My D’s undergrad college was only 35 minutes away, we moved spare furniture to her off camp house for the last 2 school years, a couple of trips, no big deal.
She will be going away 300 miles for internship starting in September, one of the girls will be moving out and is willing to sell her bedroom furniture which is great for us. Can’t imagine moving our own or going through hassles of buying from new town and delivery logistics.
All IKEA, bed, mattress, chest of drawers, nightstand, desk, used a couple of years, she said she paid $680for all brand new.
She is looking for half price around $340, do you think it is reasonable? I kind of think so since it will save us so much time and hassles. I have no experience buying used furniture.
What do you think? Thanks.
Personally I would not pay that for Ikea for furniture because of stuff having to be potentially disassembled/reassembled. We moved some Ikea furniture last year and had all kinds of problems, especially with the bed.
I personally think it’s probably worth $340. If you have to rent a truck to move things from home, you’d probably spend about that. Can you see it and make sure it’s sturdy before handing over the money? My son is moving off campus next year and you’d probably spend almost that much buying a mattress in a box with a bed frame.
Have you seen pics of the stuff to see style and condition??? Does your D need all those pieces? If it’s in really good condition then I think it’s not a bad price. Of course you can always try and offer a little less if you like. Just as you don’t want the hassle of moving stuff there the current occupant probably doesn’t want to have to move her stuff either.
Well…one tip. For the bed…make sure you actually can take the bedframe apart and put it back together again.
My kid bought just an IKEA used bedframe for $100…so I don’t think the price for all that is listed is unreasonable. BUT my kid also didn’t have to pay for a truck to move far.
Crunch the numbers. How much will a larger UHaul or whatever cost you? If it’s an additional $300…buy new IKEA furniture when you get to the new location…or buy used furniture someplace else.
We did this with our first kid. It was less costly to buy stuff local to his new location than it would have been to move it from here.
My daughter and two roommates just moved into an apartment that had 3 girls in it. Like the girls left everything and wanted like $25.00 for a kitchen table. They left everything else since no one wanted to move anything. My daughter got a one year old Ikea bedframe with mattress for less then $100. https://m2.ikea.com/us/en/p/neiden-bed-frame-pine-birch-luroey-s79248606/ or similar.
The screws needed to be tightened. It is sturdy after that. My daughter claims the mattress is soooo conformable . When I helped her move in after we were done we both laid and relaxed for a bit on the bed. It was really comfortable without her top pad thing she uses. This is a full size not twin (don’t think it’s a queen.
It’s a big room). Totally worth the price since just getting a mattress would of cost more.
She also picked up a desk for $25.00 at a outdoor antique kind of fair.
If it saves you money and costs and your daughter likes it and you can use the pieces go on their website and price it out. Worth is in the eye of the beholder.
Question is if you had to buy stuff and get it to her how much would that cost you?
I am revising my answer. Buy it. Just look up how much a cheap mattress is these days. Then look up a bed frame that’s not a $25.00 metal one. That alone would put you in this ball park.
I have thought of most of the suggestions you gave. I have googled about IKEA furniture, tough to disassemble and reassembled, a nightmare. Well, I hope when she is done with internship, we will sell the set cheap and not bother to move back at all!!! I think the current tenant, who will be moving to another state for her PHD and does not want to move the IKEA stuff to her new location (maybe she will live in dorm housing),
My D has pictures of furniture, looks very decent, it’s a twin bed with 2 drawers on bottom. Does she need all the pieces? Answer is yes. And won’t be to see actual furniture before buying it.
It is not cost effective to rent a truck/big van to move spare furniture, and it probably will not be time efficient to shop when she gets there, even buying new at store or online. Who wants to shop for furniture in Boston??? We are already worried about how hectic it will be on moving date of September 1st, trying to see if she can move in a little earlier if current tenant will move out before August 31st.
All things considered (time, cost, hassles etc), half price seems reasonable even for IKEA stuff, I did think of maybe offering her a little less (as abasket suggested), but the person may be offended???
Twin bed…how does your daughter feel about that? By age 21/22 I think you’ve earned the right for a bigger bed!
I think most people selling stuff used are prepared for a little haggling. At least it’s not unusual. Unless she has said “$340, firm”.
I would buy it with the idea right from the start that this is a one year (is that correct?) investment and unless she loves the pieces just plan to sell it at the end of the internship.
@abasket, My D is ok with twin, (she has twin bed at home), beggars can’t be chooser right? 
plus room is not that big. She has to wait after she gets a real job then think about a double bed!
It is a one year internship and who knows where she will end up after that. Maybe she can sell them to the next occupant at $200 or less to any taker at that time lol.
We are thinking of offering $300 and get it over with then.
Thanks for all your suggestions, appreciated.
Well… Bonus for us. ?. I just asked my daughter and she agreed to pay $125.00 for the bed frame and mattress but the girls just left all their stuff there
They were all out of state
She was going to pay for a couch and some other stuff also. She even reach out to the girl twice.
She and her roommates plan to leave the kitchen table, chairs, couch
. Tons of kitchen stuff with plates and utensils etc. They even left tons of spices etc.
etc and sorts pay it forward but my daughter is taking the bed frame and mattress. It’s a full also.
Boston??? buy it! Try $300, close enough they definitely won’t be offended! Just talked to my friend this morning - her son is moving off campus in Boston and they just realized he’s on the 3rd floor with no elevator and lots of steps with landings in between. He’s just now trying to figure out how he’s going to get furniture up there! He’s going to knock on the door this week and see if the current tenants want to leave anything behind!