IKEA to buy back customers’ old and unwanted furniture
IKEA is introducing a new scheme where customers can sell back their unwanted IKEA furniture to the retailer’s stores in the UK and Ireland.
Customers selling back an item will receive an IKEA refund card to spend in-store. IKEA said the card will have no expiry date to encourage customers to only buy something they really need. Depending on the condition of the item traded in, the voucher could be worth as much as 50% of the original price.
The retailer will categorise the returned furniture according to the condition levels of “as new”, “very good” and “well used”. As new items will result in customers being given a card worth 50% of the orginal price. This will be reduced to a respective 40% and 30% for items in very good and well used condition.
The furniture will then be resold as second-hand in the As-Is Area of stores, which was previously known as Bargain Corner. Any items that remain unsold will be recycled.
Peter Jelkeby, country retail manager and chief sustainability officer IKEA UK & Ireland, said: “Sustainability is the defining issue of our time and IKEA is committed to being part of the solution to promote sustainable consumption and combat climate change. With the launch of Buy Back we are giving a second life to many more IKEA products and creating more easy and affordable solutions to help people live more sustainably. It is an exciting step forward in our journey towards becoming a fully circular and climate positive business by 2030.”
To use the service, customers will be requested to submit items for consideration by filling out a form on the IKEA website. The tool will automatically generate a preliminary offer and customers will then be invited to take their fully assembled product and preliminary offer to the returns and exchanges desk at their local store.
