It looks like a beautiful set and in great condition but I personally would't pay that much for upholstered furniture on CL. Maybe I'm just an oddball and other folks would.

I think it's worth it...but you have hit a magic price point.
List it for $975, and be willing to take $900, and I think you'll be fine.

Do you have a PayPal account? If people have trouble coming up with the cash on short notice, you can accept a credit card payment through PayPal. When I have done that, I added the PayPal mark-up to the cost, gave the buyers a signed receipt, and required that the payment go through before the stuff is picked up.

I look on CL a lot. The feeling I get is that with all the free furniture posted on there, it is hard to sell something that is worth so much. I think people who use CL are really looking for deals and to them nothing is worth $1000. If they were going to spend that much, they would buy new.

The best rule of thumb I have heard is to price it at roughly 25% of the price you paid. That is for furniture that has been used the average amount of time, and kept in average condition. If you bought a set and changed your mind on it just a year later, you would price it at more. If you kept it 20 years, price it less. Also, I would state how old it is. You may also try eBay, pickup only.

Here in LA, I don't think you'd get many people who would want a whole set (younger people tend to buy on CL, and they all want Eames, etc.), but three pieces for $1000 seems like quite a deal. Are you willing to sell the pieces separately?

I'd also add a whole bunch of search terms (sorry if they're cliches or not strictly accurate, but people tend to search this way):

traditional, Shabby Chic, upholstered, vintage, Victorian, solid wood

I would price them separately with a note in each ad that matching pieces are available also. Then price the whole set a bit cheaper to help push fence straddlers into taking the whole thing. If you price the pieces separately you are bound to get someone who will offer less for the whole set.

People buying second hand are likely to be searching for a quirky piece and not matchy-matchy sets. They are also more likely to live in a smaller space and would only need a loveseat or just one sofa. Or someone would snap up the chair to coordinate with their existing sofa.

Each of those pieces could stand on their own looking real cute as a main focal point in a small room.

Thanks so much for the wonderful suggestions and feedback. I'll try to use them in my new listings to see if I have any success.

So if I offer Paypal as a payment option, do I just list that I would charge them the fee for the transaction?

I'm on CL all the time too and at least in NJ, everything is very expensive. There isn't a lot of good free stuff to be had. The set was originally over $3k and since it's only 8 years old and in great shape, I listed it at about 1/3 of the original price.

I am willing to sell separately, but since I want to get rid of this set first before buying the sofa and loveseat, I want them out faster so I don't lose out on the "new" set. So I'd rather sell them as a set.

Any other opinions? It seems like there is a mix even here whether the price is okay or not.

Thanks so much for the wonderful suggestions and feedback. I'll try to use them in my new listings to see if I have any success.

So if I offer Paypal as a payment option, do I just list that I would charge them the fee for the transaction?

I'm on CL all the time too and at least in NJ, everything is very expensive. There isn't a lot of good free stuff to be had. The set was originally over $3k and since it's only 8 years old and in great shape, I listed it at about 1/3 of the original price.

I am willing to sell separately, but since I want to get rid of this set first before buying the sofa and loveseat, I want them out faster so I don't lose out on the "new" set. So I'd rather sell them as a set.

Any other opinions? It seems like there is a mix even here whether the price is okay or not.

I find CL prices can vary quite a bit by region, so for pricing I'd do some searches on your local CL for similar items and use that as an indictor. Since there can be many sofas/loveseats for sale, clever wording of your ad using descriptive search keywords as well as a descriptive heading can help your ad viewed by more potential buyers. Also, the timing of when you placed your ad can help as well since many people tend to look at furniture over the weekends. I find that a Friday posting gets more responses.

That said, I would also second dilly_dally's suggestions to list separately. As you prefer to sell as a set, perhaps at least break up the sofa/loveseat as a set and sell the chair alone. I think you will get more $$ for it that way since it's easier to sell a chair by itself for someone looking to add it to either bedroom or living room and potential buyers can easily put it in a van or SUV--not so with the sofa/loveseat. Not all rooms will be large enough to accomodate so many pieces and the buyers who have that much space, may also have the $$ to purchase new.

Good luck!

So if I offer Paypal as a payment option, do I just list that I would charge them the fee for the transaction?

I wouldn't list Paypal as an option for payment at all. Too many scammers out there... I do use Paypal all the time for smaller purchases, I just wouldn't do it for a $1000. purchase. If you do decide to allow a Paypal payment make sure it is a 'instant Paypal payment' and not an e-check which can take several days to clear. You might lose out on another buyer while waiting on a bad check.

Love the set and agree you might have better luck selling the pieces separately.

I agree that: pricing really varies by region; price them separately with a better deal for buying all; I would not spend that much money for used furniture and to me, eight years is a lot of years for fabric furniture.

The other issue as a CL buyer is that upholstered furniture is susceptible to bedbugs, so it would have to be the deal of the century for me to buy it. That said, what the heck, if it doesn't sell at your original price, you can always lower it.
Good luck.
Diane

I agree with suggestion to offer to sell pieces separately, listing each piece w/individual prices and knocking off a couple of hundred to someone for the whole set. I would also add dimensions of the pieces and a close up photo of the fabric.

Lydia offers good suggestions re: paypal. Personally, I would state cash only in your add and firm price.

My family considers me to be the CL queen when it comes to getting things sold. I think the most important thing in selling something is the photographs. It's a must to use HTML to post photos if you want a quick sale. The better the photos the more offers you'll get. The more offers you'll get the better leverage you have to getting your asking price. You're asking price at a third of the original is very fair if the set is in great condition. If it needs cleaning I'd ask just 25% of the original price.
As for using HTML all you have to do is open a photobucket account. Load your photos there, resize them to 1024 X 768 then copy and paste the HTML code to the area of your CL add where the discription belongs.
If you want you can do like I do and first spiff them up using Windows Paint....
{{!gwi}}
click on photo to enlarge

Count me in with the cash only group. Cash when picked up in person. Don't hold for anyone that's "out of town" either. If you are new to CL read up on what the scams look like. Make sure you are not home alone, put the sofa in the furniture in the garage so buyers don't have to come into your home. Have cash in hand and tucked away before you allow them to load the furniture. If you think about delivering make sure the buyers see it in person first and pay a good sized deposit.

Thanks for the valuable information!

justgotabme: Love your enhanced photo! I'll have to try that.

So assuming $1000 is a fair price, how should I break down the prices if I sell separately? $200 for the chair, $400 for the loveseat and $500 for the sofa?

If the $1,000 is reasonable for your area, your breakdown sounds about right. A few other suggestions:

- A close-up of the fabric would help a lot.

- Also a close-up of the wood trim (maybe same one?), particularly if it's nice.

- Definitely include dimensions for each piece.

- Your photos are nice, but a bit 'bland'. Maybe a vibrant (high end) accessory in each might help catch buyers' eyes?

- If you're in (or near) an affluent suburb, list that as your location. IME, Craigslist has a serious zip code premium and many buyers presume that people who live in good areas have good quality 'stuff' and perhaps 'fewer cooties'? ;-)

- In your listing title, add a short 'code' to help buyers find your other listings, and add a note: "See my other listings with '94123' in title."

I'm glad you liked it tam. If you live in a large area, and I believe all locations where there is a CL is large, then photos can really make a big difference. I know so often I'll ask a seller for larger/better photos before I drive into the city to purchase an item. Most don't mind, but gosh they'd just save themselves so much trouble if they added better photos in the first place. I wish CL would share that info when members are working on posting things.
I'm with Sweeby, in fact I meant to mention that. Especially with the fabric on your sofa. It looks gorgeous and close ups can only help.