Pricing · 28 July 2026 · 13 min

Pricing a second-hand item, and dropping the price

Two things sink a listing: pricing too high, so it sits for months, and pricing too low, so you hand over value you did not need to. Both are avoidable with the same method — look at what comparable items actually go for right now.

Asking price is not sale price

The prices you see on a marketplace are what sellers want, not what buyers paid. Optimistic listings stay visible for a long time precisely because nobody buys them, so they are over-represented in what you scroll past. Where a platform shows sold prices, trust those over active ones.

Finding the market range

Collect at least five to ten comparable listings — same brand, same model, similar condition, similar completeness. Take the median rather than the average: one absurd outlier drags an average badly. That median is your reference point, not yet your price.

Adjusting for condition

From the reference point, work down honestly:

• As new, with box and accessories: at or slightly above the median.
• Used, complete, no visible damage: around the median.
• Visible wear: ten to twenty per cent below.
• Missing accessory, no box: a further ten to twenty per cent.
• Known fault: price it as a parts or repair item and say so plainly.

What else moves the price

Season matters more than most sellers expect: winter coats, sports gear and garden furniture all have windows when demand is high. Handover matters too — an item available for collection in a large city sells faster than the same item two hours away. And completeness compounds: the original box, cable and manual together are often worth more than the sum of their parts, because they signal a careful owner.

Diagnosing a listing that will not sell

Before cutting the price, work out which stage is failing:

• Few views: the problem is the title, the category or the main photo — not the price. Nobody has seen it yet.
• Views but no messages: the photos or the description are not convincing, or the price is off for the condition shown.
• Messages but no sale: the handover terms, the shipping cost or the response time are the friction.

Cutting the price on a listing that nobody sees just loses you money quietly.

How to drop the price

Small, frequent reductions read as desperation and train buyers to wait. One meaningful cut — around ten to fifteen per cent — after two weeks of genuine visibility does more than five cuts of two per cent. Give each change a fair chance to work before the next one.

When to relist instead

If the title, category or main photo was wrong, a price cut will not fix it. Relist with a corrected title, a better main photo and a price set from the current market range. Treat it as a new attempt rather than a discount.

Next step: decide which marketplace fits the item.