Author Topic: Selling china  (Read 5233 times)

Tris Prior

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Selling china
« on: August 14, 2016, 09:04:08 PM »
Has anyone used one of those websites like Classic Replacements or similar to unload sets of good china?

My mother gave me her set of wedding china. We don't ever use it, and out of curiosity I looked it up on a website.

If I'm correct in what exactly this is, the entire set is going for more than $1,100 on their site.

!!!!

Once I have some time to pull it all out and look it over, I am going to request a quote from them and see what they say. I'm wondering if anyone else has gone this route to unload unwanted fancy china, if it's legit, how much they usually pay vs. what they are selling it for on their site, what happens if I think the set is in excellent shape but they look at it and see flaws and therefore decline to pay, etc.

I expect shipping charges would take a big bite out of the final price too.

Anyone have any experience with this?


iris lily

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2016, 09:52:54 PM »
Has anyone used one of those websites like Classic Replacements or similar to unload sets of good china?

My mother gave me her set of wedding china. We don't ever use it, and out of curiosity I looked it up on a website.

If I'm correct in what exactly this is, the entire set is going for more than $1,100 on their site.

!!!!

Once I have some time to pull it all out and look it over, I am going to request a quote from them and see what they say. I'm wondering if anyone else has gone this route to unload unwanted fancy china, if it's legit, how much they usually pay vs. what they are selling it for on their site, what happens if I think the set is in excellent shape but they look at it and see flaws and therefore decline to pay, etc.

I expect shipping charges would take a big bite out of the final price too.

Anyone have any experience with this?

You are looking at retail prices, right? That's not the price they will give you for your stuff.

Thst said, I have sold two sets of sterling silver to these places. One set  to Replacements, one set to Silver Queen. Both companies gave me a quote, paid it out when
I mailed the items, and there were no prohlems.

China  is trickier to ship due to breakage, so that will cost something.

If I were you, I might get a quote from Replacements, snd then try to sell it locally on .craigslist for thst price.

Generally, people think their granny's china is worth a whole lot more than it really is.

misshathaway

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2016, 06:57:53 AM »
They will only offer you a fraction of that, and it's still probably more than you will get selling it yourself. I had a vintage 84 piece set, perfect condition, in a rose pattern. It would have been expensive to ship and risky so I ruled out eBay and Replacements. I did get an estimate from Replacements on a sterling silverware set and they offered me less than melt value. After about 6 months of trying I finally sold the dishes on craigslist for $40.

The current generation of people setting up households either do not want china at all, or want current china and have no use for an older set.

I am wishing you much better luck.

Tris Prior

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2016, 07:55:18 AM »
Yeah, I figured that the retail price would have a decent amount of markup and that that's not what they pay.

 I'm not looking to make a ton of money on this; I looked the pattern up out of curiosity and was shocked to see it was selling for that much. Really, I just want the stuff out of my house, and I've found it impossible to get responses to any for-sale ads I've posted on Craigslist. It doesn't have any sentimental value for me or my mother (bad marriage), and I'd give the money to her anyway as she's pretty bad off (receiving SS only) and needs it more than I do.

And yeah, the shipping cost may make this not-worthwhile.

I guess it can't hurt to get a quote, though. Thanks!

iris lily

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2016, 09:21:17 AM »
Replacements may also give you a "we are not buying that pattern" answer which means there is no market for it.

In St. Louis we had a small Replacements-like busness here. Being the china addict I am, I loved browsing there. 95% of his business was online.

He had some kind of,device that polished scratches off plates surfaces.

Over the years I took various china pieces to him, some he bought, others he rejected as "no market."
One trip was funny because it yielded result different than what I expected.  I took antique plates and some of our everyday plates that I was swapping out for somethng new and different. He rejected the antiques  and bought up all of the contemporary ones.

Our neighborhood collects objects from residents and has a big sale annually that benefits our park. Weve had several sets of Haviland, the pretty, old, delicate 1920's -1940's era stuff, and it never sells. When we took ot to him, he refused it.

There are only a few patterns from a couple of "Haviland" makers that sell.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2016, 09:25:17 AM by iris lily »

Dicey

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2016, 09:39:54 AM »
Yup, yup, yup to all of the above. Your better option is to seek out a local-ish consignment store, as iris lily described. IF they are interested, Replacements will offer you somewhere around 20% of their retail price. IIRC, the shipping and insurance are on you. Not usually worth the effort to pack and ship.
Times and tastes have changed, so most mass-produced china has fallen out of favor. You could wait and hope for tastes to change, or donate it for a tax credit if you itemize.

lizzzi

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #6 on: August 15, 2016, 10:02:24 AM »
Just echoing what everyone else said above--nobody wants that stuff anymore. I had some nice Waterford crystal sherry glasses in a discontinued pattern, but Replacements offered me so little that it would not have even paid the shipping charges. ( Guess I might as well start drinking sherry.) I have a nice set of sterling silver flatware--about 45 pieces. I can't even give it to either of my daughters--they simply don't want anything that requires (very rarely) polishing. I bought it secondhand in 1971, at a shocking low price from a couple who was divorcing... and I've used it quite a bit...hate to say it will probably end up being melted down for scrap after I'm gone.

