The short version
- Typical range: £30 – £180 — see the full office chair 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.
- Sit in it and check the gas lift holds height for several minutes. A sinking chair needs the cylinder replaced and must be disclosed.
- Test every adjustment: height, tilt, lock, armrests and lumbar support.
- Clean the fabric or mesh, check the castors roll freely, and look at the seat foam for collapse.
The photographs that sell an office chair
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 whole chair from a three-quarter angle
- The seat surface and backrest, showing fabric or mesh condition
- The base, gas lift and castors
- The adjustment levers, plus any tear, stain or wear
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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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
Brand and model if it has one: “Herman Miller Aeron Size B Office Chair”. Recognised ergonomic brands sell for many times a generic chair and are searched by name and size. For unbranded chairs, lead with the features — mesh back, adjustable lumbar, headrest.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Brand, model and size where applicable
- Whether the gas lift holds height reliably
- Which adjustments work: height, tilt, lock, armrests, lumbar
- Fabric or mesh condition, and whether the castors roll freely
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about an office chair. 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.
Sit in it for several minutes and check. Gas lift failure is the classic used office chair fault and buyers always ask.
Test each lever individually and list any that do not. Broken tilt locks are common and worth disclosing.
Press it and be honest. Collapsed foam is the thing a buyer notices on day one and it is the main reason cheap chairs get resold again.
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 office chair 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 £105 sale — roughly the middle of the range for an office chair — 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 | £105 |
| Poshmark | −£21 | £84 |
| eBay | −£14 | £91 |
| Mercari | −£10 | £95 |
| Etsy | −£7 | £98 |
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 with strong lifts in September and January. Recognised ergonomic brands sell within days at good prices; generic chairs are abundant and cheap.
Usually collected. Most office chairs separate into seat, base and back, which makes them fit in a car — say so if yours does, because buyers assume they need a van.
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 office chair worth?
Typically £30 to £180, with recognised ergonomic brands far above that — some hold value for decades. See the office chair value guide.
Can a sinking office chair be fixed?
Usually yes, by replacing the gas cylinder, which is an inexpensive and straightforward part. Say the chair sinks, price it in, and many buyers will happily do the repair themselves.
Are expensive office chairs worth buying used?
It is one of the best value buys in used furniture. High-end ergonomic chairs are built to last many years and often come with long warranties, so a well-kept used one is far better than a new budget chair at the same price.
See also: what a used office chair is worth · browse live furniture listings · condition grades explained.