HomeGeneralHow to sell your stuff on eBay, Craigslist, Amazon and more

How to sell your stuff on eBay, Craigslist, Amazon and more

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Is your closet overflowed? Does your car no longer fit in the garage? If so, it might be time to get rid of a few things.

Of course, that may be easier said than done. Firstly, your garbage collector may not have fun if you drop 30 trash bags on the sidewalk. Not to mention, it would probably be a waste to give up excess assets after all the money you put into buying them.

Fortunately, there are many options at your disposal to recover money from your mess. Sites like eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon are great for clearing clutter and bagging cash in the process. If you are interested in getting rid of those old things in the house but don’t know where to start, here are some of the best ways to earn money when you have too many things.

ebay

ebay

eBay was originally built as a person-to-person online auction website. Essentially, it is designed to allow private sellers around the world to post items for sale for a limited time. Prospective buyers bid, and when the auction time comes, the highest bid wins. The seller then ships the item to the buyer.

While auctions are still common on eBay, they are increasingly being used for fixed-price sales. Retailers can even sign up for business accounts on eBay to sell items.

To sell products on eBay, you must set up a seller account. You must create an individual list for each item you sell, and you are responsible for managing those lists, paying attention to the offers, and keeping track of the winning bidders.

Sell ​​on eBay

eBay exposes its products to a broader audience than any other person-to-person sales site in the world. It is ranked among the 20 most visited sites in the United States on SimilarWeb, and its audience is not limited to the United States. eBay has more than a billion visits a month worldwide. In other words, eBay isn’t exactly your neighborhood garage sale.

Auction-style listings
While eBay now offers fixed-price sales in addition to auction sales (and fixed-price sales are generating an increasing share of the eBay market), eBay remains, in essence, an auction site. . In auction-style transactions, a post is “live” for a limited period of time. The lister can select a duration of 1, 3, 7 or 10 days for the listing.

More time means more potential eyes on the list, and therefore more bidders. However, shorter auctions create a greater sense of urgency and can motivate occasional visitors to take action. At the end of the auction term, the buyer with the highest bid wins the auction.

As a seller, if you have a one-of-a-kind or high-demand item (like a designer handbag or a rare collectible), you may be lucky enough to sit back and see how bidding wars drive sales price beyond expectations. However, the downside to the auction style approach is that you may end up with a significantly lower selling price than you anticipated.

There are two ways to bypass this:

  • Start Prices You have the option to set a start price for your item, although you are not required to. If you start too high, many bidders will go out. However, starting too low can negatively affect the perceived value of your article.
  • Reserve prices for auction-style sales. You are allowed to create a minimum selling price for your item, a “reserve price”, but eBay charges you to do so ($ 3 per item for any price up to $ 149.99, and 2% of the reserve price for items with a price of $ 150 or more, with a maximum charge of $ 100).

Fixed-price listings Fixed-price

sales are becoming more common on eBay, and come from both retailers and private sellers. When you choose this option, there are no offers for your item and a buyer can buy it immediately at the price you set.

eBay Valet

eBay Valet is eBay’s newest put option. Basically it is a managed listing service that outsources most shipping and shipping to eBay, greatly reducing the time and effort required to create, maintain and profit from your listings. Valets are great professional sellers who have been carefully researched by eBay and who can sell over 100,000 items per month.

eBay Valet serves sellers with unique or high-value items. Accepted items include designer clothing and accessories, electronics, antiques and collectibles, sporting goods, and musical instruments. Items not accepted include everything in poor condition, anything worth less than $ 25, bulky or fragile items, anything weighing more than 25 pounds, media (such as CDs), jewelry and watches, and anything that requires a license or code to activate or unblock.

