If you build it, they will come…back.
A vintage furniture restorer claimed that the woman who sold him a mid-century dresser on Facebook’s Marketplace wanted the piece back after she started refurbishing it for profit.
Candra Sobel, who remodels homes and restores antiques for herself 11,000 TikTok followersshared the bizarre experience in a now-viral video where she said the sellers knew she planned to fix up the piece of furniture.
“When I picked it up I said to the salesman, ‘I’m going to remodel it’ and he said, ‘Yes.’ My wife saw you. We know who you are and we know you’re going to do it again,” Sobel said on Oct. 10.
The micro-influencer said she already had the three-drawer Kip Steward Drexel dresser for two days and just finished stripping and sanding the piece when the original owner sent a panicked message asking for the item back.
“I have never done anything like this before but my wife is upset and has been crying for two days that she sold her wood dresser,” the seller wrote in the message.
“Is there any way I can give you $100 to get it back? Or pay you to do it again [?] I know you said you were going to do it again? But [I’m] Not sure what that cost is. I’ll do anything right now [.] I didn’t understand how much it meant to him. Please, can I do something? thank you so much.”
Sobel said, “I feel really bad if his wife now has seller’s remorse and doesn’t – and you know, feel bad about selling a piece from her childhood.”
In the message, the seller offered to reimburse him $100 of his expenses, but Sobel knew the item was collectible and worth $1,500 in restored condition.
Sobel was worried about whether she would sell it back to them because she questioned whether the seller’s wife was actually upset or whether they just Googled the item and realized they could make big bucks on the dresser.
“What’s uncomfortable to me is that he sent me that message the evening after I posted, umm, a reel showing how incredible Wood Grain is,” Sobel said.
Sobel told the seller that she had already spent time and money on the restoration project, so would not sell it back.
However, he said the couple will get the first opportunity to purchase the dresser when it is ready to sell.
On October 24, Sobel revealed that he finally “made a deal” with the couple at a discounted price.
After meeting his wife, whom he considers a “ray of sunshine”, Sobel doesn’t regret the decision to lose the huge payday.
“Now that I’ve met him, I feel really good about it. It’s probably bad business because I could have made double the profit I sold it for, but it’s not always about the money,” Sobel said.
TikTok users suggested he sell it at the full refurbished price without any discount or right of first refusal.
“Never. All sales final. That’s so weird he’s even asking TBH,” one person commented.
“Girl, it really seems like they’re trying to cheat you. The timing is too coincidental. The discount offered is too much from you!!” another person wrote.
Others praised Sobel’s compassion for selling the item back to the couple.
“You did the right thing and it will come back to you tenfold! You are a special seller,” one person wrote on TikTok.
“You haven’t lost anything. , .We always benefit by expressing kindness and love! Just wait and see the wonderful rewards you will see from the blessings you have given to that wonderful couple!” Another user added.
