Offering to buy 2nd hand furniture

Niy

So some friends are moving aboard for good and their have sold their house with the buyer wanting to buy some of the furniture. I asked what they are going to do with the rest, they said, they would just throw them away becausse they are on a tight schedule to move in the next few weeks. Thus, won't have time to deal with many euquiries, people chanign their minds etc... so easiest just to throw them.

Now, when I asked that quesiton, it didn't click that I could offer to buy the rest (if suitable) from them, as we are completing on our first home just before they leave. Would it be an odd thing to ask? If not, I have a feeling they would just say take whatever for free, but I can't allow that because some of their stuff is actually quite nice. So what would be a reasonable price to offer % wise? 50%? 60%? More? Less? I would also be find out how much to transport them because we are about 3.5 hours drive away from each other, but it looks like we could fill a Ocado size van for about £400.

secla

Second hand furniture is worth next to nothing. I would imagine you would be doing them a favour just taking it as they wont have to then pay for disposal

ThisIsWeird

If they say 'for now't', perhaps ask them what charity you'd like to give a decent donation to?

If you can arrange to collect the rest of the stuff on a specific day of their choosing, I think they'd find that a very useful thing and be very grateful - one less headache in the moving process.

comeandgo

Have a look on Facebook market to get an idea on the value of second hand furniture.  Your friends probably do have an idea it’s not worth very much .  If you are able to pick up furniture at agreed time and take it away the relief of getting it out of the way will be priceless.

Simonon77

I would say you will take the rest as it will come in handy for you, and offer to collect it for free from them. They will have to pay to have it taken away anyway, so you would  be doing them a favour 

Flugelhorn

If they are good friends I suspect they will say they don't want anything and will be happy that someone is using it. there are always some that try to charge but hopefully these won't. You'll be saving them ££ by removing it for them

ThisIsWeird

There will undoubtedly be stuff amongst it that you don't want, but as long as you can store it a for few weeks, you can tell them you'll take it and 'dispose' of it for them to save them the hassle. Ie, "There's some furniture we love, so we'd like to pay you something for these. If it helps, we'll take the other furniture away too, and either give it away on Fb or give it to local charity organisations. Hopefully that'll save you the hassle."

Basically, begin the conversation But this should be a nice win-win.

Alanp

Some charity shops will collect decent furniture at no cost, I would imagine though that you would be doing them a huge favour by taking it off their hands, you could ask what they want for it or , as has been suggested, ask if they would like you to make a donation to a charity of their choice …

twopenny

Wow lucky break. Having furniture for a start will save you a fortune and they will know it's going to a good home. Gives you time to buy your own as and when and get on with settling in.
And you can arrange to pick it up at a time to suit both of you which is another bonus. A charity collection or house clearance would just be another thing on their to do list and arrange so your offer would be helpful.
Ask first, see what they say and judge by that if they will be reasonable about cost (you'll have to pay for a van so that should be taken into account) and if they say for free then a donation to charity is a great idea. 

Don't leave it, get in there now before they've arranged something else.

Niy

Cheers all, I am meeting them tonight for dinner, so will ask. We have a few bits of furniture, but some belong to the landlord, so it's been a bit painful to see the prices of what we want to buy... we can afford the stuff but it would wipe us out for a while if we bought everything brand new.

ThisIsWeird

Win win.