Discuss the Flog Your Junk For Cash guide

KnowWhen2FoldEm

Thanks for those thoughts, lincroft 1710. A useful corrective to my bitter and twisted take on Freegle, and I now find myself very much in agreement with your conclusion re EBay.

This decluttering business ain't quite the free and easy highway I hoped it would be...

KW2FE

fraserbooks

Not exactly junk but ebay is good for exchanging foreign coins if the bank won't take them. Also for buying some discounted currency.

Wizzbang

You just need to develop a bit more of a hard skin to it all. Yes, unfortunately there are a lot of idiots out there, no matter what you are involved with in life. You'll sell yourself short if you opt out of everything one by one, just because you've encountered one of them! People even do it these days when they just don't bother to reply to invitations, so you don't know how many to cater for or they let you down at the last minute because they've received a better offer. Blacklist those people, but not everyone is the same and you will encounter some lovely people.

Use this free calculator in future, to save yourself from getting out of pocket on eBay:

http://finalfeecalc.co.uk

Ultimately though, I just don't understand why you've got so hung up on a bunch of jam jars?!?! Just recycle them if no-one wants to pay the right price and you don't want to dispose of them in other ways. That way you've lost nothing.

Just because an MSE suggests that you 'can' sell jam jars, toilet rolls or whatever, doesn't mean to say that the gospel truth for everyone. It will be dependent on many variables - time of year i.e. you've just missed Marmalade season and jam making season is a long time off. Whether there are people in your area who want/ need jam jars, whether they would consider second hand, what your seller rating is and so on. Ultimately though, most sensible people would either save their own jam jars if they needed to, or they would ask for free on Freecycle - why pay for something you can get free? Ultimately you can buy them so cheaply, for example here: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/3819/12-Standard-Glass-Jam-Jars-Without-Lids-1lb-454g brand new - you can see why people won't be paying your postage costs.

I think most people would suggest to you - lesson learned. Although I can't help but feel that you've completely missed the point of decluttering which is to rid yourself of the item, not necessarily sell it. Especially something as insignificant and of virtually no value as a jam jar.

KnowWhen2FoldEm

Wizzbang said: "I can't help but feel that you've completely missed the point of decluttering which is to rid yourself of the item, not necessarily sell it."

Ah. Sorry to have missed the point so badly.

Please remind me again of the title of this thread, so I can get fully up to speed with the subject that was supposed to be under discussion?

Wizzbang

Just because theoretically you 'can', doesn't mean you should. I mean, people sell cooked Brussels Sprouts at Christmas, others sell used underwear and some sell very well used footwear to people with weird fetishes. You could save up all your household recycling and sell it to a local recycling company in volume, but would it be worth the space it would take up in your house and all the effort? Would you? Just because you 'could'?

But good luck with your 'decluttering' if you're going to try and sell every last item.....

System

Only just found this thread and just wanted to comment re the jam jar discussion. I work in a dementia day centre and we sometimes use jars for painting/ crafting etc, making tea light holders at Christmas etc. So maybe an outlet for them to places like that or local old folks homes, schools etc.
Or...make your own tea light/candle holders and sell them maybe

KnowWhen2FoldEm

Glad to report a happy ending to my jar saga!

My local homemade jam merchant has agreed to a barter deal at the rate of 3 jars for a single hen's egg, 5 for a duck's, or a dozen-for-six on hen's eggs, if I can supply all the jars in one go at the height of his production in the autumn. Turns out he makes seasonal jam, but year-round chutneys, so he always needs jars.

Just one tip that might be worthwhile for others trying to flog jars: it wasn't so much the jars that interested him, as the fact they had unbranded metal lids which could be repurposed for any contents. The ones I sold so unsuccessfully on EBay were branded. I can't tell for sure, but this may have put off some potential bidders. My barter deal wouldn't have worked with plastic lids either: "not classy enough", apparently.

Can't claim to have made any money from all this, but at least my peanut butter habit now pays a small dividend in high-quality eggs, plus I've forged a new connection with a neighbour. So a distinct improvement on chuckin' them jars in the bottle bank.

Good luck flogging your junk!

ap2010

re: middle class equivalent of picking cans up off the streets

bit of spare cash, cleaner streets and less landfill - winning all round!

(full disclosure, my dad used to do that at home in Australia)

Spoonie_Turtle

"Before you start counting the dosh, remember that in theory anything you earn could be taxed. However the Government's introduced a tax break which means since 6 April 2017, the first £1,000 you earn each year 'trading' is tax-free."

As far as I can find out, selling your unwanted stuff is not trading? Even 'casual earnings' on the HMRC page refers to services rather than goods. Self-employment can cover "selling goods or services to make a profit", whereas selling your own personal unwanted stuff is just to recoup some money, and any profit is a bonus.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-free-allowances-on-property-and-trading-income#trade

sidewayssyd

If it's old, someone will buy it. I was selling a big heavy book on eBay, Flicking through it, I found a paper bag, about 8x5 inches from I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet, the famous shop in Carnaby St. I must have bought something from there in the early 70s as a student. It had a rip from top to bottom on one side, but after about 50 years in the heavy book, it was perfectly flat and looked like new. I put it on eBay (showing the rip) - my wife said it wasn't worth the trouble so throw it out...it made £56. Best sale? I found about 12 copies of Autocourse from around 1963 to 1975, in a little bric-a-brac shop in far west Cork in around 1984. I paid 20 Punts for them. Sold them a couple of years ago..one year was really rare and made almost £970. The rest made £100 to £150 each. Tip - tech items like tablets, phones, laptops are worth more with their original boxes so don't throw them out. I've got empty Apple tech boxes from somewhere and sold them on eBay.