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.

Recently sold lots at car boot sales

Local Facebook sites

My mum had this from them. She was very cross and threw them out. We had sent pictures in advance, so they knew roughly what was being offered. Interesting that others have also had issues.

It must be upsetting to have furniture sneered at but I have wondered in tbe past how long certain items sit in charity shops for. There is a massive surplus of dark wood items from the 60s and 70s - a few bits will pass as vintage but a lot just isn't desirable anymore unfortunately. Shops literally measure how much money they take by square foot of shop floor so I can understand them having to be somewhat discerning about what they take. It needs to be done politely though.

Try pre-loved and/or ebay. We've not had any luck with Marketplace, but sell loads through ebay and pre-loved, even large items like furniture, i.e. a sofa a few years ago and a dining table and chairs more recently, also a display case, a car tyre, a car roof box, car cycle carrier, etc. We usually sell clothes and books and cds/dvds in bundles on ebay. Barely have to take anything to the tip. But marketplace is just full of time wasters so I never bother with it anymore.

@socialdilemmawhattodo wish I'd thrown them out!

Exactly. The other house clearance people we had round said similar in terms of the desirability of my mum's things, but in a much nicer way - "That's good quality but sadly no one wants this kind of thing now," rather than pulling a face and saying, "That's no use to us!"

It is all in tne pictures you post imo - really make sure it.looks good - I paste them into PowerPoint and use the design tool to make it look better and use a screenshot of that to post - and for furniture give measurements etc in the description- if the item is still available in the shops include a link to that.

Oh the dreadful BHF...wasted weeks of my time....i took in pics and measurements etc, all agreed to collect ...they never showed up for 4 slots, finally turned up and told me items were too dusty and drove off fast. I got tired of neighbours asking us why we were taking items to the dump when charity shops would appreciate the things..if only they knew, i didnt explain all the time wasting but gave them a brief summary.

My mum has just turned 90, still full of spirit!!

I wouldn’t go to the effort of going to someone’s house to buy something for £1. It’s probably because it’s so cheap 🤷‍♀️ Sounds like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place really.

Edited to add- I sold two doors today. I had 12 offers over night for one door and the second door went to the only person who responded. They only went online at 9pm last night.

Alot of people swap stuff now too.
There are several fb groups where I am to exchange.

I'm getting new sofa and chairs. I'm paying the furniture shop to take away recliner armchair and recliner two seater sofa, both electric systems. Furniture is difficult to dispose of

It took me weeks to get rid of my two sofas. They were pristine but I struggled to even give them away as it’s such a big thing for people to try and move.

We sell a fair bit on marketplace. It takes a bit of time, but this week sold an office arm chair and a childs bike within days and got what we wanted each time. It is annoying and frustrating though....hold on, let me share something...

I sell so much unbranded clothes on Vinted. I sell toys on there too. In fact I sell anything that can be posted on there, old bed rails, hoses all sorts basically. Of you don’t sell much pk there maybe you are charging too much?

We live in a small town and have more success if we list things using my partners work address in the adjacent city than we do our address. This is for selling things on eBay and listing things on Freecycle. We've moved around a bit over the last 10 years and find when we have lived in cities there's a more thriving second market and in the suburbs and small towns it is more varied

I donate my stuff to Mind (my preferred charity). Every few months I get a message saying how much the charity has made selling my items as I register for gift aid. This is usually a few hundred pounds. It makes me feel really good as the items have a new home and I am helping an important charity. It works for me.

I tend to donate it to charity. It gets rid of it and I’m doing a good deed.
I agree about giving furniture away for free, it saves you having to remove it yourself.
If I buy furniture I tend to buy brand new and have it delivered.

I had to clear my parents 4 bed bungalow when my mum died and dad moved to a retirement flat.
It was hell. People generally don’t want second hand furniture. I gave away a beautiful refectory table and chairs/smart tv/bookcases etc etc. Mid century G-Plan went for peanuts. .. wore a track to the tip and the charity shops.
If I had to do it again I’d just get in a house clearance company and be done with it.

I’m seeing a theme here - delivery / transport is a major barrier to sustainable second hand markets…

Sofas are particularly awkward, I think because of moving and transportation. Not everyone can lift and carry them. However, you might want to add a link to Shipley, because you can get someone to pick up and deliver. That's what I did.

I agree with everyone trying to rehome furniture, especially with BHF. They are a nightmare. They told us my mum's solid matching mahogany furnture was veneer! They wanted the microwave though & reminded me about three times. I took the bugger home with me in disgust. We ended up chopping the furniture up. I had hoped it might go to some mum leaving an abusive relationship or something but apparently no one has any room to store furniture for anything like that. You couldn't make it up.

Sounds like you’ve been unlucky but also this is a product of commercialism. The world we live in now means we have almost unlimited options for unlimited stuff. Go back a couple of generations and people just didn’t have so much ‘stuff’. So there’s loads of people trying to offload nearly new stuff unsuccessfully.

I’ve tried to give baby stuff away to charity shops and I spent a literal day driving around and each one wasn’t interested in anything - they were already inundated. I’ve never known a time where it’s virtually impossible to even give away pretty new / good condition items, and I am begrudged to just chuck them away.

sorry that doesn’t really help, does it…

Car boot sale?

Facebook selling really has died a death in some areas.

I’ve bought almost all my furniture from FB Marketplace( Oak furniture land and ikea poang)
Anglo do collections of unwanted items
BHF will collect large items
FB free to collector and leave outside
Clothing Charity shop. Baby clothes/ equipment to a baby bank or similar?
The money has gone and space from getting rid of clutter is worth more.