Baby
Buy and sell strollers, cribs and baby clothes in Panama.
Baby things pass through a Panamanian household fast. Newborn sizes last a few weeks, the infant car seat that clicks onto its stroller is outgrown inside the first year, and a crib is finished once a toddler starts climbing out of it. That is why so much of it turns up pre-owned and in good order, next to new pieces and the unopened gifts left over from a baby shower. Parents clearing a cupboard in Brisas del Golf and shops with stock to move list side by side. For anything a baby rides or sleeps in, ask about its history before you ask the price.
Baby gear in the order a family outgrows it:
clothes go first. Newborn and 0–3 month sizes can both be too small before the baby is three months old, so baby clothing is mostly sold in lots by size, often with a few pieces still tagged. Maternity wear from pregnancy has an even shorter run. The infant car seat goes within the year, once the baby passes its weight or height limit, and the family moves on to a convertible seat from car seats for babies. Strollers, the crib and the rest of the nursery last two or three years, and a wrap or soft carrier from baby carriers lasts as long as the child agrees to be carried. Potty training seats and steps get a few months of use and then just take up space. What is outgrown fastest turns up nearly new most often; what is used longest is where the wear shows.
Baby shower gifts that never left the box:
a baby shower here tends to produce doubles: a second bathtub from baby care, a third diaper bag, a baby monitor bought by an aunt after the parents already had one. Plenty of them go back up for sale sealed. An unopened box is the closest thing to buying new, so ask for photos of the seal from more than one side. With electronics, sealed also means untested, so ask to open it together when you collect. If you are the one selling, say it was a gift and has never been opened, and keep the outer film intact until the buyer is standing in front of you.
Car seats, crib mattresses and what people still buy new:
a car seat is the one item where the history counts for more than the condition you can see. Every seat carries a label with its manufacture date, and the maker sets a useful life from that date, often six to ten years. A seat that has been in a crash is finished however clean it looks. Take a used one only when the label is still on it and you trust the person telling you it has never been in an accident. Many families also buy the crib mattress new: it has to sit in the frame with no gap at the sides, and a sagging middle hides easily under a sheet. The price follows the same logic. A travel system, the stroller sold with its infant seat and car base, runs from about $160 to $300 new. Used, nearly all of the haggling is about the seat. A buyer can test the stroller’s fold and wheels on the spot but has to take the infant seat on trust, so a seat missing its label or its base adds almost nothing to what the stroller fetches. Everything else is judged by eye and hand. Fold and unfold a stroller twice, push it in a straight line to see whether it pulls to one side, and check that the brake holds on a slope. On a crib, look for cracked slats and count the bolts against the instructions.
Listing a stroller, a crib or a bag of outgrown clothes:
photograph the labels as well as the item: the size tag on clothes, the date sticker on an infant seat, the model plate under a stroller seat. Show the stroller folded, because a buyer without a big car wants to know it will fit in the trunk. Sort clothes by size in months and say how many pieces are in the lot. For a car seat or travel system, say whether it has ever been in an accident and which bases and strollers the infant seat clicks into. Someone driving in from Arraiján for a crib will want it taken apart before they arrive, with every bolt and the Allen key taped in a bag to the headboard, so it goes into the car in one trip and back together at home.