Antique furniture

Where to Sell my Antique furniture?

Steps

1. Establish what your piece of furniture is worth in order to set a fair price for it.
   • Give it a standard price, but have an idea of what you will settle for. For example, you might decide your Heywood Wakefield armoire is worth $3, 500, but you may need to be willing to sell it for around $2, 000.
   • Look for evidence that your piece of furniture was made by a high end manufacturer or is a collectible antique. Most manufacturers leave marks somewhere on the piece, and you can determine its worth as a collectible by looking it up online or in an antique furniture catalogue.
2. Offer the furniture to consignment shops. Your city or town should have at least 1 consignment shop that accepts high end furniture in good shape.
   • Find out how the furniture is sold and paid for. Some shops will pay you for it as soon as you bring it to them. Others will display it in their store, but will not pay you any money until it sells.
3. Ask for offers from furniture dealers. Sometimes, a dealer who buys and sells high end furniture will come to your home and make an offer if he or she wants to buy it.
   • Make sure the dealer will be willing to transport your furniture from your home to the shop, once the furniture is paid for. Otherwise, you will have to find a truck or something large enough to move the furniture.
4. Place an advertisement in the newspaper. Most local papers have a classified section where you can advertise your furniture and the price you are asking.
   • List your phone number or email address in addition to a description of your furniture so potential buyers will know how to contact you.
5. Sell your furniture online. You will want to sell to local buyers only, because the cost of shipping or transporting your furniture can be expensive.
   • Try placing an ad on Craigslist. You may not find too many high end buyers on this site, but it is free to list an ad, so it might be worth a try.
   • Use Kijiji ( This is a local site owned by online retailing giant eBay. You can post your furniture for sale the same way you would on eBay, but with Kijiji (Swahili for "village"), you will be able to sell to local buyers only.
6. Consult an antiques dealer if you have a special piece to sell. If you inherited an heirloom piece of furniture or you have something too precious to sell the traditional ways, let a professional handle it.
   • Get information on how to sell your furniture from the National Antique and Art Dealers Association of America ( or the Antique Dealers' Association of America (www.adadealers.com).

Community Q&A

Add New Question

• How much would a white oak 50 year old dresser be worth?

  wikiHow Contributor

  Not more than $100. Solid wood is great for refinishing and durability, but it is most likely mass produced and not collectable.