Best sites to sell stuff on in 2022

trance

I've decided to have a clear out, and have got lots of assorted stuff to sell - toys, books, clothes, household items - some new and some used.
I used to sell on ebay many years ago, and also listed things on ebid (with not a lot of success).
Today I did some research on alternatives to ebay are Preloved, Bonanza, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, Amazon.

I know that ebay selling fees take a chunk out of the selling price, but is it worth it? Are you more likely to sell on there? I don't need to sell items in the next week, but I don't want them hanging around for the next 6 months either.  My recent experience of Facebook marketplace is that there are a lot of time wasters and scammer on there.  Is that normal?

Your opinions and experiences of different selling sites are most welcome. Thank you!

soolin

The first thing to do is work out if it is worth selling. eBay is a good place to start , search for your item, then opt for completed listings (ignore listed prices, only sold and unsold matters). Books are rarely worth anything unless they are rare, out of print or just difficult to get , you might end up donating them to a charity shop. 

Clothes can be difficult but it all depends on brands, it is rarely worth selling high street fashion especially if you need to factor in postage, perhaps if they don’t sell on eBay give them a try on Facebook marketplace before donating anything that doesn’t sell. Same with household stuff, check what they sell for on eBay, work out if it is worth it after fees and perhaps for cheaper items try marketplace.

ebid is not worth the effort at all , I suspect you already agree with that! Gumtree has its moments , but I gave up with them as I found very few genuine buyers and got absolutely fed up with constant scammers taking up my time. I do fairly well on marketplace though , but again there are time wasters but you get to recognise them. 

There’s a thread here about Amazon which you might find of use 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377781/amazon-selling-selling-limits-and-potential-scams#latest

I’ve just signed up to vinted although I have been cautious with my listings as it doesn’t appear to have a very good reputation .

Remember generally as well that sites like eBay and Amazon are going to need a lot of ID from you and will need to confirm bank details in order to pay you out. I use PayPal still on marketplace . 

trance

That's very helpful, Soolin, thanks.  I still have my old ebay account, I buy on the site sporadically so presumably I don't need to update my ID.
I didn't find ebid very good, but I joined many years ago (Lifetime seller!) so I wondered whether it had improved over time.

After reading the other thread, I think I'll leave Amazon for now. If I planned to become a "real" seller, it would be worth my while, but at the moment I'm just clearing out all my unwanted stuff!

soolin

trance said:

That's very helpful, Soolin, thanks.  I still have my old ebay account, I buy on the site sporadically so presumably I don't need to update my ID.
I didn't find ebid very good, but I joined many years ago (Lifetime seller!) so I wondered whether it had improved over time.

After reading the other thread, I think I'll leave Amazon for now. If I planned to become a "real" seller, it would be worth my while, but at the moment I'm just clearing out all my unwanted stuff!

On eBay have you sold recently as otherwise you will have to set up bank details before you can accept any payments and you will probably need ID for that.

trance

soolin said:

trance said:

That's very helpful, Soolin, thanks.  I still have my old ebay account, I buy on the site sporadically so presumably I don't need to update my ID.
I didn't find ebid very good, but I joined many years ago (Lifetime seller!) so I wondered whether it had improved over time.

After reading the other thread, I think I'll leave Amazon for now. If I planned to become a "real" seller, it would be worth my while, but at the moment I'm just clearing out all my unwanted stuff!

On eBay have you sold recently as otherwise you will have to set up bank details before you can accept any payments and you will probably need ID for that.

I did have to update my bank account, but they didn't ask for ID. They have already paid out for something I sold last week, so presumably everything is okay :-)

KxMx

I sell on eBay but only when I get a FVF offer such as 80% off.
There is a thread in here which people post on when a new offer may be available. 

B0bbyEwing

KxMx said:

I sell on eBay but only when I get a FVF offer such as 80% off.

^^ This is basically me as well. 

Personally I try Facebook first. It's perhaps the only thing that really rivals eBay I would say. Maybe I'm wrong? Suppose it depends on what you're selling. 
A lot use Facebook as it's just easy. They have it installed on their phones anyway & it's easy for them to sit & scroll while they're laying on the sofa. 

I use it first off because it's free & I get 100% profit. The down side to Facebook is there is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge amount of timewasters. 
"Is this still for sale"
yes
and then you never hear from them again. OR they're "100% having it" but then don't turn up or change their mind at the last second.

If you can stand that then Facebook is fine.

When eBay send me their 80% off or £1max on FVF offers then I use them. Up side is the timewasters are much less. If someone bids then they generally buy it. Down side is that it's a scammers paradise. Very easy for a dishonest buyer to scam an honest seller. Another down side is eBay take some of your profits. 

subjecttocontract

I have a lot of success selling on Gumtree. I usually also post on EBay but up my prices by 15% to cover costs.

trance

B0bbyEwing said:

KxMx said:

I sell on eBay but only when I get a FVF offer such as 80% off.

^^ This is basically me as well. 

Personally I try Facebook first. It's perhaps the only thing that really rivals eBay I would say. Maybe I'm wrong? Suppose it depends on what you're selling. 
A lot use Facebook as it's just easy. They have it installed on their phones anyway & it's easy for them to sit & scroll while they're laying on the sofa. 

I use it first off because it's free & I get 100% profit. The down side to Facebook is there is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge amount of timewasters. 
"Is this still for sale"
yes
and then you never hear from them again. OR they're "100% having it" but then don't turn up or change their mind at the last second.

If you can stand that then Facebook is fine.

When eBay send me their 80% off or £1max on FVF offers then I use them. Up side is the timewasters are much less. If someone bids then they generally buy it. Down side is that it's a scammers paradise. Very easy for a dishonest buyer to scam an honest seller. Another down side is eBay take some of your profits. 

That's what I've found too - but then it's local and free, and you don't have to mess around with posting stuff, so there's that advantage.  I'll look out for offers from ebay - I generally just ignore them, so thanks for reminding me!

I have been scammed on ebay a few years ago - a blender that was in perfect working order all of a sudden stopped working when iit reached the buyer, so I had to give her a refund - I packaged it well so it shouldn't have got damaged. Maybe it did.....but I have my doubts.

trance

subjecttocontract said:

I have a lot of success selling on Gumtree. I usually also post on EBay but up my prices by 15% to cover costs.

I have listed a few things on Gumtree a few years ago and never sold anything.  Might be worth me trying again though, thanks!

Buster_Danog

I have been scammed on ebay a few years ago - a blender that was in perfect working order all of a sudden stopped working when iit reached the buyer, so I had to give her a refund - I packaged it well so it shouldn't have got damaged. Maybe it did.....but I have my doubts.

I would have had it returned even if it had cost me money just to verify it wasn't a scam. It does happen that things stop working within the 30 day period. It happened to me as a seller. As people on this forum have said, you need to factor in a certain amount of possible losses from sales on ebay but in my experience they tend to be a small amount.

I have tried Preloved and Shpock but am not having much luck. I think Shpock is better than Preloved, but also has attempts at scamming.

I have only tried Vinted for selling a pair of trainers so can't say much about it as of yet but I suspect higher priced items might be more difficult to sell than ebay.

I recommend ebay with the reduced fee listing promotions. After that I have heard good things about Facebook, buy have never used it myself.