selling excess stuff to raise money

Selling your excess stuff online or through real-life venues can be a great way to quickly raise some extra cash. What would you do if you found you needed a $400 car repair right now? Many (probably most) people would reach for their credit card. Any financial expert will tell you that this is why building an emergency fund is so important. But if you don't have that fund built up yet, selling your extra stuff can serve as a good method of not using credit in the interim.

There are several venues for online and real-life sales to meet your specific needs and audience.

eBay
eBay is the most famous site for selling goods. But, eBay is not the best choice for many items and its format has its pros and cons. eBay has a huge audience which makes it a great choice for collectible items, clothing, and other hard to sell goods. Shipping costs can be very prohibitive, so lightweight items tend to sell most easily. A definite plus to eBay is that it is monitored with very specific rules of behavior and it uses a feedback system to help buyers evaluate a potential seller. Drawbacks to eBay include the myriad fees, such as a listing fee, a percentage of sales, and a PayPal fee if you wish to offer buyers electronic payment capability. In addition, PayPal and eBay accounts are the target of countless hackers and it is not uncommon at all to hear of someone in your direct circle of friends whose bank account has been violated.

When you first try eBay, start small and build up. Don't decide after your first successful eBay sale that this will be your new income. After 10 sales or so, you might be right in your aspirations, but eBay selling takes twice as much time (at least!) as you expect it will. Personally, I like to use eBay as a way to gradually bring in petty cash. If I have something I want to purchase in the $20 range, I will try to find something I can sell on eBay in the $20 range. This keeps the stress level down.

Craigslist
Craigslist is a network of hundreds of local advertisement sites. For this reason, it is a great choice for large items since only local pickup is encouraged, eliminating the need for shipping. The best part about craigslist is that it is absolutely free. You can even include pictures in your listing for nothing. The drawbacks are few, but significant. Number one, you reach only a local audience, and the majority of craigslist users match a certain profile: college-grads between 20 and 50 years old, who are firmly in the middle class. If there is a different audience for your item, you may not get many responses from a craigslist ad. Number two, there is the fact that local sales include an actual meeting between buyer and seller. It can be very risky to meet anyone with whom your only contact has been online and you must take the usual precautions, such as never allowing them inside your home (especially when you are there alone), always meeting in an open public meeting spot, and never revealing any personal information. And number three, craigslist users are commonly targeted by scam artists, so remember to only deal locally and in person. Never accept a cashier's check for any reason.

Local newspaper ads
You can place ads in local newspapers for a fee, and many now offer this capability online. "The Classified Section" was the primary way of placing ads for the past several decades, and it still has its staunch followers. Your audience will differ depending on what newspaper you are using, but in general, a local arts paper with liberal commentary will reach a similar audience to craigslist. A major newspaper with local and world news will effectively reach the over 50 audience, as will the community papers.

Consignment shops
If you have clothing or household goods that are name-brand and potentially in demand, a local consignment shop can be an easy way to sell these. Many charge a one-time startup fee and then a certain percentage of each sale. This is not the best option for raising cash quickly, since the turnaround time on receiving your money is often over a month.

Yard sales
Yard sales are always an effective way to make a few bucks. I like to save things throughout the year in a few designated yard-sale bins and combine a sale with several friends to draw in more people. There have been entire books written on running profitable yard sales, but I'm going to lay out just a few quick tips. First, use a table system rather than marking every item to save time. Set up 5 or 6 different tables or large blankets and mark the price just once for everything in that area. I typically do a 50 cents, $1.00, $2.00, $3.00 & $5.00 table. Don't accept very lowball offers first thing in the morning. These are your professional yardsalers, who just intend to mark up & resell your item. If they can see the value in it, hold onto it until a respectable offer comes in. Plan to stay out all day on a bright, sunny day. Gradually put things away as you have time. Relax and enjoy yourself. One day yard sales are usually sufficient. As a general rule, the second day on a two-day yard sale will only yield 25% of the first day's profits. Finally, I love to put up a big sign declaring "Half Off EVERYTHING" around 2:00. This always seems to bring in a steady stream of late-afternoon shoppers.

Familiarizing yourself with the selling venues mentioned is an invaluable tool to keep in your arsenal to eliminate consumer debt.

Get Moving: Look around the house for items you could easily part with and designate a spot to collect them. Decide which venue appeals to you most and try to sell one or more of your items there.

Annoying but necessary disclaimer: All information contained herein express my opinions only and are based on my health status & location. Each person's situation, health, and local laws & ordinances are different. By all means, use your own common sense & don't do anything you see here if someone more important than me (like your doctor, your local police, your own conscience) would disagree. If you're easily persuaded by everything you read, and you think I might cause you to hurt yourself or break the law, quit reading my site, please.