One time, my roommate had a party and someone literally shat on my couch. I had no hope of cleaning it despite one weak attempt (I was a poor student) so I just pitched it to the curb, as unattractively as possible.
Yeah I work at a used furniture store and I would not recommend buying couches from random people. We THOROUGHLY inspect and clean everything we get in here, using cleaning materials specifically designed for that sorta deep cleaning, but a lot of people try to get us to take their furniture and once we inspect it it's like. Horrific. I'm talkin, soaked in pee and moldy. And since we won't take it, they turn around and sell it on Facebook or at a yard sale or something for someone else to buy who's none the wiser.
I've bought 2 couches from the Salvation Army back in 2017. One was a sleeper sofa for $110, the other an overstuffed loveseat for about $70. I guess I got lucky, because the sleeper sofa esp has been a GODSEND all these years. Turns out it was feather-stuffed, and I sleep like a baby on it. After Covid I got shit insomnia, and to this day when I can't fall asleep on my bed I'll go sleep on my couch. The fabric has pilled a lot now but the cushions are still as firm and amazing. I've just covered the couch with a soft-ass fleece blanket and it's become even better. Idc that it looks old now, that couch and I are in a long-term relationship, bygod 💜💜
I've purchased used couches for 15 years and always been great. Just take the cushions out, check the seams for bed bugs. If it looks good and there isn't a bed bug issue in your city, 99% chance you're fine and you can save thousands.
Really only true for a severe hit. Some people think that just dropping the helmet on the ground is enough to make the helmet useless, which really isn't true as you don't damage the foam inside.
Ugh. My friends parents have bed bugs right now. They’ve cleaned everything about 6 times now. It keeps switching between the bed and couch so they are finally dumping the couch and going for another clean on the bed.
What kills me is that their eggs are sticky. So if you think your feet or your ass are going to be somewhere contaminated with bedbugs (subway, bus, Lyft/Uber) I would use a barrier spray like Bedlam or bring a plastic barrier.
HES NOT WRONG. I bought a couch that was only 2 months old off of craigslist. A steal at $250. Plushy, three seats, center cup holder that folds down and reclining ends. Beautiful.
I still have PTSD from an infestation I had 7 years ago. It took months to get rid of them. I was driven from my apartment several times so pest control could come in do chemical control. But it never worked. They would always hang around. Finally, they brought in a specialist who turbo-pumped hot air into the place and raised the temperature to like 180 degrees for like 6 hours. It killed all my house plants but the bugs were finally gone.
I used to work with homeless families and we always told them DO NOT BRING IN OLD FURNITURE YOU FIND ON THE STREET. We had a client who brought a metal chair in from the curb. They even cleaned it. And it still gave them bed bugs.
I've worked in hotels for the past decade and we take bed bugs so freaking seriously. The moment anyone mentions it, we quarantine that room and a few either side of it and get a company in to inspect and immediately treat if needed. The laundry straight up gets destroyed
I also used to work in pest control, and the days I helped out the Bed Bug guys were the grossest. The worst was easily the time we had to use a shop-vac to suck the fuckers up because they were everywhere. The walls, the ceiling, the bed, the counters, and worst of all, behind the rubber trim moulding. As I was peeling the moulding back by hand the other guy was just pressing the vacuum hose behind it while I pulled - we must have sucked up a hundred of them from the moulding alone.
I would wake up every night at 1 am with either my body feeling them or my subconscious telling me they're coming, but I'd wake up, see one and start hunting em down with a blade and paper towel. Unfathomably angry wishing I could fight them with my hands, but a man sized bed bug would be terrifying.
I used to work at a donation place. We got a lot of couches, most were okay, some went straight to the dumpster. A coworker bought a pretty nice one that came through, I was slightly jealous, but first come first served. Well he brought his old one in to donate once he got that one home. I should mention that this guy had kids. Now you're thinking it was nasty.
When I was young and broke a neighbor put "perfectly good couches" out to the curb. We scooped em up. A few days later my roommate and I were both covered in hives from some kind of bites. We put the couches back out to the curb and they were picked up immediately by another neighbor. A few days later, it was at their curb. Never again. NEVER.
I've only bought one used keyboard and the experience was rather good. Came in excellent condition with no grime or gunk. When I later traded that keyboard for homemade spruce tip syrup I made sure to remove the keycaps and switches I'd installed to give it a thorough cleaning.
Cheap ones yes, but good mechanical keyboards that are easily hundreds of dollars new just need a good cleaning which costs basically nothing (just need some rubbing alcohol) and 30 mins of your time.
I don’t mind a second hand second hand. I can generally have a new socket made. Since insurance won’t cover a CPU controlled prosthetic, my only hope is stumbling across a used Bebionic, or similar, hand.
It depends. I got a practically brand new mattress from a presumably rich university student who bought a new mattress and only used it for two semesters and now she was selling so she didn't have to store it over the summer.
