Selling a Chinese Rug

January 7, 2013 1:24 PM

Please help me sell a Chinese rug that I have inherited.

I recently inherited a quite large (14'x9') Chinese rug (image here) that I would like to sell. It was appraised for $5800, and I know that I'll be very lucky if I get even half that. I've contacted all or most of the dealers in the Washington DC metro area, and none are interested. Cragislist hasn't resulted in any non-scammer bites, and even putting a classified ad in the Washington Post has failed. I'd take it to a furniture consignment store, but am not aware of any that are operating in the area. An auction house estimated that it would fetch less than $1,000, and I'd really like to get more than that if possible.

Any ideas?

posted by Amplify to home & garden (4 answers total)

There is a very large market for rugs on eBay (I've bought all my chinese rugs on eBay). Put it up for auction on eBay and set your reserve price high and see what happens. You will have to ship it, so make sure you specify in the auction a realistic price to cover your shipping and handling costs.
posted by Countess Sandwich at 1:31 PM on January 7

I suspect the $5800 appraisal is inflated (perhaps given so the rug could be insured). A quick google turns up hand knotted, new, Chinese rugs at between $12 and $16 a square foot. And a quick search of ebay shows very few chinese rugs selling for more than $1000; here's one that looks like it might be comparable to yours, it sold for $1225 (with free shipping, btw).

Also, note that the above rug was sold by a dealer with 7062 sales and a 99.2% positive rating; it is a lot harder to get a good price for such an expensive item if you don't have a track record proving you are what you say you are.
posted by mr vino at 1:53 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

FYI if you're gonna put it on Ebay a high reserve will almost certainly result in a lower final price - if you get any bites at all. I have sold a lot on Ebay; this is very much tre.
posted by smoke at 2:00 PM on January 7

Thanks for the advice, all.
posted by Amplify at 1:01 PM on January 8