Hello everyone
I decided to create this guide for helping people find good deals on office chairs, for saving money or even flip them for a profit. This guide was created with my experience of 200+ sales a year in the office chair market.
1- Buying
Use Facebook market place or your local used website "Craigslist, Kajiji, etc". Don't search especifially for "office chairs" or "Herman Miller", "Steelcase". Search just for "chair", a lot of people don't call office chairs on their specific name.
Don't ignore posts with bad pictures and bad descriptions, usually is where the best deals are, some people value their time more than money, they are not profiting from them, so they will announce it the worst way possible just to someone grab it.
If you find, for example, an Herman Miller Aeron for 100 USD, probably there are a lot of people contacting the guy, don't ask him questions like "which year is it" or "why you selling it", they will just ignore your stupid questions and answer people asking "where can i pick it" etc. Or even offer 150 USD for the guy to make you the pripority sale.
When you find a good deal, always call the person if there is a phone number, dont wait for e-mail or chat reply, go straight on point "where can i pick it", they will prioritize it for you. Personally you test the chair and see if it's a good deal or not. The decision of buying them or not is always up to you, but never lose a good deal.
2- Selling
Take good pictures using the sun light, make sure your background is a clean and minimalist place "it makes a huge difference", your picture must enfatize the chair in specific, but make sure people see you as a clean person, this 2 points are the pillars of everything, you are not selling just office chairs, you are selling pictures and trust.
Make a good discription, mention year if possible for example "Herman Miller Aeron 2011 brand new condition", enfatize on the ad that you are NOT profiting from them, for example: "I payed 1000 USD for the chair, selling it for 600", always ask for 60% for the value of them new. People on used websites don't like to know you are profiting from them.
Don't accept low offers from it, don't rush your sale, for anyone asking for lower prices, just answer politelly "I'm on my best value, sorry", usually when you answer them politely like that, they pay you the full price, or say something like "I'm not profiting from them, payed 1000 USD and selling it for 600".
When buying in large numbers, for example a company closing due do covid pandemic, never show announce that you have more than one chair, it will cause the impression that the chair is not valueable " you have tons of it" people will ignore your post. Make sure you make your chair special.
Usually people already have a office chair that they don't like, enfatize why your chair is better then their, make sure your post describe the benefits of your chair better than others. for example " This material is better than polyurethane leather, etc.
That's it, sorry for my english, hope it help someone.
Videos
Best place to buy secondhand/used/refurbished Steelcase chairs?
You get what you pay for in the refurbishing world.
The companies with the highest prices have the most in-depth refurbishing processes, good warranties and real return policies.
I would strongly advise that you read all of the fine print in all of the policies when buying from a refurbisher. Companies like Madison love to advertise their "Hassle Free Money Back Guarantee". It isn't until you read the fine print that you realize that the hassle free guarantee they offer will end up costing you hundreds of dollars if you decide to return the chair.
More on reddit.comthe ultimate guide for buying and selling used office chairs
Used office chair sites? Want to buy a chair for life :)
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More on reddit.comBest Place for Buying Office Chairs - Preferably somewhere you can sit in them before you buy?
Hey all. I've owned a budget office chair for a while now (Alera Elusion), but it isn't really meeting my needs as well as I'd hoped. I've been dealing with some lower back pain recently, so I'm looking to make the Leap (hah!) into the world of high end office chairs. My office has Steelcase chairs (Leap, Think) which I've found to be very comfortable, so I'd like to purchase one (probably a Leap v2) for my home office.
I know these chairs are extremely well regarded, but shelling out over $1000 for a chair seems a little crazy to me. I started researching places to get these chairs a little cheaper, and that is where I need some help. I've stumbled across a number of companies such as Crandall, BTOD, Madison Seating, SeatingMind, National Office Interiors, etc. They all seem to offer similar services; mainly, they refurbish older Steelcase or Herman Miller chairs with new upholstery, gas cylinders, casters, etc and sell them at a 20%-50% discount.
Unfortunately, as I did more research, there are widely differing opinions on the overall quality of each of these companies. There are quite a few complaints ranging from quality issues, broken parts, massive shipping delays, fake online reviews, and various other problems. Given that these chairs are still really expensive even with the refurbished discount, I don't want to spend $500-$800 on a chair that is going to be a problem. I also dread the idea of having to deal with returning a 70 lb chair.
Before anyone suggests it, I've already tried looking locally at local furniture stores, FB marketplace, and Craigslist. Unfortunately, there just isn't anything available in my area.
Does anyone here have experience buying a chair off of any of the companies such as Crandall, BTOD, Madison Seating, SeatingMind, National Office Interiors, or any other secondary Steelcase dealer? Is there a 'r/Officechairs recommended' vendor, or are they all in the same boat as far as taking your own chances?
You get what you pay for in the refurbishing world.
The companies with the highest prices have the most in-depth refurbishing processes, good warranties and real return policies.
I would strongly advise that you read all of the fine print in all of the policies when buying from a refurbisher. Companies like Madison love to advertise their "Hassle Free Money Back Guarantee". It isn't until you read the fine print that you realize that the hassle free guarantee they offer will end up costing you hundreds of dollars if you decide to return the chair.
If you're looking for steelcase dealers you can find them on their website.
If you're looking for a price markdown, you'll be looking at refurbished or pre-owned. Avoid companies like seatingmind, and madisonseating.
I recommend BTOD and Crandall, as they're the only ones I know of that have a true warranty and a true return policy, which is ultimately key to buying a chair blind. They have a great presence on this subreddit and I would be very surprised if your needs aren't met with them. BTOD also has a video on their refurbishing process for chairs like the Leap V2, if you're interested to see the work that goes into them.
Video comparing BTOD to Madison: https://youtu.be/VXXWegjAgiI