Buying furniture from vendor — reasonable price?

[FrustratinglyIrrational]

I'm bad at decisions at the best of times, but I have to make a decision tonight on whether to buy a dining table and chairs set from our vendor, and it's really stressing me out (please don't be too hard on me — I am generally very anxious, and especially when it comes to purchases. You can imagine how the house-buying process went..!).

I do like the set, as I think it goes very well with the colour scheme of the kitchen/diner. It's more high-end than anything I've ever bought before (moving from rental/IKEA furniture etc.), and I'm not sure what to do. The vendor has said it'll be £1000 for table + 4 chairs. If I were to buy them new now, it would be £1500 (as they are on sale). Is that a reasonable discount? I think they've had it for about 1.5-2 years. I do like it, but I also haven't spent any time researching dining sets. Normally I'd do a lot of research before committing to something like this!

If it’s in near-perfect condition, you really like it, and you think you’ll probably end up buying something very similar at a similar RRP then yes, it’s a pretty good deal as you’ll have saved both money and lead time. £1,000 for a good dining set which will last years isn’t a huge amount - I’m not sure you’d even get something from Ikea’s decent-level range for that.

But don’t buy on the spur of the moment if you feel rushed. It’s only money after all, and if you end up spending slightly more of it because you decline to buy this one and buy something else new, at least you’ll be able to rationalise the decision and know you wanted the thinking time.

2nd hand dining sets are a lot cheaper on Facebook and ebay, so I think your seller is chancing their arm, I would have thought £500/600 for the convenience factor of not having to hunt around online but have a look online what second hand prices are like and help that determine what price you would personally be prepared to pay. Presumably the sellers don't want it for their new house and that's why they are offering it for sale.

Personally I think that’s expensive for a second hand dining set. Have you looked on eBay/FB marketplace to see if anything similar has sold recently? That should give you a better idea of price.

Yeah after a couple of years I'd be thinking more like 500 at the top end. People always think their second hand is worth more than it really is.

What's the brand? That sounds like quite a lot for 2nd hand imo, and I like naice brands

I think thats expensive as well. If u can buy it for 1500 I wouldn't pay any more that £750 for it second hand.

Agree with the pps. Check out a few selling sites for an idea of prices. You might even see something you prefer!

He's taking the piss. He wouldn't get anything like that selling it second hand.

Depends a bit on brand but I’d offer 500-600 if you really like it.

They won’t get that anywhere else

This is the set: www.furniturevillage.co.uk/merlin-extending-dining-table-and-4-chairs/MRILFSET1-001.html

Feel free to offer opinions on it if you like! I haven't really owned anything like this before, but it does go very well in the kitchen, which is quite a glossy designer-y sort of style. (And I like the kitchen, so I'm not planning to rip it out or redo it or anything.)

Agree, half price, no more. Counter with £750.

It looks like it was ~£2500 before going on sale.

No way OP that is a fugly dining set! I'd pay someone to take it away!

I quite like that but style and taste is always personal and subjective.

How good is the condition of the seat coverings? Any scrathces and cracks on the table? I'm always a bit wary of th ose chairs without 4 proper legs and how they last longterm if they've been used a lot.

You can do better than that, I think. It's expensive for second hand and not particularly nice anyway. Decline to buy it - they might end up leaving it anyway, you never know.

I didn't see any scratches or cracks, but I also didn't really get to scrutinise it as heavily as I normally would when buying something expensive. The seat coverings seemed to be in good condition (I'm always a little unsure about second-hand upholstered things). In general the house is kept in very good condition, so I think it's probably okay condition-wise. Yeah, I also wonder about the structural integrity of chairs like that!

I think part of my problem is that, because I haven't been looking for furniture yet, I can't imagine something better right now. But I'm also worried I'll feel I missed out if I decline. I wish I didn't have such a problem making decisions like this! It feels kind of silly given how much it pales in comparison to the cost of the house. But then, I struggle to really see it that way.

@FrustratinglyIrrational

It looks like it was ~£2500 before going on sale.

It doesn't matter, it's a 2nd hand dining set. They don't exactly hold their price.

We bought a dining table with our house. New was £3k vendor asked for £1k and we agreed. If they'd wanted 3/4 of the new price, I'd probably have said no & just bought new.

Are you bothered about the extending option?
Brand new, fairly similar, under a grand

I'd say its over priced. FWIW, we sold the entire contents of DHs house, minus a double bed and futon bed, for £500, a decade ago.

I don’t think furniture village are a premium brand so don’t hold value - I assume they always have a sale of some sort? If it had been Neptune or similar you might have paid more but I would be very cautious about paying so much for something that they almost certainly didn’t pay full price for.

The extending option is a nice-to-have, but perhaps not necessary. I do feel it's quite a lot to ask for second hand furniture (since it's near-impossible to get furniture anywhere near the new price on Gumtree/Facebook etc.), but I also thought it looked beautiful in the kitchen, and I don't really have any other ideas of how to furnish it.

@DancesWithDaffodils Thanks for the comparison. I do prefer the one in the house, but I see your point. I guess my worry if I decline is that I'll regret it (and I'm unsure which I'll regret more — not getting it, or paying too much for it). If I buy it, I'd like it to be at a price that I could reasonably expect to sell it on for myself, if I change my mind later.

At the end of the day the price depends on how much you want the set as it is not as if you can find exactly the same set second hand easily. If you absolutely love it, get it from the vendor as I can assure you that if you don’t, you will always end up finding more important things to spend the money on and will never get it new.

I think this is the same set on eBay but with 6 chairs currently at £530, no bids....

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402924758438

The sale also says you get another £50 off per £500 spent so that’s another £150 off so really it’s £1450 new so you’re only saving £450 . No I would prefer to buy it new if you’re not saving that much . Deffo bargain it down if you like it .

Isn't Furniture Village like DFS? i.e. they never sell anything at full price, there's always a sale ?