Shop Secondhand Like a Pro

IVY: I don’t want my space to feel like anyone else’s space. I want it to feel just like me and interesting and weird, and that’s how I do it, whether it’s at a thrift store, a vintage store, Facebook Marketplace, even Craigslist in the day.

CHRISTINE: I’m Christine Cyr Clisset.

CAIRA: I’m Caira Blackwell.

ROSIE: I’m Rosie Guerin and you’re listening to The Wirecutter Show. Hey friends.

CAIRA: Hi.

CHRISTINE: Hi.

ROSIE: I was going to ask y’all a question, but I think I know the answer already, which is do you like to buy things used and secondhand? But I’m looking at Christine’s water bottle on the desk here, and I know that it’s secondhand.

CHRISTINE: For listeners, I have a Takeya, I’m probably mispronouncing that name, but it’s a really cool water bottle that Wirecutter recommends. I found it at Goodwill two weekends ago, brand new, and I got it for a third of the price I would’ve paid full price.

ROSIE: Bargain shopper.

CHRISTINE: But I think you both know that I buy a lot of used things, very, very open to the world of used products. I like them.

ROSIE: We’re a little bit concerned sometimes, but we appreciate the hustle.

CAIRA: Almost to an extent that yeah, we’re a little worried.

ROSIE: What’s your sense?

CAIRA: I love to buy used things. I hate buying retail price for anything. I grew up negotiating for stuff because I was always taught never to buy anything at the price that somebody gives you. So that’s what I do.

CHRISTINE: We at Wirecutter are in the business of recommending products that people can easily go online and buy, but there is a deep passion at Wirecutter around used products, and we decided that it would be really awesome to do a big suite of articles around our staff’s best strategies for doing this. So we just recently published three really big ones about how to buy used furniture, how to buy used clothing, and how to buy used tableware, so that’s like glassware and plates, and we got the people on staff who know the most about this to go out and sort of hunt for the best deals.

CAIRA: Today we’re going to focus on furnishings with Ivy Elrod. Ivy is one of Wirecutter’s home decor writers and she co-wrote a piece about buying used furniture with another writer on the home decor team, Joshua Lyon. For this article, they both set out with a budget of $1,500 and had to buy three secondhand items: a couch, a rug, and a lamp.

CHRISTINE: I got to see all the pictures of everything she bought and beautiful. Yeah, I want her to come and decorate my place.

ROSIE: I can’t wait to talk to her and I can’t wait to figure out how she went about this. So when we come back, Ivy on secondhand shopping, we’ll be back in a minute.

CAIRA: Welcome back. With us now is Ivy Elrod, who is a home decor writer, and before joining Wirecutter, she worked as an interior designer. She also used to own and run her own interior design showroom with furniture and lighting in Nashville. Fun fact, Ivy was once the youngest Rockette at Radio City.

ROSIE: Ivy, we could talk about any of those things throughout this interview. I’m very happy to have you on the show.

IVY: Oh, I’m really thrilled to be here. Thanks.

CHRISTINE: Ivy. At the end of the show, will you do some kicks for us, some Rockette kicks?

IVY: I am not in costume.

CHRISTINE: Oh, okay. We’ll give you a pass on that. Let’s actually talk a little bit about your history as an interior designer. I’m curious, we’re going to talk about all your best tips for buying used, but I’m very curious about how you kind of got into this line of work and also what exactly is an interior design showroom? I think maybe some of us have an inkling, but I’m maybe not quite sure what it is exactly. Is it for the general public to come in or were you working more specifically with clients?

IVY: So I’ll answer your first question. I was a performer, and my husband also a performer, actually, he was in Blue Man Group for many years.

ROSIE: Wow.

CHRISTINE: What?

