1 tiny tragic tryptych
2 snowball’s gonna do
3 Love, Loss, Longing
First Message 11am
“Hi xyz, sorry to involve you in this… but, needs must, and well…
The listing my brother Jason Forhim, posted on Buy Nothing for a “free garage sale” is illegal, he does not own the goods, and he has prevented me or other people from collecting them.
They are quite substantial and obviously worth more than $500 which means he is breaking the law in a number of ways.
I was actually at the Magistrates Courts just a couple of weeks ago about this, and the Deputy Registrar told me they were informed my goods were desired and he could not break the law around them, or dispose of them illegally.”
Reply
Dear Drew
Thank you for reaching out and getting in touch with us about this.
It does seem to be a very complex issue and must be very distressing for you and we’re not 100% sure how to proceed.
It is against the Buy Nothing rules to offer anything illegal, however the legality around this items seems to be more an issue of ownership, which we as Admins are in no position to judge/determine and we always make the assumption that people are giving away items that they do own, it’s one of the rules of joining a Buy Nothing group which members agree to when applying, that you give from your own abundance.
The best suggestions I can offer you due to our inability to determine if the gifting is illegal or not is to go to the police as they have a greater capacity to determine if the activity is legal or not. Failing that I’d suggest you get someone to go to the free garage sale and collect items on your behalf.
For your information the post says anything left will be going to the Green Shed tomorrow.
Sorry we can’t be of further assistance at this time. We wish you all the beat with getting this matter resolved
xyz and the Buy Nothing pqrx admin team
More info from me:
Hey, I just added a little more as I informed other admins.
I have already called the police, and they are not allowed to act yet because it is apparently a civil matter,
and I have to approach ACAT on Monday, which will obviously be too late.
The only legal way for him to dispose of any property greater than $500 is by public auction, giving me and the public three months notice, and holding the money in trust until I collect it. He is allowed to keep a small component of any profits as compensation for storing the good in between.
My snowboard alone is worth more than $500, let alone my other snow gear, two portable Air-Cons, Dyson vacuum, dual-door fridge with icemaker etc.
They are breaking ACT Law, relevant acts:
1996-86, R17, Part 3, 18-19, 21, 24-25, and 30. Uncollected Goods Act.
By doing it this way they are making the Buy Nothing group a party to this illegal act too.
Could you please take the post down?
13:13
Unfortunately we have no way to determine who owns the items.
Our base assumption is always that the gifter does own the items as they’ve agreed to the group rules.
As I already explained we are not in the position to determine who owns the items and as such have no basis for which to remove the post.
We understand that this is a difficult situation, and feel if the police are unable to act, then we are really not in a position to take any action about it. We are just volunteer admins of a community group.
A tragedy like this, it’s got a blast radius, spreading pain in every direction.
You, me, we’re all, connected by that.
I truly am sorry.
Bull
Quite interesting that I had saved that quote just the night before…
1 tiny tragic tryptych
2 snowball’s gonna do
3 Love, Loss, Longing