Moving to a new home is a significant expense, but selling unwanted furniture can help offset costs while creating a clutter-free space for your fresh start. Not only does this approach help recoup some of your moving expenses, but it also gives you the opportunity to reinvest in pieces that perfectly suit your new home.
However, knowing how to successfully sell furniture can be slightly tricky - particularly when it comes to getting the most for your items. That’s why this guide breaks down each step for you - from taking the perfect furniture photos to undergoing market research. Transform your unwanted household pieces into funds for your future life with this complete guide on selling before your move.
1. What to Sell
Before you begin putting the entirety of your old house up on eBay, taking a minute to consider what’s worth selling is your first step in the process. Selling your belongings can take a long time and whilst it may not physically cost you money to sell everything, it will certainly cost you in time. Additionally, consider the hidden costs before selling, like taking time off work or arranging childcare to manage sales. Make sure the potential profits justify the time and effort involved. When deciding what furniture to sell make sure of the following:
- You are definitely ready to part with the furniture
- There is no significant damage to the item
- You can make a relative profit from the sale
- You aren’t selling items with personal value
For items that hold personal or sentimental value, consider placing them into secure storage rather than selling them. While these furniture pieces may not fit your current home's style, storing them safely preserves them for potential future use. This gives you the flexibility to rediscover and incorporate these items when the time is right.
2. Prep Furniture
Think of furniture sales platforms like online dating sites for your belongings - there’s a lot of competition and people always think they can get better options. Therefore, to prepare your furniture for its perfect match, you need to make sure it’s looking its very best and that often takes a little bit of sprucing. The main work will be ensuring that your furniture is clean and relatively well-kept (even if the furniture has endured many spilt coffee stains). Try where you can to remove any stains yourself, as well as any stickers or dust build-up, to restore the furniture to its former glory. For particularly stubborn marks, consider trying professional cleaning services but only if it's worth it in profit to undergo such an expenditure. Evidently, the better condition your furniture is in, the more likely it is to sell at a higher price.
3. Market Research
Now that your furniture is gleaming with a new lease of life, you want to do a little research to understand the price range and competition from similar furniture that’s going on sale. On average, you want to be placing your furniture up for sale at around 60%-80% of its market value, depending on how old the item is and its condition. During this time take a look at various selling platforms such as Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and eBay to work out how much competitors are selling similar products for. All of this will help guide your pricing to give you a higher chance of success when selling your furniture.
For those less tech-savvy this is also a good opportunity to consider selling your belongings outside of the online market space. Places like car boot sales and flea markets are a great opportunity to sell your belongings in one concise go rather than a slower ongoing process online. However, this requires the ability to be able to physically transport your furniture without causing any damage to it which can be particularly difficult.
4. The Winning Shot
If you’re selling your belongings on any kind of online platform, then get ready to put in the work for a good sale. Unfortunately, a few measly shots aren’t going to cut it with the competition so prepare to get your Dragon’s Den sales pitch up to scratch with photography on point and writing skills revived. When taking photos of your belongings there are a few key tricks to getting the winning shot:
- Choose a neutral background (no clutter or bright colours)
- Try and take photos with natural lighting
- Take photos from every angle
- Avoid editing any images
- Take close-ups of any marks (people prefer transparency)
- Have one lifestyle photo of the furniture to give people an idea of how it will look at home
Once you have got the images for your furniture sale, take the time to work on an enticing description for your seller that includes all key elements of what you’re selling e.g. the dimensions, materials and retail price of the furniture. A personal touch also goes a long way, so feel free to test your creativity and make sure to include keywords related to what you’re selling.
5. Stay Responsive
With your belongings up for sale it can be easy to think all the hard work is done. However, staying on top of messages and being responsive is crucial to completing the sale of your furniture. Aim to check new messages every day and if someone is interested in your belongings, try to respond every hour or so to their inquiries. The turnover is extremely fast on marketplace websites, so selling your belongings takes consistency and quick response times. No one likes to be left on read, even if it is for furniture sales. Therefore, until the sale is complete, always stay two steps ahead of messages and sales responses.
In Summary
Selling furniture before a move requires dedication, patience, and attention to detail. By following these steps - from carefully selecting what to sell to maintaining responsive communication - you can successfully turn your unwanted furniture into valuable funds for your new chapter.
While selling your old and unwanted furniture can take quite some time, not all of your move has to be quite so time-consuming. For easy moving and storage solutions look to Holloway Removals and Storage. With a decade of professional experience under our belt, we have the skills and equipment to make your relocation a breeze. Giving you more time to make that cash back and enjoy the process.
