Should You Sell, Repair or Scrap Your Office Chairs?
Office Matrix
When a floor is consolidated or a fit-out refreshed, facilities teams are often left with a fleet of chairs in mixed condition. Some are ready for a new home, some need one part replacing, and some are at the end of their life. Treating them all the same — usually as waste — throws value away. This guide sets out a simple, honest way to decide which chairs to sell, which to repair and which to recycle.
When selling makes sense
Selling is usually the right call when chairs are in good working condition, come from desirable manufacturers, and are available in volume. Branded task seating — models such as the Herman Miller Aeron — holds its value well on the used market, and a consistent batch is more attractive to buyers than odd singles.
This is what Office Matrix buys. We provide a free on-site valuation, assess brand, model, quantity and condition, and handle collection end-to-end. Chairs we buy are refurbished and resold, so they stay in use. If that sounds like your stock, see selling used office chairs or send us your list for a valuation.
When repair beats selling
A premium ergonomic chair with a single fault is usually worth far more fixed than sold. A failed gas lift that leaves the seat sinking, a snapped castor, a worn armrest pad or a tilt mechanism that no longer locks can all make a good chair look like scrap — yet each is a contained, repairable fault. Keeping that chair in service avoids buying a replacement and preserves the value you already paid for.
Our sister company, London Chair Repairs, repairs office and ergonomic chairs on-site across London — including gas lifts, castors, tilt mechanisms, armrests and upholstery, on brands such as Herman Miller, Humanscale, Steelcase and RH Logic, as well as gaming chairs. The most common single fault is a failed cylinder, which is covered by their gas lift replacement service.
If you are not sure which of your chairs are worth fixing, a free office chair audit is a sensible first step. For fleets that are sound but tired, full office chair refurbishment can bring them back to a consistent standard.
When scrapping or recycling is the only option
Some chairs are genuinely at the end of the road: cracked frames or bases, multiple failed components, heavily worn or unbranded seating with little resale demand, or repairs that would cost more than the chair is worth. For these, responsible recycling is the right answer.
That does not have to mean landfill. A task chair is a mix of steel, aluminium, foam, mesh and plastics. In our office clearances, chairs beyond economic repair are stripped for gas lifts, castors, arms and mechanisms that keep other chairs in service, and only the residual materials go for recycling through licensed facilities. Selling, repairing and harvesting parts all keep materials in use — the core of a circular approach to office furniture.
A simple way to decide
- Good condition, branded, in volume: sell.
- Premium chair, one fault: repair.
- Damaged, worn out or uneconomic to fix: recycle responsibly.