The short version
- Typical range: £10 – £50 — see the full hamster cage value guide
- What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
- Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
- Category: Pet Supplies
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 unbroken floor area, which is what welfare guidance is based on, rather than counting levels.
- Measure the bar spacing and check for gnaw damage, bent bars and rust.
- Clean it thoroughly and confirm which accessories — wheel, water bottle, house — are included.
The photographs that sell a hamster cage
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 cage whole, from the front
- The base tray from above, showing floor area
- A ruler across the bars showing spacing
- The accessories laid out, plus any gnaw damage, rust or bent bar
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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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
Floor area and contents: “Hamster Cage, 80x50cm Floor, Deep Base, with Wheel and Bottle”. Floor dimensions are the search for anyone who has read welfare guidance. Deep base is a genuine feature for burrowing species.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Unbroken floor dimensions and total height
- Bar spacing, and base depth for bedding
- What is included — wheel, bottle, house, tubes
- Condition including gnaw damage, rust and bent bars
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about a hamster cage. 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.
Give the unbroken floor measurement. Welfare guidance is based on continuous floor space rather than the total across several levels, and informed buyers know that.
Measure it. Burrowing species need deep bedding and a shallow tray limits what the cage can be used for.
Say so and give the diameter. Wheels are size critical for the animal’s spine and a too-small one is not usable.
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 hamster cage 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 £30 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a hamster cage — 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 | £30 |
| Poshmark | −£6 | £24 |
| eBay | −£4 | £26 |
| Mercari | −£3 | £27 |
| Etsy | −£2 | £28 |
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 after Christmas. Larger cages with deep bases sell fastest to informed keepers.
Bulky but light. Most come apart into base and top, which makes collection easy — give both sets of dimensions.
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 hamster cage worth?
Typically £10 to £50, with large deep-base cages above. See the hamster cage value guide.
Is my cage big enough?
Welfare guidance has moved toward considerably larger unbroken floor areas than older cages provide. State the actual floor dimensions honestly and let the buyer judge against current advice.
Does bar spacing matter for small animals?
Yes — dwarf species escape through wider bars and can become trapped. Measure and state it rather than describing the cage generically.
See also: what a used hamster cage is worth · browse live pet supplies listings · condition grades explained.