Used commercial task chairs in 2026 trade in tiers that track demand more than original list price. Steelcase Leap V2 and Gesture, Haworth Fern, Humanscale Freedom, Okamura Contessa, and MillerKnoll Embody hold the strongest resale, typically 30 to 45 percent of new. Think, Mirra 2, Setu, Sayl, Zody, and Amia form a mid tier at roughly 20 to 35 percent. Value-grade lines such as Allsteel Acuity, Steelcase Cobi, and SitOnIt task seating trade at 15 to 25 percent, which makes them the best per-seat buy for open plan. Condition and a fresh cylinder move any chair up or down a tier.
The used chair market has one celebrity and a long supporting cast. The Aeron gets its own article. This one is about everything else: the Leaps, Gestures, Thinks, Sayls, and Contessas that make up most of what actually comes out of a Bay Area office, and what each of them is worth second life.
The short version is that resale follows demand, not list price. A chair that cost more new does not automatically sell for more used. A chair that more buyers recognize and more bodies fit does.
Why resale tracks demand, not list price
Three things set a used chair's price. How many buyers are looking for it by name. How many people it fits without adjustment. And how easy it is to service, because a chair with a replaceable cylinder, casters, and arm pads can be brought back to A grade for a known cost, and a chair with a proprietary mechanism cannot.
That is why a Leap V2 outperforms chairs that listed higher, why a Setu with almost no adjustments holds value in conference rooms, and why some excellent chairs from less famous brands are the best per-seat deal in the market.
The 2026 tiers
Ranges are what we see on B-grade chairs in the Bay Area. New list is approximate and moves with options and fabric. The percentage is the useful column.
| Model | New list (approx) | Typical used, B grade | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steelcase Leap V2 | $1,200-1,500 | $300-550 | Top |
| Steelcase Gesture | $1,300-1,700 | $500-800 | Top |
| MillerKnoll Embody | $1,700-2,100 | $700-1,000 | Top |
| Haworth Fern | $900-1,200 | $350-550 | Top |
| Humanscale Freedom (headrest) | $1,300-1,800 | $300-500 | Top |
| Okamura Contessa II | $1,300-1,800 | $300-500 | Top |
| Steelcase Think V2 | $900-1,100 | $200-350 | Mid |
| MillerKnoll Mirra 2 | $900-1,300 | $300-450 | Mid |
| MillerKnoll Setu | $700-1,000 | $200-350 | Mid |
| MillerKnoll Sayl | $600-900 | $150-300 | Mid |
| Haworth Zody | $800-1,100 | $150-300 | Mid |
| Steelcase Amia | $700-900 | $150-275 | Mid |
| Steelcase Leap V1 | $1,000+ (discontinued) | $150-300 | Mid |
| Allsteel Acuity | $700-900 | $100-200 | Value |
| Steelcase Cobi | $500-700 | $100-180 | Value |
| SitOnIt Focus, Torsa, Wit | $500-800 | $80-175 | Value |
Model notes worth knowing before you pay
- Steelcase Leap Confirm V1 or V2 first, because the price doubles between them. The V2 has a seat-depth slide and a lower-back firmness dial. Both are user-serviceable and both are the common wear points. The V1 is heavier, older, and still a very good chair at its price.
- Steelcase Gesture The arms are the whole point and the whole risk. Run both through every axis before you accept a lot. It holds value because people who have used one do not want anything else.
- Steelcase Think and Amia The Think V2 arrived in 2014 and is the one to buy. Amia is the sleeper: a plain, durable, mid-priced chair that fits most people and sells for less than it should because nobody searches for it.
- MillerKnoll Sayl Cheap, recognizable, and everywhere in startups. Check the plastic back frame for cracks near the base of the Y. Otherwise it is one of the easiest chairs to buy in quantity.
- MillerKnoll Setu Height adjustment and not much else, by design. The mechanism is nearly indestructible and the chair sells itself in conference rooms, which is why it holds value despite having nothing to adjust.
- MillerKnoll Mirra and Embody Mirra 2 is the one that holds value. The original Mirra is fine and cheap. Embody is rare in volume, loved by the people who own one, and stays in the top tier because of it.
- Haworth Fern and Zody Fern is new enough to the secondary market that most stock is lightly used. Zody is the commodity: a good chair that sells at a commodity price because there are so many of them.
- Humanscale Freedom Weight-sensitive recline with no tension knob. If it feels loose, that is the design working. The headrest version holds value, the version without one trades a tier lower.
- Okamura Contessa Japan's answer to the Aeron and a favorite in hardware and semiconductor offices across the South Bay. Fewer buyers know it by name, which makes a used Contessa one of the best top-tier chairs per dollar.
- Acuity, Cobi, SitOnIt Nobody searches for them and everybody sits in them. Frames are steel, mechanisms are simple, and a B-grade lot of two hundred furnishes a floor at a price that makes the budget conversation short.
What moves a chair between tiers
Grade, more than anything. A chair with a sinking cylinder, flat-spotted casters, or torn upholstery drops a tier regardless of model, and a chair with all four replaced climbs one. Those four parts are cheap and quick to swap, so a seller who swaps them before listing and a buyer who prices them in before paying are doing the same arithmetic from opposite ends. The ninety second inspection is in how to grade a used task chair.
Quantity moves the per-chair price down and the lot value up. A matched lot of one model in one fabric sells to a company. A mixed lot of ten models sells to a dealer who will sort it, and the sorting comes out of the price.
Buying for an open plan floor
Buy mid or value tier, B grade, in quantity, and spend what you saved on a few top-tier chairs for the rooms that get photographed. People notice a chair that does not adjust properly. Nobody notices a scuff on the base of a chair in row fourteen. Second life seating at 40-60% off new is how a Bay Area team gives everybody a good chair instead of giving the conference room a great one.
The largest matched seating lots in the region come out of San Jose, where big floorplates mean two hundred of one chair in one fabric is normal rather than lucky. If you are furnishing a floor, that is where to look first.
Spec a floor of seating with a design brief and we will tell you what is available by model, grade, and quantity. Brand pages for Steelcase, MillerKnoll, Haworth, Humanscale, and Okamura cover what each line is known for.