selling stuff

52 Week Make Money Challenge: Week One Results

January 5, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 8 Comments

The first week of me doing the 52 week make money challenge wasn’t at all what I anticipated. I thought it would be rather routine with me selling some stuff I wanted to get rid of, but that changed with an invitation to go to the beach.

I was invited by a friend to go to search for sea glass. I don’t actually collect it, but my friend does, and I’ll never turn down a day at the beach. I had an ulterior motive as well. There is an avid base of collectors who covet rare pieces, and sea glass can be used in jewelry as well. That means that if I happened to get lucky and find a top quality piece, it could be worth $50 – $100.

Now, this isn’t simply walking along the beach looking for sea glass that happens to wash ashore. This is pretty hardcore searching. Most people who do this don wet suits and spend the day digging in the gravel and sand (sea glass tends to accumulate in gravel) out where the waves break. They create their own special tools to scoop out the gravel and search for the glass. Here’s a photo of me going at it to give you a feel for what I’m talking about:

While we did find some rare colors, most of the pieces were pretty small and I gifted all those that I found to my friend. The result was that no money was made in this instance. I do believe there may be an opportunity to make some money this way at a later date, especially if a few good winter storms come through (this churns things up and is usually good for hunting sea glass).

What we did find while out on the beach were a lot of whole sand dollars:

I thought that these might have some value, so I collected ones I could find, and ended up gathering about 90. Of course they were still wet, so I had to lay them out to dry.

Once dry, my dilemma was how to try to sell them. I didn’t want to try eBay because of how fragile they are, (a number of them broke during transport and while moving them around when drying) and I didn’t want to take the risk sending them anywhere by mail. I ended up contacting a number of my artist friends to see if any of them were interested in the sand dollars. I ended up selling the best 50 from the lot for $10, or $0.20 a piece, to one of them. I don’t need to send them through the mail as I will simply deliver them to him the next time I’m in his area.

I probably sold them for less than I could have gotten if I’d tried a little harder. The main purpose this time was just to see if I could sell them. I will certainly be keeping my eyes open for more sand dollars on future trips to the beach now that I know that there is a market for them, and I can make some extra money picking them up.

It also was a good lesson in taking advantage of opportunities as they come. Selling sand dollars was never a plan or anything I even considered before. I could have very easily seen the sand dollars and left them (or picked up just a few). Anyone could have gathered them, but I was the only one on the beach who decided to do so. Simply deciding to see if there was a money-making opportunity by gathering them allowed me to earn an extra $10. Part of being able to earn extra money is recognizing opportunities that might allow you to do so.

Week 1 Total: $10.00

Goals for Week 2

I started to go through stuff that I have, but no longer use or need, and I have a lot more than I thought I did. It’s a bit overwhelming, but at least I dragged some of the boxes out of the garage and began to go through them. I didn’t put anything up for sale this first week, but I have started to go through and sort the items in them. The big goal will be to get more of the stuff sorted and begin to put some of it up for sale. If I can get this area organized enough to sell one to five items a week, I should do quite well going forward.

Your Stuff Is Just Stuff

November 8, 2010 By Jennifer Derrick 7 Comments

Around here we’ve hit the peak of the fall yard sale season. I headed out this weekend to check out a few and came away flabbergasted by the prices some of the sellers were charging for their stuff. I’m an informed consumer and I generally know the prices of the things I buy. I know what an item costs new, on sale, or used. And many of these sellers were charging new prices for used items. There’s nothing wrong with this if you can get that kind of money, I guess. If you can find enough suckers to buy your stuff, more power to you. The problem is that many of these people were not moving any merchandise. People were driving up, taking one look and driving away. Not exactly the recipe for a successful yard sale.

I see this on programs like Clean House, as well. People ask too much for their stuff. They think that because it’s sentimental to them, or special in some other way, that it must be worth more money. The trouble is, your stuff, while priceless to you, is just stuff to everyone else. It is stuff that has a market value. It does not matter to the buyer that the item was carried over from Ireland by your grandfather (unless it’s a true antique). It doesn’t matter that your child read his first words in that book, or took his first steps on that blanket, or loved that stuffed animal like a brother. It doesn’t matter that you love all the DVD’s in the collection you’ve put up for sale. All that matters to the potential buyer is the price, the quality, and whether or not the item meets their needs. Buyers generally know how much items cost in the stores and no one in their right mind is going to give you $15 for a DVD that’s so old it sells in the $5.00 bin at Walmart.