IVY: We were the only Rockette who married a Blue Man. And we moved all the time because you’d go into a show and you’re back and forth, and so I had so much hands-on experience changing environments or suiting them to whatever was going on with us, what we needed and what the space was like. And when my husband got injured and I was pregnant with our second kid, we had fantasized about doing this business together and we decided to open a design showroom because of our experience with making spaces interesting. Then, to answer your next question, a showroom, the real distinguishing thing about a showroom is that you don’t walk out with your merchandise. You go to a showroom to sit in Aeron chairs, look at the table, see the rug samples, and then you order them per your specifications. So it typically has a higher end clientele because these are items that are being customized.

CAIRA: Okay, cool.

CAIRA: As you were helping people decorate their homes, were you integrating used furniture into that or was it mostly new?

IVY: All the time. Every project I ever worked on, including commercial projects, we would source vintage or used furniture because I don’t like spaces where everything’s brand new. It feels like you’re in a movie set.

CAIRA: So why buy secondhand in the first place? Why do you think people are motivated to do this? Why were you motivated to do it?

IVY: The number one reason is saving money. I do. I think that’s the main reason people go for it, myself included, and what you can get very often is something that’s almost brand new and is a fraction of the price. So there’s a practical component, no question. Aesthetic component. You can find things that aren’t anywhere else. You all of a sudden have a table that no one’s seen before and has a bit of that patina. Finding items that have an interesting provenance or something. That feels exciting. This is different. I don’t see this anywhere. I don’t want my space to feel like anyone else’s space. I want it to feel just like me and interesting and weird, and that’s how I do it.

I think that there is circular economy sort of energy. People really like the idea of something being passed on and not being thrown out and maybe making money in the process. But lastly, and this is a big thing for me, there’s a whole culture around the hunt, around secondhand finds, around the people you engage with. I meet so many wacky cool people in the process, whether it’s at a thrift store, a vintage store, Facebook Marketplace, even Craigslist in the day, it’s much more interesting a process if you have time.

ROSIE: I would be intimidated by shopping for furniture secondhand because I don’t have a lot of confidence that the pieces, the disparate pieces I buy over time even will come together. So if you don’t have that skillset, where do you start thinking about it?

IVY: I like to encourage people to not worry about rules so much, and if you love things, there’s often a way to integrate them. If you’re newer to trying to outfit a space, start with one thing, and that could be a wallpaper. It could be the rug has these colors in it, whatever. It doesn’t have to be any one thing. That’s first off. Second off, I don’t know that buying new would necessarily be so different in what you’re describing, meaning how does anyone just approach how to outfit a space?

CHRISTINE: I suppose the one way is you go into IKEA and then you just sort of control C and control V into a blank space.

IVY: Right. I mean, so it’s interesting you should ask. I have a couple tips with regard to seeing things together. That scale is always going to be tricky. It’s tricky even for professionals, but color and palette and just even vibe. Use the sticker function. Now it’s so easy. Or the cutout function, throw everything into a keynote. You can even do it on your phone. I’m old and I don’t know how, but I’m told that you can.

CAIRA: You can do this on your iPhone just in the Photos app.

IVY: Create a collage and put things in space. That is what I used in this challenge. I put together the pieces. I almost ended up with this super cool, vibrant 70s shag rug, and the keynote revealed I was going real retro, which was not my goal. That’s totally reasonable choice, but I was like, I want something a little less we’re going 70s. By looking at things together, you can start to get a sense, okay, these colors look weird together. This makes me feel like I’m a swinging 70s person, I don’t want to feel in my house, and you can start to hone an eye.

ROSIE: Okay, so you mentioned this assignment for Wirecutter. That’s why we’re here. Describe what you were asked to do, because all I know is that you had $1,500 and you were sent out into the world.

IVY: We did have the criteria of selecting a couch, a rug, and a lamp. So I couldn’t just do a whole room for 1,500, which I absolutely could have done, for the record.

ROSIE: Really?

IVY: Absolutely.

ROSIE: Challenge accepted.

IVY: I mean, 1,500 felt extravagant. And another person would be like, “1,500, how could you?”

CAIRA: I just feel like a couch costs 1,500 these days. I find that so hard.

