From what I've seen, large furniture isn't selling that much on ebay - shipping is too expensive & unless you live in a large metro area, or get extremely lucky, local pickup isn't going to help you.

Do you have any reputable auction houses locally? IMO, that might be your best option if they have a clientele interested in what you're selling.

Your eBay/craigslist idea is not bad, but I agree that shipping might be prohibitive. Plus you might get flagged - people get annoyed on craigslist. But nothing to lose.

The way I think the money works is that if you go through a dealer, you get about the same that you would get privately, just that the dealer sells it for double the price. The thing is people shop craigslist for deals, because it takes way more time to shop that way, so it has to be to save money. Why drive to four different municipalities to see four different desks, when you could go to an antique shop to see 8 at once, unless the singles are half the price?

Plus, when you take it to a dealer, if it takes three months for a buyer to show up, the dealer does the storing, not you.

So the variables are time, money, and space. And also loading the thing into the buyer's car. How much of each of those commodities you have or are willing to put in is the issue.

KarinL

thanks. all that makes very good sense to me. unfortunately, i live in a small town in RI, so there aren't many buyers around here either from craigslist or at local consignment-type antique shops. maybe providence has an auction house that'd be interested. i'll have to check into it.

The way I think the money works is that if you go through a dealer, you get about the same that you would get privately, just that the dealer sells it for double the price.

Where do people perpetuate such rubbish? That's probably how new merchandise retail works (new merchandies markup is actually nearer triple cost), but no reputable dealer automatically doubles price. Selling price is based on price paid plus overhead, and added profit. Yes, dealers are just as entitled to make a living as are the rest of you. Non-dealers are far more likely to stiff a seller, since they're driven by the Antiques Roadshow idea that they'll get something for nothing then sell it for millions.

floete_ri, you stated that the furniture is in shaky condition. Unless there are exceptionally rare pieces involved, they're not likely to fetch much of anything, anywhere. The market, as stated by antiquesilver, isn't supporting large or case furniture, especially late 19th c. If you need to be rid of it soon, I think that your idea of craigslist and ebay seems good, as long as it doesn't defy rules of either venue. karinl mentioned that people shop for bargains on craigslist so are typically quite unwilling to pay a fair market price for anything and I have found that to be true in most cases. I don't put inventory on craigslist, the buyers are neither knowledgeable nor willing to pay, they're all looking for the 5$ purchase that turns out to be the 5000$ object on Antiques Roadshow. But since your objects are in poor condition perhaps you're more interested in getting them out of the way? If you have an auction saleroom with specialty in later 19th c. furniture why not give a call just to see if there's an interest in selling your objects? The main drawback there is in time between consignment and the featured sale-it could be in the catalogs in two months or nearly a year later. Once items are consigned, then they're in teh auction warehouse, whenever sold you'll receive a check for hammer less consignment fee.

I do think that your initial idea sounds very good, it reaches a wide market that way at little cost to you. Be sure to take excellent pictures and be prepared by having all details depicted, and be ready to email them to whoever asks. If someone asks for detail pics of something specific then has to wait a day while you take pictures, the sale is lost. Have them ready. Good luck and please post what worked for you.

I didn't mean to imply malice on the part of the dealer. It is a simple fact that dealers have to pay overhead; in addition, "doubles price" implies that there is such a thing as "a price" for a used or antique item and that is simply not the case. The price is what someone ends up paying. What I was trying to convey was that at the dealer, the price is going to be about double what you will get on craigslist. (price asked does not always equal price paid).

What I was trying to address is this mistake: a person with an old desk to sell goes to the used/antique store and sees a desk like theirs being sold for $400. Oooh, thinks the person, I can get $400 for my desk, and lists it on craigslist for $400.

Shoppers know different - even on craigslist. They know that if they are coming and getting it from your home, in whatever remote corner of the universe you may live at a time convenient to you and likely having to wrestle it down from your attic without staff to do it for them, they do not need to pay overhead. So if they also saw the same desk in the store for $400, they expect to get yours for $200 or less.

And as that explains how I shop, I'm hoping it isn't rubbish. Although I should add that I've been known to pay more than asking for a craigslist purchase if it was too dramatically underpriced.

Plus, I think my math is good enough that I'm right in saying that whichever way you go, your take will be $200. And that is why the dealer is not ripping you off (unless they buy from you for $25 and sell for $600 without doing a lick of work on the piece).

I do agree that if the pieces are not in good condition, you may be talking nickels and dimes here. Why not post a photo here and get some price estimates?

KarinL

great stuff, i feel considerably more informed now. and i will post some pictures, as soon as i can get the stuff out of their dusty corners and info some light.

i have some paintings as well. during a yard sale a few years back, some dealer wormed her way into my basement ("Hey, you got anything you haven't put out?") and tried to strong arm me into selling her the paintings for like 350 - 400 each. I resisted, for better or worse. Will post some pix of them, too ...

Update: a local auctioneer is coming over to have a look-see. He may take the stuff or he might be totally disappointed by what he sees. I will keep you posted ... with pix!

Don't sell to him outright!!

First - identify what you have. What would it sell for in good condition? What would it cost to get it into good condition.

The "shaky old table" I bought for $40 resold for quite a bit more after I cleaned it and re-glued the joints. It was an oak library table, Mission Style, that had dried out a lot. On the other hand, the 'shaky old" couch I left behind would have needed $$$$ of reupholstery to be fixed.

And the pictures - make sure you id them. If she was offering $350 she knew where she could resell them for a lot more. And a picture, unlike furniture, ships easily