Trying to sell anything is impossible

[Lifeofthepartay]

I am doing a big clear out that includes clothes, furniture, all in great condition. Clothes and trainers barely worn, asking very little (around £1 per item) on Facebook marketplace and local pages, no one is interested....piece of furniture, a few years old but absolutely solid, no rips , tears or stains. It would be around £2k new, asking for a little over £100 , no one is interested and only person commenting is saying she knows of a place that MIGHT take it if I don't find a buyer, they'd want it delivered too as I know for a fact they don't collect because I have donated stuff to them before. I've seen other people doing this to countless other sellers, trying to get some money for their items but instead they get asked to donate to this or that. We KNOW that there are tons of places asking stuff for free. There are also tons of people asking things for free and even those waste your time as no shows. Is it too hard to understand that if I am listing for sale is because I want some.mo eye for it? Rant over 😂 at this point I would honestly rather taking it to the skip than suffer more time wasters.

We charity shop everything usually, but I put a load of really nice tops/dresses (all worn only a couple of times max) on Vinted a while back as I had some free time. Put them all up for three quid just to get rid of them quickly (all paid 80-200 for) and there were still people asking me if I'd take £2.50!

I resent even walking to the post office for people that cheeky 😅

I almost had a breakdown clearing late aunts house, charity shops too fussy and didnt want anything even tho in good condition, didnt turn up when said they would take items, couldnt give stuff away inc new fridge so the lot taken to council tip and their recycle shop to sort out. the amount of total timewasters drove me insane.

If you get no buyers you can save yourself a lot of stress by contacting either British Heart Foundation who will come and collect, including electrical - so long as things are in good condition. In my area there are two other options as well - a charity that has an outlet shop on an industrial estate - either take stuff there (furniture. clothes, books, etc.) as they have easy parking outside, or they will collect. Finally the local authority will collect - in some areas they contract this out to a firm that makes good quality furniture availablke to those on low income (see your local authority website under Waste). Anything else you can Freecycle - good as people come and collect.

Have you tried Freecycle? - people collect from you, which is great!

i would like to know where the (nice) free sofas are!!

I was trying to buy second hand furniture recently and couldn't find a van at a convenient time for less than £100! Man + van would have been a reasonable price for a short distance, but any further away and you could be looking at 3 hrs hire.

I’m curious why you bought a piece of furniture for around £2,000 and getting rid of it a few years later.

Looks like labouring man and pal and van not going to be career options edged out by AI anytime soon then…..

Bootfair?

How is that curious? 😂 It's called redecorating, I don't do it every year but been in this house for 5 years and want to do it now. We've been saving for it. Does that satisfy your curiosity? 😉

DO they though?? Soooo many no shows from Facebook. Precisely why I insist on delivering.

Vinted

Wow. That's a lot, we got a shed moved with a local man and van (mind that was 3 years ago) my husband dismantled it but the panels were huge. They only charged us £40 to move all the panels and roof (same town, about 8 minutes drive). It honestly is not that difficult to organise here, this is why I am surprised at how people seem to not want second hand goods as if it was a big hassle. The charities are not better, my mum in law was stood up by British heart Foundation twice, then she ended up stuck with the old and new sofa, in a tiny 1 bed flat!

Difficult yes, but YABU to say impossible... other people are managing it somehow!

I had a guy asking if we would deliver last night. It was 10pm 😂

All our stuff goes first to the flea market, if that fails non-clothes get put outside with a ‘free’ sign, and all clothes go in the charity bin by the recycling.
I think most of the clothes get shipped to Africa, so might be environmentally better to just put them in the rubbish for the incinerator.
I’m not pissing time away posting shit for £2

For me though I couldn't do that I spent 3.5k on my sofa 10 years ago. its a neutral colour. I am not going to be buying a new sofa again for another good few years. when you are spending that much money you should be looking at it as an investment of years of use.
There is no way i would spend that amount of on something that was going to be sold or got rid of in a few years time,

Furniture is tough to shift. As pp have said, you might as well give it to charity unless antique. I have left stuff outside my flat for the council to collect and a third party has helped themselves! 🤣

As for clothes don't expect a huge amount for them but to make space Vinted really is the place. People also do bundles on there which might be a way to get rid of stuff.

They won't take anything old fashioned and some charities don't take used toys here either, it's ridiculous. Even the free pages, people go and ask for free and have a list of requirements like it must be a grey left corner sofa 😂 and you often see items reposted because people are just not showing up.

Yeah I love vinted but mostly sell things that are labelled, which we don't wear much of.... anything that is not "branded" haven't sold well for me.

I have a lovely sofa. That’s only 12 months old that I want rid of but the reality of it is it stinks of Cat . I have removed every last goddamn Hair that I can find but you can guarantee if somebody’s got an allergy there’s one in there.
And that’s the very reason I would never buy a secondhand sofa myself

Any furniture that I have advertised on Facebook marketplace that hasn't sold in a couple of days I then put on Ebay. Sometimes I do auction, sometimes buy it now if I have a specific price I want. It has all sold, and I do not get messed around anything like I do when selling on marketplace.

When we downsized my Grandmother from a large house into a small flat we initially tried to donate things to BHF, they came round to look at the furniture and wouldn't take most of it, despite me emailing photos of things when I was sorting out arrangements for collection and being told that yes they would take everything. They then tried to take some of the furniture we were keeping! One of the things they wouldn't take was a very solid, but ornately carved oak dining table. They said it was not desirable and not in good enough condition (the top had slightly faded from being in sunlight). I put it on an ebay auction and it sold for £180. When the people who won it came to collect it, they saw my Gran was moving and ended up buying a side board off her as well which the BHF didn't want to take.

I don't mind them not taking things if they know they won't sell, but it was more the fact they were very sneery about my Gran's things and said that no one would want them.

Anyway I think it is worth you trying other selling platforms. Facebook Marketplace is good for somethings, but a nightmare for being messed around and people wanting something for nothing. And I really do understand people selling things even just for a £1 as I come from a family that has to recoup as much money on things in order to buy other things.

I find Vinted is fab for anything small.

I've had a mixed bag selling larger items that need collection, some people are lovely, I once gave a fake but very nice Xmas tree to a little boy and his mum 2 weeks before Xmas, the mum said she hadn't been able to afford one and her DS was SO excited they'd found one.

Other people are a massive PITA, literally tell you they're en route then never show up. Some people show up and announce they have no cash, can they have your bank details to do a transfer? (Errr, definitely bloody not) One woman showed up to look at an almost new pram we were selling and got DH to do a full demo of just about everything, then carry it up the road to check it fitted in her car boot (it did) then she spent 20 mins asking questions THEN said she didn't want it, could she instead buy our other pram that was parked in the hallway. I've given up since her and usually now do charity shop, British Heart Foundation or tip.

@MoreRainbowsPlease I don't mind them not taking things if they know they won't sell, but it was more the fact they were very sneery about my Gran's things and said that no one would want them.

I had the same experience with BHF. I was actually looking for whole-house clearance as I lived too far away to be organising pickup for different items by different people, but they didn't specify in advance what they did and didn't do. The guy they sent round was, yes, "sneery" and it was quite upsetting. There was a lot of "Oh, this is unfashionable," and "I suppose we could take the books, if you box them up, and the wardrobe maybe, but only if you dismantle it..."

Old furniture may be unfashionable, but it was someone's life, someone who is dead or incapacitated, and some empathy wouldn't go amiss.

Yeah you wouldn't think there was a cost of living crisis really.