By 2030, the second-hand clothing market is expected to soar to $84 billion while fast fashion will linger far behind at $40 billion. Which is good news for the planet and people who want to make money selling their used belongings.
Unfortunately, there are a few challenges to selling your items. Including how to do so safely, especially if you're selling online.
If you're looking to learn how to quickly, easily, and safely sell your unwanted items, keep reading.
Start By Decluttering
The first step is to declutter your home. It's important to sort out what you do like, use, and need from items that are now collecting dust and taking up precious space in your home (or storage area).
When you're finished decluttering, place back any items you want to keep where they belong. Items that you can't or don't want to sell but are still in good condition should be donated.
Anything else can be recycled, upcycled, or thrown away. Freecycle is a great resource for giving away items.
Pricing Items
Before you figure out the best place to sell an item, it's a good idea to determine how to price your items. You can most easily do that by looking up similar items online to see how much they're selling for. The top 3 sites for selling used items are:
Amazon
eBay
Facebook Marketplace
Be sure to take note of any imperfections and gather any documentation you may still have on each item so you can accurately determine the price you want. Do NOT focus on how much you paid for it.
This will only serve to muck up the selling process. Most items don't retain their value. You've already paid for and hopefully enjoyed the item. Even if you didn't, you already paid for it so it's in the past. Let it go and focus on getting it out of your life.
Where to Sell
Where you decide to sell depends on a few factors such as:
Time
Energy
Money
Items Being Sold
Time:
If you are looking to put your home on the market, you'll want to remove everything you no longer want or need from the premises as soon as possible. Potential buyers don't want to see your old stuff. And you don't want to pay a moving company extra money to move stuff you don't even want anymore.
Also, if you're busy with work, and life, or just don't want to spend a lot of time on selling, that's fine. If you're short on time, it may make more sense to let a company do the selling for you.
Energy:
Think about how much energy you want to put into selling an item. Even if you do have the time to sell something, do you have the energy?
Yard sales are great, but they can take up a lot of your energy. There can be dozens of people roaming around your yard and it requires time to price everything, sort everything, put everything out on tables, make the sale, and collect the money.
Money
How much money you can make selling an item depends on the market. Certain items are in hot demand like power tools and baby gear, while items like jewelry and many tech gadgets lose value as soon as you buy them.
If money is your main priority, be prepared to spend more time and energy finding the best spot to sell your item(s). Otherwise, it may make sense to find a place where someone else does the selling.
Items to Sell
If you have a variety of items to sell, it may make more sense to sell them all at once at a yard sale rather than listing each one online or finding which sites work best for each individual item.
Also, if selling online doesn't work and you still have enough items left over, a small yard sale may make sense to get rid of whatever is left. Otherwise, just donate the remaining unsold items.
How to Sell Safely
There are so many scams going on it's practically impossible to keep up. The best advice is to trust your instincts. If you think something is weird or the person is behaving oddly, back out.
Here are a few things to watch out for:
Mobile payments - it's easy for someone to fake sending you money while you really send the item
Receiving a check for more than the amount requested - don't deposit a check for more than the amount requested, it's a fake check
Do NOT share your Google verification code. If they're asking you to verify and you're the one selling, it's a scam
There are also tons of people out there who seem perfectly willing to waste your time for no reason. Or they'll ask you to heavily discount your prices while giving you a sob story. Be careful and don't sell unless you feel you can trust the buyer.
Learn More
Decluttering teaches you skills like how to make smarter, healthier decisions about what to surround yourself with and how to set goals to help make your life easier. But not everyone has the budget or is comfortable working with someone in their home.
That doesn't mean you have to figure it out all on your own. If you're looking to learn new skills, save money, and be supported through your journey, I'm here to help. Click here to learn how to get your home looking and functioning beautifully.