Are you leaving the country, downgrading or just need to spring-clean? Caitlyn Davey reveals the easiest ways to offload your unwanted items.
Emptying out a flat can be a bit of a nightmare in the UAE, as people manage to accumulate mountains of possessions in a relatively small amount of time. And with the high turnover of expats in the capital it can be difficult to know how to sell or simply get rid of goods. To combat the problem, TOAD shares a variety of places to help with every seller’s needs.
Nefertiti Used Furniture
Best for: A quick, hassle-free sale
Nerfertiti is a business that buys high-quality furniture from expats who are moving. It’s a straightforward process: the owner sends an email with a photo and brief description of the product to Nefertiti, whose valuers will reply with an offer for the product. Once the offer is accepted, the company will pick up the item the same day and pay in cash only. It’s a quick way to get rid of good-quality things if you don’t want the hassle of advertising a product yourself. The company also has a showroom where people can purchase the products.
Khalidiyah Street, Khalidyah, www.useditemsuae.com (050 641 9861).
Sheraton Flea Markets
Best for: Selling small items
The quarterly markets at the Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort provide many people with an opportunity to sell unwanted clothing, accessories, homewares, books, toys and baby products. It’s a fun day out and the market often gets thousands of visitors. Vendors pay a table-hire fee, which gets donated to an allocated charity.
The Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort (02 613 7777).
Dubizzle
Best for: Advertising to a large community
There are plenty of options on Dubizzle for selling goods – it’s the UAE’s answer to eBay, though it is free and pick-up generally needs to be arranged. It’s a good way to offload electronics as well as smaller goods that may not do as well on some of the
Facebook sites. What’s helpful is that you do not need to use Facebook to contact the buyer – however this sometimes makes it difficult to screen them. There’s a section to suit everything you could possibly want to sell, though it may be a
little more competitive in terms of pricing than other sources.
www.dubizzle.com
Freecycle Abu Dhabi
Best for: Saving the planet
This new Facebook group is a great way to clear out goods you simply don’t want anymore. The concept is simple: reduce landfill and consumption by relocating goods to a new home – a simple way to reduce waste and save carbon emissions created by manufacture
and transportation. The group started in April and has already accumulated a 600-plus membership. Goods include homewares, furniture, books and baby products.
www.facebook.com/groups/658229277565564
800 Junk
Best for: Helping people in need
This initiative is designed to collect people’s unwanted goods. The organisation collects, removes and transports the furniture for free as well as clothing, homewares, white goods, toys and basically anything unwanted. Use it to get rid of your unsellables – they will clean or refurbish the furniture and sell it at discounted rates to low-income workers in the northern emirates. It’s as easy as calling 800 Junk on your phone and booking it in – they have a removal truck and their experts will have your stuff gone in no time.
www.takemyjunkuae.com (800 5865).
Selling designer goods
The Luxury Closet is an online marketplace dedicated to rehoming designer products including handbags, shoes, sunglasses, wallets and clothing. It’s a place to pick up designer products at heavily discounted prices, find limited-edition pieces or sell off those luxury items you just don’t use anymore. The products are all put through rigorous quality control to ensure they are near-new. Many still even have the tags on.
www.theluxurycloset.com