CHRISTINE: For a new couch, that’s not very much money.

IVY: No, no, no, of course. And so that’s where it gets exciting if you’re willing to, you have to want to work a little bit or work in a very specific way. My colleague Josh, he said, “Hey, is there a way that you want to differentiate how we’re going to go about this?” And I was like, I think I’d like to try to do a room. And he was like, “Cool. I’m going to do disparate pieces. I’m going to try and fit them in.” He, like many of the other writers in this package, much prefer the way of going out into the world and see what’s there. What is this discovery going to feel like? This is a whole lifestyle and I am a very busy mom, and I’m renovating my house and everything’s chaotic, and I am like, “Hey, I got a mission. I’m going to find it.”

Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t go for the discovery too. It just means that I am vigilant in saying, “Okay, these are my criteria. This is the space, the dimensions. This is the color I’m seeking, and I can throw it out the window if I’m like, oh my God, look at this.” And so I was looking at all these pattern sofas. I thought, why not? This will be fun. I don’t have a pattern sofa in my home wear collection, and I’ve never even sold one.

So I was looking at all these and then I stumbled across this totally different non-pattern sofa and I was like, boom, here we are. This is what we’re doing. Yeah, I mean, I made a challenge for myself that I wanted to create a space where you didn’t necessarily know everything was secondhand, not because I think that things that look secondhand are bad, but it’s another layer of a challenge to be like, huh, really? Maybe a little ego in there. But then I also personally don’t like things to all be of one era. The lamp I sourced ended up being this postmodern design by Liane Rougier. I know the line very well, and I know the design of the lamp, and I’m probably getting ahead of myself here, but I had sourced the sofa first. For me I found this unbelievable Thayer Coggin sofa from the 70s in its original fabric and I-

CHRISTINE: It’s so gorgeous. It’s like a mustard color. Is it velvet?

IVY: She’s wearing her original upholstery.

ROSIE: And Thayer Coggin is the real deal.

IVY: Real deal. Really, yeah. An important designer, and I found this sofa. I freaked out. It was very cool. I couldn’t believe I got it at the price. I found it listed for 900. And I had found a comp on Charish for $6,500. It had already sold. And I realized it was an estate sale. My instinct was based on how the picture was sort of spare, but it had some really choice beautiful pieces in it. It was an architect who had gone onto assisted living and his realtor was getting rid of the last items that he had not sold prior.

And so I got this sofa. To be real, it was very dramatic. My husband came, he and I both share this affliction with finding things secondhand, and he saw these beautiful speakers in the back, just like a sliver of the speaker in the photo and he’s like, “I’m coming with you.” And he bought those speakers for a hundred dollars and they weren’t even listed, which is often another tip. You see something just say, “Hey, is this for sale or do you happen to have any more of X?” Because sometimes I’ve done that where I’m like, “Actually, yeah, I’ll sell you this.” And he actually flipped the speakers because we couldn’t fit them in our living room. They’re just really big. They’re gorgeous. And he was really angry at our living room for not accommodating them, but he sold them for $800.

CAIRA: Wow.

CHRISTINE: Now that’s pro. Sounds like that’s kind of part of maybe one of your insider tips is like if you can find a great, great place that’s selling, then get it all, buy the whole thing.

IVY: I mean, if you can, she was really looking to clear things and so in terms of negotiating, she was just throwing out numbers. She’s like, “Here, take it all for a hundred.” You know what I mean? We weren’t even having to ask. I negotiated the $900 sofa down to 700. I knew that that was already a good price, but I knew that I had to transport it and there was a little bit of staining in one corner. The netting underneath needed to be replaced, whatever. It was all stuff that it could have been listed for 2,000. It could have been listed for more, but she immediately agreed, and so I actually purchased the sofa for 700.

