Zurich - Ricardo

Red Sofa and Rose Tree from Ricardo!

I’ve spent what feels like forever on moving into my flat in Zurich. Although I was very lucky to have the majority of items from Steph, there were still some items I needed to purchase. One was a sofa, since I found the sofa that Steph had given me very uncomfortable – the seat was too deep and I couldn’t lean on the back rest.

I decided to buy two second-hand ones from Ricardo so that I’d have plenty of space for friends to sit. Ricardo is the Swiss equivalent of e-bay. Many items are good value since the Swiss mostly like to buy things new and so it’s a buyers’ market. The biggest problem is transportation – for large items, most people don't deliver, so if you don’t have a car and/or a couple of strong men to help you, these bargains pass you by; it’s also why many never get sold (as I discovered when I originally moved away from Zurich and couldn’t get buyers for my old furniture).

However, I didn’t want to buy new since I don’t know how long I will be able to continue with my work contract; also I like the idea of buying second-hand because it’s less for the land fill and prevents unnecessary waste. Consequently, I looked round for a man with a van in Zurich to help me pick up the furniture; I eventually found one guy but it cost me 170 CHF which was more than the cost of both my leather sofas together (120 CHF). Nevertheless, the total price was still less than I’d have to pay for one sofa new, so I decided it was worth doing. Also, the owner of the van was running a small business as an ex-pat, so I felt I was helping someone make a go of their life. It was a feel-good venture!

It turned out that the guy I was buying the sofas from was a dentist; the photos on Ricardo had been taken when the sofas were new, so when I collected them, they were in storage and covered with dust, which I hadn’t quite expected. He rattled away in Swiss German, which I just about understood, but not with great confidence; I gathered that he was pointing out some of the failings of the sofas. I wondered if he was expecting me to ask for a reduction, but I was too perplexed by the Swiss German to feel like bartering and in any case a price had been agreed and I didn’t want any bad feeling to be reflected in any evaluation he would make of me as a purchaser on Ricardo.

When we arrived back at my flat, I got the two men who came with the van to move the old sofa into my spare room. It was only when I got it ready to make up as a bed for Idette that I realized that the sofa had only been uncomfortable because the seat was already pulled out for use as a bed; when I pulled it back in, the sofa was perfectly OK to sit on! That’s the problem of inheriting things that you don’t really own – you don’t quite understand how they work or what their “natural” state should be!

Another second-hand item I bought from Ricardo was an artificial rose tree. I’d spotted a lovely artificial plant in the Coop that I wanted to buy just to make my home feel a little less bare, but even after all these years in Switzerland, I totally freaked out at the price tag of 250 CHF (internally I was yelling to myself “they’re charging 200 quid for a fake plant?!!!”). And a bunch of artificial flowers in a vase was 150 CHF. The prices in Switzerland are sometimes mind-boggling. It was then that I remembered Ricardo again.

This time, the person was selling the item on behalf of their mother who was moving house. Whereas the sofas were in Zurich city centre and not far from my flat, the artificial rose tree was in Rafz – somewhere I’d never been before. There was a direct train from where I live, and it wasn’t far, so it was easy enough, but it still felt like a bit of an adventure.

I needed to get on a bus for a little while after arriving at the train station and it immediately felt more rural. The bus driver said “Gruezi miteinand” (“Hello everyone”) and the entire bus, apart from me, chorused “Gruezi” back. I suddenly felt that I’d been really rude in not also chiming in. In Zurich city centre, the bus drivers often announce a “Gruezi” to the passengers but it’s usually just followed by silence. I now had the impression that I must be in a really rural area. Rafz was actually a very pretty town / village and I was glad to have had an excuse to go for this pleasant journey. I think Ricardo was a new experience for the couple who were selling the tree and they seemed very interested in the fact that a foreigner was buying their item; they were a delightful couple and very friendly.

In retrospect, I was lucky on both days that the weather was good. I drew quite a few stares as I walked down the high street with this fake tree held out in front of me, but if it had been raining, it might not have made it back in such good condition. But buying off Ricardo is always an interesting experience.