Declutter for money: Make $100s out of your cast-offs

I used to be struck by an unusually strong urge to prepare last week. And, as a substitute of fighting it off (as usual), I spotted that now’s the proper time to declutter for money. Decluttering before the vacations not only opens up space for the brand new belongings you’re sure to get, it lets you earn a couple of bucks to offset your holiday spending.

So I waded into closet after closet stuffed with the long-forgotten. Cute shoes that hurt my feet. Dresses that I loved five kilos ago. Gadgets that may be helpful, if I used to be willing to read the directions. Quilts that now not matched the room. Towels. Candles. Coffee Cups. Old phones and gadgets. It’s amazing how much stuff accumulates after I’m not looking.

Days later, I had an enormous pile of clothing, electronics and household goods to sell. The query was where to market these things to get the very best prices.

Specialized sites

From running SideHusl.com, I do know that selling home items isn’t so simple as placing a free commercial on CraigsList anymore. CraigsList stays an excellent place to seek out all kinds of inexpensive cast-aways. Nevertheless, sellers consistently say that they’re barraged with scammers the moment they place a list.

Fortunately, there are actually dozens of different sites to sell things, starting from electronics to shoes. And while most other sites charge fees to sellers, the convenience of promoting through a few of these other sites make them well price the fee.

But, for those who want the very best price in your goods, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Listed below are the very best sites to sell your goods by category if you declutter for money.

Declutter for money

The overwhelming majority of my decluttering haul was made up of clothing and shoes.

The shoes are easy to elucidate. I actually have exceptionally wide feet. So, while I actually have purchased quite a few pairs of attractive high-heeled shoes for things like weddings, anniversary parties and charity events, they hurt. So, I almost never wear them. And, perhaps due to the loosened dress standards caused by Covid, I don’t see ever again subjecting myself to fashion torture. I’m joyful to let another person nab those rarely worn stilettos.

Selling clothing and shoes

Evenly-used shoes and clothing can sell for a fairly penny, if you market them through the best site. On this case, that’s Poshmark. Poshmark encourages sellers to create a “closet” on the positioning, where you possibly can list all of the items that you have got to sell. You possibly can link your closet to your social media accounts and begin to construct a following of people that like your style and wear your size. This is especially helpful for people who find themselves selling their very own goods, not re-selling items in a wide range of sizes and styles.

There is no such thing as a fee to list. Nevertheless, for those who sell something, you’ll pay either a commission or a flat fee, depending on the item’s sales price. Commissions amount to twenty% for items that sell for greater than $15, which also covers the fee of shipping. There’s a flat $2.95 fee for things that sell for less.

Or…eBay

One other great site to sell clothing and shoes is industry giant eBay. One of the vital popular retailing sites on the earth, eBay draws hundreds of thousands of potential customers every month. But it surely’s not our top alternative for selling clothing and shoes because there are also 18 million sellers on the positioning. Which means common items can wander away within the shuffle.

eBay will let you promote your listing for a boosted sales commission. But that may get prohibitively expensive, particularly if you’re peddling lower-cost used goods. Regular eBay commissions for selling clothing and shoes range from 8% and 13.25%, depending on the item’s sales price. Shipping is extra.

Avoid TheRealReal

Perhaps you’ve got designer goods and have heard advertisements suggesting that you simply sell them on The Real Real. Don’t. Unlike eBay and Poshmark, which let you set your individual prices, The Real Real terms allow the positioning to discount your prices. And sellers say they do this ruthlessly. This site can also charge exorbitant commissions, leaving sellers with a tiny fraction of their item’s value.

Electronics

Have an old phone, tablet, smart watch or another electronic device gathering dust? There are dozens of websites willing to purchase or enable you to sell these devices.

Our top alternative to sell electronics is Swappa. What makes Swappa unique is that this site allows consumers to sell on to other consumers. Most other sites buy your goods for resale, taking a portion of the worth on each end of the transaction for his or her trouble. By taking out the middle-site, each buyers and sellers are inclined to get a greater deal.

That said, selling to a reseller is usually quicker and easier than negotiating directly with the top user. So, for those who’re willing to present up a portion of the sales proceeds for ease, take a look at ItsWorthMore and TheWhizCells. Each of those electronics-buying sites are highly rated by consumers who’ve used them.

Household goods

If it’s household goods that you simply’re attempting to declutter for money, that you must ask yourself whether you must sell locally or go after a national audience.

The larger and bulkier the item, the greater the argument for selling locally. That’s just because shipping can break the bank. Because of this, even for those who sell that end table locally for slightly lower than you would need to a national audience, you would possibly pocket more after the shipping costs are taken under consideration.

When selling in person, OfferUp is hard to beat. The positioning charges nothing for listings when the customer picks up items in person. For those who find your listing isn’t getting enough attention, you possibly can, nonetheless, pay a small fee to “boost” your listing to attract more buyers.

But for those who’re selling something specialized — perhaps a professional-quality sewing machine or expensive business equipment — it’s smarter to market through a site with a broader audience. This increases the possibility that somebody needs your unique product badly enough that they’ll pay a greater price for it.

Whenever you’re on the lookout for an enormous audience for specialised goods, there’s no higher place to sell than eBay. The positioning draws tons of of hundreds of thousands of shoppers each month. And, while shipping will be costly, eBay does provide shipping discounts for its sellers.

11/10/2023