I made the mistake of thinking that 'no reserve' would garner interest for my settees and a chair on eBay, especially seeing as they had to be local pick up only. I thought that I would at least get £30 for the lot, although, considering their condition, I would love to have got something closer to £100.

In any case, my furniture just sold for £1 to a chronic eBayer out for nothing other than a bargain. I would rather have given them to charity (if could have found one that wanted them), and now I resent the person who bought them for so little.

I know. I was an idiot for putting them on with no reserve and it is all my fault, but has anyone else had a crap experience like this?

Please say something to make me feel better.

You should have got a mate to bid them up and get more. One of the reasons I don't buy on ebay anymore!

similiar thing happened to me with some bmx cranks 99p. i thought at least ill make a bit for packaging and posting not much but a small consolation…the guy wanted to pick up only asking me after end of auction. i rather whingingly said yes. anyway when he turned up to pick them up he gave me a £5 and said sorry for not pre asking about collection and that his max bid was above £5 anyway. honestly the guy revived my faith in humanity!!

One of the reasons I don't sell on e-bay, that can always happen. Once let a nice quality retro Syncos stem go for 99p 🙁 , does that make you feel better?
Big things like sofas and suits are hard to shift and also very common and i've usually gone the way of Freecycle for things like that.

Fair to say "no resevre" is a bit of a daft option if you actually want more than £1 for anything

if you sell a fair bit on ebay though you notice it is swings and roundabouts ive had gear go for a lot more than i expected so i guess it evens out..if that helps ha.

I sold a pair of wheels recently. The front one needs rebuilding. It was pretty clear in the listing. Sold for £51 with other bidders at £50 and £40. Buyer backed out of the sale, apologising for not spotting that they needed a rebuild.

So I relisted them. No interest this time so the only bidder got them for my £5 minimum.

I'm not bitter about it though. I knew it could happen. It's certainly not the buyer's fault. He's got a bargain. I've freed up a bit of space under the stairs. It's just that I've not got as much cash as I'd hoped for.

if you sell a fair bit on ebay though you notice it is swings and

Exactly – I've sold a 2nd hand CD for £13 when it was available on Amazon for £6.99.

They'll probably search down the back of the cushions for change, then dump them.

Works both ways though.
Got a pair of brand new xt pedals ridiculously cheap because it was a crap photo and no-one else placed a bid!

Live and learn…

Given ikea knock them out so cheap, or you could go to DFS and buy on tick, it's not surprising that secondhand furniture is worth next to nothing these days.

Most charities require that stuff meets all the fireproofing regs and still has the tags on to show it – without that they're not allowed to give it to anyone else.

I normally put stuff on at 99p and see where it gets to – but for old furniture (that's bulky so needs collecting) freecycle is usually a better bet if I just want rid rather than getting any money for them.

I've got a few bargains on furniture, way less than stuff should have been. Have always taken a bottle of wine along on collection as compensation.

Its an auction, so things only have a value of two people both want to buy something. Your sofa buyer might have been happy to pay £200. But, if you make the starting price £1 and the buyer has nobody to bid against him he can't choose to pay more than a quid unless someone else ups the ante (and not your mate putting in shill bids, thats just a waste of everyones time). With something like a sofa you're limited to local buyers who have the transport to collect – not many – so the chance of getting two competing is pretty slim. So just offer it at the price you'll accept for it.

I once listed a pc printer. 99p start and £5 postage. It sells for 99p and when I get to the PO it's £8 to post. Nearly pushed myself laughing at the counter. Laugh or cry, yeah?

The buyer must have wanted them though, so why is it any worse than giving them to somebody via Freecycle?

You were lucky to sell it at all – second hand furniture is almost impossible to sell. My mate put some nice stuff on there FOC and still couldn't shift it.

I failed recently by being too slow. I saw a Cannondale Road bike that was an auction starting at 99p, but the seller had accidentally pressed the 'buy it now' tab so that the bike (worth I guess £800-£1000) was snapped up within 3 minutes of going on for 99p.

I often wonder if the seller kept true to his word.

C

Happened to me as well. Merida Trans Mission comp frame went for £80 odd quid. I wouldv'e been happier with £150, Syncros seatpost off same bike, 99p & I was too close on the postage to click a bit there as well. I know it's probly swings & roundabouts but I thinks it's more of a buyers market on there at the mo.

In any case, my furniture just sold for £1 to a chronic eBayer out for nothing other than a bargain.

For all you know they may have bid £100.

I sold a Tesco carrier bag on ebay for £2 after betting a mate a £5 that you could sell anything to muppets on ebay!

Worst part was the buyer paid up and wanted it posting!

That was some time ago mind, nowt as weird as folk 😉

Yeah furniture is impossible to sell at any reasonable value. It's such a personal thing and of course you then have to factor in the hassle of collecting it. Settees aren't easy items to post.

Still, it was an auction, you entered a legally binding contract to sell the items. Let me know when I can collect the items and if you would rather have cash on collection and thus avoid pay pal fees.

Ebayed my Stinky frame. 1st auction got bid up by a scammer to £300. Ebay spotted and cancelled the auction. As he wasn't the only bidder, I relisted, confident that I would get over £250. Went for £90. I was gutted, especially seeing as I've regretted it ever since.