Selling stuff - how

Forward_thinking

Hi everyone!

We're doing well and are on the way up at last. Dh has just got a job after a year off and we are determined to get our debts paid off.

We have decided to move into a smaller house (ridiculously expensive where we are). Problem is we have so much stuff. It's ridiculous. A whole garage worth of toys and clothes and much much more. Dh wants to just get rid of it and give it to charity. He says it will cost too much to store. But I can't bring myself to just get rid of it when we have huge debts!!! It's money after all.

But how do we sell it when we are so busy. I tried starting ebay but we have hundreds of stuff. It would take forever. We have discussed a boot fair but would need to take four small children and dh thinks it would be more hassle than it's worth. We considered a garden sale but would anyone turn up?

Dh is determined to just lose it all for free in the next few weeks. I feel really frustrated as there's some lovely stuff - lots of brand new quality stuff. But I just don't know how to go about selling it because there is too much. Any thoughts? Thank you!!

purplevamp

I know exactly what you mean about not wanting to just give the stuff away, I'm the same. I would give ebay a go. Just start by listing a few things, perhaps on one of their free listings weekends, where things £1 or over are free to list and if they don't sell you don't pay any fees! Anything 99p or under can be listed at anytime you want for free.

Someone on here said they put some items in a box and sell those things first, so it's not overwhelming. Amazon is another good place to sell items like books, dvds, cds or toys.

I know some people sell on facebook but I don't know how that works.

About the car boots ~ can either you or your DH go alone? Or can you get someone to babysit the children? They'd probably get bored anyway or want to buy every toy they see :eek::rotfl:

Good luck and take small steps. I always say you can't eat an elephant in one go :rotfl:

hettiecarro

Hi
It's a free listing weekend this weekend on Ebay.
If you have lots of toys, try selling 'bundles'/job lots - people with a number of children may be glad to have them.
The same applies to childrens clothes - bundle them by age.
Music Magpie is ok for selling CD's ,DVD's- they don't pay a lot, but better than giving them away.
Could you have a garage sale? - kids enjoy running these (depending on their age of course) and you could offer them some of the proceeds as a reward for helping.
Clothes banks will pay a small amount.
When I started on my DF journey I did all of the above - now have very minimalistic house :rotfl:
Good luck with it all

prowla

You could try gumtree, or your local online car boot group on facebook.

ebay is a bit unwelcoming for occasional sellers these days, IMHO. And the fees and cost & hassle of posting things goes against low value items.

Bank_buster

I've been down this route myself recently and totally agree with the previous post about eBay. They charge a listing fee and a percentage of the final sale. Your much better off with gumtree or the local Facebook site. Extra bonus is the Facebook and gumtree option is instant payment and cash in hand. If using PayPal they charge you to withdraw your own money if the balance is below £50!!

LannieDuck

With the toys you could take a table at an NCT sale.

Also, there are companies who will ebay stuff for you (for a %). Better than just giving it all away. Someone on the ebay board may know of a decent one.

tiny_courageous

Your local facebook selling site. Take pictures and accept any reasonable offer - any money is better than none if the alternative is throwing it out. You could even advertise on there a garage sale. Our local groups are really friendly and kids toys sell really well.

marliepanda

Bank_buster wrote: »

I've been down this route myself recently and totally agree with the previous post about eBay. They charge a listing fee and a percentage of the final sale. Your much better off with gumtree or the local Facebook site. Extra bonus is the Facebook and gumtree option is instant payment and cash in hand. If using PayPal they charge you to withdraw your own money if the balance is below £50!!

Is this with new accounts? I don't get charged to withdraw my money, regardless of how much I have. I only have a personal account.

Same with eBay, with regards to an above post, can you not list up to 100 items a month for no listing fee (auction under £1) I haven't paid a listing fee for months and months.

theoretica

There are three options for getting rid - sell items individually which is high hassle, but will give the most return, pass to charity or sell as a lot to someone who will then sell on at a profit. You might find this middle path the best compromise. Roughly sort things out according to quality (brand new/ used good stuff/ ordinary) and look at house clearance in your area or advertise as a lot or lots on gumtree for someone else to car boot or ebay.

prowla

marliepanda wrote: »

Is this with new accounts? I don't get charged to withdraw my money, regardless of how much I have. I only have a personal account.

Same with eBay, with regards to an above post, can you not list up to 100 items a month for no listing fee (auction under £1) I haven't paid a listing fee for months and months.

What about the final value and paypal fees?

marliepanda

prowla wrote: »

What about the final value and paypal fees?

Well I wasn't denying those however the money I get for things on eBay by selling to a much wider audience I think counteracts those fees. I don't mind paying for ebays nationwide platform or pay pals service as I know personally I get more money than gumtree (I would use it for larger 'pick up only) items though!)

I was just addressing the PayPal withdrawal feed which I don't have, and the point about waiting for free listing weekends, afaib not something that seems necessary on my aCcount.