Selling bedroom furniture

1940sGal

Mum's decorating and wants rid of her furniture. Bedside table, wardrobe, dressing table and chest of drawers (4 drawers); all solid pine. Each only show small signs of wear and tear (surface marks that can be fixed with a sand down and fresh coat of varnish) and are in great condition.

I know I have no pics but thinking about these:

a, what would you expect to pay?
b, would it be best to sell them together or separate?

choccyface2006

I have just sold all our bedroom furniture on eBay (buyer collects and pays cash) I got much more for them than I thought, I sold them individually but lots of people asked me to sell them all together on a buy it now.

So I would list them altogether, set it as an auction but put a buy it now option on too, aim much higher than you think you will get though!

Make sure you say you will only accept cash on delivery not PayPal.

Sarah

1940sGal

Thanks! Mum wondered if £200 was the right amount but to be honest I've had a look and there are wardrobes alone going for half that. It's a big double one aswell that mum's got. I guess we can only try and see what happens! I'm planning on putting them on other sites too, like a few of the local Facebook one's.

laurel7172

I think there's a lot of geography involved.

The market for heavy, self collect items tends to be quite local. Live in the sticks and expect to get the price paid in Birmingham and you're setting yourself up for disappointment. You're also setting yourself up for very unhappy buyers and negative feedback if you describe furniture in need of "just" a sand down and revarnish as being in great condition, because it's a HUGE job-you can't just do a little bit and expect the colour to match.

I think you have to be realistic: fixer-upper pine is neither a high fashion nor highly sought after item (and I say this in the nicest possible way, with a houseful of pine bedrooms myself-perhaps I'm the same age as your mum?)

Ultimately, it's going to come down to how long you can afford to wait for a buyer. Speaking as somebody who recently failed to sell a pine bed for a fiver (and then got 99p on the re-list), I was just glad to keep it from landfill and get the garage space back...

Poppy9

Lots of people try selling bedroom furniture in work on the E-board. Shifting it is the problem and limits the price if a piece is too big to fit in an estate car. I've seen people give it away just to get rid of .

choccyface2006

You could put in the listing that they would be a great shabby chic project. Include that in your title too.

Sarah

1940sGal

Well we can always give it a try. I think the best bet initially would be to sell individually but then link to the other items within each ad and if someone wants the lot so be it. Mum said she would like enough to get a new carpet

Poppy9

Gumtree can be good to get rid of unwanted household stuff but be prepared for some who want things for nothing.

We cleared MIL house and sold a fair bit via Gumtree but only for a fraction of what's worth!

tuttifruiti20

I sold mine recently on a local Facebook site (for my hometown) so perhaps try that. I found that setting the price I wanted for each item and adding say £15 or 10% was a great way to allow people to 'haggle' with me while still getting the money that I actually wanted. Accept cash on delivery only and make sure that you get a time off people when they will be coming as I waited in all day for a time waster because I didn't ask what time they would be coming!