Used Furniture? Donate to Whom? Attempt to Sell?

Housing Works donation.

Furnish a Future (http://www.partnershipforthehomeless.org/programs.furnish.php5) will come pick up and has drop off locations as well.

Housing works will pick up furniture in good condition. Then search craigslist for comparable pieces and print out the comps. Use this 'evidence' as support for IRS deductions.

IF you want to sell everyone uses craig's list these days. I bought all my furniture there. Also you can try free cycle

Housing Works is very fussy about the quality of the furniture they accept. Salvation Army also picks up, but only accepts certain types of furniture (they wouldn't accept an armoire or a bed when I last moved). I ended getting rid of stuff on Craigs List or, when one guy I'd lined up on Craigs List bailed out without leaving me sufficient time to find a replacement, I ended up giving it away to a porter in my previous building. I have a friend who uses freecycle routinely, but she's been jerked around by people not showing up for pickup appointments.

Agree that charities can be picky and you don't want to count on them taking your furniture. Craiglist is an easy fast way to go - if it doesn't work in 2 days, try something else. Ditto Freecycle.

We've donated several times to the Spence Chapin charity shop on Third Avenue and 83rd Street. They used to assess the donation value, but I think that the donor assesses the value of the furniture now.

If you're interested, the telephone number for the Spence Chapin thirift shop is (212) 737-8448.

We just moved, and people made fun of me for trying to sell stuff on this board -- I will tell you in general, you're lucky if you can get someone to pick the stuff up. (Electronics, especially, are worth nothing).

I would cherry pick one or two items to sell on Craigslist and trying to give everything else in a lot to Housing Works or Spence Chapin or similar.

ali r.

Alright. Reality check, people. Suggestions above may work for some types of buildings and some people may have patience to deal with a hoard of callers, multiple pickups, no shows.

Here are some things to consider, though. If you sell items on craigslist to multiple buyers, that means multiple people schlepping stuff out of your building, scraping hallways, banging the elevator door, asking for help with the service door or getting yelled at hauling crap through the lobby. If you live in a typical coop or many rentals, that won't be cool. Anyone moving furniture has to be insured or leave a deposit with management, the elevator has to be padded, moving hours have to be complied with--which means an 8:00pm move of a dresser down the elevator ain't happening. Many buyers will show up with a car too small for the item and without help, leaving you to assist them in tying the armoire to the roof of their Smart Car or losing the sale. And all this for what? The value of the tax deduction to Housing Works will likely be greater than anything you can sell the items for.

As for quality of the furniture, above poster is correct that many charities are picky. But Housing Works, for example, will come ahead of time to scope out the item and let you know if they'll take it. If they will, and there is an item or two they don't want, they often offer to take those 'rejects' and get rid of them for you.

Also, Flatrate Movers also offered to take my give-away furniture if I wanted them to.

If what you have is an 8 year old Ikea desk you paid $129 for and now it wobbles a bit, you are correct: no one will want it. And if selling it for $12 on craigslist is your thing, great. Otherwise, a lot of stuff is just plain garbage and should be thrown away.

Try every venue to get rid of stuff you don't want to move. It took me 5+ years to get rid of a couch I didn't want. Very good condition, didn't want to leave it on curb. All the charities rejected it because of a tiny hole (smaller than a nickel) - we'd purchased it at a scratch n dent outlet and it came with the hole. Finally found someone on free cycle to take it for free.

5 years?! How much did you ultimately get for it?

0. The issue wasn't trying to maximize return. I didn't feel that it would be the best end-use to have it go on the curb, and have it be rained on and maybe picked up or not or dumpster. I just wanted it to be used.

Kudos nyc10023. Very green of you. Trying to give stuff away sucks (due to the aforementioned flakers) but has its rewards.

I always post unwanted items on the "free stuff" page on Craigslist. Most items are snapped up in less than a day. I dont get a tax deduction which I would get by giving to a charity but I do get the satisfaction of helping someone out (the folks that pick things up are generally really appreciative of the stuff).

I just did this in May... i had the bright idea of using craigslist and after a few days i realized what a silly mistake that was!!! for the price you get, the risk and headache is not worth it. I called on charity, they came and were a bunch of scam artists and i threw them out. Thought it would be bad karma but they were SCAM artists (had to say it twice). I then called housing works and they were fabulous, professional, nice, and very, very appreciative.
There was one piece they could not take as it was huge, i completely understood. I ended up using 1 800- gotjunk for that. ashame but it was almost impossible to get in it in when it was delivered.
long answer, but i reco housing works !

We contacted Reuse America in Brooklyn looking to donate our furniture to a needy family directly. They found a family which just got out of a homeless shelter and needed to furnish their apartment. We were thrilled that our furniture went directly to this family. We got a tax receipt and they had the proper certificate of insurance that our building required. Their website is www.reuseamericany.wordpress.com. We dealt with John at 718-807-6529

tax receipt is not longer useful, most people are on standard now

I moved out today. Sold tons of stuff (about $1500 worth) and gave some away free if it was damaged. No scratches on the elevators, thank you. What I couldn't sell, I gave away, and I found two sisters with a baby from an unfashionable part of town who took everything I didn't need and turned up exactly on time.

If a building gives you a hard time about moving out a few pieces of furniture, be glad you're leaving. Move to a place where the porter will help you in exchange for a nice tip at Christmas.

>>>and I found two sisters with a baby from an unfashionable part of town who took everything I didn't need and turned up exactly on time.<<<

Sounds like something out of a Jane Austen novel...

And like in any good Jane Austin novel, they WhatsApped me pics of the furniture in their apartment. Looked quite good.