One thing you can say about unexpected expenses it that you can always expect that they’ll happen. You just don’t know when they’ll rear their ugly heads. To deal with a run of several big, unexpected expenses recently, I decided to find as much stuff as I could and sell it all online.
I’ve sold my unwanted stuff online for more than 15 years, usually a few items at a time on a sporadic basis, as I had a few moments to spare. This time was different. I was determined to sell my stuff on a large scale and turn as many of our discards as possible into cash.
As I went along, I realized that I’d accumulated quite a bit of knowledge about online selling over the years and came to another decision. I’d write a Kindle book about how to sell your stuff online and get the most cash for it.
This post may contain affiliate links; please read my disclosure here.
I want to help you sell your stuff and get rid of mountains of unneeded household items, baby and toddler gear, kids’ outgrown toys, shoes, bikes, electronics, vehicle accessories, music, games and more. Since I’ve always loved to write and have a degree in journalism, nobody I’ve told seemed surprised about my writing a book.
My book about selling your stuff is now live on Amazon, and I’ve still got scads of items listed on Amazon, eBay, Craigslist and Etsy. Here’s a partial list of items I’ve sold just over the past several weeks.
- $104.49 – Husband’s sports collectible item (eBay
).
- $16.47 – 3 XBox 360 games (3 separate eBay sales).
- $29.99 – Like new shoes hardly worn and no longer needed (eBay).
- $9.99 – 3 like new maternity dresses (eBay).
- $4.99 – Lot of 30 LEGO-style minifigures – these were prize bag items that my kids lost interest in (eBay).
- $26.99 – 4 pairs of pants still in good shape from before I lost a lot of weight (eBay).
- $90.00 – Accessory from my old vehicle (Craigslist).
- $15.00 – Kids swim floaties – Stearn’s Puddle Jumper (eBay).
- $20.00 – Little girls 12-inch bike with training wheels (Craigslist).
- $5.00 – Pair of like new shoes, never worn (eBay).
- $20.00 – Wooden infant changing table (Craigslist).
- $20.00 – Old cable modem (Amazon).
- $18.00 – Charger from my discarded lawn trimmer which bit the dust and was replaced (Amazon).
- $30.00 – Stroller (Craigslist) .
- $30.00 – Baby carseat with extra base (Craigslist).
- $20.00 – Baby swing (Craigslist) .
- $35.00 – 6-panel baby/toddler play yard gate (one panel had a bit of breakage that doesn’t affect functionality) (Craigslist).
- $40.00 – 6-panel baby/toddler play yard gate, same as above, but no breakage or other damage (Craigslist).
- $5.00 – Preschool kids’ swim fins/flippers (eBay).
- $5.00 – Car seat cover/protector (eBay).
- $100.00 – 5 advertising light boxes ($20/each) my husband had in our garage – two different men bought them for their “man caves” (Craigslist).
- $4.99 – Fire fighter Halloween costume (eBay).
- $21.00 – Silverplate serving tray with lid (eBay).
- $25.00 – Pack and Play (Craigslist).
- $10.00 – Two wooden baby gates (Craigslist).
- $19.99 – Like new shoes I wasn’t wearing (eBay).
- $10.00 – Excellent condition Merona rain jacket, rarely worn (eBay).
- $10.00 – New with tags Faded Glory windbreaker I bought but never wore (eBay).
- $4.99 – Girls pet vet Halloween costume (eBay).
- $8.00 – Excellent condition Duo Maternity top (eBay).
- $39.95 – Old 35 mm Minolta film camera with extra filters and lens – I used this camera for years before switching to digital, and it had been in my garage for a decade; I tested it with new batteries and a new film roll to make sure it worked before selling it (eBay).
- $19.99 – Music CD, NFL Films tunes (Amazon).
- $9.99 – Lot of 28 pop/rock 45 rpm records from the 1970s-1980s (eBay).
- $7.50 – Women’s peasant blouse, excellent condition (eBay).
- $20.00 – Several different music CDs (Amazon).
This comes to $857.32, and I’ve paid about $150 for fees and shipping supplies. I’ve also sold probably about $100 in smaller items that I didn’t include in this list because there are just so many of them.
In my list, I mainly wanted to show the wide variety of items you can find and sell online. I don’t have much time to devote to online selling, so I used whatever small chunks of time I could manage.
It’s embarrassing to admit that I still had baby and toddler items in storage when my younger daughter is six years old. I actually had already unloaded a fair amount of baby and toddler gear over the years, but some of it still lingered.
Read my book if you’d like to sell your stuff and get the most money possible from your sales. You know all of those items you have in boxes and bins, crammed into your closets, garage, basement and attic? Those are piles of cash, waiting for you to collect them.
You already paid for these items, and they’re currently taking up space and collecting dust. Any money you make when you sell your stuff is pure profit – like cash found in an old jacket pocket.
Yard sales often turn out to be a huge waste of time and effort. My book will tell you the various ways to sell your stuff online and get the most dough for it.
My book is for you whether you’ve never sold online before or you’ve tried it with lukewarm results. Here’s what you’ll learn:
- How to find stuff to sell online.
- How to make the time and get motivated to start going through your closets, basement, garage and/or attic and listing items for sale.
- What types of items you can sell online (and what not to sell).
- Which online selling sites are best for various types of items.
- How and why to research items before you try to sell them.
- How to prepare your unwanted stuff for sale so you get the best possible price.
- How to take exceptional photos of your items to help them sell more quickly and for top dollar.
- How to price your items for maximum profit and how you’ll get paid.
- How to ship your items once they sell.
- How to deal with online buyers and returns.
- How to navigate the most popular online selling sites, including Amazon, eBay, Craigslist and Etsy.
- How to sell safely on Craigslist.
- What fees are charged by online selling sites, and how they’ll affect your bottom line.
- How knowing the pros and cons of various online selling sites increases the amount of money you can make.
- Why yard sales and consignment stores are huge wastes of time for most people.
- How to avoid making beginner mistakes so you can start making money on your unwanted stuff right away.
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