In preparation for our move, we decided to sell some of our furniture that either won't work in our new townhome and/or we just don't want to make the effort to move it. One item was our patio furniture. Large table with ceramic tile top with umbrella and 8 chairs, including 2 captain chairs. It is 4 years old, but it still looks good. However, we did not have a place to put it in our new home, and it was not worth paying for storage to keep it until we do have a place for it.
Shannon and I are terrible about pricing our used items. For us, our primary motivation for selling anything is to get rid of it. Whether it is a consignment sale of out grown kid clothes or our patio furniture, we sell items we no longer need. However, we obviously would feel bad about just throwing it away and generally recognize it is in good enough condition not to simply give it away. Still, we are mostly wanting to remove it from our possession and are just looking for a reasonable price for it.
As a result, two things almost always happen. One, we under price our items and don't maximize the sale. Two, our items sell quick. Take the patio furniture. I really never stopped to price the market rate for used patio furniture. I knew what we paid for it. While it was in good condition, it was obviously used and had 4 years of wear on it. Last Saturday night around midnight, I posted pictures of it on the local Craigslist and gave an asking price of $150 dollars. I was just hoping to get $150 and not have to bargain down with anyone.
When I got up Sunday morning at 7:00 AM and checked my email, I already had 5 inquires about it. After returning from church around noon, just twelve hours after posting it, I had 14 requests on it. Obviously, I underpriced my furniture. We had people from Murphesboro, which about 90 minutes away from Springfield, asking about it. In fact, the couple who bought it came from there. I could not believe the response.
When I looked on Craigslist for other patio furniture, I was shocked to see what people were offering and asking for theirs. One ad had a small circle glass top table with 4 chairs for $125. I wouldn't give $25 for it. In fact, I can't see ever buying it. But that is my mentality. Shannon and I naturally lean toward buying something new even at a much higher price because of the quality. Others, in fact many others, are fine buying something used at discounted price.
You could say we have a "Take it" mentality. We are not primarily worried about what we are getting from our sell as much as getting it out of our possession. As a result, we price it such to move quickly. Others are have a different mindset. They have the "Gimme" mentality. They will part with it, but by darn they are going to get top value even if they have to sit on it for a while. I have to say I would like to move a little away from our "Take it" mentality and a little closer to the "Gimme" mentality so we could make a little more money from selling our stuff.
But not too far. I like that we buy something of quality and then use it well and often to get value from it. What we buy we keep for as long as we need it. We don't sell just to buy something newer. We just don't need this item any more and want something from it. I think that is a good mentality. Besides, the Gimme mentality only gets you a little bit more money. But I will advise you not to short change your patio furniture. There is apparently a huge demand for it.
We face the same situation only compounded by living in one place for 23 years. We also are like you all (wonder how that happened?) in that we are not the best business people when it comes to selling and buying.
ReplyDeleteI just sold two bikes and got the asking price I listed for each. However, I really had no idea about the pricing of either. I did feel personally good about the first and then sold it to a man that I felt like would benefit from it and that maybe didn't have the finances to buy a brand new one. This took the edge from any concern I had regarding price as I felt it was going to someone that needed a little help at the moment.
The second bike I learned might be priced close as a bike shop contacted me concerning it and told me what the trade-in price was. My asking price was higher than that but at a difference I felt appropriate for retail. Also, the young man I sold it to struck me as someone who was genuine about his bike riding and wanted to elevate his participation to the next level, with a road bike built for speed.
So I got more than just money from my two deals. I also got the pleasure that I contributed to someone else's joy and pleasure in life. It is not all about money.