Free Goods and Services in London
Gumtree is a classified ads website where you can sell, give away or find items around the country. In their ‘Gumtree Free Stuff’ section, you can find hundreds of thousands of ads for free stuff in London, whether it’s chairs, cupcakes or even sofas! Simply scroll through the listings or put in a search, find what you want and message the owner! Soon, you could have the item of your dreams, a new gift for someone or a completely furnished house for free!
- List of ads is divided into today’s ads and older ones
- Swap Shop where you swap your unwanted items with others
- Search by type, title & description, price and location
- Recently viewed ads
- Save your favourite ads
- Receive email alerts
- RSS Feed for receiving instant news
- Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts
Site Pros
- You don’t need to sign up to use the site
- Good search engine for finding items, with lots of factors to change as you like
- Good management for when you can’t get an item immediately- save your favourite ads, find recently viewed ads, and receive emails and feeds about items related to you
- Millions of items to search through, meaning that you’ll never be unable to find what you want
- Easy to use- find what you want, message the seller and give money, then wait for your item!
- Swap Shop– give away unwanted clutter, in exchange for something new you can use!
Site Cons
- A large number of scammers operate on the site, accepting money without sending items in return
- Selling or giving away items is a hazardous task- often, ads will be rejected or taken down with no reason given, and accounts can be banned without warning
- Customer service is generally agreed to be terrible, with no reasons given for Gumtree’s actions and little that can be done to stop fraudulent sellers
- Website is a little messy and ugly; widely regarded by reviewers as outdated and poorly implemented
- Forums have recently closed; community has been relegated to Facebook and Twitter accounts
Other Tips
- Always make sure you see the item before purchasing– if you can’t make it to the owner’s house to collect the item, make sure you’ve seen several pictures of it beforehand- there’s no point getting something for free if you can’t use it at all!
Overview
Gumtree is best for getting free items- considering the number of scammers on the site, and the difficulty in getting a refund or anything at all from customer services, putting money down is taking a big risk. But, for those who don’t have the cash, the time or the ability to make certain their money is going to a safe place and getting something good in return, finding such great free items in London is a major plus, making Gumtree probably one of the best places to get free goods in London- just make sure you’re careful, no matter what you find.
Go back to Free Goods and Services category to find more websites and organisations offering free goods and services.
