Sell Your Used Car Seat — 0% Fees

A used car seat typically sells for £30 to £150, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Be direct with yourself first: if this seat has been in a collision, however minor, it should not be resold at all — and if you cannot vouch for its full history, say so plainly in the listing.

The short version

Typical range: £30 – £150 — see the full car seat value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Baby & Kids Items

Before you photograph it

Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.

Establish the expiry date, moulded into the plastic shell or on a label. Most seats expire six to ten years from manufacture and an expired seat should not be sold for use.
Confirm the seat has never been in a collision. If it has, or if you bought it second hand and cannot know, do not sell it as a usable car seat.
Wash the cover, check the harness webbing for fraying, and confirm every buckle latches and releases cleanly.

The photographs that sell a car seat

Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.

The seat from the side, fully assembled
The manufacture and expiry date stamp on the shell
The harness, buckle and adjuster, close up
The label showing the standard it meets and the height or weight range

Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.

Writing the title and description

Group or height range, brand and model: “Maxi-Cosi Pearl Pro i-Size Car Seat, 67-105cm”. Parents search by the range that fits their child, so it must be in the title. State the expiry year in the description — sellers who volunteer it are trusted immediately, because almost none do.

Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:

Brand, model, and the standard it meets, such as i-Size or ECE R44
Height or weight range it covers
Manufacture date and expiry date from the shell
Confirmation that it has never been in a collision, and whether you are the original owner

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a car seat. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.

“Has it been in an accident?”

Answer honestly and without hedging. A seat involved in any collision should be disposed of, not sold, because the shell can be compromised in ways you cannot see.

“When does it expire?”

Read the stamp on the shell and give the date. An expired seat is not something to sell for use, whatever condition it appears to be in.

“Are you the original owner?”

Say so if you are, because it means you can vouch for the full history. If you are not, tell the buyer that too and let them decide.

Pricing it so it actually sells

Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.

The car seat value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.

What you keep, compared

On a £90 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a car seat — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:

Where you sell it	Fee	You keep
WishThrift	£0	£90
Poshmark	−£18	£72
eBay	−£12	£78
Mercari	−£9	£81
Etsy	−£6	£84

Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.

Timing and getting it to the buyer

Steady demand all year. Seats with a long remaining life and a documented single owner sell quickly; anything close to expiry sells slowly and should be priced as such.

Easy to post but usually collected, which is better here — it lets the buyer inspect the harness and the shell themselves, which is exactly what they should be doing.

WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.

Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.

Frequently asked questions

Can you sell a used car seat?

Yes, but only one you can vouch for completely: never been in a collision, not past its expiry date, with the harness intact and all parts present. If you cannot confirm the history because you bought it second hand yourself, say so clearly so the buyer can make an informed choice. WishThrift does not inspect or verify items.

How do I find a car seat’s expiry date?

It is usually moulded into the plastic shell or printed on a label on the base or side, shown as a manufacture date. Most manufacturers rate seats for six to ten years from that date, because the plastic degrades whether or not the seat is used.

What is a used car seat worth?

Typically £30 to £150 depending on brand and remaining life. Recent i-Size seats from recognised brands hold value best. See the car seat value guide.