I am always surprised by the asking price of second items, on Facebook in France.
For some of the junk I see I am surprised people even try and sell it at all, rather than trying to have someone take it away for free for them.
Others seem to want to recover anything from 60% to 80% of their original cost for newer items.
In the UK, as soon as an item has been bought, even if unopened most people would be selling at a minimum 50% discount.
Obviously a seller can ask what every they want, but I just keep seeing things with crazy prices, and I am wondering does anybody actually buy them, and is there a reason why people expect to get so much for secondhand items in France?
Strangely the opposite seems to be the case for good quality antique furniture.
Second hand cars are very much a case in point. My other half said the same about the various weekend selling events in France as well as shops with used/preloved/whatever items.
I don’t know the reason for it but I agree that second hand things in general seem to be more expensive in france than the uk. Cars especially. But it also depends on where I’m buying. Clothes at the kids second hand shop that used to be in town were crazy expensive (€8 for a plain t shirt for a 3 year old!). But at local vide greniers they seem very reasonable (€1 each). I even bought a skateboard for 3 euros yesterday. I find it difficult to find kids clothes past the age of 6 though, which I don’t understand, do french kids stop growing at 6 or something !?
I inherited a typical 1920’s aspidistra stand in horrible brown mahogany with dreadful stuck on “icing” all round the edges. I removed the “icing” and the top, sanded it down and then put a new piece of pine on the top which was painted in a clear varnish and the rest of it, painted in bright red wood paint. Now stands inside the front door with my Ring Screen on it, a fancy basket for keys and a statue of a cat on the bottom part and another ornament and looks great.