I gave mine away for free when I got a new memory foam mattress. The reasoning was, I didn't have the means to transport the gigantic thing to the dump and the leasing office told me not to dispose of it at the dumpsters. Luckily for me the mattress was easy enough to get rid of as it was spotless, I posted it online with pictures from all sides and eventually had plenty of people asking for it. Not a bad mattress, just not as good as memory foam.
I never had a new one. My last one was effectively new because I got it from a used pull out couch (which was never used for anything but a couch. Not a futon type).
My local goodwill sold bathing suits, used bathing suits. Used lingerie too (just the tops), once my big sister was going to buy both but assumed they were new but given to goodwill because the person who bought it ended up not liking it or something. She even asked the lady at the desk about it. When we got to the car she found out both were stained especially the lingerie. You can assume with what.
My wife sees lingerie etc posted for sale in our local Facebook market. There's no confusing them for new, they are open about them being used. Why you'd want to advertise what you're wearing for sex costumes, and who would buy them, I have no idea.
I buy used lingerie and take the lace off to use on other things. Never from bottoms, but a Cami top or nightgown type can have a surprising amount of lace that isn't itchy.
You're telling me your sis bought clothes at goodwill without looking at them? Were they behind a glass case? Because I've only ever seen them on hangers. This sounds like bullshit.
To be fair I don't think buying glowing pendants from a first party seller would be a great idea either. I'm thinking like elderly wizards with a sunken face and some strange ideas about "Goblin-Human" relations.
Because there are legitimately very few things that aren't perfectly fine to buy secondhand. Only like clearly consumable/disposable items or things you stick into the orifices of your body are really unequivocally off-limits, all the other things here like being afraid of buying a used keyboard or couch are either overblown and/or mitigatable if you're afraid of parasites or something.
I mean, bras are very fucking expensive. If I found second hand bras in my size, I'd buy them in a heartbeat. After washing them, it's fair game imo. Though I've never seen second hand underwear anywhere.
Meh? Wash it and move on. No different from any other clothes. As long as it's still in fair shape, someone's need may outpace their squeamishness. Certainly don't not donate them if you've recently lost a lot of weight or something.
Most safety equipment falls under this. Once something has had an impact, the structural stability can be in question. Bicycle and construction helmets also.
For people asking why, this is the information I was given in my state’s childcare training: as carseats age and especially if they are in an accident, they can sustain invisible micro-fractures that weaken the integrity of the seat and can even cause it to shatter. In addition, new recommendations and safety features are added that make newer ones increasingly safe. If you struggle to buy one, chances are there is an organization in your area to get a new one for free
I'm not sure how a coffin could become available second hand. If no one's been buried in it, I wouldn't consider it second hand. Are you imagining a body was viewed in the coffin but not buried in it?
Actually you can rent a coffin. Some funeral homes will rent out coffins because not everyone has $7,000+ to spend on a coffin. A thin wooded box is placed inside the coffin and then the deceased is placed inside that box (technically not touching the coffin). This option helps people save money on funeral costs. Plus it's also offered to people who chose cremation.
Breast pumps. Unless it’s a closed system. When mine were small, most were not closed systems, which allows aerosolized breast milk particles to get places you can’t clean. FDA does not recommend it.
I just found out they have a lifespan too! Apparently you should replace them after a few months (check w manufacturer) because the tips will eventually break off. I was babysitting and a toddler came over to me with a broken pacifier, he looked funny so I swept his mouth and found the last 1cm of silicone in there. He’d just worn it down gnawing on it over time
I used rubber ones because my son is an absolute maniac with chewing on them. I have to replace them every few months even though they are thick rubber. Too high risk of choking if they come apart during a teething session.
A lady once tried to sell me one. I had to get pretty aggressive when she kept insisting. Built like she was, she had the nerve to ask me if I planned to do her any harm. So, look here, I put her on the back of my bike, and-a we went riding, down by old man Johnson's farm.
See, this is what I don't get about people who try to steal airpods, or whatever other high-end headphones. Like bro, those have been in my ears for hours each day, are you sure you actually want them? Or are you going to sell them used? Who is going to pay money something that's got my ear gunk in it? I'm a little grossed out by my airpods and it's my ears they've been in!
I was in the military over a decade ago. Me and another Sgt were inspecting our soldiers rooms, but he was a bit of an oddball with some strange quirks.
Would you rather buy and use a sex that your best friend had cleaned and sterilized or a fork that had been used by hundreds of people and washed by a teenager making minimum wage?
High-quality sex toys can absolutely be cleaned and sanitized. For starters, you run everything through an ultrasonic cleaner to get any debris off them. Steel and glass toys can then be sterilized--literally put through a steam autoclave--without compromising the toy. Good silicone toys can be potentially cold sterilized with gluteraldehyde solutions (I can't find anything about silicone's reactivity to gluteraldehyde solutions; you could definitely use Madacide/Cavacide/Wavacide though).
