Unwanted furniture virtually new - any chance a house clearance place would pay us rather than the other way round?

[PuzzledObserver]

We have bought a show home, complete with all contents - down to the nick nacks on the shelving units and pasta in the jars in the kitchen. We are already living in a fully furnished house (which we don’t own - it’s complicated).

We have arranged to dispose of what we don’t want to keep from the old place and the rest of our stuff will be going into storage while we move in. We will then have 10 days to dispose of the unwanted stuff from the new place, including 3 beds, a dining table and chairs, 2 small desks, various corner tables, shelving units etc. Roughly 2/3 of the furniture in a 4-bedded house.

So it is not brand new, but it has been sat in a show home for 2 years not being lived in.

If we had infinite time and energy we might try advertising on shpock or whatever, but, you know, life too short and all that. Plus don’t know how quickly we will be able to get broadband installed.

Is it realistic to think that a clearance place might pay us for the furniture? Or is getting them to take it away for free the best we could hope for?

To add to the complication, new place is 150 miles away, so we can’t just pop in whenever we fancy to make inventories, measure things etc.

Many of them do pay if it’s stuff they can sell on.

If you cant find someone who will pay you, a charity shop may clear much of it for nothing - bit you will need to find one who does furniture.

Make sure that your existing furniture will fit in the rooms. Show house furniture is often smaller to make rooms look bigger.

Check that you will be able to get your furniture in the house and, where applicable, upstairs.

Examples are sofas too big for doorways, not enough room on staircase etc. I live in a terraced house and the upstairs furniture is mainly flatpack.

I sold a furnished flat during lockdown and due to distance could not remove the perfectly good furniture. The agent found a removals firm to take it all but I got no money for it.
If there is a local auction house you could take much of the stuff there- ours sells everything from bog standard furniture to specialised items.

British heart Foundation collects furniture if you want to go the charity route. The clearance company I used to contact only interested in vintage furniture though their offer is well below market.

Put it in FB marketplace, I’ve found it’s the quickest way to sell. House clearance places give you very little, anything I’ve had on marketplace sold the same day.

I would stick it on Facebook Marketplace for fairly cheap. It will go easy, especially nice new show-home quality stuff!

It's worth trying to sell on Facebook or Nextdoor
Otherwise British Heart Foundation and Emmaus will take furniture

Thanks all.

People mentioning FB marketplace - have you used it to sell furniture? How quick are we talking about? Do people have vans to just come?

We’ve got 3 beds to sell (among other things) and only 10 days between taking possession and having our own stuff delivered.

Facebook can be super quick! Depending on price, cheap or free will go super quick! Maybe worth trying Facebook for first 3 days before arranging a collection and see what you can sell?

If it come to just having it removed you could always try Womens Aid they often have a safe/willing group of people who will collect furniture. I imagine they'd be very keen, especially on the beds!

Good luck with the move

I agree with FB market place, put it all on there and if it’s good stuff it’ll sell.

You can always go down the clearance company route if you get left with anything but I think you’ll sell it if it’s all virtually new and you set reasonable prices

If you price things correctly on Facebook then people will come and collect that day. Just don’t promise it to anyone- first to collect will get otherwise you could be waiting for someone to come get it, whilst I find if people are motivated they will find a way to get to you ASAP.

Sadly the British heart foundation charge for taking away decent stuff not just for house clearance. We found another charity that took away our decent stuff for free. I think the only way to make money is to sell it yourself but as you say life is too short.

As well as Facebook Marketplace if you have an active Nextdoor.co.Uk that is a good place to try simultaneously.
Maybe have a ‘garage sale’ on a nice day putting all the things that are easy to sell out at the front of the house. The other idea might be to list everything you have for sale and print it out and put the list through the doors of the other houses in the development- there may be people who haven’t fully furnished theirs and may have loved what was in the show house.

@rosesarered321

Sadly the British heart foundation charge for taking away decent stuff not just for house clearance. We found another charity that took away our decent stuff for free. I think the only way to make money is to sell it yourself but as you say life is too short.

The BHF don't charge www.bhf.org.uk/shop/donating-goods/book-furniture-collection-near-me

Have you tried a local auctioneer?

The BHF charge for house clearance, not collecting donations.

There are some good ideas here that I'd second. I think what I'd do is put it on FaceBook/Gumtree/Ebay/the Nextdoor site for a few days, and also try putting a list through the neighbours' doors. Then I'd have the rest cleared by an auction house, if there is an appropriate one within striking distance. (I'd do it that way because you will be able to get a much better price if you sell the stuff individually. You'll get money from an auction house, but it won't be much.)

I've sold furniture same day on Facebook market place!

I think some people were buying for themselves and some intended tk sell on but I didn't care as I got the price I wanted and it was easy

Facebook marketplace, gumtree ads, and Nextdoor will get rid of stuff quickly. If it's the right price it will go.

Facebook marketplace followed by auction house. Does you new place have a garage? Can you put things in there to create more space? Take photos of them in situ then dismantle and put in garage.

Auction/sale room?

Facebook marketplace is very active in my town. Decent reasonably priced furniture would go the same day. And people will take anything that is free!

Some really good suggestions, thank you.

I found a clearance place which did imply there may be some money to be had (“We sell whatever is saleable and if you wish you can donate to our chosen charity”, which implies to me that we could have the money paid to us!). I might book them to come the day before we get our own stuff delivered, and then try marketplace etc and the other things suggested up until that day.

It makes getting broadband up and running a priority!

Yes, there is a garage, and I had envisaged some stuff being in there for a while. I also wouldn’t mind having a go at a car boot for some of the small stuff. Great idea about leafleting the other houses!