To sell an item on eBay Valet, print a free shipping label, place the item at your local post office, and send it to your valet. The valet takes you from there, researching the sale of comparable items and creating a high-quality listing at a competitive price. For your comfort, you must forgo an important part of the benefits. You get 60% of the final sale price on items selling for less than $ 50, 70% on items selling for $ 50 to $ 200, and 80% on items selling for more than $ 200. You may also Please wait longer for your item to sell – Valet transactions can take up to 60 days to complete, and payment will be made two business days after sale.

“Buy It Now”
option for auction-style ads The “Buy Now” option is a hybrid of the fixed-price and auction selling methods. Sellers wishing to choose an auction-style sales format may include a price at least 30% higher than the initial offer, called the “Buy It Now” price. If buyers want to skip the auction process, they can choose to pay the “Buy It Now” price and secure the sale.

Canceling listings
If you want to cancel your listing, you can do so at any time. However, certain restrictions apply if you have already received offers for your item.

In such cases, sellers have the following options:

  • Cancel and sell to the highest bidder. You will not incur a fee if you cancel your listing and immediately sell to the highest bidder.
  • Cancel at least 12 hours before the end of an auction and refuse to sell. As long as you are out of the 12-hour period, you can cancel your ad even if you have offers, but you must pay eBay a fee equal to 10% of the final value. eBay waives this fee for the first such cancellation in any calendar year.
  • Cancel your list less than 12 hours before the end of an auction. If you have a bidder and it is within the 12-hour period, you must sell the item to the highest bidder, even if you choose to end the auction early and not wait for more bids.

Payment and shipping on eBay
If you have followed through on your listing and received a winning bid, it is time to collect your money and get the item to the buyer. eBay owned PayPal for 12 years, and although eBay made it an independent company, PayPal is still the default method of sending and receiving payments on eBay.

Signing up for a PayPal account requires connecting to a credit card or bank account. If you want to transfer the payments received from your PayPal account to your bank account, you must attach it to your bank account.

Selling on eBay often involves transactions with people who live hundreds or thousands of miles away, which means shipping is an almost inevitable component of eBay selling. Buyers generally pay for shipping on eBay, but sellers need to be aware of what it will cost so they can estimate properly. Please note that extremely high shipping costs (such as 50% of the sale price) may discount sellers, which is why large, heavy or unwieldy items are less than optimal on this platform.

As a seller, you must carefully package your items in a way that preserves their quality throughout the shipping process. You can create and print a shipping label directly from eBay, but you still need to take it to your post office unless you have arranged for it to be removed. The US Postal Service. USA It offers a free pick-up service that can be arranged online in advance. UPS and FedEx also offer pickup service, although fees may be incurred. If you sell through eBay Valet, you will avoid seller’s shipping fees (including UPS and FedEx fees) and you can be assured that your products are carefully packed by professionals.

When selling high-value items, you may want to pay shipping insurance. If you’ve created a shipping label through eBay, you can purchase ShipCover insurance at a rate of $ 1.65 plus tax for $ 100 in coverage. However, you must disclose your return address on the delivery note, unless you have a PO box, that basically means telling a stranger where you live.

EBay Advantages

  • No other site directs more eyes to your listing. More visitors mean more potential sales. EBay’s international audience is unmatched in size and scope, which is particularly useful if you have a rare, specialty, or collector’s item that might not appeal to many buyers. Maybe your neighbors don’t appreciate the Vintage Betty Boop vase your grandmother gave you, but eBay could help you find someone whose collection is missing from that piece.
  • You Can Sell From Home Cleaning your storage closet and making money wearing pajamas has substantial appeal to many people.
  • It allows you to get rid of multiple items at once. Some eBay sellers combine more than one item into one “lot,” for example, a collection of vinyl records, past issues of magazines, toys, or clothing. However, keep in mind that lots can be difficult to sell, as buyers are less likely to be on the market for a large number of products, rather than a specific item.
  • Free listings, with some restrictions. You can make a free product list as long as you limit the total number of items to 50 per month. After that threshold, you will be charged $ 0.30 to list each item, but that fee is credited to you if your item is sold. The $ 0.30 fee does not apply to art and collectibles. There are several updates vendors can choose to draw more attention to their products, but each has a cost. For example, you can pay $ 2 per item to have it appear in bold.
  • Hands-free, professional listing option. eBay Valet takes most of the effort out of the listing and selling your items, and can result in a better listing (and higher selling price) than you can get on your own.

