Why Can't You Sell Furniture for What You Paid?
Buyers pay what used furniture sells for today, not what it cost new. Ari Kimmelfeld on Organizing with Ease, on pricing a sofa or dining set you paid a lot for.
Watch the episode: Special Episode: Ready to Let It Go? What to Do with Furniture You No Longer Need, Organizing with Ease with Diana Moll, aired November 10, 2026. Listen on Apple Podcasts.
Short answer: Because buyers pay what a used piece sells for today, not what it cost new. Before you list, check what the same kind of item has actually sold for secondhand, then price to that market. Priced at what you paid, it sits with no inquiries. Priced too low, you feel you gave it away.
Ari Kimmelfeld talked about pricing the big things you paid a lot for on Organizing with Ease with host Diana Moll. Diana put it simply: we all value what we bought, and the price we paid is not what it is worth today.
What Ari said
Let's say you list something online, you gotta take the photos, you gotta make the listing. You don't really know what to price it at. You know what you paid, and it could be thousands of dollars.
Ari Kimmelfeld on Organizing with Ease, at 07:21
And if you price it too high, you're going to get no inquiries. If you price it too low, well, then you feel guilty for not really getting what it was worth.
Ari Kimmelfeld on Organizing with Ease, at 07:42
Price to the market, not the receipt
Ari's fix is to look at real secondhand prices first:
And so you kind of get to see what the actual secondhand prices of the transactions, the prices that people are buying and selling them actually are, and whether it's worth your time to go through the listing and getting rid of it.
Ari Kimmelfeld on Organizing with Ease, at 10:08
So make sure you price the things well. So either look at our price index or look at the local market.
Ari Kimmelfeld on Organizing with Ease, at 37:59
How pricing works on Commonplace
- Real prices. The Resale Index shows what used items sell for, by category, brand, and year.
- A suggested price. List from a photo, or a whole room with Sell Your Room, and Commonplace suggests a price for each item.
- Your take-home price. You set what you want to take home. Commonplace adds its 20% platform fee and a pickup fee on top to set the buyer's price.
- An optional floor price. Buyers never see it, and offers at or above it are accepted automatically.
- Paid at pickup. By Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or bank, before the item leaves your home.
Read how to price used items to sell and how to avoid lowball offers, or browse used furniture. For the full conversation, read Ready to Let It Go?: Ari Kimmelfeld on Organizing with Ease.
Commonplace is the Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and OfferUp alternative for big items. Listing is free, and Commonplace handles pickup, inspection, delivery, secure payments, and a free two-month parts warranty. Labor coverage is available as an add-on. White-glove delivery is free within 100 miles, longer distances are quoted by ZIP, and Commonplace ships nationwide. See how it works.
Related questions
Where can I see what used furniture actually sells for?
The Commonplace Resale Index shows secondhand prices by category, brand, and year. You can also check what similar pieces are listed for near you.
Can I price a whole room at once?
Yes. With Sell Your Room you take one photo of a room, and Commonplace suggests a price for each item it recognizes.
How much do I take home?
You set the price you want to take home. Commonplace adds its 20% platform fee and a pickup fee on top to set the buyer's price, and you are paid at pickup.
Thank you to Diana Moll for having Ari on Organizing with Ease. Quotes are from the episode, lightly edited for reading. Listen to the full conversation on Apple Podcasts.
More from Ari's podcast interviews: questions Ari answered on podcasts and every show he has been on.