Strategy #3 - Sell your stuff

Picture Courtesy of Ryan Fanshaw  

One of the best ways to make some extra money on the side is to sell unnecessary items you have in your home.  I think most of us can purge and clean out at least some of our possessions, so why not make a little extra cash by selling them?  We are currently working on this by selling some inherited comic books, DVDs that we don’t really need right now, and other random items we find throughout our house.  There are several different ways to sell your used items online, each with its own benefits and hangups.  Here is my breakdown of each website I’ve tried and how to sell your items.

eBay:

eBay is a very powerful and useful online selling tool. This website is great for selling collector, antique, brand new, and high-value items.  eBay can also be a good place to get rid of smaller items like DVDs, unique books, and other random or hard-to-find things.  In our case, we’re selling the comics and DVDs using this website. eBay has many different tools that allow you to sell items how you want, giving the seller more control over how the item is sold and what your bottom line is. Many people have made a living off of using eBay. We mostly use it to create supplemental income (in our case we’re creating an income for student loans), but it can prove to be difficult in an ever-crowded arena. The nice thing about eBay is that you can sell your items either at a fixed cost or as an auction. The disadvantage of eBay is that you can either do really well or really poorly with an auction. If you go the eBay route, consider doing an advanced search to see what your item has sold for recently to help with pricing. Also, make sure to include plenty of details in your item description, noting any wear or cosmetic things that a buyer may want to know upfront and be sure to take high quality pictures.

Craigslist

Craigslist is another great resource. It is a great place to unload furniture, vehicles, and other large equipment or furnishings. Other items that do well on Craigslist include baby gear, appliances, yard equipment, and electronics.  We’ve had success selling items like our old kitchen table, some unused baby bedding that didn’t match our decor, and three different vehicles.  The advantage to Craigslist is that you can often sell your items quickly and without a lot of hassle. The disadvantage to Craigslist is that it can be spammy at times and your posts can get covered up quickly by other posts. If you choose to use Craigslist, make sure to be familiar with how spam looks and feels. If something doesn’t feel right it’s probably spam. One suggestion is to create another email account just for your Craigslist items (there are plenty of free email account options through gmail, yahoo, etc.) so that you aren’t junking up your primary email address with potential spam. Better safe than sorry. Also, be sure to include a detailed description of your item and include pictures (especially if there’s any damage to the item that the buyer would want to know in advance).  Finally, just be discerning about where you meet people.  We’ve had Craigslist buyers come to our house and we’ve also met them in neutral locations based on what item we were selling and how the person interacted with us through email or on the phone.

half.com

half.com is a great site for getting rid of books, movies, and video games. It is owned and operated by eBay but approaches payment differently. You sell your items during the month and you get paid once a month. The advantage is that you can set your price and forget your listing and they will notify you when it has sold. The disadvantage is that the commission they charge can seem large at times and you don’t get your money right away. If you choose the half.com route, I recommend trying to underprice your competitors for a faster sell. It doesn’t have to be by much, but if you underprice by a penny your listing is shown first and is often the first to sell. 

There are several other methods for getting rid of your stuff, including selling items on Facebook (this can be through your personal page or in a “yard sale” group for your local area).  This can work very similarly to Craigslist, but we’ve never had personal experience with this method.  As always you can set up a yard sale, but if you have high-value items and you want to try to get what they’re worth I would recommend trying online first.

Do you have any suggestions for selling your items online?  Are there any particular methods that have worked well for you?