Disadvantages of eBay

  • Seller fees. eBay charges a “final value fee” of 10% of the sale price, with a maximum fee of $ 750 per item.
  • Limited information on success rates. A “direct sale rate” is the percentage of items actually sold compared to the number of items sold. Finding the official eBay direct sale rate is next to impossible – it’s not published, but Auctiva once estimated it to be around 40%. That adds up to a lot of disappointment and wasted effort.
  • Decreased revenue growth. Like almost any other industry, eBay was extremely successful during the recession. It recovered in a big way, demonstrating revenue growth of 27% in 2011, compared to revenue growth of 4% the year before. However, those numbers have slowed every year since then. While eBay still reported 12% growth in 2014, which represents the third consecutive year of slower growth. EBay’s monthly visits were approximately 12% lower in April 2015 than in April 2011, according to Statista. That means 12% fewer potential buyers for your item.
  • Scams. Scams are common on eBay and can affect both sellers and buyers. Buyers may say they have never received an item; some even go so far as to modify a tracking number so that the sender cannot confirm that it arrived. Others may claim that an item has been broken or damaged in shipping and demand a refund. You can purchase shipping insurance and file complaints on eBay, but there is no resolution guarantee in your favor. Potential scams are simply a risk of doing business with people you don’t know.
  • It can be difficult to win the trust of buyers. Buyers are encouraged to leave comments about their experience with a particular seller. If you are not a regular seller, the lack of qualifications can serve as a red flag. Many potential buyers only engage in transactions with sellers who have a large number of positive ratings. This is because sellers with low or low rating numbers are more likely to be scammers.

Bottom line
eBay is good for people with lots of products to sell, a computer with an Internet connection and a little extra time on their hands. It is also ideal for people who have unique, specialty or collectible items with a specific audience. Not ideal for large items (like furniture) that would be prohibitively expensive to ship.

Craigslist

Like eBay, Craigslist is a website designed to facilitate person-to-person sales. However, unlike eBay, Craigslist depends on physical geography. It is made up of hundreds of individual websites tailored to specific areas, and buyers and sellers make transactions specific to their location – many people on Craigslist sell to buyers across the city.

Thanks to the geographic component, Craigslist is much less anonymous than eBay and often involves in-person interaction between buyers and sellers. Sellers create posts that list items for sale, usually at a list price, though “or best offer” sales are common, and interested buyers connect with them. Some sellers include personal contact information directly in a list, but they also have the option of using an anonymous email address generated by Craigslist that buyers can use. Final transactions are normally done in person.

Craigslist is known for facilitating connections outside of traditional person-to-person sales. Companies generally list items for sale on Craigslist, and the site also features personals, job listings, real estate, and services.

Sell ​​on Craigslist

Craigslist is biting eBay’s heels in terms of audience. It is ranked the 12th most visited site in the United States, according to Alexa. Like eBay, Craigslist has tens of millions of users per month in the US. USA And a large international presence, with more than 700 local sites in 70 countries.

However, since Craigslist users typically buy and sell from the specific site to their own geographic location, it’s important to note that your item is only visible to a fraction of Craigslist’s global audience. While you can only post to your local site, shoppers have the option to search for sites outside of their area.

Despite the wide reach of Craigslist, it doesn’t work for all venues. Even if you are technically outside the scope of a certain site, in an extreme suburb, for example, you may find yourself connected to vendors who live hours away from you. Therefore, a $ 20 baby bouncer is likely to be more difficult to sell if the buyer has to spend three hours on a round trip to pick it up, and if you are a seller who is offering delivery, you can spend more on gas than you can make at the sale.

