Sell What You No Longer Use: Ways To Make Money

[jeffrey]

Chances are that you have a lot of stuff sitting in your closets and other storage spaces that you no longer use. Instead of letting it stay there until it's worthless, go through and sell those items now. Here is a great example from Leslie R, one of the members here:

One of the most difficult things for me to do was build up my emergency fund. It seemed that I lived every two weeks paycheck to paycheck and there was no buffer when emergencies did happen. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to build up an emergency fund.

Another problem that I was facing at the time was a too small apartment cluttered with things I no longer used. I was tired of not having enough space and I finally decided that it was time to get rid of a lot of stuff.

I knew that my junk wasn’t worth a lot of money, but I decided that I would try to sell it instead of throwing it out or giving it away. I also made the decision that any money that I made from doing this I would use as my emergency fund. I even went so far as to open a new account specifically to deposit any money that I made.

I sold my stuff in a variety of ways. I used Craigslist.org a lot. If I thought something had a bit of value, I would place it on eBay. I even had a garage sale to get rid of all those little things that I didn’t think would sell online.

The results were outstanding, at least for me. Over the last nine months of cleaning out my closets and other storage places, I’ve been able to put $1300 aside for a true emergency fund while not missing anything that I have sold. As a bonus, my apartment is a lot less cluttered and I actually have room again.

I really thought that I would never be able to build an emergency fund. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was sitting in my closet.

You probably have a decent amount of money sitting in your storage places if you take the time to look and sell.

[Frugalway]

This weekend I will do just that. Will check everything that I dont use anymiore and try to sell it on ebay or craiglist.

Thanks for the tip.

[creditcardfree]

I've sold books online for cash. The companies pay the shipping. This is a great option, for books that no longer have a value on ebay or amazon. This also works for CD and DVD's.

I've sold old cell phones for cash, too. Even today, I looked up a site that pays cash for used cameras. Mine's worth zero...since it no longer takes pictures. Darn.

Consignment sales, the twice a year type, have worked great for cashing in on my children's outgrown clothing and toys. I've made several hundred dollars at one sale! I just prepare the clothing, drop it off and wait for my check. Easy.

I sold our piano last Friday, by using craigslist.

EVERYTHING you have in your home has a potential cash value. Just look online to see if there is a market for it.

[gk advocate]

I have done that with some of my old pants..

Originally Posted by Frugalway

This weekend I will do just that. Will check everything that I dont use anymiore and try to sell it on ebay or craiglist.

Thanks for the tip.

[inneedofhelp]

I am going to see if I can sell some stuff on craigslist. sure, I will have to be careful and agree only to meet in public places, but I figure that i have some things that I can sell, and my local post office is sort of inconvenient to get to due to my work schedule.

i dont have much, so I am not sure how many people would be willing to buy what i have.

[connor_zen]

Best place to sell stuff, hands down, is the Amazon marketplace (or whatever they call it). Basically list yourself as a seller, and although you might have to wait a little longer for your stuff to sell than Craigslist or eBay, I've found it's more reliable than both those places.

[SoCoolGifts]

Thanks for the Amazon tip. I've shied away from Craigslist because some of the people are kind of creepy and I'm not terribly comfortable having them looking around my house.

[JackofAllDealz]

I like half.com and amazon best or hocking old dvd's and books. Just price your item right with the lowest price and write a detailed description. The bidding/monitoring on ebay is a real pain in the butt in my opinion. You can try Rapelist if you want, but make sure to bring your entire street gang to the meeting.

For other items consider a pawn shop. You will probably only get 30-50% of what the item is worth, but it's easy and better than nothing.

[TermMonster]

Ebay also sell your info to the world! I put some stuff on ebay and was quickly inundated with spam and unsolicited offers. That's one nice thing about using a pawn shop!

[buildmybudget]

My strategy is to never put anything in the attic. My wife keeps telling me to put stuff in the attic and that is the very moment I figure out how to sell it, donate it, or throw it away. My goal is to never have anything in the attic!

[1milliondollarchallenge]

Originally Posted by buildmybudget

My strategy is to never put anything in the attic. My wife keeps telling me to put stuff in the attic and that is the very moment I figure out how to sell it, donate it, or throw it away. My goal is to never have anything in the attic!

LOL, I LOVE that!

I have on various occassions sold things and made a decent amount of cash quickly. $600 once when i sold stuff i was sick of my husband storing, and turns out he did like the cash better!

