Clear out the clutter and claw in the cash

[homie]

Don't disregard overseas markets. Especially with the weak pound. A lot of my recent sales have been to Europe and America where they see items priced in pounds as a bit of a bargain. It means the shipping is cheaper for them too. Make sure you use tracked shipping and you will be protected enough. Not worth it for low value items though.

I've been on ebay for 18 years and have only ever had two problems. Once a scammer sent me an empty box (paypal refunded) and another time an item I sent broke in the post, I refunded the buyer and claimed a refund from Royal Mail.

I don't like their fees or the way they seem to be aiming more at professional sellers now, but have never found a viable alternative.

 

[katykicker]

Don't disregard overseas markets. Especially with the weak pound. A lot of my recent sales have been to Europe and America where they see items priced in pounds as a bit of a bargain. It means the shipping is cheaper for them too. Make sure you use tracked shipping and you will be protected enough. Not worth it for low value items though.

I've been on ebay for 18 years and have only ever had two problems. Once a scammer sent me an empty box (paypal refunded) and another time an item I sent broke in the post, I refunded the buyer and claimed a refund from Royal Mail.

I don't like their fees or the way they seem to be aiming more at professional sellers now, but have never found a viable alternative.

You can opt to sell items abroad only via the eBay distribution centre. I accidentally had 5 or 6 items that were available via this, I sent them off as i'd sold them before I realised, and they arrived fine!

 

[BoostMyBudget]

It's so true about decluttering being good for your emotional/mental health. I did the Konmari method last year and had a huuuuuge clear out. Sadly this was before I got into money making, so I just took everything to charity shops as I couldn't be bothered with eBay!

I have sold a few books using the Ziffit and We Buy Books apps though. I've found that they usually don't want mainstream bestsellers, but anything in lower supply like academic books or foreign books can get a good price. It's worth scanning things into both apps as sometimes the price varies.

 

[asajj]

Don't disregard overseas markets. Especially with the weak pound. A lot of my recent sales have been to Europe and America where they see items priced in pounds as a bit of a bargain. It means the shipping is cheaper for them too. Make sure you use tracked shipping and you will be protected enough. Not worth it for low value items though.

I wouldn't indeed if I have a high-value item but I rarely have them I remember selling some train sets to Australia. It was OH's grandad's and was used to fund his retirement! They were relatively rare and fetched a good price.
I tried te Ebay distribution centre however due to some strange reason, it didn't work. I think it was something that the buyer should be using their local website and see my item on it, rather than using Ebay.co.uk and buy from it. I might be wrong but thankfully buyer was nice and I had no issues.

 

[dollydebz]

I hate eBay BUT it has served me well over the years and actually this week have sold a couple of items on there. I've been on it since the late 1990's when I sold 80's toys. Back then you could go to a car boot sale and literally pick them up for pennies and sell them to collectors for ££ because no-one had heard of eBay ;D

My most memorable was about 15 years ago, I bought a bag of dolls. In it was a really tatty one - only one and a half legs, hair cut, pen marks etc. I listed it just on the off chance someone wanted it and it had loads of interest and a huge bidding war. With 10 minutes to go it was at about £15 (more then happy with that!) and actually finished at £370 Apparently it was a rare prototype doll and the American buyer was delighted. She said that had it been perfect, it would have been worth thousands.

Unfortunately never had anything like that since!

 

[Beadyjan]

The next part of my bootcamp is now live: http://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/moneymaking-bootcamp-clear-out-the-clutter-and-claw-in-the-cash/

Having a declutter can be really good for you emotional and physically. Having more space around your home is great, walking to the post office is good exercise and who doesn’t like making some money?!

Over the years I have been surprised at the random items I have been able to sell. What is your best/most memorable sale ever? I’d love to hear more!