The Craigslist publishing process is very simple. All you have to do is create a title and category for your listing. You can add photos and a description with as much or a little detail as you choose. Once you have published your list, it is easy to edit it as needed.

It’s free to post as many items as you like on Craigslist, with a few minor exceptions. Craigslist makes money by charging companies to publish job lists in certain major markets, such as San Francisco. He also charges to post apartment rentals in New York City. Most everything else is free to post.

Craigslist displays posts in chronological order. In a large market, in popular categories (like household items), new posts may appear every few seconds. That means that shortly after you’ve published your post, it could end up buried behind a hundred others.

Craigslist makes it easy to renew a post and “beat it” at the top – just click a link in the confirmation email you received when you first posted it. However, you cannot update a list until 48 hours have passed since the original post. It is a good idea to use as many keywords as possible in your article description; This improves the chances of someone (using the keyword search tool) reaching your post, even if it is buried deep in files.

Most posts expire after a limited time on Craigslist, especially in major markets where the flood of posts would put a strain on Craigslist servers. Courtesy dictates that sellers remove items that have been sold or are no longer offered. Expiration dates vary by item and city, but general private sale listings, for example, last seven days in major markets and 45 days in other areas. Major markets include New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Austin, Seattle, Portland, San Diego, South Florida (including Miami and Key West), Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area and craigslist Tampa.

Craigslist Advantages

  • Local Transactions By dealing locally, you avoid the hassles of shipping and insurance. Plus, you have the added bonus of selling location-appropriate items: surfboards in Hawaii, snowsuits in Minneapolis, and tickets to Red Sox games in Boston.
  • Option for “free” listings. If you can’t sell your junk on Craigslist, you can get rid of it by taking advantage of the “Free” section. Many people simply put their articles on the sidewalk and identify the post as a “sidewalk alert.” Please note, however, that this approach requires disclosure of your home address, which is a potential security hazard.
  • Limited downside to publishing. Since there are no selling parameters (such as auctions, bids, or minimum selling prices), it is a low-risk proposition to post items on Craigslist. If you do not get an acceptable offer, you are not required to make a sale and you can remove your post at any time. It is important to note that “low risk” refers to the listing and selling process, not transactions on Craigslist, which can make sellers and buyers vulnerable to scams and potential personal security risks.

Disadvantages of Craigslist

  • Scam Risk Since payment transactions are not hosted on the site, Craigslist is likely to be more susceptible to scams than eBay. Craigslist is outspoken about warning sellers not to engage in transactions where buyers insist on paying by cashier’s check or bank transfer. You should always try locally, although a possible exception to this rule is if you are listing a specialty item and receive an inquiry from an out-of-state buyer. However, be sure to do your due diligence, even conducting a background check or asking authorities at the buyer’s location may be appropriate if the item is of great value. Whatever happens, don’t pay money upfront to cover shipping.
  • Personal safety hazards. The classifieds researcher AIM Group links 85 murders to Craigslist transactions, along with countless robberies. While most people who sell and buy on Craigslist are honest, it is very important to take precautions. Buyers commonly require sellers to pick up an item, but that shouldn’t mean inviting someone over to your house. Agree to meet in a neutral location and never engage in a transaction alone. You should also not include any personal details in an ad, and if you can, use an anonymous email address to exchange information with interested buyers. According to National Public Radio,
  • More barriers to completed sales. As online platforms that securely secure payment and allow sellers to send anyone with a valid email address, eBay and Amazon have an easier and more predictable sales process. Conversely, much more can go wrong during the Craigslist sales process. For example, buyers may decide to back down after accepting the purchase but before the money is redeemed, or appear on the neutral site and initiate a difficult deal in hopes that the motivated seller will accept a lower price. These barriers are especially problematic for higher volume sellers, who cannot afford to spend much time and effort on each individual transaction.

