The Lemon Fool

It doesn't take me to tell you that having babies is an incredibly expensive pastime.

However, I wasn't expecting the fact that there are some items that you HAVE to buy (if you drive) which are incredibly expensive and which, it seems, are also impossible to sell or even give away.

I have bought a number of number of baby/child car seats, with their ISO Fix attachments, at great expense (hundreds of pounds) but can't get rid of them for love or money. Particularly the latter.

What's going on here?

I get that if you've been in a car accident, the seat and base are a 'write off' but how many people are actually involved in car accidents where that would be necessary?

I can't think of any other item worth over £100 that becomes completely obsolete and no-one wants the moment you buy it.

Can you?

HYD

Howyoudoin wrote:It doesn't take me to tell you that having babies is an incredibly expensive pastime.

However, I wasn't expecting the fact that there are some items that you HAVE to buy (if you drive) which are incredibly expensive and which, it seems, are also impossible to sell or even give away.

I have bought a number of number of baby/child car seats, with their ISO Fix attachments, at great expense (hundreds of pounds) but can't get rid of them for love or money. Particularly the latter.

What's going on here?

I get that if you've been in a car accident, the seat and base are a 'write off' but how many people are actually involved in car accidents where that would be necessary?

I can't think of any other item worth over £100 that becomes completely obsolete and no-one wants the moment you buy it.

Can you?

HYD

Why didn't you try to buy second hand?

I found this BBC article from a few years ago that discusses the issue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50273625

However, I would have thought you could sell it, or give it away, on eBay, Gumtree or Nextdoor.

Used seats sell on Ebay for between £30 and £80 but postage costs will add around £10 to that. Take into account that packing up bulky and heavy items safely is a pain - DAMHIK.

HTH,

Watis

Howyoudoin wrote:It doesn't take me to tell you that having babies is an incredibly expensive pastime.
I have bought a number of number of baby/child car seats, with their ISO Fix attachments, at great expense (hundreds of pounds) but can't get rid of them for love or money. Particularly the latter.
What's going on here?

I suspect that new mothers somehow think their darling must have new, and not someone else's cast-offs.
And perhaps, given that most people are pretty impractical, they fear that the seat will be wrong for their car.

V8

There is a market for used kids stuff, and I include toys, clothing etc, and that is car boot sales. Although I've given up on them as too much hassle, while the working poor still prefer to buy new, the bottom strata of society have an eye for a bargain. Prices are rock bottom, so don't expect much return. Hence my retirement from the game.

88V8 wrote:

Howyoudoin wrote:It doesn't take me to tell you that having babies is an incredibly expensive pastime.
I have bought a number of number of baby/child car seats, with their ISO Fix attachments, at great expense (hundreds of pounds) but can't get rid of them for love or money. Particularly the latter.
What's going on here?

I suspect that new mothers somehow think their darling must have new, and not someone else's cast-offs.
And perhaps, given that most people are pretty impractical, they fear that the seat will be wrong for their car.

V8

Forgot to add in my previous post that a family member benefitted from being given a child seat by a close friend whose own child had outgrown it. So the provenance of the seat was known.

Watis

Good to see you still here HYD. I think your problem might be a bit area-specific. Charity shops here in N Ireland do sell 2nd-hand car seats. There is a demand for them but I suspect some people in some affluent areas wouldn’t dare be seen to purchase anything not brand new, especially if nothing is known of it’s history. Maybe you could advertise on Facebook marketplace? Or keep a hold of those items in case a brother or sister comes along!

Two things that you should think carefully about accepting (or buying) secondhand: Crash helmets and children's car seats. And for the same reasons. Hidden cracks and weaknesses from knocks and other mishaps that you won't be aware of, because you weren't there when they happened.

It's tough, and it seems wasteful, but that's why charity shops don't (or really shouldn't) take them in. We did give our granddaughter's car seat away to some very close neighbours who knew us well enough to trust us when we said that it had never been in an emergency or taken a knock. Anyone else would have been well advised to say no.

Great to see you here again, HYD!

BJ

Seats! Seats! You were lucky to travel in a seat! We used to travel in't back of van, all twenty-six of us, no roof, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.

Lanark wrote:Seats! Seats! You were lucky to travel in a seat! We used to travel in't back of van, all twenty-six of us, no roof, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.

A VAN !!!!!!??????????? you should be so lucky,,,,

clearly another posh git!


as a point of interest me and my sister travelled in the back of an A35 van sitting/lying on a mattress each year for our holidays visiting mums family in Northumberland
from near London, it used to take 12-13 hours (before the M1 of course)

Watis wrote:I found this BBC article from a few years ago that discusses the issue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50273625

However, I would have thought you could sell it, or give it away, on eBay, Gumtree or Nextdoor.

Used seats sell on Ebay for between £30 and £80 but postage costs will add around £10 to that. Take into account that packing up bulky and heavy items safely is a pain - DAMHIK.

HTH,

Watis

Thanks, good article. Disappointing that it seems there has been no progress on the recycling side in the three years since publication.

I've tried giving it way via Facebook Marketplace and other local sites but no luck thus far.

HYD

oldapple wrote:Good to see you still here HYD. I think your problem might be a bit area-specific. Charity shops here in N Ireland do sell 2nd-hand car seats. There is a demand for them but I suspect some people in some affluent areas wouldn’t dare be seen to purchase anything not brand new, especially if nothing is known of it’s history. Maybe you could advertise on Facebook marketplace? Or keep a hold of those items in case a brother or sister comes along!

Yes it's on Facebook Marketplace but no takers so far. Guess people are worried about whether it's been in an accident, which is a shame but understandable. Perhaps there should be a law against selling on such items.

HYD

Howyoudoin wrote:Yes it's on Facebook Marketplace but no takers so far. Guess people are worried about whether it's been in an accident, which is a shame but understandable. Perhaps there should be a law against selling on such items.

HYD

Sounds like there doesn't need to be

is there a local NCT operation near you?
they specialise in all kids stuff, and would take I'm sure