Sell Your Used Parasol — 0% Fees

A used parasol typically sells for £15 to £80, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Parasols fail at the mechanism and the fabric, so the sale turns on whether the crank still winds and whether the canopy has gone brittle in the sun.

The short version

Typical range: £15 – £80 — see the full parasol value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Home & Garden

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.

Wind it fully open and closed several times and check the crank and any tilt mechanism.
Inspect the canopy fabric for fading, brittleness and any tear along the seams and rib pockets.
Check every rib for bends and breaks, and note whether a base is included.

The photographs that sell a parasol

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 parasol fully open, whole, outdoors
The crank and tilt mechanism close up
The canopy underside, showing ribs and seams
The pole and base if included, plus any tear, fade or bent rib

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Size, type and base: “3m Cantilever Parasol with Crank and Base”. Diameter is the search and cantilever versus centre pole is a hard distinction. Say whether the base is included, since bases are heavy, expensive and frequently sold separately.

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

Canopy diameter or dimensions, and pole height
Type — centre pole, cantilever or half parasol
Whether it cranks, tilts and rotates, and whether all work
Whether a base is included, and the canopy and rib condition

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a parasol. 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.

“Is the base included?”

Say so in the title. A parasol without a base is unusable and bases cost a substantial fraction of the whole thing.

“Does the crank work?”

Wind it fully both ways and answer. The crank is the standard failure point and it is not economically repairable on cheaper parasols.

“Has the fabric perished?”

Check the seams and rib pockets, where sunlight does its damage first. Brittle fabric tears in the first strong wind and buyers should know.

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 parasol 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 £47 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a parasol — 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	£47
Poshmark	−£9	£38
eBay	−£6	£41
Mercari	−£5	£42
Etsy	−£3	£44

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

April to July is essentially the entire market. Listed in autumn a parasol will not sell, so store it until spring rather than discounting.

Long and awkward, so collection is usual. Bases especially are very heavy and rarely worth posting; give the weight if you are including one.

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 parasol worth?

Typically £15 to £80, with large cantilever models and included bases above. See the parasol value guide for the bands.

Can a broken parasol rib be repaired?

Sometimes with a splint kit on cheaper models, and some quality brands sell spare ribs. Say which rib is damaged and whether spares are available for the model.

Does a faded canopy matter?

Cosmetically yes, and it usually signals the fabric has weakened too. Check for brittleness at the seams and describe both, since a faded but sound canopy is a very different proposition from a perished one.