Tips for Buying and Selling Furniture Online - Solutions Bank

for Buying Home Decor Pieces Online

1. Shop locally. “The closer an item is to you, the faster you will receive it, and the less you’ll pay in shipping,” says Anna Brockway of Chairish. (In fact, you may not have to pay shipping at all if you are near enough to pick up the piece for yourself.)
2. Measure…then measure again. Before adding an item to your cart, make sure the item will actually fit in the space you have allotted (and that it will fit through the door, hallway, or elevator into your home or building). Ramon Cacho of Apt Deco recommends measuring the space and marking it off with painter’s tape to make sure nearby doors can swing open without hitting and there’s enough room to walk past.
3. Patience, Grasshopper. Write a list of exactly what you are looking for and check back on multiple sites a few times a week for newly listed items until you find one that checks most (if not all) of those boxes. (Chairish lists an average of 1,000 new products each week!)
4. Avoid cash transactions. Michael Kaiser of the National Cyber Security Alliance warns that purchases made with cash do not offer buyer protection and could even “be a setup for thievery.” So opt for payment through secure systems like Paypal or Square.
5. Do your research. Check out the site’s return policy and individual sellers’ reviews before making a purchase to protect yourself from unexpected fees or headaches.

for Selling Home Décor Pieces Online

1. Sell at informed prices. Do not price your piece based on what you spent on it. Look for comparable listings on multiple sites, check what the item sells for new, and ultimately determine a price that will motivate buyers. Ramon Cacho at AptDeco recommends listing used furniture at 20 to 50 percent of the original retail price.
2. Make it easy to find. Ki Nassauer, founder of Junk Bonanza, says to include the item’s manufacturer, age, and any other pertinent info you know about the item within each listing. Buyers may be searching by those key terms, so make it as easy as possible for them to unearth.
3. List qualities buyers can’t see. “Tell them if the piece comes from a non-smoking home, if you have pets, and if there are any tears or broken parts,” says Ryan Finlay of ReCraigslist.com. If you are upfront about flaws, you will lessen the amount of back-and-forth with an interested customer and hopefully eliminate a fallen-through sale.
4. Safety first. Local potential buyers may want to see the item in person before committing. If that’s the case, try to meet in a public place like a lawn that is visible from the street and ask a friend to come along. “Better yet,” says Michael Kaiser of the National Cyber Security Alliance, “drive the item to a mall parking lot or other high traffic area to show it there instead of at your home.”
5. “A picture is worth 1,000 words”, says Anna Brockway of Chairish. Your written description can be helpful, but nothing will sell the piece more than a series of detailed photographs.