Skydiver here, funnily enough probably 80% of skydivers are using 2nd or greater hand gear, skydiving equipment is really expensive and built with durability and safety as the primary concerns so it lasts for decades. Almost everyones first rig is some 20 year old beater that has had 5 previous owners
I'd have no issue buying something like an ice axe or crampons as long as I can thoroughly inspect it first for damage, wear etc but any sort of climbing protection? Absolutely not.
Using used skydiving equipment is super common. It's a huge market. A huge amount (most?) of new skydivers buy used equipment for their first set, as it won't be long before they downsize their canopy or change to something else. It get's checked over by a licensed rigger. Currently, wait times from manufacturers are super duper long as well, like a year.
I bought my son $60 Bluetooth earphones that he used a bit. A year or so later I was in the market. He offered me his. I spent a half hour cleaning ear wax out of them with rubbing alcohol.
An OLED TV. A reddit user once told a pretty good analogy: "Buying a used OLED TV is the same as buying a used fleshlight. There's a good chance that it's fucked."
Not a toothbrush but I was on an Air India flight once and in the toilet, alongside the soap, they had a bottle of mouthwash... As in, a communal bottle of mouthwash on a plane.
You havent lived until you have used someone elses toothbrush, while it still has all the toothpaste foam on it from their mouths. Its like an indirect french kiss.
My mom worked for the childrens division and told me a story about two boys 16ish years old who went on a double date, they ended up both having sex with their respective girlfriends in the car, only one of them brought condoms. Wanting to be safe the one friend in the back asked to use the condom after his friend was done with it and turned it inside out. As you can imagine backseats girlfriend got pregnant with front seat friend. My mom always told us this story as a teachable moment like I planned on using a buddy’s used condom lol
A non-spinning is worse if you are concerned about previous contents. A spinning disk easily allows you to write to specific sectors while a solid state drive will prefer to write on the least used sectors unless you use special tools for it. They do this to avoid the same area being written far more than others and degrading faster. So if you try to write 500 gb of wipe 0s to overwrite the entire 500 gb drive you might end up writing all those 0s on half the drive, just twice, and leaving behind the other half since it is being marked as deleted when done. You can write all sectors, it just takes more effort and knowing you need to be mindful. A standard wipe program will work on a spinning disk. Worst case, just fill the entire drive with actual stuff and delete it again.
Former sales rep for a pro av manufacturer here that used to do demos at Guitar Centers and other retail shops. I loaded up on cheap pop filters whenever I had to set up a mic demo for this very reason. I always cringed a bit when I sent to throw out the filters at the end of the day and one of the store employees would inevitably ask if they could have them instead.
There's a product called Microphome that we used to use to disinfect them. If you come from a studio background, used is sometimes incredibly valuable. Like in the case of a C12B.
Mens pj pants. My husband started to look at some and I said, “nope. no way!” Some men wear pj pants all night and all day with no underwear for days at a time. Like the same pair for multiple days of sitting around the house not showering. Also not to mention teenage boys. I can’t get myself to let my husband buy used ones. It grosses me out.
I never understood the used tire market. I know they’re expensive, but for something that literally separates you from a 70mph fiery death, I’d rather make sure I’m getting ones that are new.
Alot of times the "used" tires are someone buys a brand new truck but wants more aggressive tires put on right away so they drove maybe 500 miles got the new tires and traded the old ones in so yes they are used but barley
Let's say you junk a car because the transmission fails and fixing it would cost more than the car is worth. The tires are about 1 year old and have 15,000 miles on them.
I think a lot of people (and vice versa) replace their tires much before the need to be and as such bunch of serviceable tires end up just not being used. I did it a few times when times were tough and haven’t had anything major happens. Key point is to make sure you at least have the same tires on the drive train so matching tires on front on fwd and try to match their tread wear
Sometimes you simply can't afford a set of new tires, but your old ones are shot. You gotta have a car to get to work though. So you buy used ones that cost a quarter of what new does, because that's all you've got.
I don't understand this. When you sleep in a hotel, you're sleeping on sheets which have been used by many other people. If you wash them, they're fine.
Wut?! I love buying bed linens at estate sales. You can get some gorgeous expensive sheets and towels - then just wash them with hot water at home. It’s greener that way as well.
I saw a Reddit post once of a guy in a trash dump finding an old gross fleshlight, pulling out his flaccid penis and inserting it into the fleshlight. It was not fun to watch and I would not recommend it to others.
