Sell Your Stuff

A popular and profitable option for parting with unwanted items is to sell your stuff. Hopefully during the purging process you identified items you wish to sell and separated them from the rest of your belongings.

Now it’s time to determine the best method for exchanging your used items for cash. There are a variety of options available to you. These include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:

Traditional Selling Options

Consignment Shops

Consignment shops are second-hand stores that sell used goods on behalf of their owners. The seller signs a contract to leave items at the shop (usually for a certain period of time). The items remain at the shop until they sell or the seller retrieves them. The seller retains ownership of all items until they sell. Proceeds from the sale are split between the consignment shop and the owner of the item according to a pre-arranged percentage.

The benefit of using a consignment shop to sell your stuff is that the stuff is kept at the store until it sells rather than taking up valuable space in your home while you wait for someone to purchase it online.

Garage Sales

Garage sales are a tried and true way to sell your stuff. They remain extremely popular despite the many online options available these days. Many bargain hunters make a hobby of garage-saling.

One benefit of a garage sale over more modern means of selling is the fact that you are able to part with all (or most) of your used stuff at one time.

Whereas, with the online options listed below, you have to hold onto items until they sell and then mail them off individually to different buyers - not the best way to declutter your home since all that stuff has to go somewhere until it sells.

Online Selling Options

Amazon Marketplace

The most obvious benefit of selling items through the Amazon Marketplace is the visibility it offers. Your stuff is literally available to tens of millions of shoppers who visit Amazon.com daily. You won’t get that kind of exposure at a garage sale!

Selling from the Amazon Marketplace is a pretty straight forward process. Once you’re set up and all your products are listed, you receive an email notification if an item sells. You ship directly to the buyer, and Amazon deposits the money for the sale in your account.

Amazon charges no listing fees. Depending on how many items you are selling, you can either pay a per-item fee ($0.99 if you’re selling less than 40 items/month) or a monthly fee ($39.99 if you’re selling more than 40 items/month).

Amazon Trade-in

Another option available through Amazon.com is trade-in. You can now trade-in all sorts of items (DVDs, CDs, video games, electronics, textbooks) in exchange for an Amazon.com gift card. The process is simple.

Bonanza

On Bonanza you can sell (or buy) everything from baby items to "specialty services" and "tickets and experiences". There is even a category for "everything else". The site is attractive and easy to navigate. While it does not enjoy the same level of traffic as eBay, it's seller to buyer ratio is much more favorable for sellers - in other words, your stuff is much more likely to be seen by potential buyers. It's totally free to post items on Bonanza with the average per sale fee being 3.5%.

Craigslist

Craigslist is the largest classified ads website in the world. To sell your stuff on Craigslist, simply open an account, post a picture of your item, add a description, and provide contact information. You can offer your stuff locally or appeal to a wider audience. My brother-in-law sold his truck in a couple of hours using Craigslist, and I have had a lot of success with it as well. It can be a very effective tool.

Safety Concerns

Please by very careful when it comes to meeting with potential buyers. Set up a safe (preferably public) meeting place to make your sale. If the item you are selling is too big to transport to a public location easily, make sure someone else is home with you when the buyer comes to pick up their purchase.

eBay

EBay is the largest online auction site in the world. It’s relatively easy to sell items through eBay. They offer tons of information to help you get started. Fees are charged for posting items whether or not the items sell. These fees are sometimes waved or reduced during promotional offers. Buyers generally pay shipping costs which the seller sets when posting an item. Given its popularity and the vast array of items offered on this site, it’s an excellent option for earning money from your unwanted stuff.

Mercari

Mercari bills itself as the selling app. The process is easy. Post a few photos along with a description and price for your item, and you're ready to go. All sold items ship so there is no meeting up with buyers face to face. When an item sells, Mercari gets 10% of the sale price.