Second-Hand Shop (Brockenhaus)

What second-hand shops accept

Items in good, clean condition: crockery and glassware, books, clothing in good shape, working small appliances, toys, decorative items, tools, smaller pieces of furniture. The test is whether the item can be resold without any reconditioning.

Turned away almost everywhere: upholstered furniture and mattresses, large fitted wall units, CRT devices, older ski equipment, encyclopaedias, broken appliances and anything dirty, damaged or damp. A Brockenhaus is not a disposal point — whatever it cannot sell, it has to dispose of at its own expense.

Its role in a clearance

Every clearance produces material that is too good to throw away and not valuable enough to be bought. That is exactly where the Brockenhaus comes in. We sort those items out and take them there, provided the quantity and condition justify the trip.

This reduces the volume going to disposal, it is the environmentally sensible route, and in many cases it supports a charity. What it does not do is bring you a meaningful financial benefit — second-hand shops as a rule pay nothing for donated goods.

Preparing a drop-off properly

Only bring what you would still buy yourself. Items should be clean, complete and functioning. Call ahead to check what is currently being accepted — many shops impose rolling intake stops on individual categories depending on how full their stockroom is.