Sell Your Used Vase — 0% Fees

A used vase typically sells for £5 to £45, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. A vase is bought on look and sold on the base — the maker’s mark underneath is where the value hides, so photograph it before anything else.

The short version

Typical range: £5 – £45 — see the full vase 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.

Turn it over and photograph the base, including any signature, label, impressed mark or paper sticker.
Fill it with water and leave it standing to check it does not seep, since hairline cracks often only show that way.
Check the rim and foot for chips and look inside for limescale or staining.

The photographs that sell a vase

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 vase whole against a plain background, in even light
The base and any mark, filling the frame
The rim all the way round
The interior, plus any chip, crack, crazing or repair

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Maker, material and height: “Whitefriars Glass Vase, 20cm, Kingfisher Blue”. Height is a genuine search because buyers are matching a shelf or mantelpiece. Named makers carry most of the value, so if there is a mark, put it in the title even if you do not recognise it.

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

Height and widest diameter, and the opening diameter
Material — glass, ceramic, porcelain, stoneware or metal
Maker and any mark, photographed
Whether it holds water, and any chip, crack or crazing

What buyers will actually ask

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

“Does it hold water?”

Fill it and leave it standing on paper for an hour. A seeping hairline is invisible dry and obvious wet, and it is the fault buyers most resent discovering.

“What is the mark on the base?”

Photograph it rather than transcribing. Collectors identify makers from marks far more reliably than from a written description.

“How tall is it?”

Measure it. Scale is almost impossible to judge from a photograph and it is the second question every time.

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 vase 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 £25 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a vase — 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	£25
Poshmark	−£5	£20
eBay	−£3	£22
Mercari	−£2	£23
Etsy	−£2	£23

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 before Christmas and in spring. Named studio and art glass makers sell within days when correctly identified.

Wrap heavily and double box, filling the interior with paper so it cannot flex. Tall narrow vases are particularly prone to snapping at the neck in transit.

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 vase worth?

Typically £5 to £45, with named studio glass and art pottery far above. See the vase value guide for the condition bands.

How do I identify a maker’s mark?

Photograph the base clearly and let buyers and collector communities read it. Many marks are impressed, etched faintly or on a paper label, so shoot it in raking light.

Does crazing matter on a ceramic vase?

Fine crazing is normal and expected on older glazes and is usually neutral for a display piece. Stained crazing reduces value, and it should be photographed rather than described.