CAIRA: Ivy, I am a person who’s addicted to Facebook Marketplace. I just love how good their algorithm is, and I’m kind of a sucker for just haggling, not really knowing what the actual item is worth. I just know what the price that I want to pay for it. How would you go about navigating if you’re just kind of, you pop in, you see some stuff that you like, maybe you want to haggle a little bit, but you still get caught up in the whole process of buying secondhand?

IVY: Well, first of all, I don’t love the term haggle. For me, it’s a negotiation, right?

CAIRA: Yeah.

IVY: It’s a business deal and we’re all grownups not being too people-pleasery, something that I’m working on in my life is also just saying, “Hey, this is what I have.” People can say, no. People can also come back to you and say, “You know what? I’ve thought about it.” Of course, it’s disappointing when we lose things. So you have to be able to say within yourself, “This is my budget. I’m really going to stick to my budget.” And also if you’re going to take the risk, walk away, see how it feels in your body, are you still thinking about it? If you’re still thinking about things like a day a week later, that’s a pretty strong signal when you don’t even remember what it was or couldn’t really describe it, it’s a pretty good sign too that she can go.

CAIRA: Yeah, okay.And maybe just don’t buy it on impulse, like, oh, this is above my budget, but I really want it.

IVY: I would be a total hypocrite to say never do that. My colleague ended up buying something that was really special because he came across an item from his childhood and that was really meaningful to him that you never see while he is actually preaching, “Don’t work with impulse purchases too much. It’s emotional. You make choices you regret.” He also acknowledges he did that. The cool thing about this circular economy is that you can buy something and resell it.

ROSIE: Oh yeah.

IVY: And especially if you found it on Marketplace, it’s not that hard if you’re comfortable with doing.

CHRISTINE: If you’re someone like me who is generally, I’m on a task, if I’m looking for, let’s say I am looking for desks for my kids, what’s your best strategy for that?

IVY: The first thing is to be willing to be patient. Now, that’s not always possible. We moved into our house in Brooklyn last year and we brought this beautiful long table. It was so, represented hosting and all these great things, and it was too big for the room, and we spent a year and I was just like, I need a smaller table, but I don’t want to.

And so I started looking and I started looking and I started to piece together what exactly I was seeking. It’s a little different than the desks. We had a table. I don’t know if the kids had desks, depends on what timeline you’re working with, but the algorithm is a very real thing. Facebook Marketplace, you can train it, you can teach it by what you save and what you search for. I mean, it is learning what you want, and that is precisely how my table showed up after, I don’t know, 3, 4, 5 months of types of searches. It was a table from my dreams, but I didn’t even know that it was what I wanted. It just had all the characteristics of what I was seeking.

CHRISTINE: That’s both awesome and creepy.

IVY: Yes.

CHRISTINE: What you’re advising here is, okay, if you can be, be patient and maybe keep going back to the sites that new things are going to be popping up on, would you take that strategy in person as well, go back over and over again?

IVY: A hundred percent. That’s the thing. That’s part of what makes it exciting and infuriating. This is a limited inventory situation, one of one very often and sometimes you lose the thing, but you don’t know what’s going to be there the next time you go in 24 hours or a week, and you have to be willing to do that, whether it’s marketplace or in person, just this repetition because it’s part of how you find the great things. Sometimes it just appears, but the repeated search is how the greatest things ultimately land.

CAIRA: Where do you think the best things are? Do you find the best things online or do you find them in person?

IVY: It’s funny. People think of Marketplace as an online shopping platform. It’s not, to me, it’s a hybrid completely because you go in person to buy the thing.

CAIRA: Oh yeah.

IVY: Facebook Marketplace is distinct for me because you can vet the people. You have either a very localized search or you can make it as big as you want. It has a critical mass of people that are participating, so there’s a wide variety. And then lastly, you go, you’re not just blindly hitting buy.

CHRISTINE: When you’re looking at pictures, whether it’s on Facebook, marketplace, Craigslist, eBay, whatever. Are there things that you look for in a photo that will indicate damage to things? How are you approaching the photos?

