Do you risk buying second hand?

As a volunteer in one of the major charity shops I have definitely noticed a wider range of people are willing to buy from Charity Shops, buying 2nd hand has become more acceptable and even seen as sensible.
It is a very good way of recycling through re-use and though I personally have had no real problems buying 2nd hand on Ebay I would always prefer to be able to handle the goods first and buy from a known entity like a charity shop even at a higher price. Gets round the sort of problems you had with the SLR lens.
However even on Ebay some sellers go out of their way to describe every fault or blemish and this must give people confidence as they usually achieve the higher prices

if i get chance iwill buy second hand how do you know how long something in the shop ie comet has been there???

A lot of second-hand items are of a much better quality than new ones on the market.

I’ve just cleaned and changed the drawer knobs on a wooden chest of drawers bought more than 30 years ago second-hand. It looks quite different. It is what was called utility furniture so not of fantastic quality to start off with but definitely better than all the chipboard and melamine for sale now.

I’ve bought a lot of crockery to match my existing on ebay. Online shops that specialise in this have made it so much easier to match. You can also list requests.

The British Heart Foundation shops have lots of good furniture. If you are lucky your Council will list these shops for you so that you can take – or they can collect furniture. Sometimes there are also projects where you can get your furniture mended, re-covered etc.

Oops forgot Ebay – bought 1000s of DVDs literally – had one non delivery – one wrong format – All others in first class condition – Saved a fortune

When I first moved out my home was only second hand things. I appreciated how expensive everything was to buy and was grateful to everyone that helped me to set up my first home.

But over the years I’ve gradually replaced some of those old items with new ones. And those old items have in turn been passed on to my friends and family setting up their homes.

I still buy second hand for smaller items, but the large things now match how I’d like instead of on a pure need basis.

A decent chunk of my model railway was bought second hand. You have to be incredibly careful to read the details, and always assume the worst (if it doesn’t say this is the new model with the better motor, it never is!). Buying model railway stuff is a good lesson in eBay buying. Set your budget, never pay more than x% of the new price, check the details and the feedback, watch the postage prices, bit carefully (set limits just above obvious round numbers, for example). And inspect everything carefully on receipt and be ready to argue with the seller.

I buy all my crime fiction in charity shops and swap books with some friends after having read them. This means that about four of us read the same book for very little money and it is then returned to the charity shop to be sold again. I noticed the stock of books in charity shops has reduced with the rising popularity of eReaders. Are you able to swap eReader books with friends without swapping the eReader itself.

I wanted to buy a set of coffee tables last year and set up a search on eBay. I waited in vain for the right proper oak wood ones to turn up and in the end bought a nearly right habitat set. They were very strong wood and very cheap and I was able to collect them so I was reasonably happy.

Because I have very wide windows and have two windows in my living room I have to spend quite a lot of money on curtains. I tried for a few months to find second hand curtains in a curtain exchange shop in Marylebone which sold very high quality curtains but I could not get the right sizes also they had too many swags and tails with sets. I gave up in the end and bought cheaper quality curtains elsewhere.

I am really pleased to see how many Which? staff buy secondhand. I wish it became fashionable for our throwaway society to do the same.

I’m cautious about electricals and wouldn’t buy computer goods 2nd hand – too quickly obsolete.

Most of my 100os of books were bought 2nd hand – I used to be a real connoisseur of the 2nd hand book shop – but now I get them via amazon and other online sources.

DVDs I will always consider getting 2nd hand – so many people want to buy a DVD (or get it given) watch it once and then get rid of it. I’m very happy to profit from that. The only thing I check is that it hasn’t come down so far in price that I can buy it new as cheaply.

Clothes I would buy 2nd hand, but as I can’t get round charity shops (which are rarely wheelchair-friendly) I buy my clothes online.

I’ve just got some cutlery from ebay which I couldn’t buy new and would cheerfully get crockery from a charity shop.

We always used to get 2nd hand furniture, but again finding and inspecting it are difficult when you’re wheelchair bound.

I would also buy straightforward children’s toys from a charity shop, if I could inspect them first – though I’d be cautious about broken wires etc.

Very informative, great advice for facebook sellers/buyers, i will inform my new group BUYSELLHALTON on facebook

Looking for new members 😉

I use to love looking round charity shops but since I bought a tv and paid for it ,went to pick it up and was given my money back because the person on the till said to this fella give me more money and you can have it ,didn’t even put it through the till , given money back and she put ten pounds in her bag …this shop is one big joke