The short version
- Typical range: £50 – £350 — see the full dining table value guide
- What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
- Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
- Category: Furniture
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.
- Measure the top, and if it extends measure both the closed and extended lengths.
- Check for wobble, tighten the leg fittings, and look closely at the top surface for water rings, heat marks and scratches.
- Establish whether it is solid wood, veneer or laminate, and say which — buyers price these very differently.
The photographs that sell a dining table
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 full table from a corner, showing top and legs together
- The top surface straight on in daylight, which reveals marks honestly
- The underside or leg fixings, showing construction
- Extended, if it extends, and any damage 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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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
Seats, material and length: “Solid Oak Extending Dining Table, Seats 6-8, 180cm”. The number it seats is the primary search, and extending is a strong selling point that should never be buried in the description. If chairs are included, put that in the title too.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Length, width and height in centimetres, plus extended length if applicable
- How many it comfortably seats
- Solid wood, veneer, laminate or glass
- Whether chairs are included, and how many
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about a dining table. 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.
Look at the edge: solid wood shows continuous grain through the edge, veneer shows a thin layer over board. Answer honestly, because buyers check at collection.
Give a realistic number rather than the optimistic one. Six comfortably beats eight at a squeeze in a buyer’s mind.
On solid wood usually yes; on veneer usually not. Say which it is and let the buyer judge whether they want a restoration project.
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 dining table 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 £200 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a dining table — 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 | £200 |
| Poshmark | −£40 | £160 |
| eBay | −£27 | £173 |
| Mercari | −£20 | £180 |
| Etsy | −£13 | £187 |
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
Sells steadily with peaks in spring and early autumn as people move house. Solid wood holds value well and sells all year; laminate moves slowly and cheaply.
Collection only, and mention whether the legs detach, since that decides whether it fits in a car or needs a van. Have the fittings and any allen key ready for the buyer.
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 dining table worth?
Typically £50 to £350, with solid wood and extending tables at the top and laminate at the bottom. See the dining table value guide.
Should I sand a marked table before selling?
Usually not. Refinishing takes real skill and a poor job lowers the value more than the marks did. Photograph the top honestly and let a buyer who wants a project take it on.
Do chairs increase the value?
A matching set sells faster and for more than the table alone, and considerably more than the chairs would fetch separately. If you have them, sell them together and say so in the title.
See also: what a used dining table is worth · browse live furniture listings · condition grades explained.