I have a weird story relating to this. My mom had a job (job description isn’t relevant but it did deal with fairly wealthy people on a daily basis). She was the only person there who did what she did and she did an amazing job at it. The dynamics were great and her little department (her and two other women) got along wonderfully. Anyways, something happened and a new guy replaced the woman at the top. This dude was whack. He would find the weirdest ways to insert into the conversation that his mother used to buy him used underwear exclusively. He would always use it to somehow support his rags to riches life he seemed to think he had. Not downplaying people’s struggles but based on other things, used underwear was not a necessity. Besides, that is one thing that I’m fairly certain, any organization related to helping people would be more than willing to get new ones for people. Anyway, she eventually had it with that guy and literally walked right out the door. She then remembered that my dad had dropped her off to get her tires changed. She wanted to prove a point and just started walking down the street and called when she was out of sight. Tl;dr: underwear
I wish the question was worded differently. Feels like specifying non-consumables would have led to more interesting answers than just toilet paper and condoms lmao
A mattress. And before someone lectures me on “not knowing poverty” if you need to use an old one from a family member or close friend, that’s different. I’m talking buying a used mattress on Craigslist. You just don’t know if it has been peed on, had bedbugs, or used in a brothel.
Shoes. I'm a huge germaphobe and always smell things before I buy them in the thrift store. Not a deep sniff, just a gentle one. So far every pair of shoes I come across at thrift stores smell foul. Could just be me being picky. But idc
Of course they do, most people's feet don't smell of elderberries and lavender naturally, add to that sweat, warmth, and humidity, and you've got a nice recipe.
It’s funny you mention that, I have seen a couple YouTube clips of sneaker shops and one of the surprising things in my mind was they smell the bottom of the shoe or somewhere to check if they have been worn or not. I am not a shoe guy myself so it would never have crossed my mind to do something like that.
Non-stick cookware.
motorcycle helmet
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If you know where to look and what to look for, it can be a great deal.
Didn't even think about this but definitely
Oh you guys wouldn't buy used single use disposable products? Wow.
“I wouldn’t buy a used diaper hahaha!!! That would be so gross!”
I wouldn't buy used toilet paper! Or Kleenex!
Buddy I've been saving my used condoms for to 2nd hand market. What's your problem?
Couches.
One time, my roommate had a party and someone literally shat on my couch. I had no hope of cleaning it despite one weak attempt (I was a poor student) so I just pitched it to the curb, as unattractively as possible.
Bed bugs. End argument.
Yeah I work at a used furniture store and I would not recommend buying couches from random people. We THOROUGHLY inspect and clean everything we get in here, using cleaning materials specifically designed for that sorta deep cleaning, but a lot of people try to get us to take their furniture and once we inspect it it's like. Horrific. I'm talkin, soaked in pee and moldy. And since we won't take it, they turn around and sell it on Facebook or at a yard sale or something for someone else to buy who's none the wiser.
I find that it helps to buy them from rich neighborhoods.
I've bought 2 couches from the Salvation Army back in 2017. One was a sleeper sofa for $110, the other an overstuffed loveseat for about $70. I guess I got lucky, because the sleeper sofa esp has been a GODSEND all these years. Turns out it was feather-stuffed, and I sleep like a baby on it. After Covid I got shit insomnia, and to this day when I can't fall asleep on my bed I'll go sleep on my couch. The fabric has pilled a lot now but the cushions are still as firm and amazing. I've just covered the couch with a soft-ass fleece blanket and it's become even better. Idc that it looks old now, that couch and I are in a long-term relationship, bygod 💜💜
I've purchased used couches for 15 years and always been great. Just take the cushions out, check the seams for bed bugs. If it looks good and there isn't a bed bug issue in your city, 99% chance you're fine and you can save thousands.
Super depends on the couch, too.
A Helmet. They can only take one good hit.
Anything that has to do with safety.
That’s why you buy a helmet for your helmet, to make it last longer
Yea and every ski resort you go to rents out helmets. No clue how many times people may have fallen with them.
Really only true for a severe hit. Some people think that just dropping the helmet on the ground is enough to make the helmet useless, which really isn't true as you don't damage the foam inside.
and you're supposed to replace every 5 years
Add older used car seats to this. They have an expiration date for a reason.
A couch. I used to work at a pest control company, and the #1 thing that brought them in was used furniture, but usually a couch.
Ugh. My friends parents have bed bugs right now. They’ve cleaned everything about 6 times now. It keeps switching between the bed and couch so they are finally dumping the couch and going for another clean on the bed.
What kills me is that their eggs are sticky. So if you think your feet or your ass are going to be somewhere contaminated with bedbugs (subway, bus, Lyft/Uber) I would use a barrier spray like Bedlam or bring a plastic barrier.
Can confirm. Bedbugs gave me something adjacent to PTSD.
HES NOT WRONG. I bought a couch that was only 2 months old off of craigslist. A steal at $250. Plushy, three seats, center cup holder that folds down and reclining ends. Beautiful.
PREGNANT FOR LIFE?!?🤢
I still have PTSD from an infestation I had 7 years ago. It took months to get rid of them. I was driven from my apartment several times so pest control could come in do chemical control. But it never worked. They would always hang around. Finally, they brought in a specialist who turbo-pumped hot air into the place and raised the temperature to like 180 degrees for like 6 hours. It killed all my house plants but the bugs were finally gone.