Bottom line

The lack of fees for most items makes Craigslist a very low-risk company ideal for large, heavy, or unwieldy items that are not practical for shipping or can easily be left to donate. It is also a great option for breakable items that require special packaging to ship properly. When transacting through Craigslist, it’s best to request cash-only payments, and you should always meet buyers in a neutral public place.

Amazon

Amazon is an e-tailing pioneer who started selling books online in the late 1990s. Today, it is the world’s largest retailer by market capitalization. You can buy almost anything, new or used, on Amazon. Amazon is also a leading content and hardware producer, with best-selling products like the Kindle e-reader and a growing list of original shows.

Like eBay, and unlike Craigslist, Amazon is not dependent on physical geography. As long as they both have email addresses, two people or companies can complete Amazon transactions. That said, Amazon is not solely, or even primarily, a person-to-person retail platform. Sellers must understand that their biggest competitor is the site itself.

According to Amazon, only 40% of its total unit sales are generated by third parties, which means that direct sales to the customer represent the remaining 60%. This competitive environment favors seasoned hobbyists and professionals who trade in high volumes, rather than individuals cleaning a handful of items in the attic, basement, or garage.

Items offered for sale on Amazon generally have firm prices, no deals or haggling here. Payment is securely made through Amazon, usually by credit card or EFT, and items are almost always shipped by mail or private parcel (rather than in-person delivery, the default option for Craigslist sales ).

Sell ​​on Amazon

Amazon is among the top 10 websites in the world, according to Alexa. In 2013, it became Walmart as the world’s most valuable retailer in terms of market capitalization. With fast-growing and diversifying opportunities for online sellers, it is one of the best places to earn extra income selling unwanted items online.

You can sell on Amazon as an individual or as a professional. The former is best for those who sell in relatively low volumes and don’t plan to make a living from retailing on Amazon (or online retail in general). The latter is better for people who want to make a living (or already do) selling things online.

Sell ​​as an individual
If you plan to sell less than 40 items per month, the Individual plan is a better financial offer. You pay nothing to list your items and nothing if they never sell. When an item is sold, you pay a flat fee of $ 0.99, plus a variable referral fee (generally 6% to 20% of the sale price, with a minimum of $ 1, but can be as high as 45% of the price Selling Your Amazon Device Accessories) Media items, such as books and DVDs, have an additional closing fee, generally $ 1.35 per item, regardless of sale price. Individual sellers never pay Amazon subscription fees.

Sell ​​as a professional
If you plan to sell more than 40 items per month, the professional plan makes more sense. It comes with a $ 39.99 monthly subscription fee, exempt for the first month. Professional sellers do not pay listing fees. They also don’t pay the $ 0.99 flat sale fee, although they are responsible for the same referral and closing fees as individual sellers.

Listing and selling your items
Before listing an item, determine which Amazon product category it fits into. This could determine which plan to select, as some product categories (such as automotive) are only available to professional sellers. Additionally, some categories, including automotive and beauty products, are “restricted.” To sell in a restricted category, you must request explicit permission from Amazon through the seller contact form, even if you are a professional seller. Some restricted categories, such as automotive, are only available to professional sellers.

Actually listing products on Amazon is easy, although it can be time consuming for individual sellers with multiple items. First, search Amazon for the item you plan to sell, noting prices for similar or identical items. If the exact product is already on another Amazon Marketplace seller’s list, you can create your own list under that product’s heading. To complete your listing, please add high quality pictures, specify quantity and quality or condition, set competitive price according to condition and quality, and list your shipping options.

If the exact product is not yet on Amazon, you must upload the UPC or EAN (European Item Number) and SKU, as well as a more detailed description of the product specifications and descriptive attributes. After that, you need to specify the quantity, condition, price, and shipping. For products being added to the Amazon Marketplace for the first time, Amazon strongly recommends uploading high-quality images.

