One of the biggest changes that virtually every expat has to deal with is moving to another country. Moving means a new house or a new apartment, which has to be furnished. If you’re lucky, you can bring along most of your stuff from back home. If not, or your furniture doesn’t suit your new home, fitting out an entire new place all in one go can be a tall and expensive order.
Fortunately, for every expat who’s entering the country, one is leaving, facing the opposite problem. Many of these departing expats need to get rid of most of their stuff, fast, and you can often get pretty great deals buying second hand this way.
There are a number of online marketplaces where expats meet to buy and sell everything from tea sets to cars. Here we list a few of the bigger ones.
English Forum Switzerland
English Forum Switzerland is one of the largest gathering places of expats in Switzerland. The site’s marketplace is very active and sees regular classifieds from leaving expats offering up most of the contents of their home for sale.
The classifieds on this site are in English and always list asking prices (it’s a forum rule). You don’t have to be a member of the forum to view the ads, however, you won’t be able to contact the seller until you do (it’s free).
Preloved Items For Sale in CH
Preloved Items For Sale in CH is an active marketplace is hosted on Facebook. You will need a Facebook profile in order to view the classifieds.
Classifieds here mostly fall into the categories of children’s clothes, fashion, toys and other children’s accessories, and household items. Asking prices are usually listed, but not always. Business tends to be very brisk: items are sometimes snapped up mere miniutes after having been posted. The language used is mostly English.
Expat Marketplace CH
As the name suggests, Expat Marketplace CH is an expat to expat marketplace, with people advertising anything from small household items to family cars, or looking to pass on their apartment rental contracts. Ads are in English and prices are usually but not always listed.
Ricardo
Ricardo is Switzerland’s largest online marketplace. It does not cater to expats in particular, which makes it a somewhat less likely place to find great deals. Ricardo classifieds are either auctions or fixed price, or a combination thereof (an auction with a fixed price at which you can buy the item outright). You don’t need to become a member to view ads, but you do if you want to buy or bid. Languages used are German and French.
Sites similar to Ricardo are Anibis and Tutti.
Text Derk Van Mourik
Image Benjamin Stäudinger
