should you tell the poster you plan to resell a free item

Curb-alert etiquette covers how to behave once you're standing in front of the item. This is a narrower, earlier question that comes up specifically for people who flip: do you owe the poster an explanation of what happens to their stuff after you take it?

Most posters are giving something away to be rid of it

The overwhelming majority of free listings exist because someone wants an item out of their space, not because they're screening for the "right" new owner. A couch that no longer fits their apartment, a dresser left behind by a move-out, a box of kitchen stuff from a downsize — in all of these cases, the poster's goal is achieved the moment the item leaves their property. What happens to it next, whether it ends up in your living room or on a resale listing an hour later, generally isn't something they're thinking about or would care to be told.

That's worth sitting with before assuming disclosure is some kind of ethical requirement. It isn't the default expectation on either side of a typical free listing, and treating it as one overstates how invested most posters actually are in the item's future.

When disclosure genuinely matters more

There's a real exception, and it's worth taking seriously rather than dismissing outright: posts that are explicit about who they want the item to go to. "Must go to someone who actually needs it," "giving this to a family that could use it, not for resale," or similar language changes the situation — the poster has told you their actual goal, and it isn't just "get this out of my house." In that specific case, showing up with a resale intention runs against what they asked for, even if they'd never find out.

The honest move in that situation isn't necessarily to announce your resale plan unprompted — it's to skip the listing, or to be upfront if you do reach out. A generic curb alert or a plain "free, first come first served" post carries none of that framing, and treating every free listing as if it carried the same restriction isn't accurate to what most posters are actually asking for.

Why volunteering it usually isn't necessary or expected

For a standard listing with no stated restriction, proactively announcing "just so you know, I'm going to resell this" isn't something posters expect, and it can come across stranger than helpful — most people posting a generic curb alert aren't looking for a disclosure, they're looking for someone to show up and take the thing. Volunteering unrequested information about your plans can read as either performative honesty or, worse, like you're inviting a negotiation over whether you're "allowed" to have it, which isn't really the poster's call to make on an item they've already given up.

The practical norm that's developed around free listings is closer to: once it's given away with no conditions attached, what happens next is the new owner's business. That's true whether the next owner keeps it, gives it to someone else, or resells it.

What to do if you're asked directly

This is different from volunteering information — if a poster asks outright what you plan to do with something, answer honestly. Being cagey or dodging a direct question is a worse look than just saying "I fix these up and resell them" or "I flip furniture as a side project." Most posters who ask are either mildly curious or want reassurance the item won't just get dumped, and a straightforward answer usually satisfies that. If the honest answer costs you the item because the poster specifically wanted it to go to someone keeping it, that's a fair outcome — better to lose one item than to build a habit of misleading people who ask you directly.

The middle ground: read the listing, not just the item

The practical rule that covers most situations: read what the poster actually wrote. A plain curb alert or generic "free stuff" post carries no disclosure expectation. A post with explicit conditions about who should take it is telling you something real, and ignoring that framing to get a good flip is a different kind of move than taking an unconditional freebie and reselling it later.

The bottom line

You don't owe unsolicited disclosure on a standard free listing — most posters aren't thinking past getting the item out of their space. When a poster explicitly states who they want the item to go to, respect that framing rather than working around it. And if you're asked directly, answer honestly; that costs you far less than getting caught being evasive about it.

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