Amazon listings remain on the site indefinitely, disappearing only when products run out. Shoppers can sort item search results in a number of ways, but the lowest to highest price is the most common, so your items will likely be more visible if they are priced at or near the bottom of the package. . If you’re motivated to sell fast, take advantage of sales tools like Match Low Price, which automatically adjusts to your listing price with the lowest prices on comparable Amazon items.

payment and shipping

Amazon notifies you when your item sells. You can manage shipping details yourself or outsource shipping to Fulfillment By Amazon, through which third-party sellers can take advantage of Amazon’s extensive (and growing) network of distribution centers.

DIY Shipping and Compliance
When you handle the shipping by yourself, you are responsible for printing the packing sheets, notifying the buyers that your products are ready, packing the products cleanly and safely, sealing packages so that they do not deteriorate during the trip and send them through the US Mail. USA Service (allowing you to arrange free pickup in advance) or a private parcel service like FedEx. As with eBay, you are responsible for postage, tracking, and insurance, although you may pass these costs on to buyers at their discretion. DIY shipping makes the most sense for individual, low-volume professional sellers, as long as they have room to store and pack inventory.

Compliance by Amazon
Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) is a practical, turnkey approach that makes sense for high-volume professional sellers. With FBA, you only need to ship your items in bulk to your Amazon dispatch center, either with Amazon’s discounted shipping service or through a private provider. Then Amazon stores your items, ships them when you buy them, and lets you keep track of everything with a high-tech inventory management system. Most FBA orders qualify for free shipping when the customer’s order size is large enough, and Amazon Prime members can take advantage of expedited shipping options (such as overnight delivery) that may not be able to offer.

Logistically, FBA takes a lot of weight off high-volume sellers, but there is a downside: a number of potential fees. Common FBA fees include monthly storage fees ($ 0.54 per cubic foot from January to October and $ 2.25 per cubic foot in November and December) and item removal (returned items cost $ 0.50 each, while removal of non-salable items cost $ 0.15 each).

Payment
When your item is sold, Amazon collects the payment (usually by credit card or EFT) and deposits the seller’s payment into your seller account, less any sales or fulfillment fees. Amazon automatically terminates seller accounts every 14 days, provided they have a balance of at least $ 1. You can request payments to your personal or business bank account every 24 hours, but Amazon reserves the right to keep some funds in your account to cover chargebacks and refunds as needed. Transfers from your seller account to your bank account generally take three to five business days.

Advantages of Amazon

  • Greater confidence in the platform and its sellers. Amazon refers to itself as “a brand that trusts millions.” That’s not boast, as a great company known for its competitive prices and fast shipping, Amazon has earned the trust and respect of the world. While eBay sellers’ success is strongly determined by the quality and quantity of their ratings and reviews, Amazon buyers place their trust in the platform itself. This makes it easier for new inexperienced Amazon sellers to gain a foothold on the platform and start making money on it.
  • Fewer scams. The public has good reasons to trust Amazon – it is highly secure. Since Amazon hosts all payment transactions, including those between third-party buyers and sellers, the risk of fraud is much lower than on Craigslist. Also, sellers using Amazon Fulfillment Services don’t have to worry about common buyer scams, such as fraudulent claims of lost or damaged items.
  • Growing market. In contrast to eBay, which has seen anemic revenue growth and real decreases in visitor counts since its initial recovery after the recession, Amazon is posting consistent sales and traffic increases, month after month. Although Amazon sellers are becoming more numerous, the group of buyers is expanding, and individual buyers are spending more and more. More people and dollars on the platform mean more opportunities to sell and, most likely, more money will flow into your pocket.
  • You can sell from home You don’t have to personally meet Amazon buyers, so you can list your items and get paid from the comfort of your home. Even if you have to visit the post office to send packages, you don’t have to deal with the hassle of driving around town (or further afield) to meet shoppers.

