Sell Your Used Sofa Bed — 0% Fees

A used sofa bed typically sells for £80 to £400, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. A sofa bed is two products in one listing, and buyers want proof of both — so photograph it opened out, with the mattress visible.

The short version

Typical range: £80 – £400 — see the full sofa bed 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.

Open and close the mechanism several times to confirm it works smoothly, and check the frame for bending.
Measure it both as a sofa and as a bed, and note the mattress size and thickness.
Vacuum thoroughly, check the mattress for staining, and find the fire-safety label.

The photographs that sell a sofa bed

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 sofa closed, from a corner, in daylight
Fully opened out as a bed, with the mattress visible
The mattress surface, showing its actual condition
The mechanism, plus the fire-safety label and any damage

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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 as both, plus mechanism: “3 Seater Sofa Bed, Double, Pull Out Metal Action, Grey”. The bed size is a primary search. Naming the mechanism type helps, because click-clack, pull-out and futon styles suit very different buyers and comfort expectations.

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

Dimensions as a sofa and as a bed, in centimetres
Bed size — single, double or king — and mattress thickness
Mechanism type, and whether it operates smoothly
Mattress condition, material, and whether the fire label is present

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a sofa bed. 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.

“How comfortable is it to actually sleep on?”

Be honest, including the mattress thickness. Buyers know sofa beds vary hugely and appreciate a straight answer more than a sales pitch.

“Does the mechanism work smoothly?”

Open and close it several times and report. A stiff or catching mechanism is the classic sofa bed fault.

“Is the mattress stained?”

Photograph it opened out. Buyers assume the worst about an unphotographed sofa bed mattress, so showing a clean one helps you.

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 sofa bed 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 £240 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a sofa bed — 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	£240
Poshmark	−£48	£192
eBay	−£33	£207
Mercari	−£24	£216
Etsy	−£16	£224

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 lifts around moving season and before Christmas when spare beds are wanted. Doubles sell faster than singles.

Collection only and heavier than an equivalent sofa because of the mechanism. Say which floor it is on and whether the legs come off.

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 sofa bed worth?

Typically £80 to £400 depending on size, mechanism and condition. See the sofa bed value guide for the condition breakdown.

Should I photograph it opened out?

Always. It is the difference between a listing buyers trust and one they skip. An unopened sofa bed listing reads as though the mechanism might not work.

Are sofa beds harder to sell than sofas?

Slightly, because they are heavier and buyers worry about mattress hygiene. Photographing the mattress clean and opened out removes most of that hesitation.