My best ever sale was a knitting pattern! I had a box of my Mums old knitting patterns and was going to seel them as a job lot on ebay, but when I looked on there I saw that toy patterns by a certain designer were selling for good prices. So I listed them seperately, a couple didn't sell 5 sold for around £5 to £10 each but one got in a bidding war and sold to a guy in the USA for nearly £100 I was ecstatic! So my tip is do your resaerch before you sell. Though nowadays I find Facebook selling is quicker and yields better results.

 

[Jon]

in the very very very past I remember I used to hit up car boot sales for stuff I could sell on ebay.

My niche was old gaming stuff so I was always on the lookout for SNES/MegaDrive related gaming things.

Some sold, some didn't but you just had to accept that was part of the course.

These days I just don't have the time for any of that sort of stuff but I know some people seem to like hitting up charity shops and getting things for pence and then selling them for a profit on eBay but to me it just seems a huge amount of manual work lol

 

[Beadyjan]

I saw Vinted mentioned above. Wonder if anyone can tell me if its worthwhile?
I have quite a few clothes and accessories to sell, I tried the Schpock app, but found I was the only person in my locality uing it and despite spending ages listing stuff I never got any enquiries or interest at all.
I think a lot of selling sites like this have a lot of members in London and "the South" but up here in the frozen North East it's still to catch on.
If you've sold on there have you any advice as to what sells best, how many items sold and how long it took?

 

[asajj]

I saw Vinted mentioned above. Wonder if anyone can tell me if its worthwhile?
I have quite a few clothes and accessories to sell, I tried the Schpock app, but found I was the only person in my locality uing it and despite spending ages listing stuff I never got any enquiries or interest at all.
I think a lot of selling sites like this have a lot of members in London and "the South" but up here in the frozen North East it's still to catch on.
If you've sold on there have you any advice as to what sells best, how many items sold and how long it took?

It was for me.

Another good thing about Vinted is that there is no time limit, you can put an item up and it will remain there until it is sold. You can think it like a personal shop perhaps, you put them and unless it is sold or taken down, it will be there. More similar to Etsy in that aspect.
Also, it is not an auction website, so you put a price and that's it. I am not in hurry to sell anything and I prefer to get the price I want instead of waiting for auction result, Vinted gives you that flexibility.You can obviously accept offers and lower the price.

I can't tell how long it took as I kept listing items whenever I had time and some were sold within a day while others not sold at all. At the end it didn't make much difference to me if I had to re-list something on Ebay because it wasn't sold, on average, it would be the same amount of time.

The majority of Vinted users are students/young professionals so brands targeting them are usually a good sell. You can also sell makeup.

I found Vinted easier to use as unlike Ebay, they don't always side with the buyer. They have, also, fewer rules about what can be listed. I never had luck with Facebook, so for me, it comes before FB too. However everyone is different and has different expectations, so you need to see how it works.

 

[Moneysavingmum]

I love a good clear out. I sold some of my children's old clothes over the weekend on Facebook & made £57, easy money!

 

[Jon]

I love a good clear out. I sold some of my children's old clothes over the weekend on Facebook & made £57, easy money!

that's good to hear [member=5684]Moneysavingmum[/member]

Do you sell more on Facebook than you do on ebay then?

 

[Moneysavingmum]

I love a good clear out. I sold some of my children's old clothes over the weekend on Facebook & made £57, easy money!

that's good to hear [member=5684]Moneysavingmum[/member]

Do you sell more on Facebook than you do on ebay then?

If I'm selling items like second hand kids clothes/toys/books then I tend to use Facebook. I found when selling these items on eBay once the fees had been taken off it wasn't worth it. I also find I tend to get more interest on the Facebook local selling pages for larger items that need collecting than I have done on eBay.

 

[RedAlix]

Sold another thing on Shpock today

 

[Anna]

What's the best way of accurately calculating the postage, when quoting the postage costs for selling clothes on ebay?

I'm thinking of getting some waterproof mailing bags, do the size of these may determine postage costs?

