The end of the school year puts a whole building on the same deadline. Everyone is leaving within a few days of each other, nobody wants to haul a futon home, and next year's students are already looking for one. That makes it a good moment to sell, as long as you start before everyone else is giving things away.
When to start
Work backward from the day you hand in your keys. A sale needs time for buyers to see it and for prices to come down, and the last days before move-out are the worst time to arrange pickups.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| 3 weeks out | Decide what you are not taking. Photograph and list furniture and anything you have stopped using. |
| 2 weeks out | List the rest. Share the link in your building and with friends who are staying. Put up a sign. |
| Last week | Do pickups between exams. Drop prices on what has not moved. |
| Last day | Whatever is left goes free, or to donation or recycling. |
Sell what you still use now, with a late pickup. List your desk or mini fridge early and set pickup for your last day. The buyer gets a fair price and you keep using it through finals.
What sells at move-out
The things students buy are the things students need on arrival and cannot easily bring from home. Bulky furniture and small appliances tend to go first; clothes and loose kitchen things tend to be slow.
- Mini fridges and microwaves. Clean them and show them plugged in and working.
- Desks, desk chairs and shelving. Give the measurements. Rooms are small and buyers check.
- Bikes. Give the frame size, pump the tires, and include the lock if you are not keeping it.
- TVs, monitors and lamps. Photograph them switched on, and include remotes, stands and cables.
- Textbooks. Sell them by course, with the edition in the title.
- Futons, small sofas and bed frames. Say whether they come apart and whether they fit in a car.
Before you list anything, check it against the recall list. The CPSC says its rules apply to anyone who sells consumer products, including individuals (CPSC), so look up appliances and furniture in the CPSC recall database first.
Price it to be gone
You are not after top dollar. You want it out of your room by a fixed date. Set an asking price and a lowest price for each thing, then let the price step down every day between them. A price that falls on a schedule gets buyers to claim early instead of waiting to haggle on your last night.
For what things are worth, see the used price guide, or price one item with what's my stuff worth?. The price-drop planner lays out the daily steps to your move-out date.
Sell as a household
Roommates leaving together should sell together. One page with everything from the apartment gives a buyer more reasons to come, and lets them take the desk, the chair and the lamp in one trip. Agree first on who owns what and who collects for each item.
On PieceOut, start a sale, add a photo of each thing and share the one link. Print a sign for the lobby, the mail room or the laundry room with the moving sale sign maker: paste the sale's link and the sign carries a QR code people can scan on their way past. Ask your building or housing office where notices are allowed.
Pickups during finals
- Offer set times. Two or three pickup windows a day beat an open-ended "message me". Put them between your exams, not after the last one.
- Meet in a public spot. Police departments that run safe exchange zones advise meeting in a busy, well-lit place, taking a friend or telling someone where you will be, and not inviting strangers into your home (Montgomery County Police). A building lobby works for anything you can carry down.
- Take cash at pickup. The FTC says not to accept mobile payments from people you don't know, and warns about fake payment notifications sent in the hope that you hand the item over first (FTC).
- Wipe devices first. Back up, remove the SIM and any SD card, then do a factory reset. The FTC has step-by-step guides for phones and computers.
What to do with what's left
Read your lease or housing agreement for what it says about things left behind, then clear the room completely. In the last two days, stop selling and start giving.
- Make it free. Mark what is left free on the last day, and say so in your building's group chat or on its notice board.
- Donate furniture. Habitat for Humanity says most ReStores pick up furniture and other large items; what they accept varies by store (Habitat for Humanity). Call early, because pickups book up.
- Recycle electronics. The EPA says to recycle used electronics when donating them for reuse or repair isn't an option (EPA).
- Ask about a campus collection. Some schools and student groups run a collection for furniture and household things at move-out. Ask your housing office whether yours does.
Moving farther than home for the summer? What to sell before you move covers what is worth taking, and sell it or move it? compares the cost of moving a piece with what it would sell for.