It’s the same way with larger items like cars and RV’s. I frequently look at used RV’s since it is a passion of mine. I’m always flummoxed by sellers that are listing RV’s for twice the Blue Book value. I know what’s happening: They’re trying to sell the RV for what they owe on the loan, not at the fair market price. There are also some sellers who play the sentimental card. “Oh, it was my first RV (or car) they claim, and I just love it so much.” But you can’t move a car or RV by doing that. A buyer who knows his stuff (and that should be almost anyone who is looking to plonk down $20K or more on a car or camper) won’t bite. They’ll ask you for a lower price and if you won’t budge, they’ll go elsewhere. At some point you have to accept that you’re not going to get enough to pay off the loan and either keep the item or figure out a way to pay off the difference. You have to accept that, even if your children were conceived in that car or camper, no one else will pay you top dollar for a vehicle that’s not worth it. Your memories don’t matter to buyers.

When you want to sell your stuff, whatever it might be, you have to price it according to what the market will bear. You have to leave sentiment and loan balances out of it. You can’t ask for more than the item is worth on the market. No one is going to pay $20K for your used car with 50,000 miles on it when the new one down the road is selling for $22K. No one’s going to pay $10 for a paperback book that’s selling at Amazon for $4.99. Unless you luck into a sucker, your stuff will stay your stuff forever. Price your stuff at market value and it will move. Price it a little below market value and it will move even faster.

Sell Your Stuff, Not Your Trash: Yard Sale Etiquette

June 28, 2010 By Jennifer Derrick 7 Comments

I went to a yard sale this weekend that was disappointing, to say the least. Everything on sale was either broken, damaged, dirty, or trash (one half-used crayon, a moldy mattress, a shirt so faded and tattered that it would only suffice for rags, and board games missing most of the pieces and with the decals peeling or missing from the base). I was there right after the sale opened, so I know it wasn’t a case of all the good stuff being snapped up already. Making matters worse: Things were just strewn on tables and tarps on the ground without any sort of organization. Needless to say, this person wasn’t making a lot of money.

If you’re going to have a yard sale, you need to sell stuff that people want to buy. Sure, you can sell some things that are broken or damaged. You don’t want to try to sell your trash, however. How do you tell the difference? Ask yourself these questions and answer honestly. (Note that you should ask yourself these same questions before donating an item to charity. If no one will buy it at a yard sale, a
charity isn’t going to want it either.)

Can the item be repaired at all, and for a reasonable cost?

People will buy things that they think they can repair for a reasonable cost. However, if the item cannot be repaired or it will cost more to repair than to buy a new one, most people won’t buy it. The broken toaster at this weekend’s sale is an example. Toaster repairs today cost far more than just buying a new one. Unless the buyer is skilled in toaster repair, you aren’t going to sell that item.

Is the item collectible or valuable?

If the item is a collectible or valuable, people might be willing to repair it knowing that they will get more out of it in the long run. If the toaster mentioned above had been from the 1950’s, someone might have purchased it and paid for the repairs, hoping that it might be worth more ten years from now. Or, they might have a use for it in a themed B&B. Otherwise, it’s garbage.

Can the item be used for anything other than its intended purpose?

You might be able to sell some battered clothes if someone can use them for the fabric. Maybe a quilt maker will buy them. However, the fabric needs to be in good condition and it had better be a unique pattern. You can also sell things like broken generators, mowers, or computers because someone might scavenge them for parts. If there is no other use for the item, it’s probably trash.

Is the item hygienic?

A dirty, moldy mattress isn’t going to sell. Neither is badly stained (upholstered) furniture, used underwear, well worn shoes, used hairbrushes, or smelly or stained clothes. If the item is of a personal nature or carries a lot of “personal” stains or smells, it won’t sell. People won’t buy things that are gross and unhygienic. These need to go in the trash.

Is the item still useful?

Is the item damaged in such a way that its usefulness is compromised or it is unsafe, even if it might still work? Cups with the handles broken off aren’t very useful anymore and should probably go in the trash. So should things like pots with broken handles, Tupperware without lids, and desktop picture frames missing the arm that makes them stand up. Technically these items still “work,” but not well or safely. They should go in the trash.

Is the item an odd bit?

Things like one crayon, one game piece, one empty CD case, or one magazine aren’t likely to sell. These things sell better in large lots, if at all. If you have just one odd bit, it’s probably better off in the trash.

If you have an item that you think is on the border between trash and useful, see if you can repair or clean it before putting it up for sale. If you can spruce it up or restore its functionality you’ll have a better chance of selling it. If you do try to sell something that’s broken or damaged, be honest about the problem and price it accordingly. For example, don’t try to sell tattered clothes for full price. Price them as rags or fabric scraps. Price an old, obsolete computer for the parts, not as a fully functional unit.

No matter what you try to sell at your yard sale, display it attractively and in such a way that it’s easy for people to browse. Don’t make your buyers crawl on the ground to view items or paw though piles of junk. Clean things up so people don’t get dirty wen browsing your sale. An attractive, well set up sale will go a long way toward enticing buyers.