Selling furniture... any ideas?

For modern, there is the DWR outlet in NJ. Some of the items are a bit dinged and not perfect, but I feel like with enough searching you could get a good deal here. There is a bus from the port authority and they say that it takes 30 min. The salespeople are very helpful, and if you have an item in mind, will give you a call if one comes in.

Riverhead NY has a couple of good outlets for new (but more traditional style) furniture - Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma Home, and Pottery Barn. The Pottery Barn has a small section of West Elm. The items in WS and RH tend to be less beat up. The PB items have generally been ok, but the WE items (that we've seen) have often been dinged. The prices have been pretty good though, I would check out.

I am sure most of these places work with local delivery services as well so they can be brought into NY for a reasonable cost. I actually inquired at WS home, and they gave me the number of someone that they often refer to and the quote given to be I felt was very reasonable and would be worth it for the item I was interested in.

oh my, I misread your question totally...oops!

Are you talking about antiques or just well-made contemporary traditional furniture? If it's the later, the resale value is close to nil.

Maly's right: sadly, things that you probably paid a couple thousand for are hard to extract any $$$ out of.

I would try Craigslist, but if it doesn't work, I think the way to go is to sell the pieces on ebay with a flag that you're donating the proceeds to charity (google missionfish).

That doesn't put the money in your pocket, but it sells the furniture faster and gets you a donation off your tax return.

Or there's housing works here in the city.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

You might as well tell us what you're trying to sell. I'm in the market for a queen sized bed frame, for instance.

I was in a similar position a year ago. I donated it all to Housing Works. I found that the tax deduction will be more valuable than the headache of ads, no-shows, and coordinating sales for small amounts. I lived in a nice building and the staff there doesn't just pad the elevator so strangers can move out large furniture several times in a week. And in a coop no one is doing that without a deposit and/or insurance certificates. Housing Works came, looked at what I had, said they'd take it, and scheduled a time to come get it with movers. It went smoothly and in the next couple weeks my accountant will be prepping my taxes with these items listed as donations. I'll have to show their value by pulling comps off craigslist in case I'm audited.

I just did the same and donated several fine pieces of furniture to housing works. They picked up and I got the tax deduction. Everybody wins.

If the pieces are good, both Sotheby's & Christies do have furniture auctions. You can always contact their sales department.

Thanks everyone! I guess I will probably have to donate most of it & take the tax write offs, alas no real antiques.

Wellheythere, wouldn't you know the one thing that's already spoken for is my Q sized Charles P Rogers bed frame? My brother has dibs:)

Kylewest: Good point about the elevators- I hadn't thought of that but it is 100% true in my case. Thx

Kands: Thanx for the thoughtful reply, even though it doesn't apply!

I know several people looking for quality furniture. What do you have?

I will echo the no-sell housing works route!!!

donate to Furnish a Future

They provide furniture and household goods for free to families leaving city shelters for their own apartments.

Families visit their warehouse and choose furniture for every room of their new apartment

They are always in need of new or gently used furnishings

furniture@pfth.org

www.partnershipforthehomeless.org/programs.furnish.php5

"I donated it all to Housing Works"

BING! unless your stuff is really high end or antique, if you take into account the value of your time, you'll probably do better with the tax deduction.

i have the same problem and made the big mistake - I have my wife's dining room set, a small buffet and sofa the she bought new before she moved from Europe and now it is just sitting in storage. I think I have paid about $10K for storage over the years....should have just donated it.