Selling second hand furniture

If you don't need to /sell/ everything, have you looked at using Freecycle

- and, of course, someone wants it - it'll save you the cost of hiring a van.

I assume the furniture is of decent quality, and therein lies the problem. It seems that unless it's chipboard-based crap which will last

A lot of furniture that is 50 years old is neither worth re upholstering nor is it saleable due to modern fire regs.

Second hand white goods? They don't last when they are new! Even fairly decent pictures don't sell.

When we cleared my mum's house, I took a lot of stuff because I could store it, but really most of it went to the tip.

It's sad, it goes against the grain, but it is a fact of life.

A similar idea is your local Facebook "for sale in or around" page, although that will have time wasters too.

Facebook buy swap sell groups for your area work well.

Much better than Craig's List of Freegle etc.

Yeah, much better to give it away if you have to.

The Bosch dishwasher that I got second hand because the seller had redone their kitchen and wanted matching stuff has lasted fine.

British Heart Foundation.

We’ve donated items to them in the past.

After MIL died, nobody would take any of her furniture, as she was a heavy smoker. We weren't asking for money, but the charity shops wouldn't take it. Quite good modern stuff, but it stank to high heaven.

My son and I broke it up and took it to the dump.

The house clearance market for many houses in much of the UK works differently: /you/ pay for someone to take it away; /they/ may sell some of it on[1] or they may take the whole lot to the tip.

Many of the charity shops had too much offered during the pandemic when people were at home a decided it was time for a clear out. Friends attempting to "downsize" found that many items had to go straight to the tip after finding no takers when offering items free of charge (collection only).

Yes many charities now have a person in their midst who can Pat test electrical items for them, indeed around here several got a grant for it as it is a waste otherwise. There are also furniture projects out there who give the unwanted items to people who cannot afford things like that, say the recently homeless in cheap accommodation. I giuess the problem is going to be transport though. Brian

I wouldn't rule it out. The dishwasher I got for about £50 (>£300 new) was in pretty good condition, and has lasted about 15 years with a couple of routine repairs. They were getting rid of it for a kitchen refit.

Three times SWMBO got a notion to replace her Miele washing machine. The used ones sold quickly on Donedeal

Don't, repeat don't be tempted to put it into storage. You'll forget bout till one day you add up what you have spent on storage fees.

I donated several substantial furniture items to them, and the end-of-year gift aid receipt said they had generated a donation of £10, with gift aid of £2.50. So perhaps the things completely failed to sell, but I think they must be skimming off quite a bit in 'admin' costs (which they might do given they collected them and diesel isn't free). Given they don't exactly sell things cheaply in their shops, I assume the latter.

One option to try is often there are local 'furniture helpline' places, who collect furniture and distribute it at cost to people on low incomes, eg people who just got a council flat and need to furnish it. They might not be able to collect (many do, but capacity is limited), but they might be interested in what you are able to deliver to them. And you know somebody will make use of it, rather than just flip it later on.

Theo

I was about to say, avoid them like the plague.

We paid them £250 to finish clearing MIL's house, 120 miles from us. SWMBO made a trip to meet them, and they left a load of stuff behind - wardrobes, carpets, etc. She complained and got them back as we were running out of time (rent only paid until end of month). They still left stuff. Finally cleared, with bad grace, on the very last day.

My Pannny combi microwave (£30) and Denon Tuner-Amp (£50) came from there.

They have their own ebay site and have clued-up shop staff who know how to assess the value of an item.

The problem is that scammers get you to pay in cash so they can't be traced when it's all hooky. So you're coming across as a typical scammer.

What the answer is I don't know.

Be prepared to get plenty 'I'll have it' replies with poor follow up when you reply. And then no-shows. Even more so, I'd guess, with things that need transport to collect. It can be a very frustrating experience.

Olio isn't just for surplus food, and I've had much more success on there.

A solution to that one is to list on ebay for an attractive price. ebay handles the payment side, and ebay's reputation system means the buyer can see you aren't a complete scamster. It offers an easy way to label items locations and to search for nearby items as a buyer. Plus all the business of offers is taken care of on the website, so once somebody has bought they know exactly the price. They either pay cash on collection or Paypal/etc in advance, but if the latter there's recourse if things go wrong.

There are fees, but just include them in the price you charge.

The downside is that it's more hassle to inspect items before purchasing them (especially on auction, where you don't know what the price will be and you can't just 'buy now' on the spot), but in general good photos help a lot, and there is some comeback for the buyer if the listing was telling porkies.

Theo