MrsDinero

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #7 on: August 15, 2016, 10:58:33 AM »
I agree to the no one wants nice china anymore.  I have a beautiful set of china that I got at an estate sale for $13.  It is a complete place setting for 12 and sits unused for most of the year in our china cabinet (picked up at a second hand store for $50).  They have to be hand washed because of the platinum edging on the plates.

We use the set a couple of times a year when we have large family dinners.  We looked into selling it but found that there is more of a market to sell it piece by piece to DIY-ers than as a set.  Since that would take more time and effort than we wanted, we decided to keep it and use it as a replacement for when our everyday dishes start to break.

Tris Prior

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #8 on: August 15, 2016, 12:35:57 PM »
Yeah, I've thought about offering it piecemeal, to people who've broken a piece of their set (as it's discontinued). Maybe there are still people out there who care about having a complete matchy-matchy set. I feel like selling it as a complete set will be a hard sell. But who knows. And selling piecemeal seems like a LOT of work.

We'll see. Worst they can say is "not buying", or some lowball price that won't make it worth my while to ship the damn stuff.

MrsDinero

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2016, 12:50:57 PM »
Yeah, I've thought about offering it piecemeal, to people who've broken a piece of their set (as it's discontinued). Maybe there are still people out there who care about having a complete matchy-matchy set. I feel like selling it as a complete set will be a hard sell. But who knows. And selling piecemeal seems like a LOT of work.

We'll see. Worst they can say is "not buying", or some lowball price that won't make it worth my while to ship the damn stuff.

Try Craigslist or local buy/sell facebook groups.  That way you can see if there is any interest and you don't have to worry about shipping.

ABC123

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2016, 12:13:21 PM »
Just echoing what everyone else said above--nobody wants that stuff anymore. I had some nice Waterford crystal sherry glasses in a discontinued pattern, but Replacements offered me so little that it would not have even paid the shipping charges. ( Guess I might as well start drinking sherry.)
I admit I'm not exactly sure what a sherry glass is, but I assume it would work just as well for drinking juice or water or whatever you usually drink.  Put those suckers in your cupboard and start using them!  If they break, then you don't have to store them anymore.  And at least you got some use out of them.
We got a set of a dozen crystal goblets for a wedding gift.  I would absolutely use them as everyday type glasses, except those suckers are huge and take up way too much space in the cupboard!  I've got a few that I take out once in a while, but the rest of the set sits in the attic.  What a waste.
Anytime I see a wedding registry with "fancy" plates on it, I have to chuckle.  The thought of storing plates that only get used once or twice a year gives me hives.  Why would you want to do that???  In the case here of how to sell them, if there is no market for them, then just start using them every day.  You don't need a fancy meal to use fancy plates.  Why use your storage space for something you don't want? 

iris lily

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2016, 12:20:50 PM »
Sherry glasses are too damned small to be useful for real wine. Haha. Sad, but true.

Tris Prior

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2016, 01:07:53 PM »

 In the case here of how to sell them, if there is no market for them, then just start using them every day.  You don't need a fancy meal to use fancy plates. 

The main reason why we don't is that the dishes have a metallic border on them that means we can't put them in the microwave to reheat food. So we'd have to have separate microwaveable dishes anyway. And we're really trying hard to declutter - especially our kitchen stuff which has gotten out of control and just creates bigger piles of dirty dishes to deal with.

(plus I'm the sort of dumbass who absolutely would stick one of them in the microwave because I'm in a hurry and not paying attention to what I'm doing. And in fact HAVE done that once; the sparks were impressive.)

lizzzi

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2016, 01:14:08 PM »
I received five of the sherry glasses from Ireland in 1982--it was a mistake--they were supposed to be larger wine glasses. And I sure wasn't paying the postage to send them back. They hold 2 ounces. (I just measured.) Very pretty though--look nice in the china cabinet. I use my "good stuff", but wouldn't buy any more of it. When it breaks, it breaks. (Or gets melted down, lol.)

Miss Piggy

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #14 on: August 16, 2016, 02:31:14 PM »
I received five of the sherry glasses from Ireland in 1982--it was a mistake--they were supposed to be larger wine glasses. And I sure wasn't paying the postage to send them back. They hold 2 ounces. (I just measured.) Very pretty though--look nice in the china cabinet. I use my "good stuff", but wouldn't buy any more of it. When it breaks, it breaks. (Or gets melted down, lol.)

Sounds like very lovely shot glasses to me!  ;)

lizzzi

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Re: Selling china
« Reply #15 on: August 16, 2016, 03:52:51 PM »
They hold one shot and then another 3/4 of a shot. If you try to put two shots in, they overflow. I am definitely going to have to go buy some sherry. Ah, yes, la-dee-da--just like someone in a Barbara Pym or Miss Read novel. Or Upstairs,Downstairs or Downton Abbey. lol