I went through my house yesterday and got 2 boxes of stuff to sell. I was shocked. I have a small debt I want to clear and decided this was the quickest and easiest way to do that. Will see how it goes.

[The Debt Classroom]

We have pretty much purged our storage inventory lol We went through a rough patch about a year ago, and sold off pretty much any and everything we didn't need. It is a good way to get through the hard times, or build up a little cushion!

[SimplySaving]

Originally Posted by buildmybudget

My strategy is to never put anything in the attic. My wife keeps telling me to put stuff in the attic and that is the very moment I figure out how to sell it, donate it, or throw it away. My goal is to never have anything in the attic!

That is a great tip! Selling stuff is always a big struggle for me. I have the "but-what-if-I-will-want-it-again-someday" syndrome. But our house has very little storage space and we are trying to save up an emergency fund. I really need to jump on the selling-stuff bandwagon!

[Shaabenanizer]

My roommate left behind a 6 feet high salon-type hair dryer. I didn't think she was serious when she said she didn't want it anymore but after three months it's still here. I think I'll try to sell it on Craigslist, though I should make sure it works first.

[LaVicky]

Heres a bunch of pointers

1. Recycle - I now save the Plastic milk jugs, glass jars from any food item, there is a recycle place that takes all of it now and pays you for it, so I turn those in along with the usual soda bottles, cans, glass, etc. You can also take all sorts of scrap metal into the recycle places for cash.

2. Craigslist - I use it to sell items too bulky for selling/shipping on ebay and sites like that. Just be persistent. Ive listed some items over and over again for a few months till they sell, you can run an ad for a week, lower your price if its not moving, or just keep posting till you find the right buyer browsing or you make your item at a price that makes it quicker to move. Ive found it useful to sell furniture

3. Facebook - Post photos of stuff you dont want or can part with, collectible type items and make a folder, your friends might even be interested. Ive had a girlfriend buy a couple things from me, I just tell her "Make me an offer" at this point Im just happy to get stuff out and get some cash for it.

4. Ebay/Bonanza/Amazon/Etsy/Half . etc - there are so many auctions and sales sites. Sell anything and everything on these sites. Bonanza you can park your items for free at no cost, but they may sit for awhile, Ebay has a fee but has wide exposure and depending on your item may sell right away or may not. Half I also agree with others, great place to unload your book, CD, DVD collections. Very easy to list, you only pay your fee when the item sells, and they deduct it from the buyers payment and pay you shipping. You get an email notice when your item sells so you can put them in a box or cupboard out of the way and pull an item when it sells.

5. Yard Sale - I think we all know how that works Also use Craigslist to advertise your Yard sale for free! Ive used it and had about 5 people show up from seeing the ad there.

6. Gold/Silver Jewelry - The value of gold is way up these days, I had been saving some scraps after my sister told me she turned in some old jewelry. I had half a necklace charm, one gold hoop earring as I lost the other, a kinked up gold necklace, a mens class ring my son found buried in the dirt in our yard from the 1970s. Well I took all that in plus some old silverware and walked out with over $400! I was thrilled and had no idea Id get that much, and I would have gotten more now. So take in anything thats gold no matter what shapes its in!

7. Consignment - Some places have clothing consignment, we also have childrens consignment here too, kids clothes, furniture, toys, etc. Take you stuff in and get a portion of whats sold.

[tbri491]

I have to say that I love Craigslist and Amazon for getting rid of anything that I don't need. In addition there are so many things you can trade in for either similar items or cash such as electronics, books and there are even swapping places that you could try. One other place one should raid is there medicine/storage closet as I know that sometimes my mom will pick up a bunch of stuff on sale and then never use it so either sell it, swap it, or just give it away as gifts or donations (at least save a little money).

[justinblake]

They say you should get rid of things you haven't used for 6 months. Do you go by the same rule, too?

Anyway, which is better? eBay or Craigslist?

[jamesparker100]

Great point raised.There are loads of things which I have but never used them.Now I think the time has come to get rid off them.

[MrPolarZero]

What I do is go around forums and sell my stuff there, since it is easier. Of course, I only go to forums related to my items.

[MrPolarZero]

actually I have planned that before, since I have a lot of unused clothes in our storage room. But the problem is, our house is not that visible to people because it is located at the very end of the street, therefore, I don't know if people will get to see my products.