make your post public to publicise Freegle, but not your email address - see privacy page.

Got questions?

If you have questions, please contact us.

Disclaimer

Freegle puts people who have unwanted items in touch with people who want those items. Because of how it works, Freegle never sees or checks items and they may not be in working order. Posting an advert or responding to an advert does not guarantee you will be able to get rid of unwanted items or get the items you want. Any agreement you reach about any items will be between the person requesting or advertising items and you. It is your responsibility to ensure you are not breaking any laws in offering or getting goods through Freegle. When something can be reused for its original purpose, freegling it is fine (it's what we're for!) but if it would legally count as waste (e.g. a mixture of low economic value which would require sorting), you must not freegle it. If in doubt, check here.

Safety

Freeglers are lovely. But many of them will be people you've never met before. So please use common sense when posting to Freegle or collecting an item. For example:

• Don't post in public on Freegle telling people when you're going to be out.
• Most collections occur at home, but if you're worried about that, arrange to meet in a cafe or other public place.
• Please ensure your property is physically safe for people who collect from you, as we all have a duty of care towards others.

Scams

Regrettably, occasionally online scammers target Freegle groups, often by offering high-value items, and then asking you to pay for courier charges. We catch a lot of these, and you never see them, but sometimes they sneak through.

While some groups allow postage, you should never hand over money in advance. We don't recommend any specific courier (so if you see a message saying we do, it’s a scam).

If you are unlucky enough to be scammed, please report it to the Police, and to us.

Privacy

We won’t pass on your email address to anyone else, and other freeglers can't see it.

Other freeglers can see your name. If you don't want that, you can change it in Settings.

We try to protect you from spammers and fraudsters. Sometimes our volunteers may read what you write to check that it's not spam, phishing or fraud. If we happen to find something which is against Freegle rules, we may take further action.

If you put phone numbers, email addresses or postal addresses into your posts on Freegle, other people will be able to see them. If you're concerned about this, don't do it!

So that potential new users can see what is being offering on Freegle, we make some details of posts public, i.e. the item name, approximate location, the description and any photos. No personal details are made public - unless in this information.

Cookies

You'll have seen lots of irritating popups on websites about consent for cookies. We don't have one of those because we don't store any data for logged out visitors which would require that consent.

Here are some technical details on what happens when you're logged out.

• We store a session cookie. That's strictly necessary for the site to function, and does not require consent.
• We store some information in your browser's local storage, because of the way the site works. There's not much in it except if you're trying to reply to a post. That's like the "shopping cart" example in the Information Commissioner's advice and does not require consent.
• We use Google Analytics to collect traffic statistics. This is configured in a way that means it does not require consent We have a data processing agreement with Google, we have enabled IP anonymization/masking, disabled data sharing, and are not using any other google services in combination with Google Analytics.
• We use Google and Facebook's code to allow you to log in. They store a few third-party cookies, of their own, but before you've logged in they don't know who you are. If you are concerned about these, you can install a privacy blocker such as Ghostery and still use the site (but it helps if you donate).

Once you log in, you're giving us consent to do the following.

• We store more information in your local storage. Part of this is so that you don't need to log in as often, and the rest is to speed up the site (it's a cache).
• We show jobs ads from WhatJobs, both on the site and in emails. We'd prefer not to, but we don't raise enough from donations alone to keep going. We don't pass them any information at all unless you click on one of the job links, not even your IP address.

Sentry

When something goes wrong on the website, we log it to a third party site call Sentry. They help organise the logs and make it easier for us to identify and fix problems. This should not include any of your personal data. You can read their privacy policy here.

Inspectlet

On a small random fraction of sessions, we use Inspectlet. This helps us work out which bits of the website are working well for freeglers, and which aren't. You can read their privacy policy here, and opt out of this here.

Got questions?

Privacy is a complicated and important area, which we take seriously. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us.

Links

• Spam - further explanation to counter accusations that we spam!
• Basic Information
• Admin