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You could try an auction house. You may not make much on it (and will have to pay a commission) but they do all the work.
Cat
In my experience, they won't bother coming to pick up and transport anything less than an entire estate. And, yes, you'll get pennies on the dollar -- even for nice antiques.
We call the Salvation Army a couple times a year and have never had a problem. Last time there was a 6 weeks wait. But all the charities had problems due to Covid. Many stores in the part of Houston I'm in closed. The Salvation Army closed the store by me. Habitat takes stuff, but they were not picking up last time I checked.
Any time I put free XYZ on Next Door, it's gone in a day. Lots of people looking for furniture. But then there's that strangers in the house thing. The Next Door stuff, I put on the porch or in the driveway.
BTW, There is a new mover called Dolly that charges $99 to move furniture. I used to have to pay $199 if I wanted furniture moved from up to down or down to up.
People DO want your stuff, believe me! ( I had the same experience with Goodwill once when I was helping my mom downsize. This is what led me to craigslist, in fact.)
We're downsizing and have (I mean, HAD) some nice furniture and some not-so-nice furniture and odds and ends like dog agility wood stuff we built and metal carts on wheels and long maple benches and you get my point, perhaps.
We have a lot of stuff after 20 years in a 3200 sq ft house and a 2000 sq ft shop.
We started putting our stuff up on craigslist early June, and all but the new bike helmet is either sold or given away.
The thing is, even if the stuff won't sell, someone will ALWAYS want it for some reason. Maybe they're packrats and can't say no to good free stuff or maybe they know how to resell it and make a profit. We actually saw somebody resell our stuff once, but yeah, only once, but it's great to have them come and take it away if all we want to do is give it away.
But most of our stuff we sold. Even if it's just $20, that's a 20 on our pocket.
Not everyone likes cheap crap for furniture that they can throw away for something new in a couple years. There are still a lot of people who recognize quality wood furniture. There's a movement toward repurposing items, people beginning to value things instead of making everything disposable to throw in the dump.
The thing about craigslist, however, is if you want people to click your offering, you've got to take good photos and give a good description of the item. Cheesy ads attract the wrong people - people who flake out or don't show or who are difficult. I've been selling on cl for a number of years, and I have learned how to get people to check out my items and also how to get the most exposure. I've had good experiences with good people, only a few flaky types.
Here's a hint - at the bottom of your ad, include a list of words that may pertain to your item. Here's an example for what I did. We had this crazy long metal earth nail my husband brought home from his work. The thing was 10 feet long, weighed 60+ pounds and what in the world could someone do with that? Where to list it, in what category? It's not like the average person would be looking for something like this...
So I first put it in Arts and Crafts thinking it could be some yard art. No bites, so I put it in Materials but after that change decided to add some key optimizing search words at the end, which were:
unique rustic yard art ceiling beam nails
It sold within 10 days for $20.
This would come up for people looking in various categories and maybe spark their interest. It was a hilarious looking super huge nail, literally. It was pretty with its twisting form like a candy cane. The key photo was really intriguing making you want to see what in the world is that?! And if you get the person to look, you're half-way there.
Yes, YES, people DO want your stuff, some people do. They can refinish, paint it, make it into something else...really, cl is your answer. Now, if you live in a town of 2,000 maybe it will take more time, but still. I had someone drive 2 hours to come BUY my agility equipment. She even had to take a ferry to get here.
I hope you still have your stuff and can try to sell it on craigslist. Good luck! Remember...
I didn't mess around when I moved about 2 months ago. I called a junk removal guy and told him I needed everything gone except my bed frame and kitchen hutch which I was taking with me. I didn't care what were quality things that could be resold or not. Other personal things were already in boxes ready for the movers.
The guy came out, took everything I asked him to and I paid him about $300 and I tipped him another $100. Job done without haggling, on my time table, and it was stress free. I wouldn't change a thing.
Free on Nextdoor or craigslist gets rid of just about anything. Don’t throw out good stuff if you don’t have to. Junk haulers are good also if you can’t move stuff. I would think if something has commercial value they would attempt to extract it.
I didn't mess around when I moved about 2 months ago. I called a junk removal guy and told him I needed everything gone except my bed frame and kitchen hutch which I was taking with me. I didn't care what were quality things that could be resold or not. Other personal things were already in boxes ready for the movers.
The guy came out, took everything I asked him to and I paid him about $300 and I tipped him another $100. Job done without haggling, on my time table, and it was stress free. I wouldn't change a thing.
Not where I live. There is very little market for used furniture.
I suspect it depends on where you live. When I visited Portland, Or, there were even private stores with successfully selling used furniture of all types, not just antiques. Here people seem to buy cheaply made furniture that is in style and then throw it out within a few years and replace it with the latest styles.
Many Charities stopped wanting donated furniture for a number of years due to hygiene issues, bed bugs, costs related to hiring movers/cost to transport/ insurance issues and now covid. Many people overestimate the value of their items and frankly many just don’t want our old furniture , heirlooms and antiques.
Much easier just to post a pic on the local free page.
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