<p>We down sized from a 4000+ sq ft living space to a NYC apartment last year. We threw/gave away a lot of not so nice things. We now have nicer furniture at my parents house, which we probably will not use any more. In the next 60 days (if all goes well), we probably will move again to a new apartment we are purchasing and may want to replace our existing furniture for more modern furniture to go with the new place. </p>
<p>Where should I place an ad - ebay, Craiglist, or newspaper? There seem to be so many ads on Craiglist, I am afraid my ad would disappear to page 2 or 3 after only few hours. How have you done it to make it stand out? Is ebay good for old furniture? I don’t want to deliver or ship to other parts of the country.</p>
<p>Craigslist by far if you want to sell locally. If you price it right and include a picture, people will look through several pages for what they want.</p>
<p>Not sure about your community, but where I live there are several estate auction houses that auction on a weekly or monthly basis. They take a fee, of course, but it may be worth it to avoid the hassles of selling everything on your own. </p>
<p>The auction house will come to your home and appraise the furniture. You both agree on a set price for the goods and a percentage for their commision. They then come to your home and pick up all of the furniture. </p>
<p>One downside is that you might have to wait for your money until the furniture is sold. This may take more than one auction cycle. On the upside, you don’t have to entertain prospective buyers, wait for people to pick up the items and then figure out a way to dispose of what might be left.</p>
<p>It is something to consider.</p>
<p>How wonderful to move in to a new New York apartment!!! Enjoy :)</p>
<p>Another option you might find more convenient than dealing with random people snooping around your house - donate the furniture and take the tax write-off.</p>
<p>I think intparent nailed it. Craigslist assures a local audience. Priced correctly and with pictures you will sell it quickly. There are people that are practically professionals at scouring Craigslist for good deals. I have posted ads that were priced too high and gotten zero response, but when I post something good that is well priced (or priced too low) I will get 10 emails within an hour. People have saved searches with alerts.</p>
<p>The 2 caveats are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>As stated, items must be well priced.</p></li>
<li><p>Beware of scammers, robbers, and other criminals.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>oldfort: I don’t know if you have sold furniture before? I assume you are talking about contemporary furniture? When we moved out of the “big” house in which we raised the kids, we had to get rid of quite a bit. I agree with calling in an auction house, first. You will quickly learn what has any resale value. Another option is upscale consignment stores. I didn’t really want to have a tag sale, but friends insisted on helping me and I managed to get rid of quite a bit that way. A friend recently sold newish furniture successfully on Craigslist, but had a selling price of 75% off cost of pieces new. In the end, some of my things had so little resale value that I preferred to give them away to young couples I knew rather than try to sell them. At the very end, we had a house cleaner outer type guy come pick up everything left and give us a flat price for it.</p>
<p>I just posted my S’s BR furniture on Craigslist last week. Priced very competitively - just wanted it out of here. A beautiful, hardly worn set of Ethen Allen. I got 2 nibbles which I now suspect were scammers. I called up a consignment shop and they were here by 7pm. She said to expect a check in September.</p>
<p>I sold over $4000 worth of furniture on Craigslist when I downsized five years ago. And that was not at NYC prices. </p>
<p>Just make sure you are careful, as others have said. I did not meet anyone until I had verified their identity and (most of the time) where they worked or lived. Just too many weirdos out there.</p>
<p>Unless I really needed to get the most of the sale, I wouldn’t bother with Craigslist because of the time and hassle involved in meeting people to show the furniture. I think there is a safely factor too. I’d go with consignment if at all possible. You won’t get as much but you won’t have to deal with Craigslist shoppers either.</p>
<p>Ok, I just got my first nibble on Craigslist. It’s a round dining room table set with 6 chairs from a well known manufacturer (french country). We bought the set 7-8 years ago for 2500. I listed the set for 450. This woman wants it for 400, so I don’t think I am over pricing it. I put it out as pick up, no delivery. </p>
<p>When it comes to donation, it’s not easy. Last year I called up goodwill or salvation army (don’t remember). They were very specific about what they would take and they wouldn’t. They didn’t want a dining room table unless there are chairs to go with it. They had so many stipulations that I thought “I didn’t know needy people were that choosy.” I gave a lot away, but now we have cabinets from ABC carpet, nice upholstery. We thought maybe our kids would want them, but they said the furniture is not contemporary enough. Sigh.</p>
<p>We’ve been having some success with Craigslist. Be sure that you put important words in the title – e.g., both “couch” and “sofa.” That way it will pop up when someone does a search.</p>
I agree that some places can be fussier than others regarding what they’ll ‘accept’ but if you try a few more places you might find one that’s more accommodating than those big two (Goodwill, Salvation Army). I donated a bunch of furniture not long ago but to a religious charity (and I’m not a member of the religion) that has a very good donation program. They accepted everything, came out with a truck and picked it up, and were very easy to deal with and they provide a lot of charitable services in the area.
Note - this wasn’t in NYC though.</p>
<p>I am with woody… consignment is a great way to go if you have high end furniture
I have bought and sold through a local consignment store several times.</p>
<p>I have had, and so have my friends, real success consigning furniture. I have also, as my friends have, purchased consigned furniture. It’s so easy to let someone else house and sell it. Also no “strangers” coming over to our place(s). </p>
<p>Consign it.</p>
<p>Craigslist for finding apartments and maybe even employment.</p>
<p>When we cleaned out S’s off campus apartment, he had a tv he no longer wanted or needed. Since we were taking other things to Salvation Army (they had an actual store right near him where he had been a good customer, lol) we took that as well. Imagine our shock when they would not take it because it did not come with a remote!</p>