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I have an office chair (not fancy, I got it for free to begin with) that got its upholstery roughed up in a move. If I sit on it, I'll get vinyl flakes all over

I have an office chair (not fancy, I got it for free to begin with) that got its upholstery roughed up in a move. If I sit on it, I'll get vinyl flakes all over me, which will get around the apartment, so I don't want it. I tried Craigslist. Do you think such an item would find a home on the other services you listed?

the_third_wave 4y ago
If there were a "fixer" subscribed to the service who is into replacing upholstery and assuming that the chair is otherwise in good condition, why not? If it is a rickety thing falling apart at the seams with broken wheels and a dysfunctional gas lift, certainly not. If somewhere in between, probably not.
- orblivion 4y ago
  It seems jodrellblank was suggesting that your idea effictively already exists among those four services. It didn't work for me on craigslist (though I did get rid of a metal table in need of repair), and I was wondering if one of the others would be any better. If not, maybe your specialized idea makes sense.
  - jodrellblank 4y ago
    I wasn't suggesting the idea already exists, I was suggesting that "clear guidelines as to what is considered to be worth repairing" in the general case is impossible and if that's a big differentiator for this new service, it won't be enough. Supporting evidence is that the_third_wave can't tell you whether your chair is worth repairing or not, they can only make a general comment that if it's got small damage worth repairing then someone might want to repair it and if it's too damaged they won't. Which is tautologically true but not helpful enough to build a broken-chair-trading site on. That is, if you put your chair on a hugely popular free-for-all site Craiglist and nobody wants it, why would you the seller want to jump through hoops to list it on a less known less established site? Anyone who wants to buy stuff to repair has heard of Craigslist and eBay and so on already, right?
    - the_third_wave 4y ago
      > Anyone who wants to buy stuff to repair has heard of Craigslist and eBay and so on already, right? Maybe, but what about the people who want to buy repaired equipment? The service I describe can function as an intermediary between those who have broken equipment to get rid off, those who can repair such equipment and those who want to get functioning equipment. Thrift stores do not take broken equipment if they can, individual "fixers" do not have the name recognition to be able to sell repaired equipment, buyers who are not fixers want to get equipment which is known to work.

the_third_wave 4y ago

If there were a "fixer" subscribed to the service who is into replacing upholstery and assuming that the chair is otherwise in good condition, why not? If it is a rickety thing falling apart at the seams with broken wheels and a dysfunctional gas lift, certainly not. If somewhere in between, probably not.

orblivion 4y ago
It seems jodrellblank was suggesting that your idea effictively already exists among those four services. It didn't work for me on craigslist (though I did get rid of a metal table in need of repair), and I was wondering if one of the others would be any better. If not, maybe your specialized idea makes sense.
- jodrellblank 4y ago
  I wasn't suggesting the idea already exists, I was suggesting that "clear guidelines as to what is considered to be worth repairing" in the general case is impossible and if that's a big differentiator for this new service, it won't be enough. Supporting evidence is that the_third_wave can't tell you whether your chair is worth repairing or not, they can only make a general comment that if it's got small damage worth repairing then someone might want to repair it and if it's too damaged they won't. Which is tautologically true but not helpful enough to build a broken-chair-trading site on. That is, if you put your chair on a hugely popular free-for-all site Craiglist and nobody wants it, why would you the seller want to jump through hoops to list it on a less known less established site? Anyone who wants to buy stuff to repair has heard of Craigslist and eBay and so on already, right?
  - the_third_wave 4y ago
    > Anyone who wants to buy stuff to repair has heard of Craigslist and eBay and so on already, right? Maybe, but what about the people who want to buy repaired equipment? The service I describe can function as an intermediary between those who have broken equipment to get rid off, those who can repair such equipment and those who want to get functioning equipment. Thrift stores do not take broken equipment if they can, individual "fixers" do not have the name recognition to be able to sell repaired equipment, buyers who are not fixers want to get equipment which is known to work.