To hate buying second hand

[PumpkinKlNG]

I rarely buy second hand as all it is is bad experiences, I have just bought a second hand push chair for my daughter, had it a week and it’s already broke! No come back as obviously I have no rights, I get why people buy second hand but I’ve mainly only had bad experiences now I will have to pay out to buy a brand new one 🙄 which I should have just done and saved myself £30!

I suspect the folding mechanism was dodgy already with things like this you need to check on colledction and not pay if it is not good just walk away
second hand cars you need someone with you who really knows cars if buying off a private seller with a garage you have comeback
Second hand vintage furniture is nearly always better made than new
second hand clothes generally fine
second hand tech would only buy when manufacturer refurbished and it comes with guarantee
I won't buy second hand underwear shoes socks tights mattress and tech with caveat above
most things depreciate abot 50% as you walk out of the shop

I'd buy most things second hand apart from food utensils. I've seen too many pans used for boiling knickers and cloth sanitary towels (!) and things that would be better suited to do in a bathroom, as well as knives used to scrape nappies.

YANBU as you have the opportunity to choose what works for you.
YABU for saying ‘broke’ - it’s ‘broken’.

I probably wouldn't buy a second hand mattress either.

Yes it’s the folding, it collapsed just when I was walking home with her in it, I’ve tried to put it back but one side is staying in the folded mode so not something that you can buy a replacement for, and yes it was on marketplace I got it

it wasn’t broke (I don’t think) when I bought it

If that's true, you're the one who broke it.

I've bought a few second hand pushchairs but have always bought them through registered businesses that clean them up and resell them. It's always been fine and I feel more confident buying that way.

I love second hand stuff- but it pays to be discriminating.

Buying clothes, collectables, plates, dishes, ornaments, books, decorative items, some furniture, curtains is low risk. You can check in the shop for tears, wear, stains, missing buttons, faulty zips etc.
80% of my clothes and furniture are second hand.

Buying other types of second hand stuff is a pig in a poke. Electrical- I would not consider, anything mechanical, like a child's bike ( unless you are handy with repair skills), car seat, baby equipment safety stuff, cycle helmets, buggies, prams- it is a risk.
you don;t know the history, faults are not always obvious in the shop, some items are hard to clean,and getting a refund may be tricky.

Overall I love preloved stuff, but some of it I wouldn't touch.

Being selective is the key.

, it collapsed when she was in it somehow I didn’t do anything to it but my point was if that happened from a shop bought item you would be able to take it back under not fit for purpose

Oh yes good point @TeacupDrama - a mattress is another one that I would definitely buy new. I would definitely buy second hand shoes, though!

I'm happy buying second hand, if it's cheap enough for the risk I'm taking.

So kids clothes, low risk, happy to buy a bag full at an OK price.

Car, I don't know enough, so I buy secondhand, but through a garage so I have come-back

Furniture, needs to be a low enough price to compensate me if it turns out to be duff.

Etc.

See, this is the sort of thing that makes me despair for the state of the planet. Manufacturing standards should be high enough that buying second hand is the norm. Instead, people end up constantly buying new things that last 5 minutes.

So sick of seeing the amount of cheap (but not actually cheap) crap that ends up in landfill.

@PumpkinKlNG

, it collapsed when she was in it somehow I didn’t do anything to it but my point was if that happened from a shop bought item you would be able to take it back under not fit for purpose

Yes, you would. But you would have paid an awful lot more for that right.

You can't have something that is a fraction of the price AND have it in new condition AND be able to return it. If you want the last two, buy new.

Before buying a second hand pushchair I would research the brand and model a huge amount. I have bought 3 second hand models, one would have been £1000 new for a travel system but I got it for £200, then my other 2 were £400 and £550 new but I paid £200 for each of them. I sold the first one on for £150. In contrast, whenever I tried to buy a basic umbrella style buggy new, even from a brand like mamas and papas, they always always broke within a couple of months and I had to take them back to the store. Whereas the single and double models mentioned above, I have used each of them for about 4 years now and they were used for about 2 or 3 years before me. And when I am done with them, they are still in a great condition to be used by someone else. My sofa was a couple of pounds off ebay and that was 10 years ago, I have furniture that was 30 years old when we were given it that is still going strong, and I frequently buy the kids second hand good quality clothes. Second hand just needs a bit of extra research to make sure you are buying something that will last.

@Mantlemoose

The only 2nd hand thing I would buy is a car.

The rest to landfill. Poor planet. Ah. Well

@MrsGhastlyCrumb so true!

Also, I feel like we've lost the culture of fixing things. So many people throw their clothes away due to rips/tears that could be easily fixed, and wouldn't buy second hand furniture that just needs a few fixes here and there. Luckily my nan taught me how to look after clothes and my FIL is a dab-hand with furniture restoration so I'm in luck there.

But you're absolutely right that the manufacturing is just not up to scratch - they're almost designed to break quickly so we have to buy more!

I love to buy second hand books and clothes (I really enjoy a good charity shop rummage). I had to buy some formal clothing for returning to the office and spent £25 on 5 - really good - pieces in the MIND shop. World of Books is fabulous for listing the exact condition of its second hand books (from 'a bit dog-eared' to 'as new').

It's a shame you were unlucky with the pushchair - is it worth contacting the seller to ask if there is a trick to operating the folding mechanism?

I will only ever buy new again. Won’t take the risk again, it wasn’t THAT much cheaper. And now I have to pay out twice so I’m out of pocket than if I just bought new

I love second hand. Second hand school uniform saves me a fortune. Buying 2nd hand cars saves me £15,000 every ten years. Second hand furniture (dining table, chairs etc) often better quality than can be easily bought new. Buying second hand houses that need a bit of a tidy up means I no longer have a mortgage.

The trick is to always buy good quality rather than fashionable brands. And to look carefully at what you buy.

Just be more selective when buying! Honestly it's not because it's second hand, it's because you bought from a seller on marketplace and didn't examine it properly before you bought it.

But from a shop by all means, but there are shops that sell second hand stuff.

It seemed to work fine when I bought it, like I said if I bought it from Argos and it broke a week later I would be entitled to a refund

Some people have no choice.

I love 2nd hand and you sometimes find something someone else just doesn’t want is of real use- I bought a 2nd hand bed that looked as new from someone’s spare room for £150 that was £2k new and just beautiful . Also a bike for £200 that when I collected it the seller said he was glad to get the space back in his garage and that it had cost them £1k- it’s been incredible quality as we’d never have afforded such a good off road bike new.
Don’t give up OP, just check it’s worth it as far as you can in future. I’ve been sold a really wobbly bench and should have checked it was ok , I felt that seller certainly let me down!

If you bought it from Argos you'd be buying a brand new item. A second hand pushchair is likely to have been used daily for a few years. If you only saved £30 then it's likely you overpaid.

Second hand is fine for low use items, and/ or items you can easily check over. Almost all my furniture is second hand and it's perfect, but I did a great deal of research and waiting for the right thing, and got things at very low prices.

I buy almost everything second hand - but it's up to you OP.