lhodson

After 18 months in America (New York and then the Bay Area, California), we have decided to move back to England. It was pretty tough anyway but after the birth of our daughter in December it is definitely the right decision for us.

We are shipping some things home like our daughter's cot, 2 tv's, our king size bed and matching furniture which we love and clothing and books.

However we are seling everything else. This includes another bed, sofas, dining table, crockery, cutlery, glasses, etc. I know craigslist is a good resource but I'm wondering if this is the best way to sell the smaller items? It seems like I would have to do a lot of listing and have a lot of people coming round as there are so many items. I am also thinking ebay is not the best route as it costs to list and then post things. However we live in an apartment in a gated community so a yard/garage sale is not an option.

Should I just get on with selling on craigslist, or is there a better alternative out there? I'm thinking not, but its always worth asking right?

Englishman43

Craigslist is free but my experience has been you'll get 10 -15 people telling you they'll "be around to see it" and never show up before you find a buyer.

Ebay is quite costly with listing fees, paypal fees, etc .

How about a garage sale at a friends house and offer to sell any tat they have at the same time ?? Or the PennySaver ?

Mummy in the foothills

Ask the neighbors if they are friendly, some gated neighborhoods do an annual garage sale and open the gates and all the family do the sale on the same weekend. Worth a try, other than that we sold a lot on craigslist and I'd meet at the nearest Starbucks parking lot to hand it over.
If you are giving stuff away you can find a local thrift store to give it to or a goodwill trailer (usually parked in a big strip mall parking lot) they will take lots of stuff.
Theres always freecycle too, although I have heard some people on there are the worst saying they want something then never coming to get it.
Do you get the Pennysaver free paper each week? you could list a bunch of stuff for sale in an ad and have your email for contact, then email pictures.
Also if your gated community has a club house or mail room, there may be a notice board where you can make a flyer with pics of things for sale.

canadian_critic

We downsized recently to half the sq footage, and found Craigslist to be ok but advertised Garage Sales over a few weekends, limiting them to 2 hour slots. This meant minimal impact on our time, and squeezed everyone in, meaning there were people there the whole time.

I could write a book about our experience. There was an army of women (persians I think) who all turned up independently but clearly were all friends. They seemed to have the whole garage sale off to a t, and snapped up all the practical giveaways almost immediately.

One person who turned up to buy a couple of the higher value items, turned out to be a new resident and was buying all the stuff he didn't move, once again. I ended selling more to him alone than everyone else put together. I gave him fantastic prices because of this and I averted having to move large items I have no space for. Very nice guy who I ended up befriending, and pleased that someone is at least buying to use himself. Some of the other people I think were planning on trading items on ebay / craigslist.

I would recommend putting higher value items on craigslist, and including them in your garage sale. Smaller, less valuable items, bundle up and put up a package price. Stick to your pricing and let people walk away. They do sometimes come back and realise that you're serious about your price. Don't let people offend you. One of the women I dealt with agreed a price and then tried to pay me less, no doubt thinking I was either stupid or desperate. I asked her to leave.

We made several thousand, although I daren't think what these items cost us in the first place. Most of my tools went for close to the price I paid because I bought them opportunistically when they were at bargain prices. More specialist items should be put on ebay where some people can recognize the value and may actually offer close to it.

lhodson

Thanks for all the replies so far. I am a bit daunted about so many people coming into our apartment and being in a gated community, not sure how they would all get in? But its good to read other's experiences. Now I just need to list everything and photograph it all....ergh!

windsong

I recently read that USA TVs will not work in the UK, even with transformers.

Bob

Most new ones would, but not over the air, would need satellite etc plugged into the hdmi...

Transformers would have to be beefy, they get hot, they are a lovely fire hazard and can sometimes be excluded from insurance policies. Can work a treat for occasional use items, but every day usage, not so great. Unless they're seriously huge TV's, it's not worth the cost of shipping them, especially if paying out of pocket yourself.

windsong

Mine is only a 36" - one year old - so it probably would work and does have HDMI connections, but as you say the cost to ship is probably not worth it.

JAJ

You can sell things ... but if you prefer, you can ask around your community (eg your church, if you belong to one) if there are any people who are in need of donated goods.

Cutlery, glasses etc. - if these are not junk, you should normally ship them.

rentbackadvice

You can take help of your friends and neighbors to sell the goods you have.

doc1

I am moving back to the UK from Vancouver in just over 2 weeks. I advertised everything on Craigslist, within my apartment building and on FB Marketplace. Within a week I have managed to sell some furniture between Craigslist and residents in my apt. complex.

lhodson

Thanks for all the feedback. We have started to list the items we dont need on craigslist and pennysaver, some of them sold straight away so its a promising start.