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Comment by wegs | Hacker News Reader

I'm more pessimistic about Ikea quality -- virtually everything I've bought from them is in a state where I wouldn't buy it second-hand. On the kid desk I bought from them, the chairs broke. Same thing happened to my friends who bought the same set.

I'm more optimistic about motivations. Most people don't have time to sell (or even give away) something they bought for $200 now worth $30 on the second-hand market. If I could dispose of this stuff safely, freely, and easily, I definitely would.

Heck, if Ikea keeps this up, I bet there will be a third-hand market where people haul this junk away to Ikea, and resell vouchers/new furniture. That'd be awesome. If I could dump this stuff on the curb, and know it won't end up in a landfill, I'd totally do it.

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>Most people don't have time to sell (or even give away)

I've gone through this with a few things recently but I don't live in a city. I do, however, live on a fairly busy country road and I've had pretty good luck leaving things at the end of my driveway with a big FREE sign on them :-)

Dollar for dollar I find Ikea products to be a better value than anything else I can find. Sure, some stuff is cheap, but if I dropped the same amount at Target then I would truly have a cheap crappy thing compared to the Ikea product. And a good deal of stuff from Ikea is made very well from hardwood, and I would be hard pressed to find something of similar quality without doubling the price point. I actually buy most of it used. The Ikea market is hot in CA at least; if I see something I like in the catalog chances are someone is selling the very same thing locally in excellent shape.

I have a ton of Ikea stuff at home. It's a great value for the price.

"Great value for the price" isn't the same as "sturdy," though. I don't have anything from Ikea which I would describe as "made very well," and I'm under no illusions that it will outlast me, like my proper furniture.

> I bet there will be a third-hand market where people haul this junk away to Ikea, and resell vouchers/new furniture

That already seems to be a thing - at least at the Seattle IKEA. Whenever I return something I spot at least one "pro" who has 3 or 4 of the same mismatched piece to return. It obviously works for them to salvage items off craigslist and yard sales and return them for store credit.

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