OT: selling a swingset

[shoney]

5 years ago we purchased a swing set for the kids. They rarely use it anymore and I was thinking of selling it (vacation cash!). We paid about 3700.00 for it. It is white vinyl and green with a clubhouse, slide and 3 swings. It is in great condition because of the materials used.

I had 2 friends mention last summer, if you were interested in getting rid of it let me know... We feel funny dealing with friends....what if we are asking too much? what if they are offering too low? puts us in weird position.

My husband and I have no idea what to sell it for. The person who buys it would have to take it apart themselves and take it away. I checked craigslist in my area, but there weren't any on there.

Has anyone bought or sold a swing set? What price?

any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[7beasley]

Hi

We just bought our neighbor's beautiful wooden swing set for our daughter. It is wood - has a clubhouse, a slide and 4 swings plus monkey bars -- and was in nice condition. Neighbor said they paid $2000 for it -- sold it to us for $200. We took it apart and dragged it into our yard and reassembled it - we did all this last weekend.

We are thrilled with the great deal we got.

So for your set - maybe sell it for about $400.

Good luck.

 

[SkinsFan76]

I've been looking at these for the last two years to buy for my son. Generally they go for 10-20% of original cost on craigslist and the newspaper.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

I was thinking you could ask $1,000 and see what they say... I would just tell them that you were thinking about listing it on craigslist or in the paper for that amount. If they think it is too much, list it anyway and see if you get a response from someone else. If they want it, sell it to them. If it doesn't sell for your asking price to a stranger, you can decide whether to lower the price and offer it to your friend for less.

You are in a tough spot since two friends both asked about it. If they both want it, the only fair way is to take the higher offer.

 

[summerrluvv]

I think you have to offer it REALLY cheap for someone to take it apart and then have to reassemble it. When you buy those from the swingset stores, they come and assemble them for you, which is factored into their exhorbitant cost. I would say around $500.

 

[mjkacmom]

I'd say 10% of what you paid.

 

[LuLuO]

I'd say 10% of what you paid.

That's generally what they go for in my neck of the woods.

 

[Serling126]

We bought a Rainbow play system a few years ago, according to the salesguy they retain about 50% of their value after 10 years. In otherwords, after 10 years you could theoretically sell it for half of what you paid for it. Whether that is true or not, idk. I know you can get them to take down, move and reassemble the swingset if you move or if somebody buys it... I was told it costs a few hundred dollars but you can factor that in to your pricing if they do not want to move it themselves.

 

[ptmmg]

I know I would never pay $1000 for a used swingset that I had to take apart and put back together

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I know I would never pay $1000 for a used swingset that I had to take apart and put back together

I guess to each their own, but we had a neighbor sell a Rainbow that they had for about 7 years. Paid a little over $4000.00 for it and sold it for $1500.00, with the understanding the buyer had to take it apart and haul it away. The seller got about 50 phone calls the 1st day.

Guess it depends on supply and demand.

 

[Hannathy]

I know I would never pay $1000 for a used swingset that I had to take apart and put back together

I agree! In fact around here unless it is in very very good shape they are hard to sell. If not in great shape sometimes people will say free if you take it apart and move it.

I think 10-15% of what it sold for is a good start.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

It is a lot easier to go down in price than go up. I say to start high and lower it until it sells.

I saw a unique idea for selling one. They listed it on craigslist at a price and said they were not going to negotiate the price. They said every week they would lower the price by $100 until it sold. The buyer had to decide whether they wanted to wait it out and see if it got cheaper or just pay the current asking price (waiting risked losing it to someone else).

 

[clh2]

We sold our Rainbow about 1.5 years ago, and got $500 for it - we asked $750, but only because we wanted $500 for it. Our original price (12 years ago) was about $2100. Definitely got our money's worth out of it.

The dad from the family that bought it was really excited, and had his brothers (with tool chests and trailers) to our house within an hour.

the bonus for us - it HAD to be gone that weekend, as we were having a shed installed. In hindsight, we probably would have got more for it, had we listed it in the spring ( we did this in late September) and not had a deadline.

I also wish I would have sold it about 2 or 3 years earlier - we probably would have gotten much more $$ for it.

Yes...we got crazy offers...i.e. can we take it down, move it to an hour away and resintall it...UM NO, don't think so!

 

[MKCP5]

I was thinking you could ask $1,000 and see what they say... I would just tell them that you were thinking about listing it on craigslist or in the paper for that amount. If they think it is too much, list it anyway and see if you get a response from someone else. If they want it, sell it to them. If it doesn't sell for your asking price to a stranger, you can decide whether to lower the price and offer it to your friend for less.

You are in a tough spot since two friends both asked about it. If they both want it, the only fair way is to take the higher offer.

That's ALOT of $$ for a 5 yo swingset!

 

[MKCP5]

Creative playthings set bought for $1500 sold for $400 on craigslist 4 years old--and sold quickly

There is a HUGE market for this stuff, you just gotta price it right

 

[torinsmom]

As someone else said, you can always lower your price if you do things via Craigslist. I would start at $1000. I imagine assembly would cost around $500 by a professional, so you would still be asking less that 1/2 the original price. If you can find a link to a site that sells the one you have new, that would show potential buyers the retail price.


Do you have assembly instructions or could you call the company and get them? Would anyone at your house be able to help with taking it apart(or take it apart before buyers come?) I bet that would help sell it right there.

Marsha

 

[shoney]

Thanks for all of your thoughts. It gives us something to think about!

 

[clutter]

I had a Creative Playthings set that I gave to a friend. Best part was we called the local Creative Playthings store and for a set amount they came, uninstalled it, hauled it, and re-installed it. Very worth the money.

 

[jessica52877]

I think this is a to each their own subject.

My aunt offered to give us my cousin's swingset. She paid $1500 for it and all we had to do was take it apart and move it ourselves. I was not interested at all in moving that thing! She ended up selling it to a lady in the neighborhood for $250, who then paid someone to move it for her. The set was about 10 years old at the time it was offered up but still very nice.

 

[Cinerbelle]

Man, sounds like we gave ours away compared to what others have gotten. We paid $3,500 for ours and sold it 3 years later for $500. They had to dismantle and remove it themselves.