A Guide to Selling Your Unwanted Stuff Online
Selling your unwanted items can be a double reward—space is cleared and money is earned. However, unlike donating, selling involves the additional work to list the item online, update and refresh the listing, coordinate the sale, and store the item in your home until it sells. Sometimes it’s better to simply donate so the item is out of your space immediately. After all, your home is meant to be a sanctuary, not a storage unit.
In my experience, selling an item makes sense when:
You have the time to do it.
You will make enough money from the sale for it to be worth it.
Those parameters are different for everyone, and may change over time for you. Before founding Minima in 2010, I was underemployed for two years. I had an abundance of free time, but very little money. Selling a lot of my stuff was my means of financial survival and part of how I began to identify with minimalism. Even something that sold for $5 was worth it to me then. Now, my threshold is higher.
You might think of the money from selling your stuff as extra savings, guilt-free spending money, a vacation fund, or extra debt payments.
If you decide to sell something, here is my step-by-step process for creating successful online listings.
Step 1 | Get started
Select a staging area where you can consolidate and store the items until they are sold. This way you can enjoy your newly simplified surroundings immediately rather than waiting until the sale occurs. You might use the trunk of your car, the garage, the basement, a corner of a room, or a spare bedroom.
Consider whether there are items you can consign, such as clothing or housewares, rather than sell independently. While you may not make as much money, you will still make some and avoid the hassle of selling it yourself.
Step 2 | Determine pricing
If the item is in great condition, I start my listing price between 50% and 75% of the current retail value, which can usually be found online. Even if the item is brand new, it is going to be purchased secondhand—most things won’t resell for 100% of the retail value.
Exceptions to the rule include collectibles and hard to find items which often do best on eBay. Many years ago, I sold a brand new bike on Craigslist for near full retail value because it was a special order size and I was saving the buyer the hassle of the order.
It never hurts to price high, but if the item doesn’t sell within a month, bring the price down.
Step 3 | Create the listing
I sell most of my items on Facebook Marketplace, but there are other options such as eBay, Poshmark, or Mercari. I’ve even sold things through Minima’s Instagram account.
In order to attract buyers, you must create a clear listing with good photos. Smartphone photos work well for most listings as long as the background is uncluttered, the photos are taken from a nice angle, and the lighting is good (natural lighting is best). I recommend using Photoshop or a similar app to edit and brighten the images.
In the title of the listing, include a full description of what you are selling and any important keywords. For example, rather than posting “Printer” post “Epson Stylus Photo 1280 Ink Jet Printer”. I always repeat the title and price at the beginning of the body of the listing: “I am selling an Epson Stylus Photo 1280 Ink Jet Printer for $150.”
In the rest of the body of the listing, include the purchase price or current retail value, the condition of the item, other specs/info (sometimes a link to the manufacturer’s website is appropriate), details of exactly what is included in the sale (printer manual, ink cartridge, original box, etc.) and in some cases, an explanation of why you are selling the item.
Clarify what forms of payment you will accept and whether the item is pick-up only, or if you will offer shipping or delivery.
Step 4 | Refresh the listing
Once you’ve created your listing, it may take awhile to attract the right buyer. I refresh my listing as often as the sales platform will allow to make sure my item stays at the top of the list and gets plenty of visibility. It may take a month or more, but almost every item I have posted for sale has eventually sold.
As mentioned in Step 2, you may have to lower your initial asking price. I recommend leaving the initial price where it is for a month at most. After a month, drop the price by 25% and see if you get more interested buyers. Drop the price by an additional 25% after two months. If the item hasn’t sold after two months, it may be best to donate it.
Step 5 | Make the sale
I live in a fairly populated area, so I don’t mind sharing my address with the buyer. I set up a time to meet them outside of my home during daylight hours and share my Venmo account in advance. If you’re more comfortable meeting in a public place, offer that option to the buyer instead. If you’d like an additional safeguard, have a friend or family member at home or with you during the transaction. Be on the lookout for scammers and never accept person checks or wired money. If your intuition is telling you something is off, do a quick Google search to see if others have had a similar exchange. I have not had any weird scenarios or issues, and I’ve been selling my unwanted stuff online for over a decade now.
I hope this will help all of you would-be sellers out there get started. If you are like most people, there is money to be found in every corner of your home. People will buy anything from a broken cell phone to used pillows to a beat up old chair—as long as the price is right. Ask yourself, “Would I rather have this thing I’m not using, or the cash?”
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