The baseline: 20–40 percent of retail
For a clean, structurally sound, unstained couch from a recognizable brand, the market clears somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of the original retail price. A couch that sold for $1,200 new realistically lists between $250 and $450 used. That range assumes local pickup; furniture rarely ships, so your market is whoever's within driving distance, which caps prices harder than any other category.
Where you land inside (or outside) that band comes down to three things, in order: brand, condition, and how fast you need it gone.
Brand moves the number more than condition
Counterintuitive but true: a spotless IKEA couch is worth less than a lightly worn Room & Board one, every time. Buyers price the brand's new-replacement cost and reputation, not your upholstery care.
| Brand tier | Examples | Typical resale |
|---|---|---|
| Flat-pack / fast furniture | IKEA (fabric lines), Wayfair house brands | 10–25% of retail, often $50–150 regardless of what you paid |
| Mid-tier | West Elm, Crate & Barrel, CB2, Article, Pottery Barn | 25–40% of retail; recognizable names get messages fast |
| Premium / cult brands | Room & Board, Herman Miller, Design Within Reach | 40–60%+; these have buyers searching the brand name directly |
| Authentic mid-century | Real vintage pieces, known makers | Its own market entirely: comps, not formulas. Can exceed original price |
One flag on IKEA: a handful of discontinued or leather models (and anything from their vintage collaborations) resell unusually well. Check sold listings before assuming yours is in the $75 bin.
Condition: a checklist, not a feeling
Sellers grade on memory ("we barely used it"); buyers grade on photos. Knock your price down a tier for each of: visible stains, pet hair or odor (be brutally honest with yourself; buyers ask), sagging cushions, scratched or chewed corners, smoke exposure. A couch with two of those isn't "good condition, small flaws." It's a $75 couch with a great personality.
How to check what yours actually sells for
- Search sold, not listed. On eBay, filter by "sold items." On Facebook Marketplace you can't see sold prices, so note what disappears within days (priced right) versus what you've seen relisted for a month (priced wrong).
- Search your exact model. "West Elm Harmony sofa" gives real comps; "grey couch" gives noise. The label with the model name is usually under a seat cushion.
- Or skip this entirely. Pricing against sold comps is exactly the kind of lookup AI is good at now. Offload does it from one photo, along with writing the listing and dealing with the buyers. (Our product, our bias.)
Pricing for speed
Every week a couch sits, you lose leverage: buyers can see how long it's been listed, and furniture supply refreshes constantly with every move-out in your city. If you need it gone by a date:
- Normal sale: price at the comps, expect 1–3 weeks and some haggling. Build 10–15 percent of negotiating room into the ask.
- Moving in two weeks: price at the bottom of the comp range. First-weekend interest is your best interest.
- Moving on Saturday: $50–100 and "you haul it," or free on the curb. A couch's value has a time decay steeper than almost anything else you own.
The one-sentence version: look up what your exact model sold for, price clean mid-tier couches around a third of retail, and cut 15–20 percent for every week you can't afford to wait.
Or let the AI price it
Snap a photo and Offload identifies the item, prices it against real comps, lists it, and negotiates for you. Free unless it sells.
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