Selling stuff you don't need online

[SHRED]

I dread it.
It's like I'd rather have a root canal.

Low offers and no-shows.
I had one guy tell me my price was too high on an item but nevermind I got offers and sold it near my asking price.

Anyone else feel this way?
Any tips on selling?

I use Craigslist and OfferUp mainly.

[Grasswire2]

1. FB Marketplace if you are on FB

I see an awful lot of local stuff there. Some of it stolen! LOL

[exboyfil]

2. I prefer to give it away

in a meaningful fashion. For example my nephew expressed an interest in comics. I have both my dad's (his grandpa) and my comic collections that was disorganized and not cared for as well as it should have been (I also did a bit of skimming of the best stuff).

I gave him 12 boxes of comics. I don't think my SIL anticipated that it would be so many.

There was probably a couple of thousand dollars there if he went to the effort of selling them. For me it was not worth it. I also like the idea of passing down a legacy (my dad to me to my nephew). My daughters had no interest in comics.

I did the same thing with my dad's and my album collection a couple of years before. I really should have done it before then since music was the big connection my brother had with my dad. I just threw my albums in as well. The best had been replaced by CD, and I am now mostly switched to streaming anyway. My brother and my nephew still like vinyl.

I gave away a box of Doctor Who paperbacks to a friend of my daughters. She is a very nice woman (just commissioned in the Air Force with a math degree from Michigan Tech). Again I could have sold them, but I did not want to bother.

Eventually my theology/Bible study books may go to one of my nephews or nieces on my wife's side. There are four that are in elementary school right now, and I am sure one is going to be a pastor. It will be a nice starting library for a young pastor.

[CrispyQ]

3. I've always done well with yard sales.

Seriously, just as well almost as the Craig's list route without all the hassle. The serious buyers show up early on the first day & don't usually lowball too much if you're stuff's good. Yeah it's a day or two of work, but you get rid of a ton of stuff in one fell swoop.

Check out nextdoor.com too. It's a neighborhood site with a classifieds section. There's also this place, maxsold.com, where you can put together an auction if you're downsizing significantly. Usually they put one or two nice pieces with a collection of other crap & sell it as one unit. There are scheduled times for pickup listed.



Love Bizarro.

[WhiteTara]

8. ...

thank you!

[hlthe2b]

4. I dread it more as a female (and I live in a pretty safe area)...

but years ago I sold a clothes dryer (gas) that I'd decided to replace with electric. I was forced to let buyers (guys generally) in my house and couldn't always find a neighbor or someone available to be with me.

That was unsettling enough, but, though I demonstrated its working order prior to them buying it, I started getting threatening phone calls several days later that it "didn't work and I'd cheated them". It got so bad, I had to contact the police and fortunately whatever contact they made caused it to cease.

Not something I look forward to, but I have a whole garage full of stuff I need to get rid of.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. When I lived in urban places, I did garage sales and made good money

I asked 2 neighbor women to join in, with their stuff, did pretty good. Strength in numbers, and we could spell one another for bathroom breaks, etc.

I had a lot of things I had picked up from thrift stores, and piles of books, most non-fiction that actually sold well.

Now I am in rural South, books aren't exactly in high demand around here, sadly, so the library is gonna get mine.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Wow. Scary. I'm glad you didn't fall for these phony excuses/claims. Perhaps donating would ...

be best solution (I too, in similar predicament, lots of stuff to sell, don't want to deal w/ buyers by myself).

I still debate which way to go in letting stuff go. I've already donated tons of stuff, do want money for rest of stuff.

My concern is that if I let prospective buyers in to look at stuff, they are scoping entire property then. I have had this happen before, in having concrete work done on property, and a couple of the contractors snuck back and tried to break into the basement. Dogs and I caught them in act of breaking in and scared them off.

[handmade34]

5. I put it

at the end of the driveway with a "FREE" sign... always successful!

[csziggy]

9. I need to sell some stuff and I am dreading it

I have some old farm equipment and some antique furniture that need to go. I don't want to donate the farm equipment since it needs someone who knows how to use it and some pieces may not work anymore. The furniture is too valuable for me to donate.

As far as I know, Craigslist would be the best outlet for both types of stuff but I hate the whole process..

Even back when I was selling stuff on eBay because I needed the money it was a nuisance. People wouldn't read my requirements (no shipping outside the US, payment made within x days of close of auction, shipping cost listed separately from bid) people got obnoxious.

Two auctions that finally soured me on eBay: 1) Selling a Harry Potter AOL CD: I got bids from all over the world and had to reject about half of them because they were from overseas. Even after I pointed out my requirements, people tried to argue me into accepting their bids. At least none of them gave me a negative review. 2) Selling a 16 mm motion camera - guy won the bid, did not respond to messages for over a month. I voided the auction, then the man raised hell, gave me negative reviews, harassed me, tried to buy the camera in a later auction, got the auction suspended when I blocked his bids, and almost got me suspended from eBay. I pulled the entire auction and later sold the camera (for much more money) through a service that ran eBay auctions.

Since then I just won't sell on eBay at all. I've bought one or two things but don't check auctions often anymore.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. If you have Nextdoor in your area, that's a good way to get rid of unwanted stuff,

or to acquire someone else's unwanted stuff. I got a free piano, had to pay only for moving and tuning, from a Nextdoor ad, and I was able to get rid of some bookshelves, a curio cabinet, a couple of small trees and some raspberry bushes within a day of posting my notices. You can give it away free or post ads. It's nice because you can limit or expand the range to your immediate neighborhood or larger areas, and the fact that your neighbors are your audience makes it just a bit safer and reliable. You can check nextdoor.com to see if it's available where you live.

[Flaleftist]

11. I'd rather leave it by the curb or give it to a charity.

If it's something of value, I'd make a few calls to friends and family and see if they know anyone who wants it.

Selling online isn't worth it for the reasons you listed.

[TeamPooka]

12. We have an eBay group here at DU...

They are a very helpful group if you have any questions about doing it that way
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1026

[MissB]

13. I like Facebook marketplace

Usually I price stuff to sell fast. I get plenty of messages right away for most stuff I sell, since I usually list it on Saturday morning.

DH is around when people come over. Sometimes I just tell folks it’ll be on the porch and leave the $ in an envelope.

I’ve been lucky so far. I don’t like Craigslist because it’s far too anonymous. Next door is toooo personal (small neighborhood :roll and I’ve never liked offerups platform.

[hibbing]

14. Same experience

Was offering all kinds of things for cheap. Would get an email 5 minutes after posting the advert and then would never hear back. This happened multiple times, i will never understand the motivation of those replying with no actual intention of following through. Certainly was a strange process.

On a side note i know a lot of cities have police station parking lots or other such places for buyers and sellers to meet.



Peace