Okay, full confession, I have become a bit addicted to selling furniture online. There is a thrill involved in selling a piece. Let’s be honest, furniture is expensive and a depreciating asset. When you find you don’t need the piece anymore, selling it online is a great way to recoup some of the money. In the last few weeks, I have sold dressers, couches, mirrors, dining room tables, chairs, console tables and more online and here are a few of my tips.
Big Items are a hard sell. It makes sense since they are difficult to move. Things like couches, wardrobes and dining room tables are a hard sell. There are a number of services that can help – both Lugg and Dolly are on demand movers. You can input the pickup address and the drop-off address and how many movers you will need and you receive an estimate and can book right there. As a seller of furniture, this is a service you can add if you wanted to include delivery.
Post to all the of sites. Craigslist, Nextdoor, Facebook Marketplace, etc. You want everyone to see the item(s) and you never know which platform will reach the buyer.
Take decent pictures. Clean off the piece of furniture and put it in decent light for the picture. Just like real estate, you want it to look it’s best.
Provide Dimensions. Be sure to measure the length, width and height. This will help you and the buyer save time and energy.
Pickup. We had really great luck while selling furniture and only had one person not show up to pick up a piece of furniture. People can be fickle and flaky when it comes to picking up furniture and I find it easiest to set up pickup times through the week. Typically at least one evening night and a weekend morning or afternoon is best.
Cash only. Protect yourself and accept only cash. No credit card or PayPal or Venmo.
No Holds. A lot of people will ask for you to hold the item. I, personally, don’t. My goal was to sell the furniture for the highest amount and in the quickest amount of time. Holds could waste my time and delay getting paid (if they don’t show up or decide they don’t like the piece).
Some items have a high demand. Usually smaller items under $100 have a lot of demand and it can be overwhelming. My advice would be to post these items while you are home and can have someone buy it that day, otherwise your Facebook Messenger and email will be going off with inquiries until it is sold.
While it has been sad to see some things go, it has been fun selling items online. I have found this experience to be similar to real estate in a lot of ways – marketing, pricing and negotiation skills are needed for both. Also, it is always. a blast meeting new people!
Liz is broker and owner of Liz Daigle Realty.
