Alternatives to Ebay and Gumtree for selling things

andygb

We are now both unemployed and want to get rid of stuff that is no use to us ASAP.
We have tried Ebay and Gumtree but the phone hasn't even rung, and the bids have been really low.
Is there a place where you can have your own website selling things, or would we be better to do boot fairs?
I only ask this as one of my wife's former colleagues apparently had her own website where she was selling things.

Piggywiggy

Not sure I'd really trust someone's private website to buy things from, have you tried going to a carboot, or are you pricing your items too high that people just aren't interested? Also in my area there are a lot of Facebook selling pages which appear to be quite popular.

bartelbe

andygb wrote: »

We are now both unemployed and want to get rid of stuff that is no use to us ASAP.
We have tried Ebay and Gumtree but the phone hasn't even rung, and the bids have been really low.
Is there a place where you can have your own website selling things, or would we be better to do boot fairs?
I only ask this as one of my wife's former colleagues apparently had her own website where she was selling things.

I hate to be harsh, but odds are, it isn't where you are selling, but what you are selling and the price you want. The days of flogging any old junk for a fortune on sites like ebay have long gone.

If I want an item off ebay, I do a search for the lowest price, with a respectable seller, and buy that. If yours costs more, I don't even look at it.

Unless you have something rare or valuable to sell, you're more than likely wasting your time.

soolin

andygb wrote: »

We are now both unemployed and want to get rid of stuff that is no use to us ASAP.
We have tried Ebay and Gumtree but the phone hasn't even rung, and the bids have been really low.
Is there a place where you can have your own website selling things, or would we be better to do boot fairs?
I only ask this as one of my wife's former colleagues apparently had her own website where she was selling things.

AS has been said really, if people don't want your stuff then it is either too expensive or just not popular. Your own website would be even worse as you wouldn't even have 'passing trade' like you do on ebay and would have to drive buyers to the site yourself.

I second the idea of Facebook selling, although prices tend to be low and again routine second hand stuff is not overly popular. Other than that just fill your car up one Sunday and head off to a car boot. In some areas pitches are only around £8-£10 so its worth a try, expect very very low prices though.

mrcol1000

If you can't get the price you want on websites with millions of visitors then your own website isn't going to be much better. You will have to get people to the website. Out of 100's of visitors you will most likely only get a handful of sales if that. If you really wanted to try it, there are plenty of free website hosting and creators. Do a Google search. If you have something rare or you do plenty of advertising to get traffic to your website then you will sell from it.

I think you really need to look at why things are not selling. Are you restricting sales to collection only? Are you too expensive? Are you describing the items properly? Are the photos decent? Is it really something you'd buy on-line or is it something that'd be better selling in person?

You could always try car boots. You could also see if your local council does casual stalls at the market. They often let you rent a stall for a day for £20 or so depending on the position. Look on their website or ring them and ask to speak to someone in markets.

RFW

Check out some of your local markets, many offer midweek flea market type table top sales. These tend to get higher prices than carboot sales.

Tictail is a free website/shop where you can add unlimited products. They don't have customers though, you would have to get those yourself, so as others have said it's probably not the way you should be going.

Collabora

when i have tried selling on ebay and get no bids, i placed on a couple local facebook selling pages and sold them within a couple of days, Its all cash in hand, so no ebay/paypal fees and no buyer comebacks.

andygb

It was good quality stuff - Callaway, Mizuno golf clubs in mint condition - and priced really well. I may see if the local driving range and club would do an advert for me, for a little commission.