Disadvantages of Amazon

  • Some product categories are restricted. Sellers with individual plans do not have a free domain on Amazon. Amazon requires sellers to obtain approval for items listed in certain categories, such as cosmetics, while other categories (including automotive) are available exclusively to professional sellers. This encourages regular sellers to make the leap to professional status, but it is a potential obstacle for casual sellers who do not want to be professionals.
  • Higher rates. Amazon’s fees are generally higher than eBay’s, and definitely higher than Craigslist’s. This is the case even for low volume individual sellers, who must pay $ 0.99 plus referral fees for each item they list. By contrast, eBay does not have a listing fee for sellers listing less than 50 items per month.
  • No Auction Option Amazon does not offer an auction-style put option. This limits the financial spike in popular or hard-to-find items, as there is no chance of a bidding war between motivated buyers.
  • There is no free listing option. If you’ve tried and couldn’t sell an item and just want it to go, you can’t use Amazon for the digital equivalent of putting it on the sidewalk. That’s a downside relative to Craigslist, whose ever-popular “free” option is a great way to get rid of the trash that you can’t store, sell, or give away.


Bottom line
Amazon is a reliable broker that is ideal for higher volume sellers, especially those with multiple copies of the same product. Thanks to a streamlined transaction process and an amazing compliance system worthy of the world’s largest retail chain, it’s easy to quickly scale with Amazon if you decide to go from downloading junk to earning real income (or even quitting your job and earning a full-time income) as an online marketer.

Alternatives

While eBay, Craigslist and Amazon dominate the market for buying and selling used items, there are more and more alternatives:

1. Local Facebook groups

Many municipalities have one or more Facebook groups dedicated to selling, trading, or exchanging items. Members can post photos, descriptions, and prices of junk items, allowing others to participate in discussions with sellers in the comment section.

Partnering with Facebook can reduce potential scams, as names, photos, and other identifying details are involved. It is essentially the equivalent of social media to miniature garage sales.

2. Consignment

Purchases in thrift stores have had a huge revival in recent years. While thrift stores often sell items that have been donated, consignment stores sell items on behalf of individuals.

Consignment shops usually operate according to two main models:

  • Buy items directly from individuals, typically between 10% and 50% of the estimated retail price
  • Pay the recipient a percentage of the sale price, often close to 50%, if the item is sold within a certain period of time (usually 90 days)

Generally, you receive a higher percentage of the sale price by working with a consignment store that operates the second method; however, there is no guarantee that you will get any money by following that route. If you don’t pick up your unsold items within a certain period of time, the store will probably donate them.

3.Donation

While donating your junk items doesn’t directly put money in your pocket, it’s worth considering for several reasons:

  • It’s Charitable Find an organization that accepts donations on behalf of the cause closest to your heart.
  • It is simple. Many organizations place restrictions on items they can accept to donate. For example, you cannot donate paint, chemicals, or large appliances to most Goodwill chapters. Still, she gratefully accepts a much wider variety of items, and a wider range of quality, than most buyers on Craigslist and eBay. In summary, Goodwill is not fussy. And some organizations, like the Disabled American Veterans charity, even provide free sidewalk pickup services.
  • It is tax-deductible. If you make a donation to a registered 501c (3) nonprofit, there is a good chance that you may cancel the value of the donation on your annual tax return. Be sure to check with the organization to confirm this, and get a receipt – detailed if possible – for your tax records. If your donation is worth $ 250 or more, you need the recipient’s written documentation that they received nothing in return. If your donation is valued at more than $ 500, you may need to provide documentation (such as receipts) showing how you first acquired the property. Consult with a tax professional before making a donation valued at $ 500 or more.

Final word

Selling used and unwanted items not only puts money in your pocket, it is also a very “green” environmental practice. When someone buys a used item instead of buying a new one, they have reduced the carbon footprint inherent in sourcing, producing, and distributing an item. Plus, by giving a junk item a new home, you keep it out of a landfill.

The method you choose to sell or discard your items is up to you, but be sure to put your personal safety above any potential monetary gain. Your life and health are worth more than the $ 20 you hope to get for that old blender.

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