What is the Giveaway Forum for?
This forum is meant to be a way to give back to the canine community, to keep usable stuff out of landfills, and to match up animals needing homes with potential owners.
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING POSTED IN THIS FORUM MUST BE FREE. You can ask to be reimbursed for the actual cost of shipping something, and in the case of an animal adoption, you can ask for a donation to be made to a charity. That's it. You should not be making money or getting anything in return for any item you post in this forum.
No trades, and no offers/requests for services in exchange for non-monetary compensation. Anything you post or request should truly be GIVEN away.
Why doesn't my topic show up right away?
New topics must be approved by a moderator before they are allowed to go through. If you edit the first post in a thread, it will also have to be re-approved by a moderator. Generally this takes place within a few hours, but can take up to two business days. (The moderators do sometimes leave their computers for a while.)
Please note that topics are listed by the time of the last reply. Your post will not go to the top of the forum when it is approved -- it will be listed by the time it was made in comparison with the other recent replies. So make sure you scroll down the page before you decide your post isn't there. (Or, you can check the listing of your recent posts in your profile and find it that way.)
If your post definitely hasn't shown up after two business days, most likely it didn't meet one of the criteria below. We will not contact you to tell you if your post was or was not approved -- we simply get too many of them and it's too time-consuming. Please read the restrictions below to see if your post did not meet one of them. If you still can't figure out why it wasn't approved AFTER reading this whole post, feel free to contact a moderator.
Are "wanted" posts OK?
Yes, but please read the restrictions on wanted posts below before making one.
Are there restrictions on what can be offered/requested?
All items must be dog- or dog-related. (If you have non-dog stuff to give away, please find a Freecycle group near you.)
No prescription medications can be offered.
We make an exception to the dog-related rule in this forum to allow the posting of any animals -- horses, cats, birds, pigs, cows, whatever -- needing homes, as long as they are free. (You may request that a donation be made to a charity as part of the adoption agreement.)
What are the restrictions on "wanted" posts?
We will not approve posts requesting show-quality items, or items that we don't think people would reasonably give away.
Are there any other rules?
If you're giving away something that can't be shipped, put your location in the subject of your message. When your item is claimed, please add "TAKEN" to the subject line.
Don't be greedy. If you've received a few items, let others have a turn.
DO be courteous. Say please and thank you. If you are lucky enough to get an item that you need, go through your house and find something you're not using that you can offer back to the Sheltie Forums community. If an item you received doesn't work out for you, see if there were other people who were interested in it when it was originally posted and offer it to them.
Please also help the moderators ensure that this forum serves the purpose for which it was intended. If you respond to someone's "giveaway" and they ask for money, tell the moderators. Please do the same if someone responds to a post offering something for sale. If people are abusing this forum, we want to know about it.
