How much are my washer&dryer worth?
The problem with selling used items is that while you may believe that the items are in perfect condition, the (potential) buyer doesn’t know that. So the buyer is balancing the savings against the risk that there is really a problem. (Other factors include the lack of, or shorter period for, the manufacturer’s warranty, and normal wear-and-tear that reduces the expected remaining life of the item). There is almost no way you’re likely to get more than 80% of the full purchase price (for savings of less than 20%, people will just buy new – after all, there are a lot of 10% savings coupons out there). For year-old stuff, pricing at 50% is definitely too cheap. So you’re probably looking at getting something like 65-75% of the original price. Having just sold a few things on Craigslist, I now know that – if time permits – there really is little penalty to listing something at a price at the top of the range of what you hope to get, and then changing the listing if there is no interest. O
Like JMOZ, I suggest using the various buy/sell/trade sites as a good gauge of value. I often use eBay, simply because with the huge inventory, I can often find multiples of the exact same item (model, etc.) that I want to sell. I look at what the items actually end up selling for. Looking at 2 or 3 of these sale prices will give you a good idea of what you can expect to fetch for the items.