I had a look on the Royal Mail website at the standard 1st/2nd class mail and the signed for 1st/2nd class options... can you give the buyer the option on which postage they want to go for, or does the seller decide and just quote the one postage cost?

Any other tips on posting and packaging will also be appreciated!

 

[Falanouc]

Ideally you want to have your mailing bags and put the items into them and weigh them as you list. It's weight and dimensions that count so mailing bags are far better than jiffies because they are light and easily manipulated into various shapes and sizes.

You can work out postage costs here: http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder (just remember to include the cost of the mailing bag, labels etc when you list the cost rather than just RM's cost).

As far as I can remember you can list several postage options. Postage options really depend on value of the item. RM 1st Class will only cover you up to £20, signed for up to £50 and special delivery up to £500.. just in case anything does go missing and you need to put in a claim.

 

[Knopfler]

Hi, [member=4153]Anna[/member]

Also, if it is clothing and you're package needs to be a certain width and/or depth just be mindful that a mailing bag will not stay the same in transit e.g. it may get bunched up so make it fatter than you originally packed.

Depending on postage costs (I'm out of touch of sizes, weights now), it might be better to use a lightweight box. You can always cut them down to suit.

IMPORTANT: Don't forget that Ebay charge commission on the postage costs as well, not just the item. Then there is your Paypal commission to add on too.

Add a return address on the outside of every parcel you send (and one inside the parcel too if you are very thorough ) and ALWAYS get a receipt of postage from the Post Office.

 

[AngelaMCGF]

What's the best way of accurately calculating the postage, when quoting the postage costs for selling clothes on ebay?

I'm thinking of getting some waterproof mailing bags, do the size of these may determine postage costs?

I had a look on the Royal Mail website at the standard 1st/2nd class mail and the signed for 1st/2nd class options... can you give the buyer the option on which postage they want to go for, or does the seller decide and just quote the one postage cost?

Any other tips on posting and packaging will also be appreciated!

Have you thought of Hermes, they seem much more flexible with sizes and they are quite good in price. Compare the website prices and sizes to royal mail.

 

[katykicker]

What's the best way of accurately calculating the postage, when quoting the postage costs for selling clothes on ebay?

I'm thinking of getting some waterproof mailing bags, do the size of these may determine postage costs?

I had a look on the Royal Mail website at the standard 1st/2nd class mail and the signed for 1st/2nd class options... can you give the buyer the option on which postage they want to go for, or does the seller decide and just quote the one postage cost?

Any other tips on posting and packaging will also be appreciated!

Have you thought of Hermes, they seem much more flexible with sizes and they are quite good in price. Compare the website prices and sizes to royal mail.

I've used Hermes a few times lately. Earlier in the month a parcel was £7.50, including collection from my door and tracking, and it would have been more than £12 with Royal Mail.

 

[dolphintale]

Just posted about de cluttering as having a new kitchen, very reluctant to use eBay at the moment, I had a bad experience last year with an item I sent, I was informed by the buyer that the item was damaged, so I asked them to return it, and found the item had been deliberately sabotaged. So I questioned buyer and it got quite nasty, eBay themselves were not helpful and took the buyers side, thus leaving me with a negative feedback and my rating compromised, so just a bit nervous at the moment.

 

[katykicker]

Just posted about de cluttering as having a new kitchen, very reluctant to use eBay at the moment, I had a bad experience last year with an item I sent, I was informed by the buyer that the item was damaged, so I asked them to return it, and found the item had been deliberately sabotaged. So I questioned buyer and it got quite nasty, eBay themselves were not helpful and took the buyers side, thus leaving me with a negative feedback and my rating compromised, so just a bit nervous at the moment.

[member=426]dolphintale[/member] if you were to have such a problem again the best bet would be just to apologise, ask for them to send it back and claim back from the courier/royal mail as they'll cover you in full anyway... Just to save you worrying about the same problem again.

Some people bloody suck.