What should I try and get for them?

I have been donated some absolutely stonking frost resistant glazed ceramic pots, most of which are perfect, there are 2 with cracks. Some are huge. I had to take all the soil out of some of them as between myself and daughter who is a gym coach and incredibly strong we could not lift them when filled. Looking on the net 1 or 2 retail at about £300 far less the horrendous postage costs.
The person who donated them ( going into sheltered housing and sad to be leaving her garden understandably) asked me not to sell them for buttons but I am clueless as to what to ask. I am well aware that something is only worth what someone else is prepared to pay for them. Would it be an idea to have a figure in my head of what I think would be about right and ask people who are interested in them what they would be prepared to pay? If they respond 50p I will politely tell them to go and get knotted.
If I put up photos of them would anybody give me a vague estimate of what they thought was a reasonable amount to ask? I don’t do many pots, mainly whisky barrels so not up on ceramic pots. I was going to plant lily bulbs in them but that will make most of them too so will offer them empty.

 

I suppose you could auction them on ebay but put for collection only.

 

Suppose I could if I don’t get buyers at my charity sale which I intend to start in a couple of weeks. Definitely collection only!

 

I have a similar problem @hailbopp. I usually end up giving stuff rather than selling but even that can be surprisingly difficult at times. Best of luck with yours

 

Thanks Philippa. The charity sale I run I have been doing for about a dozen years and have a really supportive band of folk who turn out every year but not for pots normally I have about 2 dozen big pots to shift. Obviously I want to get rid of them but also want to make as much as I can for the charities I support. Will see how it goes. I live quite close to St Andrews which has dozens of multimillionaires living there, I will try and advertise on their local FB page see if I get any luck!

 

Are any of the charities you support local ones? Could they pickup the pots and take them for one of their open days, maybe?

 

I support both local and international animal charities. The local cat sanctuary doesn’t “ do” open days but the hedgehog one might, I could ask. I will see how they go or not! Happy to keep some myself as they are really nice but that was not the point of the exercise going and getting them which was very heavy work!

 

Are there any similar ones listed on ebay at the moment ? I know that you said you looked on the net, but not sure if that was for "new" ones.
Personally I would list on there for collection only and set a minimum bid offer that you would be happy to accept. If they are £300 new, then personally I would set a minimum of say £150 secondhand. If you get no response then obviously have a rethink .
You could also try Facebook Marketplace if you're on there, but I don't know much about that I'm afraid.

Could you post a couple of photos on here just to give an idea ?
It maybe that someone on here would like them and could PM you, if that's not against forum rules.

 

What size are they @hailpop pictures ? The cracked ones Unfortunately are worth considerable less 50% + off easily of a brand new cracked pot then some more because it is 2nd hand.

 

whatever makes the effort worth your while and gets them to someone who wants them. giant pots are very useful if you really know what to do with them

 

These are some of them. Not washed yet! The secateurs are for scale.
There are 2 of the medium sized ones that have cracks. 1 of the rusty red and 1 blue. There are a few chips on the dragon pot but all the rest are chip free and once cleaned will pretty much look like new. There are a pair of the huge Ali baba type in first photo. They must be about 3 foot tall. There are more pots but this is the bulk of them.

 

A lot of those look like the sets Morrisons were selling relatively cheap a few years ago - the blue ones. About £40 or maybe less for a set of 4 in nested sizes. So I don't think you'd be able to get that much unfortunately.

 

Oh poop, I am surprised that Morrisons sold them cheaply because some of them are really heavy and must have cost a fair bit to import before adding their profit margin. They cost me nothing other than some fuel a lot of hard work getting them here so something is better than nothing.
I will see how they go and hope people don’t remember them from Morrisons!
With what is going on atm I can see anything being imported by tanker in the near future is going to cost a fortune!

 

@hailbopp. Would it work if you take along a selection of the smaller pots together with photos and sizes of the bigger ones to your plant sale and price them accordingly. The bigger pots to be collected later from your house?

You could always look at prices at your local GC if you have one or online to get an idea of current prices. I must say I think I probably paid circa £30-£40 for my bigger blue pots individually some years ago.

 

I have a couple of the really tall blue ones (on right hand side of image 3854), they came from B&Q donkey's years ago, and if memory serves I paid around £10 each for them. It was a long time ago, possibly early to mid 90s when blue pots were all the rage.

In my opinion I wouldn't ask more than £10 each for the vast majority of them, and that might be optimistic. You might do better selling them in a bundle as in your photos.
Please don't shoot the messenger !

Places like Morrisons sell them so cheaply as they buy in bulk, so it might be worth you looking at websites such as B&Q (diy.com), to give you an idea of current prices .