IVY: One of the things that is perhaps counterintuitive is that when people are really disciplined about showing documentation on things that are flaws, it actually engenders trust. And so I’m like, okay, they’re being thorough. They’re not hiding stuff. Asking for additional photos if there don’t appear to be enough is, and how they handle that question is a very helpful tell if something is being misrepresented, asking plainly, can you chronicle exactly any imperfections? Are there any defects here? So much of this has to do with the communication that we’re relying on. I’ll always ask for maker tags.

CHRISTINE: Maker tags being the label on a piece of furniture?

IVY: Yeah, sometimes it’s a label, sometimes it’s a stamp, and that will tell you a great deal about, then you can go ahead and research it. Sometimes the lamp I purchased actually was void of its maker tag. It had come off and I was looking at the tiny little details that my instinct was it was real. I also looked at what else he had sold. I looked at what else he had listed, and I realized this guy probably had purchased all these showroom items and that was true. A lot of it is sort of more nuanced than this person is trustworthy. This person is not based on just the photographs. It also has to do with how you’re interacting with the person. And so when I ask questions if people are cagey giving you one word answers, I tend to go elsewhere. If people are very upfront and I always ask, Hey, how long have you had this?

This is not just for fancy things. Part of it is just me asking to get a sort of sense of who I’m interacting with. In terms of in-person, when I’m looking for damage that I have no shame, I pull off the cushions, I look at the springs on a sofa, I do a gentle bounce test. I’m looking for things that are going to poke up into me. I go underneath the sofa, I look at the frame, I’ll flip things over. I’ll ask to plug in a lamp. All of that is what I’m looking for. So just be a sleuth, I’d say. And don’t be afraid. I think there’s a little bit of a barrier sometimes you’re like, I don’t want to make them think I am not trusting or whatever. I just have to let that go.

CAIRA: We just learned a lot. So I’m going to try and do a quick recap. It’s important to take pictures and create mood boards and clip art and kind of just help yourself visualize your space and all the things that you want put together, Try to avoid emotional buys if you can. But worst case scenario, you can always just resell it. And when you’re looking at photos online, it helps if the photos are basically upfront about the item that you’re potentially going to buy, and that kind of tells you that they are being upfront and maybe they’re a trustworthy person to engage with.

ROSIE: We’re going to take a quick break and when we’re back, we’re going to talk more about shopping strategies and about Ivy’s best tips for ”negotiating”, let’s say. We’ll be right back.

CHRISTINE: Welcome back. I want to talk a little bit more about negotiation. You mentioned earlier that you think haggling is not the right term to use, and you did talk about how you like to approach negotiation as sort of a business strategy, get into a business mindset. I am really bad at this. I feel like I am very intimidated when I go into a store or I’m dealing with somebody online and I’ve always been a little shy to do this. What’s your best advice about doing this in a way that doesn’t come off as rude or inconsiderate or undervaluing the person or whatever?

IVY: Yeah, I mean mainly, it comes down to the energy between you and this other person. As a seller on Marketplace, sometimes people just, I’ll have a listing and they’ll be like “150?” when the price is listed at 800 or something and that’s all they write, and I’m just not even going to respond to that.

CHRISTINE: That’s you as a seller.

IVY: That’s me as a seller. I mean they can do that and maybe other people it’ll work out for, but to me a lot of this is about interacting with people and it’s actually one of the things I really enjoy. So the language has a lot to do with it. Would you consider this, I’m working with this budget and this is all I can do. Could make this work? Part of it is just being very incredibly polite around it. Many people only bring cash to these kinds of transactions. It’s sort of a built-in little boundary being like, “I have this much, can we do this?” But I do ultimately think it’s also remembering that this seller wants to have a deal done too. And I can say that from authority. Even when people have offered me too little, I’m like, Hey, sorry, that won’t work for me.

