Sell Your Used Sterilizer — 0% Fees

A used sterilizer typically sells for £10 to £45, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Sterilisers sell well because every new parent needs one, and the two things that decide the sale are capacity and whether it fits the bottles the buyer already owns.

The short version

Typical range: £10 – £45 — see the full sterilizer value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Baby & Kids Items

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.

Descale it thoroughly, which is the main thing that makes a used steriliser look tired.
Run a full cycle to confirm it heats and completes, and check the lid seal.
Note the capacity in bottles and check whether tongs, a measuring cup and any basket are present.

The photographs that sell a sterilizer

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 steriliser whole, lid on
The interior with the basket in, descaled
The control panel and model marking
The accessories laid out, plus any scale, crack or discoloured element

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Type and capacity: “Electric Steam Steriliser, 6 Bottle Capacity, Tommee Tippee”. Capacity in bottles is the search, and the brand matters because bottle shapes differ — buyers check whether their bottles will fit.

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

Type — electric steam, microwave or cold water — and bottle capacity
Brand, and which bottle types it accommodates
Cycle time, and whether it has an auto shut-off
Whether tongs, basket and measuring cup are included, and that it has been tested

What buyers will actually ask

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

“Will my bottles fit?”

Give the internal dimensions and the brand. Wide-neck bottles fit some sterilisers and not others, and it is the main compatibility question.

“Has it been descaled?”

Descale it and say so. Limescale is what makes a used steriliser look and perform badly, and it is one cycle of work.

“Are the tongs included?”

Check and say. Tongs are model specific, easily lost and genuinely useful, so their presence is worth stating.

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 sterilizer 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 £27 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a sterilizer — 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	£27
Poshmark	−£5	£22
eBay	−£4	£23
Mercari	−£3	£24
Etsy	−£2	£25

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. Electric steam sterilisers from known brands sell within days because they are a standard purchase for every new baby.

Light and easy to post. Empty it completely and pack the basket inside the unit with padding so it does not crack against the walls.

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 steriliser worth?

Typically £10 to £45, with larger electric models above. See the steriliser value guide for the condition bands.

Will people buy a used steriliser?

Yes, readily, provided it is descaled and clean. It is a short-use item that most families need for a year or two, so there is constant demand.

How do I descale one?

A citric acid or proprietary descaler cycle, then a clear water cycle to rinse. It takes twenty minutes and it is the single best thing you can do for the listing.