Buying furniture on CL?

[Kristabelle]

Sorry if this has been asked before..just looking for opinions.

Would you recommend buying furniture (aside from mattresses) on Craigslist?

I'm no stranger to thrifting or flea marketing hardwood furniture, but I stay away from upholstered furniture unless it's brand new due to bugs.

When DF and I began dating, his roomie was a big thrifter and yard saler. Well, he picked up what he thought was an awesome recliner in great shape..full of bed bugs. I went to their home and that's how I discovered I'm highly allergic to bed bugs.

Needless to say, it cost them a small fortune to get rid of the mishap. Since then, DF is REALLY iffy about buying secondhand anything.

I see a lot of great bargains on CL in the furniture-by-owner section, and without sounding snotty, a lot are from nicer parts of town and are advertised as smoke free/pet free/BUG free.

I'd really like to avoid dropping a small fortune on a brand new living room set since we have pets and a kiddo. Nothing new stays new here.

Too risky? Bed bugs are notoriously sneaky, but I would think if they still have it in their home vs. at the curb, there's probably nothing wrong with it. Help me sell this idea to DF!

[mrs whodunit]

I have bought a wonderful couch set and bookcases off of Craigslist.

But we live in an area where one kinda knows of everybody so you have a good idea of whom to buy from or not.

[earthymomma]

We have bought 75% of our home furnishings off of CL, thrifting or yard sales :-)

[TnAndy]

Nothing to do with CL stuff, but it reminds me of:

A Volkswagen commercial of about 10-15 years back.

Two guy riding down the street, see a recliner sitting out beside the street, look over at each other and grin, like they found treasure.....(music) "Da-da-DA".....they stop, open the hatchback and toss it in.

Back to riding on down the street, they suddenly wrinkle their noses, and look at each other ("OMG !") as the smell of (leave it to your imagination as to the origin) rolls out of the chair, and fills the car. They stop again, put it out beside a different trash pickup, and hop back in the car. (music again)....

Everytime I see a piece out beside the road, that music rolls thru my head....Da-da-DA.......




Edit.....oh...found it on YouTube.....ahahhaaa....it's short (59sec) if you're on a slow connection...

YouTube

[calliemoonbeam]

Gee thanks Andy, now I'll hear that every time I see some furniture sitting out at the curb, lol! I had seen that before, but it just didn't hang on...until now!

As to the OP, I wish I could buy stuff like that from CL. I see great bargains all the time, but it just gives me the heebie jeebies, lol! I even hesitate at thrift stores, although I have managed to overcome it a few times for something really nice. But if I got an infestation because of it I'd never do it again! I do buy non-upholstered or non-fabric items all the time, although everything that comes in gets a thorough cleaning first.

If you're comfortable with it and think you could handle the issue if there was a problem, then I say go for it! I like the idea of recycling others' cast offs and putting less stuff into the dumps and landfills. I'm just not one of them, and your fiance may not be either. Good luck with that!

[Elie May]

Love Craig's List for furniture. Outfitted an entire vacation rental property by doing that. Saved me a ton of money!

[rambler]

Too funny, I just watched my recording of 'The Middle' from last nite.

Frankie ordered a dining room table through one of the online type deals, when it came it was a tiny doll piece.

Too funny.

Paul

[floyd242]

I found my living room set on craigslist. It was from a really nice part of town and I paid a significant amount for it (about 50% of what I was going to pay retail) but I ended up with pretty much brand new furniture that was much nicer than I could have afforded.

Just remember, if someone is selling a huge couch on craigslist for $50, there's probably a reason...

[flowergurl]

I am not brave enough to chance it. It would cost several times the amount of new furniture if I brought home bed bugs and had to get rid of them. I love to second hand shop and DH would have a cow every time i brought something home if something that happened.

I just battled bed bugs at a rent house I manage... Oh. My. GAWSH. They are disgusting little creatures.

That said: they cannot survive above 116 degrees. A piece of furniture can be inspected closely for evidence of them, and then wrapped in black trash bags for a day of brilliant sunshine! Solar bake them!

The adults can survive 18 months on one feeding, so TIME does not work well on them - but heat does!

[GoldenCityMuse]

Solid wood furniture is probably pretty safe. Upholstered chairs and sofas are more iffy. I would take a look at the home where the furniture was to make a determination. Don't buy from apartment dwellers, they have especially high rates of infestation.

[flowergurl]

That said: they cannot survive above 116 degrees. A piece of furniture can be inspected closely for evidence of them, and then wrapped in black trash bags for a day of brilliant sunshine! Solar bake them!

Or a week even.

[Danaus29]

Originally Posted by GoldenCityMuse

Solid wood furniture is probably pretty safe.

I hate to burst everyone's bubble about solid wood (or press board or plywood) furniture being safe but it's really not. Bed bug can hide in the cracks where the furniture is put together and the seams where drawers meet the drawer bottom. I used to work with an exterminator who was part of an OSU study about bedbugs and he told me about them hiding in the seams and cracks. Also said heating, while effective in and of itself, is not all that effective when it comes to treating homes and furniture. When bedbugs can be transported to libraries inside books it makes you question the relative safety of everything.

[crazyfarm]

I've bought a lot of dressers and quite a few chairs from CL. Never been an issue.

[DEKE01]

My DW bought a couch from a thrift store for $50. In the last 26 years, she has reupholstered it 2 or 3 times and we just moved it to our 5th house since it became a fixture in our lives. I take naps on it, the dogs sleep on it, and the thing just keeps on going on. We've had much more expensive and new couches over the years, but none have outlasted the $50 thrift store couch.

[Danaus29]

Originally Posted by crazyfarm

I've bought a lot of dressers and quite a few chairs from CL. Never been an issue.

I found some stats on bedbugs. There have been 58 reports in Wyoming. There have been 1108 in Ohio.

Ohioans have good reason to be bedbug paranoid.

[bjgarlich]

We have bought lots of furniture on Craigslist and have never had a problem. But Most of our items were not upholstered.

[MichaelZ]

Anybody anywhere can get bedbugs via anything with a hiding place imported from some unknown source. We have them in our nearby cities in some apartment buildings. See http://bedbugregistry.com/ And once you get them getting rid of them can cost thousands. I was always one to buy 2nd hand furniture, but no more if it has places for bugs to hide. We know someone that got bedbugs like this recently.

[hotzcatz]

I suppose you could get some really big plastic bags (or a plastic sheet and some tape) and bag up the couch or whatever and then get one of those fogging bug spray cans and let the thing be fumigated before you bring it into the house.

[FarmerKat]

We have bought and sold furniture on Craigslist. I personally prefer to just buy things that can be sanitized but not upholstered furniture. But we have sold multiple mattresses, sofas, recliners, etc. on craigslist.