Sell Your Stuff - and make money

If you sell your stuff, you can make some money if you find others who would like to buy it at a reasonable cost. I'm not entirely behind the idea as it's not my preferred method of generating income. The dollar per hour return on investment is usually less than gainful employment, and it usually requires that you take a loss on what you previously purchased.

Now, before I proceed with this, I must admit that I'm a type of pack rat, so it's against my nature to get rid of things. I tend to see value in things, and quite often I see value in having things more than I see the value of having money.

So, with that confession out of the way, let's look at how to sell your stuff as a way of making money. I want to look at this at a general level, and then examine some of the specifics in other pages linked to this one.

The main reasons you'll want to sell things is to have money, have more space, or reduce the expense of having things. Having more money is easy to understand. So is having more space in your home. When it comes to storage fees, well, that's another driving factor. If you're paying just to hang onto stuff and you don't foresee using it or getting it out of storage anytime soon, then selling stuff is likely a good choice simply because it's not in use and costing you money.

Generally, when you sell your stuff it's an informal transaction commonly known as a private party sale. As such, the buyer tends to get a favorable deal when it comes to exchanging money for goods. Here are several ways to go about selling stuff to raise money.

• Ebay - a place where you pay a percentage of your sale for the privilege of selling on their site. Ebay has lots of traffic, and that is one sure way to find people who are looking for something very specific to buy. If you're selling stuff that is collectible or specific in nature, Ebay is a good choice.

• Consignment - a good place for articles of clothing, tools, and collectibles. There are consignment shops that specialize in clothing and accessories, and lots of pawn shops around that will either buy the item outright, or place it on consignment for you.

• Ad in the Paper - my recommendation for larger and more expensive items like vehicles, appliances, firearms and coin collections. This approach will cost you something, so don't go selling a wooden cooking spoon for one dollar, even if it is "really nice" and likely to attract buyers.

• Garage Sale - this is what I would recommend if you're trying to get rid of lots of stuff. Don't expect high return on investment, but you can unload lots of stuff if the prices are attractive to buyers.

• Auction House - a lesser used option, but a good one if you have a truckload or two to get rid of. You're basically consigning your stuff to the auction house and they sell it for you. You get a portion of the proceeds after the auction house takes their cut.

• Craigslist - a very popular place for people to seek items and sell items. It's free of charge and easy to do. Just get yourself registered and then place an ad following their guidelines, and sell your stuff.

With all of these options available, it's probably an easy thing to sell your stuff to raise some money. If church rummage sales and charitable causes can sell things to make money, then so can you. Just be aware of the reasons you might want to consider other ways to make money instead of selling your personal property.

In any event, this article wouldn't be complete without a word from the late George Carlin who always gave us a new way of looking at things, especially our stuff.

Done with Sell Your Stuff, back to Making Money