killamarsh

Apart from garage sales, charity shops and ebay does anyone have any ideas of how to get rid of 'stuff'? Additionally, has anyone used ebay? Is it ok? I have only bought goods - never sold on there. I would prefer to make something of my 'stuff' - be it a pound per item.

Watty'n'Arls

I did a car boot just before Chrimbo and made 90 quid after paying for the pitch and I sold the most amazing amount of rubbish although sold a few designer tops for next to nowt (upset me greatly). Surprisingly I didnt sell my 2 christmas trees!! I am doing one in a few weeks which comprises of wine glasses, keyboards, DVD's, book and clothes, etc!!
As long as there is a profit, no rain and a place to get a bacon butty from then you are laughing.
Otherwise sell it to family, friends and put up notices in local shops/work place/freebie newspapers.
Good luck
Watty'n'Arls

Watty'n'Arls

Just remembered OH uses ebay constantly, its safe and paypal is good for safe passage of payment, otherwise cheques (wait till clears) or postal orders.
We sold some things on ebay that we thought wouldnt sell (old Gap fleeces!!) and couldnt sell other items that we thought would get snapped up!!! Typical.

mark213

Try a work notice board. I got rid of 90% of my stuff with little worry on that. The more expensive stuff went on Ebay. The rest was on the board.

Kernow1

We are selling smaller items on Ebay. I also listed all the household furniture stuff on Freeads (online) and I could have sold everthing within 4 hours. The problem is that our house isn't sold yet and we can't be showing people around with nothing in the house! So might have to relist again when house has had an offer on it.

Otherwise, carboots are great for smaller stuff, althoughit depends very much on where the pitch is.

rebnatoli

We started off with a car boot and while we sold nearly everything and it was a great experience but I now realise I could have tripled our earnings on ebay - so I've been selling on ebay - usually getting decent prices. Some things have gone to charity shops but one of the best ways of avoiding a journey to the tip has been freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org) - you post for free things you want to get rid of and people reply if they want it - it has saved me a couple of journeys to the tip already - its amazing what people will collect from you - I've seen people give away bricks, fallen down branches etc. People are really grateful for things and I've had lots of thank-you emails and even a couple of gifts!

tony s

hi, we have sold 30-40 things on ebay,not sure its worth. certain stuff i thought would sell for quite a bit went for next to nothing. add that to packaging going to post office to get rid, lot of hassle. not to mention the £21ebay fees.
with the rest of our gear we are going write a price on everything and if you want it you write your name on it. the rest i will give away.
happy selling

medwaymark

I have used ebay a lot. Like someone else said, it can be a bit hit and miss with what you expect might/might not sell.

You pay for the listing on ebay, which can be a little as 15p. In addition ebay will take a small percentage of the sale price. Can't remember now what that is. If you accept payment by PayPal, which I would recommend, they will also take a small percentage.

I do agree that it can be a bit of hassle having to go to the post office etc. What I try to do is go once a week. People shouldn't have a problem with that as long as you tell them how long it is likely to be before you send their item.

oliverandlisa

absolutely agree with you, i said on all my listings " I work full time so only go to the post office on Saturday morning, if your payment is not recieved by 8pm on Friday (GMT) then it will roll over into next weeks posting"

spartacus

Totally recommend e-bay as a way of getting rid of the excess. Sold about 30 items of clothing (suits, jackets, jumpers etc) just after Xmas, made nearly £700! Next I'll be moving on to furniture we won't be taking. Much rather use e-bay than car boot sales.

Andy

nursekaty

a friend of mine did a house sale before they emigrated....they just shoved sticky labels on everything with a price.....it was crazy they got rid of everything!!!

suzimc

You could try having an open house - tell all your friends/neighbours/colleagues to come and buy what they want. You will probably be surprised how many will say 'oooh, can you keep that xyz for me'. We bought quite a few things for our house here from ex-pats doing just that and will be getting rid of some stuff that way when we move to Australia too, so if there's anything local that might attract ex-pats (companies, schools etc) see if you can advertise there somehow.

You could also have a look on www.craigslist.org and see if they exist in your area - it's like an online classified ads site, and best of all it's completely free. I would also go for www.freecycle.org to get rid of anything you can't sell, you really wouldn't believe the things that people will come and pick up from you!

killamarsh

Thanks everyone for your feedback - very helpfull

Phoenix

I've used ebay to sell stuff and also freecycle - had loads of gardening books which won't suit Oz and they went on freecycle and I sold 3 empty calor gas bottles on ebay for £20 the other week.
In final stages of packing next week so I think there will be a fair bit of stuff going on both sites shortly