In the spirit of thrift, I advocate recycling -- not only by changing or re-purposing, but by sharing your resources (hand-me-downs and hand-me-ups, if it works!), as well as buying and selling used items at rummage sales, flea markets and thrift stores. Reselling items no longer used (or deals you find) is just good common sense -- in any economy. But the reality of reselling is that it's work.
In order to make the most money off of your no longer used or needed items, I asked Hillary DePiano to share some things to consider before you decide to make your computer pay for itself and dive into selling online.
Hillary has been selling on eBay since 1997 and is an eBay store owner, PowerSeller and Trading Assistant. She has experience selling on many different platforms and shares her experiences with others through her blog, The Whine Seller, and books.
1. Make sure you have the time to sell the item online. Selling online can be very time consuming. Before you even consider listing something online, make sure that you have the time to write a proper decision, answer buyer questions and pack and ship the item in a timely fashion. Failure to do any of these in a reasonable amount of time can cost you dollars on this sale by deterring optional buyers or future business from buyers you didn’t answer in time or bad feedback earned for slow service.
2. Make sure the item is worth selling online. Do some research into the value of your item before you attempt to sell it. Heavier items like furniture or workout equipment is worth less online because buyers don’t know how to handle the transport of such a large item. Heavier items can also sell for less online because people aren’t willing to pay the more expensive shipping costs. There are some items that are just simply better suited to being sold in the classifieds or at a garage sale so be sure to do some research into your item before you dive into trying to sell it online. If you can sell your item for more through an offline channel, be sure that you don’t miss that opportunity.
3. Make sure that you’ve considered all fees. The item you have may be worth $5 more if you sell it online but if the eBay and PayPal fees work out to $10, then you are actually losing money overall. Take a moment to consider all the costs associated with sell online when you are looking to price your content. If the fees are eating up any additional profit you’d be making, it just isn’t worth it.
More about Hillary: Hillary DePiano is a fiction and non-fiction author best known for her play, The Love of Three Oranges and her e-commerce blog, The Whine Seller; you can keep up with her at Twitter too.
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