Secondhand Furniture

[Jules]

Does anyone know of any second hand furniture places that can collect big items, such as sofas I have 2 I need to get rid of. I don't want to dump them, as they are in fairly good condition.

[mummycat]

Have you tried Freecycle? You would need to register with Yahoo, but there's a local Lewisham group. Whenever I advertise stuff, there's at least 5 people that email within a few hours....

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lewishamfreecycle/

You can't specify a fast collection, though. Be prepared for them sitting around for a few days, but everyone I've encountered have been really grateful.

or there's -
Stock Xchange 152 Sydenham Road London SE26 5JZ 020 8776 9750
I've seen second hand furniture outside the shop.

[Jules]

Thanks Mummycat, will definitely sign up for the yahoo recycle. Looks great.

[multisync]

The one next to Lidl's is very good

[Big Ben]

The charity called Emmaus which helps homeless people collects secondhand furniture and does it up for resale. Their nearest shop is in West Norwood and this is their website:
http://www.emmaus.org.uk/regions/view/london

[Jules]

I tried to contact Emmaus, but they didn't respond to my e-mail.

So I went down the route of Lewisham Free Recycle via Yahoo.
I had quite a bit of interest, but I'd never use it again.

Had a couple of pikies come and collect who obviously intended on selling the sofas. They turned up in their vovlo estate thinking they could fit both in the car.
eventually they tied both sofas to the roof of their car, without even a roof rack.

I would have much preferred to have given them to a charity, but we had become desperate to get rid of them.

[stuart]

I really feel sorry you said that Jules. My daughter, who has no money, was lucky to get a Lewisham flat recently. It was almost entirely furnished from Freecycle. I don't think you realise the difference such generosity can make to some people's lives. I shall always be indebted to those kind people who donated their stuff to Freecycle.

Of course all good things will be exploited by the greedy. But punishing the poor because of the greedy is surely not the way ...

Stuart

[Jules]

I wasn't punishing the poor at all.
I was just pointing out that although the aspect of the free cycle is a good one, there are some people who abuse the system and spoil it for others.
I wanted my sofas to go to someone who was genuinely in need of them, they were in excellent condition, but in my naivety ended up giving it away to someone who was obviously going to sell it on. I could have done that myself.
These people lied to me I hate dishonest people.

[Annie]

I come from a very large family, when i was young there wasn't a "Benefits"system, and if you were poor like us you were means tested and given "welfare"if needed, only problem was ,there was such a stigma to recieving "Welfare"that my father refused it. We went to school with cardboard covering the holes in our plimsoles the only shoes we had which we wore all winter.
now i'm not asking for sympathy here haha, but just wanted to point out that at the time 50s/60s the group that helped us no end was the samaritans, in particular a man who we called Mr Entwhistle, we had great respect for this man and he kept us in 2nd hand furniture for years.
so please don't give up "Giving" to the people who need the stuff you no longer need, as most people are genuine, shame about the few who aren't

[robbieduncan]

Sorry to revive such an ancient thread! We have a TV stand we are getting rid of. A search brought up this thread and I thought I'd post to say Emmaus got back to us within 24 hours of us contacting them via their website.

[Eagle]

I tried to get rid of second hand furniture about 5 years ago. A lot of it.

I was referred to a group looking after released prisoners. They came round and said it was no where near good enough for them. Words fail me.

Eventually St Christopher's took most of it and hopefully made good money for a great cause.

[robbieduncan]

I tried to get rid of second hand furniture about 5 years ago. A lot of it.

I was referred to a group looking after released prisoners. They came round and said it was no where near good enough for them. Words fail me.

Eventually St Christopher's took most of it and hopefully made good money for a great cause.

Emmaus have not actually accepted our donation yet: they need to see it to make sure it's in saleable condition. Whilst I can see that it looks weird that a charity might not accept something that has value for free I also see that if they receive a lot of unsalable stuff it uses up space that could be making them money and potentially actually costs them money to dispose of.

[somerandombloke]

Whilst I can see that it looks weird that a charity might not accept something that has value for free I also see that if they receive a lot of unsalable stuff it uses up space that could be making them money and potentially actually costs them money to dispose of.

This why the Oxfam shop down Stretham Hill is so picky they get all sorts of crap dumped on them and end up throwing a good 30% of it away. I did a bit of fixing there a few years ago and it was amazing how much rubbish poeple left. I rmember one bellend screaming and swaring at us cos he brought in a ancent electric heater that was well past any chance o bein fixed and we woulnt take it.

[14BradfordRoad]

This is an alternative & popular way of donating freebies (Donatee collects):
http://www.gumtree.com/search?q=&search ... istance=10

Check it out (all sorts on there), hassle free..

[Eagle]

Mr Random Gent

The furniture I was offering was OK just a trifle dated but as a free gift to released prisoners thought they would jump at the offer.

As i said St Christopher were more than happy to take the items.

[Rachael]

If the weather is dry, I put large items out by my gate (within the boundaries of my property so I'm not fly-tipping) with a note saying: Take Me. Usually gone within a few hours. Fewer if there is any significant amount of metal in it.

[Eagle]

Yes Rachael

I have done this on two occasions and was amazed how fast most things went.

If you have a suitable space on your land them ideal.

[robbieduncan]

I've left a couple of old radiators at the end of our drive. Even without a sign they are gone in hours. Which is great as they are massively heavy!

[alywin]

I wanted my sofas to go to someone who was genuinely in need of them, they were in excellent condition, but in my naivety ended up giving it away to someone who was obviously going to sell it on. I could have done that myself.
These people lied to me I hate dishonest people.

I think that Freecycle now has a rule that if you're intending to take something for profit you are expected to be upfront about it. Wonder how many people actually comply with it? I've been trying to find things to help someone furnish an unfurnished flat, and they keep being beaten to it, so I understand the frustration.

British Heart Foundation and/or St. Christopher's take a lot of furniture etc. nowadays.

[Rachael]

I agree about Freecycle. I'm very disillusioned with it and stopped using it a few years ago. If you call the British Heart Foundation in Catford, they'll arrange pick up of furniture and other heavy or bulky donations (such as boxes of books).