How to Sell Furniture Online
Whether you’ve just moved into a new place or are tired of what you have, selling your unwanted furniture online is the fastest way to help you reimagine your space.
Craigslist is my favorite site to sell furniture online. I’ve sold an entire loft apartment worth of furniture including two couches, a mattress, TV, and even decorative items all within a month after college. I even sold a bed frame within two days of posting it on Craigslist this summer.
The key to success when selling home furnishings online is:
- smart timing
- realistic value
- clear images
- affordable prices
Consider Time
The summer is the best time to sell furniture online. Leases tend to end during this season and folks have to move. This also increases the likelihood that renters will use bargain hunting as a way to keep related costs low.
College students are also an incredible target market who often search for gently used items during the summer. They move all the time, work with limited budgets, and desire affordable pieces to fill their temporary spaces.
Determine the Value
Now that you know the best time to sell, let’s also reconsider how to set the price. When determining the value of a furniture piece try to think about your potential buyer and what they might need to know in your ad.
Here are a few questions you should think about:
- How long have you had the item?
- What is the condition of the item?
- Are there any damages or flaws?
- How much will you accept?
A Special Note on Pricing
If you set the price too high it will sit. If you price the item too low you will miss out on money. No matter if you purchased the piece from Restoration Hardware or Ikea, once it lives at your house and it’s no longer returnable to the store you purchased it from, the item is considered used.
Anything “used” even if you didn’t use it, has diminished value.
Additionally, I recommend lowering your price to match the used value as opposed to the full price you purchased from the store. While you may think the item still has the same value in terms of the dollar amount, the person who’s viewing your ad will not engage with it if the price is set too high.
How to Handle Price Negotiation
To save yourself the trouble of back and forth of price negotiation, I recommend having three set prices in your head before you make your ad.
- Have a clear cut asking price that you will use to list your ad. This is a number that you believe is both affordable and fair.
- Decide a midrange number you’re comfortable with if you receive an interested customer who likes to/wants to negotiate.
- Keep a third bottom-dollar number in your back pocket if you need to get rid of your furniture as soon as possible.
Here’s an example:
Say you want $150 for a solid wood antique dresser that needs some work but still looks great. You can set the price for $150. However, you have a mental note that you would be willing to accept $120.
Someone could also email you somewhere in the middle at about ~$135 and you’d probably take up that offer because at the end of the day you knew you would have taken $120.
These mental numbers will help you breakdown the mental gymnastics that occurs during price negotiation between buyers (who want a deal) and sellers (who want to make a profit). These preset prices also help you to reject an offer from non-serious buyers.
Clear Images
Above all else, the top resource that’s going to sell your furniture fast is clean, detailed, quality photos.
I recommend taking photos of the furniture while it’s still in use. This is to stage the item in a way that looks appealing. Essentially, you’re creating an ad and no one wants to buy a couch that looks gross. Period. So if you have something gross maybe throw it away.
If it’s in reasonable to great condition then take pictures of it in good lighting.
Take at least 3-5 photos from different angles and zoom in on the parts that are unfavorable since people need to see what they are potentially buying.
Conclusion
I hope this helps you get closer to a space that matches your style and you earn some cash in exchange to put towards your new home pieces!