I used to work with homeless families and we always told them DO NOT BRING IN OLD FURNITURE YOU FIND ON THE STREET. We had a client who brought a metal chair in from the curb. They even cleaned it. And it still gave them bed bugs.
ER nurses weren’t afraid of the COVID patients I’d bring in but we bring in someone with possible bed bugs and they’d be PPE’d out the nose.
I've worked in hotels for the past decade and we take bed bugs so freaking seriously. The moment anyone mentions it, we quarantine that room and a few either side of it and get a company in to inspect and immediately treat if needed. The laundry straight up gets destroyed
People who knowingly donate pest infested furniture are terrible. Throw it away, don’t pass the problem on to someone else!
You didn't even name them but we all know what you're talking about 😬
I also used to work in pest control, and the days I helped out the Bed Bug guys were the grossest. The worst was easily the time we had to use a shop-vac to suck the fuckers up because they were everywhere. The walls, the ceiling, the bed, the counters, and worst of all, behind the rubber trim moulding. As I was peeling the moulding back by hand the other guy was just pressing the vacuum hose behind it while I pulled - we must have sucked up a hundred of them from the moulding alone.
I would wake up every night at 1 am with either my body feeling them or my subconscious telling me they're coming, but I'd wake up, see one and start hunting em down with a blade and paper towel. Unfathomably angry wishing I could fight them with my hands, but a man sized bed bug would be terrifying.
I used to work at a donation place. We got a lot of couches, most were okay, some went straight to the dumpster. A coworker bought a pretty nice one that came through, I was slightly jealous, but first come first served. Well he brought his old one in to donate once he got that one home. I should mention that this guy had kids. Now you're thinking it was nasty.
When I was young and broke a neighbor put "perfectly good couches" out to the curb. We scooped em up. A few days later my roommate and I were both covered in hives from some kind of bites. We put the couches back out to the curb and they were picked up immediately by another neighbor. A few days later, it was at their curb. Never again. NEVER.
Ok, so thanks for a lifetime of nightmares and a permanent aversion to picking up free furniture.
I had a friend and his whole family get scabies from a secondhand couch. Never.
I like how you didn't have to specify what you're talking about because "used couch" means exactly one thing.
Keyboard.
Seconding this
Eh - 2nd hand mechanical keyboard market is huge. But typically those people are maniacal about keeping them clean if they are a nice one.
I've only bought one used keyboard and the experience was rather good. Came in excellent condition with no grime or gunk. When I later traded that keyboard for homemade spruce tip syrup I made sure to remove the keycaps and switches I'd installed to give it a thorough cleaning.
Cheap ones yes, but good mechanical keyboards that are easily hundreds of dollars new just need a good cleaning which costs basically nothing (just need some rubbing alcohol) and 30 mins of your time.
Lol I used to always answer this question with, a parachute!
i mean, if the guy who used it was able to get back on ground to sell it then it must work, right?
Yeah, but ONLY buy a used parachute from the original owner. In person!
Used is OK except for the ones that were only used once and are heavily stained.
Prosthetics.
I don’t mind a second hand second hand. I can generally have a new socket made. Since insurance won’t cover a CPU controlled prosthetic, my only hope is stumbling across a used Bebionic, or similar, hand.
Well played, well played indeed 👏🏼
Mattress.
This one for me. I could never
It depends. I got a practically brand new mattress from a presumably rich university student who bought a new mattress and only used it for two semesters and now she was selling so she didn't have to store it over the summer.
I gave mine away for free when I got a new memory foam mattress. The reasoning was, I didn't have the means to transport the gigantic thing to the dump and the leasing office told me not to dispose of it at the dumpsters. Luckily for me the mattress was easy enough to get rid of as it was spotless, I posted it online with pictures from all sides and eventually had plenty of people asking for it. Not a bad mattress, just not as good as memory foam.
I never had a new one. My last one was effectively new because I got it from a used pull out couch (which was never used for anything but a couch. Not a futon type).
My local goodwill sold bathing suits, used bathing suits. Used lingerie too (just the tops), once my big sister was going to buy both but assumed they were new but given to goodwill because the person who bought it ended up not liking it or something. She even asked the lady at the desk about it. When we got to the car she found out both were stained especially the lingerie. You can assume with what.
My wife sees lingerie etc posted for sale in our local Facebook market. There's no confusing them for new, they are open about them being used. Why you'd want to advertise what you're wearing for sex costumes, and who would buy them, I have no idea.
I buy used lingerie and take the lace off to use on other things. Never from bottoms, but a Cami top or nightgown type can have a surprising amount of lace that isn't itchy.
I buy sports bras at Goodwill sometimes. They get washed right away, it's not a big deal to me.
