If you’re anything like me, you bin watched, Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up and then proceeded to pile up and thank all the belongings that did not spark joy. But, what do you do with all of your beloved stuff that is no longer sparking joy?
There are 2 main options: donate or sell. If you’re looking for the easiest answer, bag it up and drop it off at any thrift store. But, if you made it this far, you’re clearly looking to sell stuff online and recoup some of your hard earned bacon. So, let’s do it!
First, let’s define stuff. Stuff includes anything someone might have in their home.
What kind of stuff can I sale online?
- Toys
- Clothes
- Kitchen gadgets
- Appliances
- Dishes
- Furniture
- Shoes
- Bags, accessories, jewelry
- Craft supplies
- Tools
You can try to sell anything online! In 2018, I sold $2,746 worth of stuff I did not want. I sell most of my items on neighborhood buy/sell facebook group, but I’ve tried it all. So far in 2019 (January- March), I’ve sold $1,885 worth of stuff I don’t want in my house.
How to sell used stuff online
The bottom line with selling stuff online is how much time are you willing to invest. I give myself a strict timeline of 1 week to sell an item. If it’s not gone in a week, I either donate it or give it away on my buy nothing facebook group. More about how to get rid of the extra stuff at the bottom of this post.
1. Poshmark
Poshmark is an online marketplace for anyone to sell or buy clothing and accessories. For the sake of research for this article, I listed 5 pieces of clothing on Poshmark. I actually sold a pair of never worn Lulu Lemon athletic shorts, but then opted to sell them to a lady in my neighborhood facebook group for cheaper because I didn’t have make a trip to the post office. I’m not patient enough for Poshmark. I want things gone yesterday. But, I’ve had friends use it and love it and there is no doubt you can make more money with this method.
Bottom line: If you have the time and space to store items for a bit longer, it’s a great option.
2. ebay
I have not personally used Ebay to sell anything, but I interviewed a few people who sell things on eBay as a side hustle and they love it. If you’re willing to invest time in photography, proper description writing, and post office drop offs, you can make more money. I do use eBay as a tool to price specific items in my home, especially vintage items.
3. Facebook neighborhood buy/ sell group
Personally, this is my favorite method for selling stuff online. Things sell quick and I don’t have to go to make a trip to the post office. Porch pick up (PPU) is such a time saver. I simply set the item on my porch and the buyer picks up and either leaves cash under my doormat or pays with Venmo. This option largely depends on how active/ large your neighborhood buy/sell group is. My group has 1700+ people in it and is very active so it works well. I consider it an online garage sale and set prices accordingly. For instance, I sold 5 pairs of name brand jeans for $5 each. I make my posts short and sweet with a brief description, dimensions, and if possible, a link to the exact product online. I sold the mini fridge in the picture below in a few hours on my neighborhood group.
Bottom line: You won’t make as much money as you could with the above 2 options, but buyers come to you and the items are gone quickly.
4. Facebook marketplace
This is my favorite method for selling furniture and oddly enough, craft supplies. My mom lives in a smaller town and uses this method often since her neighborhood buy/sell group is small. The con to this method is if you have a popular item, be prepared to weed through many, many facebook messages. Also, pick up is never as reliable as my neighborhood but/sell group.
Bottom line: If you can’t sell it on your neighborhood group, this is a good next option.
5. Facebook personal profile
I’ve had multiple people tell me they do well simply selling items on their personal facebook profile page. If you live in a small town and don’t have access to to these larger neighborhood groups, this is a great option. I’ve never tried this.
6. Thred Up
Thred Up is easy and the clean out kit is free. You can choose to pay $11 and Thred Up will return your unaccepted items. I did not do this and let Thred Up “responsibly recycle” my items. Thred Up sends you a clean out bag complete with a pre paid shipping label. Simply fill the bag with the things you don’t want and drop it off at a Fed Ex pick up location. Two weeks after I sent my bag in, I received an email saying the bag was being processed. Three weeks after that I received my offer. I appreciate the transparency of exactly what items made the cut, what Thred Up priced the item for, and your potential consignment earnings. At this point, I could choose to take the $17.12 in upfront earnings or potentially make $35.60 with consignment earnings. You have 1 week to decide, and I decided to take the consignment route. You can see my current standings below. I have $17.66 credit and still have 5 items to sell. It is fun to note, that you can get 15% more if you choose to take a Reformation credit instead of cash. Instead of the $17.66 cash I can receive, I could get $20.31 to Reformation.
Bottom line: Thred Up makes it super easy, but you don’t make much money. If you have lots of high priced name brand clothes and were considering donating them, this could be a good alternative to make a little cash.
What happens if I don’t sell everything?
I never end up selling every single item I list and that’s ok. Here are a few of my favorite methods for getting rid of the let over stuff.
- Give it away to family, neighbors, or friends. My college age brother loves when I save him Andy’s hand me downs! I’m also a huge fan of Buy Nothing pages on facebook. Read more about Buy Nothing project here.
- Donate baby and women’s clothing and accessories to a women’s shelter.
- Give books, DVD’s, & CD’s to libraries and schools.
- PickUpPlease.org sounds like an amazing organization. Schedule a pick up at your home and they even leave a tax deductible receipt on your doorstep! Currently, only serving 13 states.
- If you live in Austin, Austin Creative Reuse is an amazing place to donate craft supplies.
- Another great place to donate craft supplies are retirement homes. I also send a lot of craft supplies to my kids teachers!
- Clothing swaps are a great option if you are in the market for new to you clothes.
Do you sell stuff online? Have you ever tried Thred Up? I’d love to hear your tips and tricks for getting rid of the things you don’t want in your house!
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