windsong

How ever did you all manage to sell your household belongings before going back?

I have had things on Craigslist at pretty good prices and most are not budging.

Is there a trick to this?

I understand that you can do an estate sale and they will come in and give you a lump sum for everything. What can you and what can't you include in an estate sale?

Any other hints for selling things?

britishspouse

Have you tried a yard sale? Perhaps you and several neighbours or friends could get together and do one, then you can advertise it as a "multi-family yard sale", they tend to attract a bigger crowd, because there will be lots of good stuff.

Or the swap and shop sites on facebook, often there are local ones. Mine is entitled "swap and shop wilson NC" etc.

I havent sold much on craigslist, Plus i get annoyed with people saying they want it and then never show up. So I mostly stick to yard sales and selling to friends. When we initially planned to move back a few years ago we sold the bigger stuff, at a yard sale i.e tables and chairs, bookcases. I listed them about $10-20 higher than I wanted, because I knew people would haggle me down, so when they did, I was actually getting the price I wanted to get for them hehe

Then it turned out we didnt end uo moving, so had to gradually buy things back lol

lgabriel73

Depending on what you have you can try ebay, I've used it to sell electronics, clothing etc and it has been easy. For the furniture items maybe contact some local thrift stores or consignment stores and see if they are willing to take it off your hands, obviously you won't make as much money that way. You could also just do a moving sale, kind of like a yard sale but better this time of year with the cold weather.

windsong

For some things, eBay would be ideal but I seem to remember that they make you wait about a month before they pay you - unless you are a dealer who does a lot of trade.

I can't do a yard sale because I live in a condo and they have to be approved. They only do them about twice a year - and then you still need permission.

lgabriel73

You don't have to wait a month on ebay. I sold some items yesterday and got paid yesterday. I put instructions for buyers that payment is due within 3 days of the auction close. Obviously sometimes you get bad buyers but if I haven't received payment within a week I open a complaint with ebay and the buyer usually pays then.

windsong

It's Paypal (owned by eBay) that holds it up, I believe. It's some sort of buyer protection.

Did your buyers use PayPal to pay you?

Hino

I've just got rid of a whole houseful of stuff that I no longer needed through "Gumtree". Everything was reasonably priced and went quickly.

The rest of my 'surplus' possessions went to the Salvation Army who were happy to pick up the goods.

Hope it works out

windsong

Ah ha! You are in the UK then. I am still in the US.

Congratulations on getting rid of everything.

lgabriel73

I only use paypal for payments. Once they have paid it takes 3-5 days for the money to be transferred to my bank account once I've requested it.

windsong

That's very interesting. I need to look into this. I might phone them tomorrow to find out more. I just read about this 21-day hold the other day, too.

windsong

eBay 21-day hold

http://pages.ebay.com/pay/help/

lgabriel73

That's for new sellers.

windsong

That might be me, depending on how they classify new sellers. I have sold on eBay before but not or about two years. There might be some criteria I need to look at here.

Celticspirit

I agree. It has worked well over the years for iPhones (3).
For me it's not worth small stuff......donated to charities.
My antiques/designer goods/Waterford/ Royal Crown Derby Old Imari, bronzes.....art etc.....sent to a local consignment store where they evaluate and price (she's an English lady with vast knowledge as a qualified antiques appraiser). However they are priced low in order to sell and the store gets 50% of selling price. Every 30 days the price is reduced :-( it's a gamble for sure.....but how on earth can I sell them myself?? It's setting me free. However......closing stalled due to purchasers having an issue with IRS. If I don't get back before my 70th Bday.......driver license will be a huge issue. Cancelled dogs' flights 4th Dec and mine 10th. Stressful days. Charity picking up another
ton of stuff on Wednesday. Didn't think I had more to donate. Took a ton to my no kill shelter yesterday. I am exhausted making keep or donate decisions.
I hope I will be walking on the beach at our late parents home in Carnlough Co Antrim by January and hopefully it will be bitterly cold ;-). Got lots of sweaters and raincoats for my beauties.

Mummy in the foothills

I did much better on our local facebook pages than on Craigslist. All I seemed to get on there were scammers trying to get something for nothing.
On Facebook it was very local and I met all kinds of nice people who lived within an hour or so of us and came to pick things up.
If you have local friends on facebook look to see if any of them have liked a sale page or ask on your timeline "Does anyone know of any local facebook sale pages" Ours had one for cars/boats and another for household goods.
I got Bunkbeds sold just by putting a picture on my facebook page and asking for some money for them, a friend wanted them and came by and she put a reserve on a few other things while she was visiting.