You're telling me your sis bought clothes at goodwill without looking at them? Were they behind a glass case? Because I've only ever seen them on hangers. This sounds like bullshit.
I mean, wash them? I buy almost all my clothing second hand because it’s all I can afford.
any ominous glowing pendant or jewellery, im not trying to get cursed today
It might even be radioactive!
To be fair I don't think buying glowing pendants from a first party seller would be a great idea either. I'm thinking like elderly wizards with a sunken face and some strange ideas about "Goblin-Human" relations.
It's only uranium glass
Why are the top comments things people realistically wouldn’t even think of buying second hand?
“Tampons.”
Cause free karma
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Top 3 right now make sense. After that it just went downhill starting with toothbrushes
Because there are legitimately very few things that aren't perfectly fine to buy secondhand. Only like clearly consumable/disposable items or things you stick into the orifices of your body are really unequivocally off-limits, all the other things here like being afraid of buying a used keyboard or couch are either overblown and/or mitigatable if you're afraid of parasites or something.
Underwear!
This was my first thought but there’s actually a whole market for this type of thing. Me personally though? That’s a no go.
Socks
Growing up I only had used underwear from salvation army.
You know you’re not in High Finance.
I mean, bras are very fucking expensive. If I found second hand bras in my size, I'd buy them in a heartbeat. After washing them, it's fair game imo. Though I've never seen second hand underwear anywhere.
Meh? Wash it and move on. No different from any other clothes. As long as it's still in fair shape, someone's need may outpace their squeamishness. Certainly don't not donate them if you've recently lost a lot of weight or something.
I personally don't get this.
Baby carrier or child seat. Only from friends were i can be sure that they are accident free and clean
My mom has always gotten ours and passed them off to family and friends. I’d assume for this reason
Shouldn't you only use them for a certain number of years? I think in Canada they put expiry dates on car seats.
Most safety equipment falls under this. Once something has had an impact, the structural stability can be in question. Bicycle and construction helmets also.
Just an FYI: most car insurance companies will replace your car seat should it be involved in a crash/fender bender.
For people asking why, this is the information I was given in my state’s childcare training: as carseats age and especially if they are in an accident, they can sustain invisible micro-fractures that weaken the integrity of the seat and can even cause it to shatter. In addition, new recommendations and safety features are added that make newer ones increasingly safe. If you struggle to buy one, chances are there is an organization in your area to get a new one for free
For anyone that doesn’t know, there is an expiration date on child car seats.
Had to scroll way to far past the sex jokes to find this. Life threateningly important to know this!!
I'd say a coffin, but actually, Coffins are expensive. Besides, You're dead. What does it matter if your coffin is secondhand?
I'm not sure how a coffin could become available second hand. If no one's been buried in it, I wouldn't consider it second hand. Are you imagining a body was viewed in the coffin but not buried in it?
Actually you can rent a coffin. Some funeral homes will rent out coffins because not everyone has $7,000+ to spend on a coffin. A thin wooded box is placed inside the coffin and then the deceased is placed inside that box (technically not touching the coffin). This option helps people save money on funeral costs. Plus it's also offered to people who chose cremation.
Breast pumps. Unless it’s a closed system. When mine were small, most were not closed systems, which allows aerosolized breast milk particles to get places you can’t clean. FDA does not recommend it.
My wife and I got a really fancy one($300+) for free from the WIC program in US. Highly recommend looking into for other poor people.
Pacifiers.
I just found out they have a lifespan too! Apparently you should replace them after a few months (check w manufacturer) because the tips will eventually break off. I was babysitting and a toddler came over to me with a broken pacifier, he looked funny so I swept his mouth and found the last 1cm of silicone in there. He’d just worn it down gnawing on it over time
On one hand I think boiling them would make them safe but in the other hand why bother? Pacifiers aren't exactly expensive.
I used rubber ones because my son is an absolute maniac with chewing on them. I have to replace them every few months even though they are thick rubber. Too high risk of choking if they come apart during a teething session.
Makeup, never know what germs or smth they have
I noticed someone selling a used lip closs. Like halfed used. No thanks.
Raspberry beret
But they're always the kind you find in a second hand store
A lady once tried to sell me one. I had to get pretty aggressive when she kept insisting. Built like she was, she had the nerve to ask me if I planned to do her any harm. So, look here, I put her on the back of my bike, and-a we went riding, down by old man Johnson's farm.
Well no one is going to take you down by old man johnson's farm
ONE thing?
Headphones: Ok
Why shoes?
Shoes are ok unless they are meant to be worn sockless.
See, this is what I don't get about people who try to steal airpods, or whatever other high-end headphones. Like bro, those have been in my ears for hours each day, are you sure you actually want them? Or are you going to sell them used? Who is going to pay money something that's got my ear gunk in it? I'm a little grossed out by my airpods and it's my ears they've been in!
