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Many people have To Do lists. And the problem is that these lists seem to get longer and longer. So much so, that perhaps you end up with lists of lists, just to keep on top of everything! But two of the most common tasks on many To Do lists are related to sorting out finances and decluttering your home.
In this article we take a look at how you can start tackling both of these daunting tasks in parallel. Just think how good it would be if you could not only do a major declutter of your home but also make a bit of extra money whilst doing it. And there are various ways of making this a reality!
In fact, when you start investigating how to sell your old stuff, you realise that you are spoilt for choice. So we will look at four of the main ways to sell your items and some of the advantages and disadvantages of each. We will explore:
But before you start, it’s good to set goals for your decluttering and money-making efforts. If you go about it half-heartedly, and don’t keep track of what you are doing, it could lose impetus and fizzle out. So start by visualising two things:
Do you just want to get rid of a few things so it looks a bit tidier, or are you going to be ruthless and go completely minimalist? Take a look at our article How do we end up having so much stuff? for tips on how to plan and carry out your declutter.
Whilst you do need to be realistic, it’s also good to have a target in mind, depending how much stuff you have to get rid of. For example, if you were able to sell 200 items at an average of £5 each, you could be looking at making around £1000!
And whatever you do make, why not set up a separate account to keep track of the money rather than it just getting absorbed into your general funds.
Once you know what you want to achieve, here are four ways to sell your stuff . . .
The first major online selling platform that came to most people’s attention is eBay. And it is still a great platform on which to sell any kind of unwanted goods. There is a huge audience out there, so you are likely to be able to sell anything you like, although sometimes you may have to list your item a few times until the right buyer comes along.
It is also important to make your eBay listings easy to find, attractive, clear and accurate. Good photos are essential and can help your item to stand out from the crowd. Remember that eBay is now used a lot by professional sellers and bulk traders, so more effort is needed on your part to create listings worth looking at.
But eBay is now only one of many online selling platforms. For general goods there are alternatives such as Gumtree and Preloved. And there are many different sites for other specific items:
If you are selling clothing, check out other online sites such as Vinted, Depop and HEWI (Hardly Ever Worn It). Vinted deserves a special mention as there are no fees for selling your items, so you receive the full selling price. Vinted’s costs are covered by buyers paying an additional Buyer Protection fee, which may mean that you need to sell your goods at a slightly lower price to compensate for this.
If you have a lot of books to sell, it could be worth setting up an Amazon seller account to do this. This provides access to basic listing tools, enabling you either to create listings one at a time by matching products to existing pages or to create new pages in the Amazon catalogue. There is a monthly fee for the seller account and commission on each item sold, but if you have a lot of books to sell it could be worthwhile.
If you have old books to sell, check out more niche selling websites geared towards unique books and collectibles, such as AbeBooks.com.
Another good option for selling larger items such as household goods and baby/child equipment and toys is Facebook Marketplace. Also check out other local social media selling groups and pages. The advantage here is that you can achieve very quick sales: if the right buyer sees your ad at the right time, your item could go within hours and you’ll be in the money.
There are many other online sites that will collect items that you want to sell. These are usually geared towards books, CDs, DVDs, computer games and small tech gadgets. The way it normally works is for you to scan the barcodes of the items into their app, and you will be offered a price for each one. Agree on the ones you want to sell, box them up, and they will be collected from you and the money credited to your account. Check out:
You may find that the prices they offer are fairly low, but the convenience of dispatching some of your unwanted clutter can compensate for this.
A welcome new addition to online collection service is Vintage Cash Cow. This site will accept antiques and a wide variety used items, including:
To get started, you order a free postage pack. You then pack all your items into a box, either take it to a local Post Office or arrange for it to be collected from your home (both for free), and you will then receive a no-obligation offer for the lot. If you accept, the money will be paid into your bank account within 24 hours. Your items will then either be resold, repaired or reused in some other way.
If you want to have a go at selling some individual items yourself, the first thing to do is to look around for specialist shops or auction houses that may be interested in them.
For example, for items such as cameras, musical instruments, PA equipment or other technical equipment you may be able to find a local shop that would be interested in buying them from you. For items such as jewellery, porcelain, china, collectables, militaria, coins and antiquities try local antique shops or auction houses to see if there is any interest there.
A car boot sale is always a good way to get rid of unwanted items. Our recent article How to have the best pre-Christmas car boot sale contains the following tips on how to make the most of your sale:
For more information on the above, take a look at our car boot article.
We hope that this article has provided useful information about how to make money selling your old stuff. And we hope that it helps you to not only declutter your home but also make and save money in the process.
Do visit us here again soon for more lifestyle and financial tips from Loans 2 Go.
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