The Best Way to Buy Used Furniture| A MYMOVE Guide

Finding excellent furniture at low prices is the dream for many people looking to outfit their homes with high-quality, unique treasures especially if you’re decorating from scratch. Used furniture stores are only available in some markets, so figuring out where to buy used furniture can be a challenge. If you want to know the best place to buy used furniture, ultimately, it will depend on whether you are out for bargain-basement pricing or hoping to get a decent deal on something vintage or antique.

Where to buy used furniture online

Explore your options for used furniture websites.  Buying used furniture online tends to fall into one of two categories: more standard or budget-friendly furniture sold through a marketplace that connects you locally, or higher-end, vintage or antique furniture that is sold and shipped to you. Both options offer excellent options for used furniture.

Facebook Marketplace:

Facebook has worked to create an easy-to-browse used furniture hub, with many other items for sale as well. One of the main advantages of the Facebook Marketplace model is that many people find a friend-of-friend connection through the typical Facebook network and feel like they can trust the transaction more. Still, even if you buy used furniture from total strangers, arranging for pick-up or delivery is easy and handled between you and the seller.

Craigslist:

The original simple interface for local person-to-person used furniture sales, Craigslist is a good way to see a wide snapshot of what kinds of furniture are available in your area. Quality will vary, so Craigslist is a good site to bookmark and check occasionally.

Nextdoor:

This neighborhood site primarily focuses on being an online community bulletin board, but as an extension of being a place for neighbors to “gather,” it is possible to list items for sale. The biggest advantage of Nextdoor is that you are often even closer to these sellers than some of the bigger networks; you might only have to travel a street or two over to pick up your used furniture purchase.

Etsy:

For higher-end refurbished used furniture, Etsy has become a valuable option. Since this crafting and DIY marketplace features handmade items of all kinds, many of the used furniture pieces you’ll find have been “upcycled,” taking a damaged or older item and giving it new life.

Chairish:

This app offers excellent vintage and one-of-a-kind used furniture, and while not everything is affordably priced, the app is easy to use and features a return policy, something you might not have access to on the person-to-person sales sites like Marketplace and Craigslist.

1stDibs:

Like Chairish, FirstDibs often has higher-end used furniture pieces, but they also have a wide array of other items. They bill themselves as an online flea market, and you never know what you’ll find.

Online Buying Tips

When looking at used furniture stores, apps, and websites, always use common sense for setting a location or arranging a delivery. Some apps will hold your payment until you click to confirm you received the item, while others may encourage you to opt for an e-payment through a service like Cashapp or Venmo upon receipt of the item.

Make sure that you get all the relevant details about the used furniture, and do more due diligence when it comes to deciding where to buy used furniture if the prices seem high. A very inexpensive piece of furniture might be worth a drive across the city to the far-away suburbs, but if the prices seem to be rather high, you might opt instead for a “used furniture stores near me” search.

How to find used furniture near me, in person!

While online marketplaces are an incredible option when you’re willing to foot a fairly hefty shipping bill or do your own delivery, local stores and websites are better if you want the option to see the furniture in person or avoid paying shipping. Second hand furniture shops aren’t extremely common, but when I find used furniture stores near me, I am there often!

Start with looking at the Habitat ReStore site and see if there are any locations near you. Habitat for Humanity sells extra or donated used furniture and home repair supplies for low prices and uses the proceeds to create affordable housing in your community. They have a rotating supply, so you never know what you’ll find, and usually you’ll need to go in-person to see their current inventory.

Many local thrift stores will have a small or large section devoted to used furniture for you to peruse, and some communities have auction houses or other used furniture stores.

To find estate sales, which often have good prices for excellent furniture, use the aggregator sites EstateSale.com and EstateSales.net to find advertised sales that are coming up in your area. Many yard sales and estate sales are advertised on Craigslist as well – make a list and an itinerary in your Maps application on your phone to hit a few sales in a row on a Saturday. If you happen upon a good estate sale, ask who is running it: they may advertise their sales in a flyer or email and you can sign up to hear about where to buy used furniture in the future.

The increase in online sales and porch delivery or curbside pick-up due to COVID-19 has enabled some estate and auction sales to invest in the technology to hold sales online. Some estate processing and liquidating services like Caring Transitions or Everything But The House are available if you want to find estate sale items without having to attend in person.

The bottom line

Looking for where to buy used furniture is going to take a little more time than buying new, but the deals you can get for those extra minutes of research can be well worth the effort. By combining a look at location-based marketplaces that allow for local pickup or delivery with the option to get higher-value pieces delivered nationally, you can find the best places to buy used furniture online, as well as secondhand furniture shops in your community.