Sex toys woud never as who know what sort of shit on there ( •᷄⌓•᷅ )
I was in the military over a decade ago. Me and another Sgt were inspecting our soldiers rooms, but he was a bit of an oddball with some strange quirks.
http://rent-a-dildo.com
There is a massive market for this though!
Would you rather buy and use a sex that your best friend had cleaned and sterilized or a fork that had been used by hundreds of people and washed by a teenager making minimum wage?
Used my dad's Fleshlight as a horny teen and it looms like a black cloud in the back of my mind.
I can’t believe people would even sell them second hand lol
usedsextoys
High-quality sex toys can absolutely be cleaned and sanitized. For starters, you run everything through an ultrasonic cleaner to get any debris off them. Steel and glass toys can then be sterilized--literally put through a steam autoclave--without compromising the toy. Good silicone toys can be potentially cold sterilized with gluteraldehyde solutions (I can't find anything about silicone's reactivity to gluteraldehyde solutions; you could definitely use Madacide/Cavacide/Wavacide though).
Twitter.
Disagree. Next time it's sold the buyer will get it at an incredible discount.
🟦☑️
Puzzles.
Skydiving equipment / climbing equipment / anything safety related.
Skydiver here, funnily enough probably 80% of skydivers are using 2nd or greater hand gear, skydiving equipment is really expensive and built with durability and safety as the primary concerns so it lasts for decades. Almost everyones first rig is some 20 year old beater that has had 5 previous owners
I'd have no issue buying something like an ice axe or crampons as long as I can thoroughly inspect it first for damage, wear etc but any sort of climbing protection? Absolutely not.
Using used skydiving equipment is super common. It's a huge market. A huge amount (most?) of new skydivers buy used equipment for their first set, as it won't be long before they downsize their canopy or change to something else. It get's checked over by a licensed rigger. Currently, wait times from manufacturers are super duper long as well, like a year.
Earphones.
I get this with ear buds, but over the ear headphones would be fine I think.
I bought my son $60 Bluetooth earphones that he used a bit. A year or so later I was in the market. He offered me his. I spent a half hour cleaning ear wax out of them with rubbing alcohol.
An OLED TV. A reddit user once told a pretty good analogy: "Buying a used OLED TV is the same as buying a used fleshlight. There's a good chance that it's fucked."
Toothbrushes
Not a toothbrush but I was on an Air India flight once and in the toilet, alongside the soap, they had a bottle of mouthwash... As in, a communal bottle of mouthwash on a plane.
You havent lived until you have used someone elses toothbrush, while it still has all the toothpaste foam on it from their mouths. Its like an indirect french kiss.
Condoms
Well...here.something for you then.
My mom worked for the childrens division and told me a story about two boys 16ish years old who went on a double date, they ended up both having sex with their respective girlfriends in the car, only one of them brought condoms. Wanting to be safe the one friend in the back asked to use the condom after his friend was done with it and turned it inside out. As you can imagine backseats girlfriend got pregnant with front seat friend. My mom always told us this story as a teachable moment like I planned on using a buddy’s used condom lol
You are missing out!
The fact that this was the first thing that came to me, and this was also the first comment I saw upon opening
A harmonica.
I would say most harmonicas out there are passed down. I have one that must have been a great grandpa's, never put it in my mouth though
A spinning HDD. Without forensically inspecting it (which I have neither the time or money for) there's no feasible way to know what was on it before
A non-spinning is worse if you are concerned about previous contents. A spinning disk easily allows you to write to specific sectors while a solid state drive will prefer to write on the least used sectors unless you use special tools for it. They do this to avoid the same area being written far more than others and degrading faster. So if you try to write 500 gb of wipe 0s to overwrite the entire 500 gb drive you might end up writing all those 0s on half the drive, just twice, and leaving behind the other half since it is being marked as deleted when done. You can write all sectors, it just takes more effort and knowing you need to be mindful. A standard wipe program will work on a spinning disk. Worst case, just fill the entire drive with actual stuff and delete it again.
Kevlar.
A Microphone. I am a host at a Radio Show, and I Cringe every time I think about how many people have spit in that thing.
Lol there are guards to put over the mic specifically for instances like this. What the hell are you guys doing?
Former sales rep for a pro av manufacturer here that used to do demos at Guitar Centers and other retail shops. I loaded up on cheap pop filters whenever I had to set up a mic demo for this very reason. I always cringed a bit when I sent to throw out the filters at the end of the day and one of the store employees would inevitably ask if they could have them instead.
There's a product called Microphome that we used to use to disinfect them. If you come from a studio background, used is sometimes incredibly valuable. Like in the case of a C12B.
Mens pj pants. My husband started to look at some and I said, “nope. no way!” Some men wear pj pants all night and all day with no underwear for days at a time. Like the same pair for multiple days of sitting around the house not showering. Also not to mention teenage boys. I can’t get myself to let my husband buy used ones. It grosses me out.
