6 ms·

I've been dragged into Instagram. For months now I've been searching for some good used furniture. Mostly MCM stuff. I'd prefer private party sales, but am ope

I've been dragged into Instagram. For months now I've been searching for some good used furniture. Mostly MCM stuff. I'd prefer private party sales, but am open to dealers as well. For the personal side I was checking Nextdoor, Craigslist, and OfferUp. Hours of scrolling and modifying search queries and I couldn't find anything worth checking out. Those sites are for $50 couches and $20 bookshelves. For the dealer side, I was just searching the web. My impression was that furniture dealers were either a dying business, or all search engines suck. The only results I kept getting were Pinterest, 1stdibs, or Chairish. These are sites with insane markups where (I suspect) you're supposed to be smart enough to haggle down. I gather they also take a large cut, so not many dealers list with them at all. I finally got a clue and re-animated my ancient IG account. Whaddayaknow? That's where everyone is! Suddenly I've found and followed a couple dozen resale shops that offer all sorts of cool stuff. All within an hour of where I live. Half the time, the URL they have in their bio is a dead website. Or, it exists but hasn't been updated in months. They've given up on having their own website and sell only inside the walled garden now. It's a shame. I still haven't logged into Facebook proper. I probably should find out if Marketplace is better than Craigslist, et. al. for classified ads.

zucked 5y ago
Marketplace is far more active in my area. It's not better, IMHO (the search is all but unusable) but there's more stuff to be had and items showing up in one place (often FB Marketplace) aren't always on the other (CL, offerup, etc.)
zzleeper 5y ago
Out of curiosity, where exactly on IG do you find MCM furniture? Is there a specific hashtag or?
- function_seven 5y ago
  For me, it was one local shop that had an abandoned website. (I actually drove to their old location, trusting the address on the site). When I talked to the owner, she said something like, "Oh. Yeah, I post everything on Instagram now." So I followed that business on my IG and looked at other shops she follows. They're mostly local, so I did as well. After a few of those, Instagram took over and started recommending me more and more places. About 10% of the recommendations are more local shops, so I keep adding them. I don't search by hashtags (yet?), but looking through some of the posts in my feed, these seem to be the common ones: [#furniturerestoration #midcenturymodern #midcenturyfurniture #midcenturydesign] This whole experience has made me feel what my parents must have in 1996, when I was teaching them about e-mail and the difference between "slash" and "backslash" :)
subpixel 5y ago
Facebook might not be the place to find high-end furniture, but it is everything that Craigslist was, and before that newspaper classifieds were, especially in rural areas. I've recently purchased these items via Facebook groups and marketplace, all of which were listed no place else: - the exact boat I had wanted for years - a ton of home brewing gear - lightly used children's shoes, at $75 off list price - a chest freezer - a 4k monitor I'm not saying this is a good thing, but it is outrageously effective.
- matart 5y ago
  I agree about high end items. We started some home renovations recently and used FB Marketplace to get rid of everything. We got rid of a vanity, toilet, light fixtures, oven, skill saw, media center, and more. We usually list it for ~$20 (except the oven) and if the person doesn't do anything weird we give it for free. It's way better than throwing things out.
mupuff1234 5y ago
Maybe try aptdeco.com? (Haven't used it myself so can't testify)
- function_seven 5y ago
  I just checked it out and they seem to have good stuff listed. Prices are also decent. Unfortunately they're not in Southern California yet. Bookmarked anyway. Hopefully they add more regions soon.. Thanks!
discardable_dan 5y ago
At this point I look at Instagram because it has way more "here is a shiny thing you want to buy" and way less "doom-scroll for more things wrong with the world" than any other platform I have used in the last 18 months.
touristtam 5y ago
FB provides local groups as well that I have yet to find popular alternative for. There is a whole portion of the population that doesn't mind sharing their whole life with FB for the convenience offered by some key services. Mind that the same people might not share all their "moments" directly on FB, and therefore you might not necessarily see them on your feed.

zucked 5y ago

Marketplace is far more active in my area. It's not better, IMHO (the search is all but unusable) but there's more stuff to be had and items showing up in one place (often FB Marketplace) aren't always on the other (CL, offerup, etc.)

zzleeper 5y ago

Out of curiosity, where exactly on IG do you find MCM furniture? Is there a specific hashtag or?

function_seven 5y ago
For me, it was one local shop that had an abandoned website. (I actually drove to their old location, trusting the address on the site). When I talked to the owner, she said something like, "Oh. Yeah, I post everything on Instagram now." So I followed that business on my IG and looked at other shops she follows. They're mostly local, so I did as well. After a few of those, Instagram took over and started recommending me more and more places. About 10% of the recommendations are more local shops, so I keep adding them. I don't search by hashtags (yet?), but looking through some of the posts in my feed, these seem to be the common ones: [#furniturerestoration #midcenturymodern #midcenturyfurniture #midcenturydesign] This whole experience has made me feel what my parents must have in 1996, when I was teaching them about e-mail and the difference between "slash" and "backslash" :)

subpixel 5y ago

Facebook might not be the place to find high-end furniture, but it is everything that Craigslist was, and before that newspaper classifieds were, especially in rural areas. I've recently purchased these items via Facebook groups and marketplace, all of which were listed no place else: - the exact boat I had wanted for years - a ton of home brewing gear - lightly used children's shoes, at $75 off list price - a chest freezer - a 4k monitor I'm not saying this is a good thing, but it is outrageously effective.

matart 5y ago
I agree about high end items. We started some home renovations recently and used FB Marketplace to get rid of everything. We got rid of a vanity, toilet, light fixtures, oven, skill saw, media center, and more. We usually list it for ~$20 (except the oven) and if the person doesn't do anything weird we give it for free. It's way better than throwing things out.

mupuff1234 5y ago

Maybe try aptdeco.com? (Haven't used it myself so can't testify)

function_seven 5y ago
I just checked it out and they seem to have good stuff listed. Prices are also decent. Unfortunately they're not in Southern California yet. Bookmarked anyway. Hopefully they add more regions soon.. Thanks!

discardable_dan 5y ago

At this point I look at Instagram because it has way more "here is a shiny thing you want to buy" and way less "doom-scroll for more things wrong with the world" than any other platform I have used in the last 18 months.

touristtam 5y ago

FB provides local groups as well that I have yet to find popular alternative for. There is a whole portion of the population that doesn't mind sharing their whole life with FB for the convenience offered by some key services. Mind that the same people might not share all their "moments" directly on FB, and therefore you might not necessarily see them on your feed.