The lowest I can go is this. But if someone’s rude just as a person, they’re rude. If someone’s polite and saying, this is what I’ve got, I can say, sorry, this won’t work. Or I can say, well, I can counter. Because I was working on this very specific budget challenge. I found these beautiful rugs and this one in particular, it was above budget. I couldn’t make it work. I found a second one I loved, actually it turned out even more and they said they could do 700, and I said, I have a very specific budget. I can only do 500. And he was like, it’s worth 3000. I was like, I know it’s beautiful and I’m so sorry. This is all I could do. Meanwhile, I literally had this budget that it was a challenge. We walked away, I said, thank you so much, best of luck. And the next day he came back and was like, I’d like to do 500. They needed to sell.

CAIRA: Do you have any other tips like that to lock in a good deal?

IVY: I mean, if you’re doing something like an estate sale, things may be picked over, but go toward the end. People need to move the stuff.

CHRISTINE: It’s like the farmer’s market at the last hour.

IVY: Totally. They got to get rid of it.

CAIRA: Well, I thought it was the opposite. I thought you go at the beginning.

IVY: If you want to find all the stuff, good stuff.

CAIRA: Everything’s there.

IVY: But if you want to get the discounts, you go at the end.

CHRISTINE: What’s your motivation.

IVY: Yeah, totally. So I mean people don’t want to transport stuff back. And also estate sales, their goal is to clear out. So if you are knowing that you’re toward the end, okay, this is where it gets men from the boys as they say. Is that right? I don’t think that’s right.

CHRISTINE: We say that girls from the ladies here.

IVY: Yeah, sure. It’s sort of timing. That’s the other thing I didn’t mention. A lot of times it’s like, who’s going to get this out of here the fastest?

CAIRA: Oh yeah.

IVY: So if I’m saying I can be here in 40 minutes versus the guy that’s like, can I come on Tuesday? Then in 40 minutes I say, I can do this amount. Let’s do it. That’s how I got the sofa. She had tons of inquiries. It was gorgeous, but nobody could get there within the hour. You just beat them to it. Call it a sport, and it’s really dramatic, but I get covered in sweat and I’m like, I’m going to move fast, move. It really helps clear the schedule. We’re going to get the sofa. Yeah, I love it.

CAIRA: What are some of the more common cons of buying secondhand that maybe people aren’t aware of?

IVY: The fact that you can’t really return anything. That is stressful, I’d counter that with just resell it, but some people don’t want to get into all that. I think another con is that there is potential either disingenuous seller or they just didn’t see and you missed that there was damage or something is much more of a project than you realized. I think people can be a little afraid if you’re working on some of these platforms on Craigslist or Facebook to show up, and I totally get that. The fact that you can vet people. I tend to always bring someone, if someone’s coming to me, I make sure people are around, but I research who these people are to the best of my ability.

CHRISTINE: What about in terms of a con, when you’re buying furniture? Are you ever concerned about bringing bugs home with you?

IVY: This is a scary one. Yeah, I mean, of course. I mean, there’s a couple of things you can do. For smaller items, textiles and clothing, people put items in the freezer for three days, so that can kill off moths for example. With bedbugs, there are signs typically, tiny little specks residue. That is another thing you’re looking for, by the way. That doesn’t mean it’s foolproof. This is also where it sort of gets into who am I working with here and is it seem like maybe they’re hiding something now people can make mistakes, but it hasn’t happened to me yet, and I have had many experiences thank God.

ROSIE: I want to know what you should never buy used.

IVY: So my colleague wrote a great piece for this package about just stay away from these secondhand and I think that they’re really smart.

ROSIE: All right, lay it on.

IVY: Baby items, not across the board, but the things that have to do with safety, car seats, anything that may be dangerous such as older bassinets and things where the safety requirements are very stringent. Bike helmets, things that your survival is contingent on and may have been in an accident. Then a lot of tech things. power strips, smart home devices, routers, things that are technical and some sporting equipment. I think that’s also the safety thing. She calls out skis. Some people may just want to stay away from vintage crystal because that all had lead in it, but also it’s beautiful.