[удалено]
Washing machines exist.
Plunger. Hard pass. I'll buy it new.
It bothers me the amount of half used product i see in thrift stores. Half empty bottles of shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant....
car seats. bike helmet. any PPE really
I never understood the used tire market. I know they’re expensive, but for something that literally separates you from a 70mph fiery death, I’d rather make sure I’m getting ones that are new.
Alot of times the "used" tires are someone buys a brand new truck but wants more aggressive tires put on right away so they drove maybe 500 miles got the new tires and traded the old ones in so yes they are used but barley
Let's say you junk a car because the transmission fails and fixing it would cost more than the car is worth. The tires are about 1 year old and have 15,000 miles on them.
Check the tread depth and the date of manufacture mark. If they’re 5 years or older, don’t buy them.
I think a lot of people (and vice versa) replace their tires much before the need to be and as such bunch of serviceable tires end up just not being used. I did it a few times when times were tough and haven’t had anything major happens. Key point is to make sure you at least have the same tires on the drive train so matching tires on front on fwd and try to match their tread wear
Sometimes you simply can't afford a set of new tires, but your old ones are shot. You gotta have a car to get to work though. So you buy used ones that cost a quarter of what new does, because that's all you've got.
Bed sheets. No thanks. Hard pass.
I don't understand this. When you sleep in a hotel, you're sleeping on sheets which have been used by many other people. If you wash them, they're fine.
We always donate old sheets and towels to the animal shelters!
Wut?! I love buying bed linens at estate sales. You can get some gorgeous expensive sheets and towels - then just wash them with hot water at home. It’s greener that way as well.
And here I am scouring the internet for old sheets people are getting rid of so I can use them as mock up fabric
Ever sleep at a hotel?
Yet we all sleep in hotels.
E-bike batteries, you never know what they've been through and when they explode they cause serious damage
A power supply for a PC. On a similar note, if you're building a PC, do NOT cheap out on the power supply even if it's in new condition.
Fleshlight
Coward
One time at Airborne school at fort benning I saw a group of marines gangbang a fleshlight
I saw a Reddit post once of a guy in a trash dump finding an old gross fleshlight, pulling out his flaccid penis and inserting it into the fleshlight. It was not fun to watch and I would not recommend it to others.
Sloppy seconds is under rated though.
I have a weird story relating to this. My mom had a job (job description isn’t relevant but it did deal with fairly wealthy people on a daily basis). She was the only person there who did what she did and she did an amazing job at it. The dynamics were great and her little department (her and two other women) got along wonderfully. Anyways, something happened and a new guy replaced the woman at the top. This dude was whack. He would find the weirdest ways to insert into the conversation that his mother used to buy him used underwear exclusively. He would always use it to somehow support his rags to riches life he seemed to think he had. Not downplaying people’s struggles but based on other things, used underwear was not a necessity. Besides, that is one thing that I’m fairly certain, any organization related to helping people would be more than willing to get new ones for people. Anyway, she eventually had it with that guy and literally walked right out the door. She then remembered that my dad had dropped her off to get her tires changed. She wanted to prove a point and just started walking down the street and called when she was out of sight. Tl;dr: underwear
ITT, people who don’t know how good bleach is
I wish the question was worded differently. Feels like specifying non-consumables would have led to more interesting answers than just toilet paper and condoms lmao
A mattress. And before someone lectures me on “not knowing poverty” if you need to use an old one from a family member or close friend, that’s different. I’m talking buying a used mattress on Craigslist. You just don’t know if it has been peed on, had bedbugs, or used in a brothel.
A over 20 year “garage kept” low mileage car. Will always have every possible gasket and mount destroyed from decay
Sex toys. The fact that there is even a market for used ones is highly disgusting and disturbing.
Theoretically any sex toy should be able to be cleaned 100%, if not it'd be disgusting to re-use it at all.
Compared to some of the people ive dated, the toys come with less baggage. An experience in some cases.
I think the en vogue term is “gently loved”
Shoes. I'm a huge germaphobe and always smell things before I buy them in the thrift store. Not a deep sniff, just a gentle one. So far every pair of shoes I come across at thrift stores smell foul. Could just be me being picky. But idc
Of course they do, most people's feet don't smell of elderberries and lavender naturally, add to that sweat, warmth, and humidity, and you've got a nice recipe.
It’s funny you mention that, I have seen a couple YouTube clips of sneaker shops and one of the surprising things in my mind was they smell the bottom of the shoe or somewhere to check if they have been worn or not. I am not a shoe guy myself so it would never have crossed my mind to do something like that.
Toilet paper
Who doesn’t wash and dry their toilet paper in this economy?
Anything that separates you from the ground. Shoes, beds, tires, etc.
Mmm I'd argue a 2nd hand airplane isn't too bad
I dunno. I bought a second hand ladder, it's great.
Almost all my bikes are second hand. ;)