Terms for Freegle Users

When the website was upgraded in 2016, a new set of Terms of Use and related good-practice guidelines for Freegle Direct were introduced. The wording was discussed and agreed by a poll on the 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 (December 2025) on the website.

Terms of Use

We could give you a ten-page 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, please report it.
• You must be aged 13 or over, as there's user-generated content.
• We won't sell your email address or personal data to anyone else - see our privacy section below.
• 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 our privacy section below.

Got 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 or responding to an advert doesn't guarantee you'll be able to get rid of unwanted items, or get the items you want. Any agreement you reach about items is between you and the person requesting or advertising them. It's your responsibility to ensure you're not breaking any laws in offering or getting goods through Freegle. If something can be reused for its original purpose, freegling it is fine - that's what we're for - but if it would legally count as waste (e.g. a mixture of low economic value that would need sorting), you must not freegle it. If in doubt, check GOV.UK's guidance.

Safety

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

• Don't post publicly on Freegle saying when you'll be out.
• Most collections happen at home, but if you're worried about that, arrange to meet in a cafe or other public place.
• Make sure your property is physically safe for people collecting from you - we all have a duty of care towards others.

Scams

Occasionally, online scammers target Freegle communities, often by offering high-value items and then asking you to pay courier charges. We catch a lot of these, so you rarely see them, but some slip through.

While some communities allow postage, never hand over money in advance. We don't recommend any specific courier, so if you see a message claiming we do, it's a scam.

If you're unlucky enough to be scammed, please report it to the police, and to us.

Privacy

1. What data we process

We process your email address, name, approximate location and profile picture. If you log in using a social login (Facebook, Google or Apple), we obtain these details from them.

All Offer/Wanted posts are public, so if you put phone numbers, email addresses or postal addresses in them, other people can see them. If you're concerned about that, don't do it.

2. How we process data

We use your email address to send you emails about your own posts and posts from other freeglers. You can change or turn off these emails in Settings. We won't show your email address to any organisation outside Freegle, and other freeglers won't see it (unless your community leaves Freegle - see below).

We show your name, profile picture and approximate location to other freeglers, to make the site more engaging and show that freeglers are real people. If you don't want that, you can change it in Settings.

We try to protect you from spammers and fraudsters. Our volunteers may sometimes read what you write in Chat to other freeglers, to check it's not spam, phishing or fraud. If we find something against Freegle's rules, we may take further action.

So potential new members can see what's being offered on Freegle, we make some post details public - the item name, approximate location, description and any photos. No personal details are made public beyond this.

3. Cookies and tracking

You'll have seen plenty of irritating cookie-consent popups on websites - we have one too. Sorry, but it's the law. Here are the technical details.

3.1 Necessary function

We store some things strictly necessary to make the site work:

• Cookies for sessions and your cookie preferences - needed for the site to work.
• Some information in your browser's local storage - a few settings, and data used while you're replying to a post. This is like the "shopping cart" example in the Information Commissioner's guidance, and doesn't require consent.
• Google's and Facebook's login buttons, which store a few third-party cookies of their own, strictly necessary to make those buttons work.
• Matomo, which we use to see how people use the site - similar to Google Analytics but more privacy-safe. We've configured it not to use any cookies.
• Information about your browser/device and how you use the site, to help diagnose problems and improve usability. We don't pass anything identifying you to other people.

3.2 Optional function

We store some other things that help make the site better:

• When something goes wrong on the site, we log it to a third-party service called Sentry, which helps us organise logs and identify problems. This shouldn't include any of your personal data - see their privacy policy.
• We show job ads from WhatJobs, on the site and in emails. We'd prefer not to, but donations alone don't raise enough to keep Freegle going. We don't pass WhatJobs any information at all unless you click a job link - not even your IP address.
• We also show ads from selected partners via Google's advertising service - see which cookies Google uses. All or partial advertising on this website or app is managed by Playwire LLC, which may collect and use certain aggregated, anonymised data for advertising purposes. See Playwire's privacy policy for more on what data is collected, how it's used, and your choices.

If you're concerned about any of this, you can install a privacy blocker such as AdBlock or Ghostery and still use the site. Freegle is free to use but not free to run, so if you can, please donate.

4. Deleting your data

We delete your data automatically if you're inactive for six months. To leave Freegle, go here.

Once you leave, all your personal data is deleted within 14 days. If you change your mind before then, or left by mistake, you can log back in to reactivate your account.

5. Communities leaving Freegle

Freegle communities could in theory choose to leave Freegle and move elsewhere - this has never actually happened, but it's possible. If it does, we'll be in touch with affected members to discuss what happens to their details.

6. Legal basis

We operate under the legal basis of legitimate interest.

Got questions?

Privacy is a complicated, important area, which we take seriously. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us. Our registered address is 64a North Road, Ormesby, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, NR29 3LE.

If you're unhappy, you can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office.

Links

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