CHRISTINE: Of all of your long history of shopping for used furniture, what is the coolest, best thing that you’ve ever scored?

IVY: Oh boy. I may have already prefaced this, but the dining table that we recently bought, it was very recent and I had been looking and looking not really knowing exactly, algorithm served up this table. It’s an art deco table, Charles Pfister for Baker Furniture. It has all this gorgeous inlay And I mean, it’s the heartbeat of our house. We do everything at the table, and so I get to interact with it all the time and I’m like, one of the legs isn’t great. I have to mess with the screw. I don’t care. I love this table.

CAIRA: That’s awesome. I love that.

ROSIE: Well, we’re at our final question, and the answer might be the same answer that you just gave us, but what’s the last thing you bought that you’ve really loved?

ROSIE: Oh, what’s the last secondhand thing you bought you really loved?

IVY: I bought a slew of beautiful mirrors. Mirrors are a very great thing to source because people need them out. They’re heavy. They’re so heavy, and they’re not going to ship them. They’re not going to move them. A lot of times they won’t move. And I love a mirror. I love a mirror for bringing in light, and I actually have a piece coming out. You don’t need a bigger house, you just need more mirrors.

ROSIE: People are going to love to hear that.

IVY: Well, I think it’s true. And so I sourced a bunch of mirrors. Yeah.

ROSIE: Well, Ivy [inaudible 00:30:30], we are so grateful you stopped by. Thank you for talking to us about all things secondhand. We appreciate it.

IVY: Oh, this was such a pleasure. Thank you.

CHRISTINE: Thanks, Ivy.

CAIRA: Thank you.

ROSIE: Ivy is an absolute delight.

CAIRA: I’m obsessed with her.

CHRISTINE: Yeah, I’m serious. I want her to come and furnish my home for me so I don’t have to do it.

CAIRA: Yeah.

ROSIE: What are you taking away from this episode? I mean, there are a lot of things.

CAIRA: I think for me, I had no idea that you could go to estate sales late and maybe snag a good deal because people just don’t want to transport that stuff back. Genius. And I just have to remember, because I am one of those people who will just buy stuff without seeing it. If I get something that doesn’t fit my space or I don’t actually like that much, I can always just resell it and it’s not a big deal.

CHRISTINE: That is a great tip. I think that’s something that I need to remind myself of. I am going to do some work on myself and try to cultivate a better negotiation strategy.

CAIRA: Yeah, you can do it.

CHRISTINE: I can do it right. I am going to take her sort of advice of approaching each of these interactions like a business transaction and not feeling so intimidated by it and just bringing a good professional vibe into it.

CAIRA: Just be nice.

CHRISTINE: Yeah, be nice. And it’s always worth asking, right?

ROSIE: Yeah. My takeaway is so boring and so general, but it’s that I feel less intimidated getting into the world of secondhand shopping. And Ivy just had a lot of great tips of where to go and how to stay grounded through the process. So I was grateful for that. And if you want to learn more about shopping secondhand, check out our website. A lot of great pieces up there, and Ivy’s reporting as well. And we’ll link it in the show notes as ever. So thanks so much for listening. Talk to you soon.

CAIRA: Bye.

CHRISTINE: Bye.

The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by me, Rosie Guerin, and produced by Abigail Keele, engineering support from Maddie Mazziello and Nick Pittman. Today’s episode was mixed by Katherine Anderson. Original music by Dan Powell, Marian Lozano, Alicia Bet-Etude, Rowan Nemisto, Katherine Anderson and Diane Wong. Cliff Levy is Wirecutter’s Deputy Publisher and General Manager. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter’s editor and chief.

CAIRA: I’m Caira Blackwell.

CHRISTINE: I’m Christine Cyr Clisset.

ROSIE: And I’m Rosie Guerin. Thank you for listening.

IVY: You are not supposed to have any lead.

CAIRA: Just a treat.

CHRISTINE: You’ve got to be under the threshold.

CAIRA: Right.