The short version
- Typical range: £15 – £90 — see the full cast iron pan value guide
- What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
- Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
- Category: Kitchen & Appliances
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.
- Wipe it out and, if there is surface rust, decide whether to remove it or sell it honestly as-is. Either is fine; hiding it is not.
- Check the cooking surface for pitting and run a finger over it, and look for hairline cracks around the handle join.
- Sit it on a flat surface and check it does not rock, since a warped base performs badly on an induction hob.
The photographs that sell a cast iron pan
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 cooking surface straight down, in daylight, filling the frame
- The underside showing any maker’s marking, size number or lettering
- The pan side on, showing depth and the handle join
- Any rust, pitting, crack or chipped enamel, close up
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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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
Maker and size are the search: “Le Creuset Cast Iron Skillet, 26cm” or “Vintage Griswold No. 8 Cast Iron Pan”. Diameter in centimetres or inches matters because buyers are matching a hob or an oven. Vintage American and British foundry names are collected in their own right.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Diameter measured across the top rim, and depth
- Maker and any number or marking cast into the base
- Whether it is bare cast iron or enamelled, and the state of the seasoning
- Whether it is induction compatible and oven safe, and any rust or pitting
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about a cast iron pan. 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.
Photograph it honestly. Surface rust cleans off cast iron with steel wool and a re-season, and experienced buyers know it — they are far more concerned about cracks and pitting.
Photograph them rather than transcribing. Foundry marks identify the maker and the era, and that is where the value sits on older pans.
Check around the handle join and the rim carefully. A cracked pan is unsafe on heat and should be sold as decorative or not at all.
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 cast iron pan 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 £52 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a cast iron pan — 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 | £52 |
| Poshmark | −£10 | £42 |
| eBay | −£7 | £45 |
| Mercari | −£5 | £47 |
| Etsy | −£3 | £49 |
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 year-round, with a lift before Christmas. Named vintage foundry pieces sell within days; unbranded modern pans take a couple of weeks and compete on price.
Extremely heavy for its size, so weigh it before quoting postage — the postage on a large skillet is a meaningful share of its price. Wrap heavily; cast iron breaks packaging, not the other way round.
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
What is a used cast iron pan worth?
Typically £15 to £90, with collected vintage foundry pans and enamelled premium brands well above. See the cast iron pan value guide for the condition bands.
Should I strip and re-season it before selling?
Only if it is genuinely rusty. A good existing seasoning is an asset, and stripping a decades-old pan back to bare metal removes something the buyer would have valued.
Does chipped enamel matter?
On enamelled cast iron, yes — chips in the cooking surface can flake further with heat. Photograph any chip clearly and describe the pan accordingly rather than as perfect.
See also: what a used cast iron pan is worth · browse live kitchen & appliances listings · condition grades explained.