How to find genuinely free stuff on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji

There is a lot of good free stuff on both sites: furniture from people who are moving, baby gear that has been outgrown, garden soil, moving boxes, a working dryer someone replaced. The catch is that real giveaways go fast, and they are buried under “free” listings that aren’t free at all. Here is how to filter for the real ones on each site, get to them first, and avoid the scams that use the word free as bait.

Facebook Marketplace: filters for free

Facebook doesn’t label free items consistently, so use two routes and compare.

1. Open the free category. In Marketplace, look for the free category in the category list (on a computer, in the left column). It collects listings priced at $0.
2. Or filter by price. Run a search, open the filters and set the price from 0 to 0. This catches free items listed in other categories, such as furniture or baby gear.
3. Sort by date listed, newest first. The default sort mixes in older listings that are long gone.
4. Set Delivery method to Local pickup. Free items are almost never shipped, and shipped “free” listings are where the scams are.
5. Keep the radius small. A free bookcase isn’t free after an hour of driving each way.
6. Search the words people use. “free”, “curb alert”, “must go”, “moving sale free”, “free to good home”, and in French, “gratuit” and “à donner”.

Meta’s Commerce policies don’t allow buying or selling animals on Marketplace, so a free puppy that needs a transport payment is a scam twice over.

Kijiji Free Stuff

Kijiji makes this easier: Free Stuff is a category of its own, under Buy & Sell.

1. Open Free Stuff and set your city or region.
2. Set the distance from your postal code.
3. Sort by newest. Watch for Top Ads, the paid listings that sit at the top of results whatever the sort.
4. Search inside it for what you want: “couch”, “dresser”, “moving boxes”, “firewood”.
5. Search outside it too. Some free items are listed in their own category with a price of $0, so search “free” across all categories now and then.
6. Save the search. Kijiji emails new matches once a day on the web; the app can notify you daily or weekly. That is fine for moving boxes, but slow for a free dresser. Kijiji alerts covers faster options.

Bait “free” listings, and why they exist

A $0 price puts a listing in front of everyone who filters for free items or sorts by price, so some sellers use it as a hook. Expect to see:

• “$0, message for price” or “make an offer”: a normal sale wearing a free price tag.
• Placeholder prices: $0 in the price field and the real price in the title or description (“$0 – asking $250”).
• “Free with purchase”: the free part comes with something you have to buy.
• “Free, just pay shipping”: on a local site, a free item that has to be shipped is usually a scam (see below).
• Wanted posts: “looking for a free couch” or “ISO free crib” in the free category.

None of these are worth a drive. Read the whole listing before you message, and ask “Is it still free and available?” in your first message so there is no confusion later.

Scams on free items

Free items attract a particular set of scams, because people let their guard down when nothing is being sold.

• The delivery fee. The item is free, but it is with a mover or in storage, and you only need to pay for delivery. The Better Business Bureau has warned about a long-running version: a free piano from a recently widowed owner, “rerouted” by a moving company with a convincing website and a fee in the hundreds of dollars or more, payable by wire or a payment app.
• The verification code. The “giver” asks for a code they are sending to your phone, to prove you are real. It is a code to set up an account, often Google Voice, in your phone number. Global News reported Canadians caught by it. Never share a code you didn’t ask for.
• The deposit. Pay a small amount to hold the free item until you can pick it up. A real giveaway has no reason to hold anything for money.
• The free pet. A puppy or kitten that is free, apart from transport, vaccinations or a crate. These are classic advance-fee scams, and animal sales aren’t allowed on Marketplace anyway.
• The link. A “giver” who sends you a link to fill in your details or confirm the pickup. The link leads to a fake login or payment page.

The rule is simple: a real giveaway never needs money, a code or a link from you. More scripts in Marketplace scams and shipping scams.

Be first: timing and alerts

Real giveaways are usually claimed within hours. The people who get them have alerts set and a car ready.

• Evenings and weekends are when most people clear out and post.
• The end of the month brings move-outs, especially in rental-heavy cities.
• Student move-out weeks in late April and May leave furniture, kitchenware and desks behind in university towns.
• Late June in Quebec. July 1 is Moving Day, when a large share of leases end at once; curbs and the free categories fill up in the days around it.
• Spring cleaning and garage-sale season bring the rest.

For alerts, Facebook can notify you about new listings for a saved search in its app, but timing is up to Facebook. Kijiji’s web alerts arrive once a day. Neither is fast enough for a good free item in a big city, which is why people refresh by hand. A dedicated alert tool checks for you; see how to find deals on Marketplace for the habits that help most.

Pickup etiquette and safety

1. Confirm before you leave. Ask if it is still available, confirm the address and a time, and say when you will be there.
2. Turn up when you said, or cancel. Givers remember no-shows, and some will pass the item to the next person in line if you are late.
3. Bring help, straps and tools. You are moving it, not the giver.
4. Take everything offered, or say so upfront. If the listing is “dresser and mirror”, don’t leave the mirror behind without asking.
5. Inspect it anyway. Free upholstered furniture and mattresses carry the same bed bug risk as paid ones; see the used furniture checklist. For free car seats and cribs, check what is safe and legal in Canada.
6. Stay outside if you can. For porch pickups, there is no need to go in. If you must, take someone with you and tell someone else where you are.

With Sift on a computer

Sift is a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji. On a computer, in Chrome, Edge or Brave, it does the filtering by hand that free hunting needs:

• Only free listings. One switch in Sift’s filters shows real giveaways only. A $0 listing that says message for price, best offer or OBO, puts a dollar amount in the title, says “not free”, or is a wanted post stays out, and each one keeps its reason if you want to peek.
• Placeholder prices hidden everywhere else, such as $1, $123 and $1234.
• A real distance limit from the home you set, with a km badge on every card, so free means free once you count the gas.
• Fresh listings only. Hide anything older than a day or two, or switch to only new from now on, so nothing you have already scrolled past comes back.
• Alerts. Watch this search on a free search and Sift checks it in the background, as often as every 15 minutes on Kijiji and no faster than every 30 on Facebook, runs new listings through your filters, and notifies you with the title and place.

Save it as a preset (“Free furniture, 10 km”) and switch to it from the popup. Sift doesn’t pick anything up for you, and it doesn’t judge whether a free item is worth having. On your phone, use the site filters above.

Sift is independent and not affiliated with Meta, Facebook or Kijiji.