Tips for Selling Unwanted Items
I love selling unwanted items and my selling motto is, “$5 is $5!” As you can imagine, I purge and organize my own home and office frequently. Every time I do, I have a stash of very random items to sell and get ridiculously excited when I make $5 on something I don’t want or need!
People always get a kick out of what I am able to make a profit on. One of my most recent and favorite successes was the sale of a large box of hotel toiletries. They were free to me and I was storing them for guests and to take on camping trips. When I realized I simply had too many I sold them. Someone paid for shipping and all! You too can sell items you no longer want or need but don’t want to trash, recycle or donate. Here are some quick tips to get you started but please feel free to reach out to me with any specific questions you have about what to sell, where to sell it, how to price, etc.
Online Sales - Think about tax implications depending on how much you sell. Post good quality pictures and be very descriptive. If buyers are asking you questions answer them directly but also update your listing with the information so you don’t have to keep answering the same question. Be careful and meet in a public place. Beware of scammers. Don’t give out any of your contact information even if they say, “I don’t have good cell phone service with this app” etc.!
Facebook Marketplace- I have the best success here now that the platform is so commonly known. Notifications aren’t always great but you communicate through Messenger. You can offer shipping and Facebook will take a fee. You can charge for shipping and use your own label but be careful not to underestimate the shipping costs before you offer that. You can use their shipping labels and Facebook will charge the buyer based on the weight of the item but take a fee from the price of the sale. Remember to include the weight of the box and packing materials when you estimate the weight so that the USPS does not refuse the package due to insufficient postage. Be prepared for a lot of people to ask, “Is this available?” but then take no further action because it’s an easy button for them to hit when scrolling through. You can repost your items every 7 days.
Offerup- Letgo was purchased by Offerup. This is an app that protects your contact information and you only message via the app. Shipping is optional but they take a fee and restrict the size of the packages you can ship. They do provide a shipping label for you to print and you drop the package off at USPS or UPS depending on the label. There are a lot of spammers. If you post something and immediately get contacted by someone asking for your phone number, report them and wait for a real buyer. You cannot relist your items. Instead, you have to archive or delete them and then repost in order for them to go back to the top of the list.
Craigslist – Yes, it’s still around and surprisingly a great place to sell tickets, vehicles, campers, exercise equipment, cellphones and furniture. I typically just post the “big stuff” here because it’s not so widely used anymore but when buyers contact you, they’re actually interested in your item. They have an app or you can use their desktop version. Your email and phone can still be anonymous but you can’t communicate via a messenger system in the platform. You do have to verify the post via email for it to go live and you are able to re-instate the listing every few days. The listing expires on its own after a set amount of time. There are no online payments or shipping options through Craigslist. Be careful meeting up in a public place!
Ebay- I honestly haven’t used Ebay in years but I think it’s still a great place to sell, especially if you have high value or collector’s items or if you want to reach a nationwide audience easily.
Yard Sales - One of the easiest ways to sell your unwanted items is to hold a good old-fashioned yard sale. It’s best to include your neighbors in a community yard sale to drive more “marketing” and traffic. If you don’t live in a neighborhood or can’t get your neighbors to join in, ask other friends and family if they want to sell with you.
You don’t recoup a lot of money holding yard sales but they can be a lot of fun! Prepare a special breakfast the night before, make a playlist of your favorite songs and sell your unwanted items to people who need or want them in your own community. You can allocate the money you make towards new storage systems, to replace items that you sold or to take the family out to lunch afterwards.
“Advertise” online on your social media accounts, Nextdoor.com, Yardsalesearch.com and with handmade signs for a couple of days beforehand. Make sure to sort all of the items you want to sell ahead of time. Store them in boxes so they’re easy to carry out on the morning of the sale. Have tables, drop cloths and tarps ready to set your items on in “categories”. If you want a specific price for an item, put a price sticker on it. Otherwise, let your buyers make an offer and then decide to sell at that price or negotiate. Set up early. Buyers tend to come about 30 minutes earlier than your posted start time. They are typically some of your best buyers but will just get in your way if you’re not ready for them.
Consignment Stores-I haven’t personally used a consignment store in years but I have helped a few clients sell clothes and furniture through local and online consignors. If you don’t have time to sell online and meet with buyers or get shipments out, this is a good option. You just don’t get quite as much money as you would selling on your own. Consignment stores take anywhere from 25%-60% of the sale while Facebook and Offerup only take 5%-8% (0% if you sell in person rather than mailing an item).
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