Selling alternatives

jetplane

We are having a big clear out and I am looking for alternatives to ebay, and after my experience visiting bootsales these last 2 weeks I don't think I would enjoy it.

bootsales - so far I have spoken to a woman almost in tears as she was having to sell her baby clothes at 50p & £1, she had spent time laundering, pricing and hanging them up but people wouldn't pay. I have witnessed people trampling on stuff, a whole table collapse with people rummaging and spoken to sellers who have had stuff stolen. Add to this the cost of getting there, sellers charges and the initial ambushing I will receive and I think I would need to spend my profit on a spa day.

ebay - I don't usually sell smaller stuff as, for me, the reward doesn't justify the time of wrapping and post office trips and the potential hassle of awkward buyers, especially as it seems to have got silly since the last postage increase.

I use gumtree for larger items and can use mazuma for mobiles and check music magpie. We have lots of CD's DVD's videos, books, unwanted gifts, second hand clothes and some household items. I usually donate all unwanted stuff to charity but our daughter is due her baby soon so I thought charity could begin at home this time.

Can anyone give me some good places or ideas to sell? Thanks

Crowqueen

The best return is still going to be got selling inidividual items to retail buyers. I would use Amazon for the media items - I'm having quite a bit of success with it, much more than eBay at the moment. There's still the buyer focus but you will get a good return if you price things sensibly, and on Amazon the postage is not within your discretion so the buyers cannot rate it directly (though they might still complain). Look up the lowest price for the item, then work out whether it is worth listing that particular item. If the big sellers are offloading it for a penny then it won't be since you won't have access to their fee rates or their bulk postage discounts (Amazon didn't change their postage credits when the postage went up in April so it is very unlikely selling for a penny will get you what you need to post the items).

For books you need a clear £1 over postage credit for things that go 2nd class small packet; I haven't worked out what the DVD excess is, but as long as you get large letter postage over that, DVDs and CDs will probably go as LL.

The other items may be wanted by Music Magpie but having tried those sort of sites they never want anything I've got. Some of them are just as picky as Amazon/eBay buyers etc; they don't want items they can't eventually sell, so there may be some you need to donate.

rossireps

music magpie i found give very low prices

jetplane

Thanks, I have looked up amazon and most of these are run of the mill CDs which can sell for pennies. I know music magpie only give 30p but at least they are sold with little effort. If I took 100 CDs to a boot sale it is unlikely that I would sell them all and make more than £30. Even if they sold on a 99p listing on ebay the fees would almost half the profit and then there's the listing and uploading. Hohum maybe I'm just too lazy and this is why I usually donate everything.

If musicmagpie offer any more than 30p :shocked: I know I'm onto something and can sell that separately.

Longships

Bite the bullet and do a boot sale. Have everything clearly priced up in advance. Take sturdy paste tables and don't put stuff on the ground. When you arrive park up, stay in the car, lock the doors and have a cup of coffee until the initial rush has passed by. Keep anything valuable at the back of the table and make sure you don't go alone so that you can keep an eye out for thieves.

charlieann

I use a website called usedsandwell.
Don't know if there is one for your area.
It's simular to gumtree but I've found it more successful. It's good for small items and if your looking to buy baby items afterwards there is plenty on there.
Also noticed a few bootsale type groups popping up on facebook. I've used some of the baby ones on there with success.

Crowqueen

jetplane wrote: »

Thanks, I have looked up amazon and most of these are run of the mill CDs which can sell for pennies. I know music magpie only give 30p but at least they are sold with little effort. If I took 100 CDs to a boot sale it is unlikely that I would sell them all and make more than £30. Even if they sold on a 99p listing on ebay the fees would almost half the profit and then there's the listing and uploading. Hohum maybe I'm just too lazy and this is why I usually donate everything.

If musicmagpie offer any more than 30p :shocked: I know I'm onto something and can sell that separately.

That sounds the most reasonable solution, given the value of the items. Put the more valuable ones onto Amazon or eBay - those sites will still pay better dividends on valuable items, despite fees - and give the rest to MM.

petersoftware

I would suggest that you put the items you most likely think will sell on eBay. As you know eBay charge a fee for listing, so you don't want to add anything that you are not sure if it will sell.

Other items could be put on Gumtree, LocalSquare, and Friday-Ads. I don't think any of these sites charge for local non commercial ads.

Hope this helps.

Crowqueen

I find Amazon is a lot better for sell-through rate this summer. The problem with eBay is that there's a finite end to the listing unless you go to the expense of a shop and good-till-cancelled listings. Even then you pay 40p per month for a fixed price sale where Amazon is free.

Amazon take more of the final price but they give you money to post the item and it is free to list for just about ever. I'm getting on average about £4 for each sale, enough to post the item second class and have a little bit in the bank at the end of the day.

They are VERY strict about dispatch (they withhold money until you send out and keep a rolling reserve in case of any problems with private sellers), very strict about returns and very strict with sellers who mess up, though - for the benefits you get you do pay. But I think it's worth it - I have never had problems with tight controls on sellers, and it does make the buying traffic circulate.

soolin

Crowqueen wrote: »

I find Amazon is a lot better for sell-through rate this summer. The problem with eBay is that there's a finite end to the listing unless you go to the expense of a shop and good-till-cancelled listings. Even then you pay 40p per month for a fixed price sale where Amazon is free.

Amazon take more of the final price but they give you money to post the item and it is free to list for just about ever. I'm getting on average about £4 for each sale, enough to post the item second class and have a little bit in the bank at the end of the day.

They are VERY strict about dispatch (they withhold money until you send out and keep a rolling reserve in case of any problems with private sellers), very strict about returns and very strict with sellers who mess up, though - for the benefits you get you do pay. But I think it's worth it - I have never had problems with tight controls on sellers, and it does make the buying traffic circulate.

Amazon is a very useful site for books, new items and things that can be added to the catalogue. However the OP seems to refer to run of the mill household items- none of which are likely to have a catalogue entry second hand on Amazon. If they have to take pro membership to add categories it will cost them at least the first months membership iof £30 and even then normal household items suitable for a botosale would not be able to be listed.

Crowqueen

There was a bit in there about media items though - CDs, DVDs etc. and they were weighing up whether to take them to Music Magpie.

OP doesn't need to take out pro membership either. I haven't.