I've been dying for some new furniture lately; my house's renovations are almost done, so it's time for me to nest. We've been living with hand-me-down sofas since we moved in (3 years ago), and they are, for lack of a better word, buttugly. I know, I know, 'buttugly' probably isn't a word, but for the previous sentence's sake, we'll leave it. If it's not one word, it should be.
Here are our old sofas. 
They're so ugly, we only had one eBay bid for £25. Aw, the poor sofas. They've had a nice life; they'dun us good. But, it's time to move on to better, more stylish, less colour-of-lox-and-smells-like-wee types of things.
They're so ugly, we only had one eBay bid for £25. Aw, the poor sofas. They've had a nice life; they'dun us good. But, it's time to move on to better, more stylish, less colour-of-lox-and-smells-like-wee types of things.Being the budget-conscious gal that I am, I did research. I looked into sofa brands, leather vs fabric, corner sofas vs two separates, the whole deal. After many sessions of 'productive conversation' with my hubby, we finally decided on a dark brown leather corner beast. Something with shape and style, but comfortable. And dark brown wooden legs. And attached cushions, that seats 6 comfortably or 8 with a squeeze. Oh, and it needed to be cheap. Used would be fine, as long as it was perfect. Too much to ask?
Starting out on my bargain-hunting adventure, I practiced
Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number One: PATIENCE
My three most favouritest sites for second-hand stuff (in England) are eBay, Gumtree, and Yakaz. I check every morning and every evening for new listings, and sometimes on a particularly obsessive day, I check another 4 or 5 times. If you're serious about good deals, you have to do the same. If you're really serious about good deals, you have to wait. And wait. And wait.
We looked for weeks, and our ideal sofas were selling for £550, £650, £700 on eBay, and nothing was popping up on Gumtree or Yakaz. Well, I shouldn't say nothing, but nothing that met our stringent requirements. We considered going for one of the £650 deals, but then we remembered
Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number Two: STICK TO YOUR BUDGET
Our budget was maxed out at £450, not a penny more.
I waited, I watched, I searched. I considered buying new, but no, anything brand spankin' new for £450 was bound to be poop. I also considered buying something that wasn't quite up to my ridiculous standards, but that would violate
Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number Three: DON'T SETTLE
Ok, I'll kill the suspense and get to the point. One fine afternoon, on a particularly obsessive second-hand-site-checkin' day, I moseyed my way onto eBay and searched the new listings for corner leather sofas.
Lo-and-behold, there she was. Listed only 2 hours earlier, our perfect sofa was for sale in Buckinghamshire. A dark brown leather corner beast, with shape and style. Attached cushions, sat up to 8, and even had dark brown wooden legs! My eyes spotted the "Buy It Now" logo, which usually means the seller wants way too much, but what is this? Do my eyes behold a "Buy It Now" price of £350? Oh yes, they do. Hubby and I were up in Bucks 4 days later, picking up our £2,000 leather sofa for £350.
Yep, that's 82.5% off. I know it's "used", but seriously, you come over and show me its used-ness. It's utter perfection to me.
Just goes to show - if you following the 3 rules of buying second-hand, you're bound to get some sweet bargains.
Starting out on my bargain-hunting adventure, I practiced
Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number One: PATIENCE
My three most favouritest sites for second-hand stuff (in England) are eBay, Gumtree, and Yakaz. I check every morning and every evening for new listings, and sometimes on a particularly obsessive day, I check another 4 or 5 times. If you're serious about good deals, you have to do the same. If you're really serious about good deals, you have to wait. And wait. And wait.
We looked for weeks, and our ideal sofas were selling for £550, £650, £700 on eBay, and nothing was popping up on Gumtree or Yakaz. Well, I shouldn't say nothing, but nothing that met our stringent requirements. We considered going for one of the £650 deals, but then we remembered
Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number Two: STICK TO YOUR BUDGET
Our budget was maxed out at £450, not a penny more.
I waited, I watched, I searched. I considered buying new, but no, anything brand spankin' new for £450 was bound to be poop. I also considered buying something that wasn't quite up to my ridiculous standards, but that would violate
Buying-Second-Hand Rule Number Three: DON'T SETTLE
Ok, I'll kill the suspense and get to the point. One fine afternoon, on a particularly obsessive second-hand-site-checkin' day, I moseyed my way onto eBay and searched the new listings for corner leather sofas.
Lo-and-behold, there she was. Listed only 2 hours earlier, our perfect sofa was for sale in Buckinghamshire. A dark brown leather corner beast, with shape and style. Attached cushions, sat up to 8, and even had dark brown wooden legs! My eyes spotted the "Buy It Now" logo, which usually means the seller wants way too much, but what is this? Do my eyes behold a "Buy It Now" price of £350? Oh yes, they do. Hubby and I were up in Bucks 4 days later, picking up our £2,000 leather sofa for £350.
Yep, that's 82.5% off. I know it's "used", but seriously, you come over and show me its used-ness. It's utter perfection to me.Just goes to show - if you following the 3 rules of buying second-hand, you're bound to get some sweet bargains.
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