ebay!
Need some fresh ideas for what to sell on ebay? Read on!
Ebay is ever popular with those of us who need to make a little cash. Once you get the hang of it it's fairly trouble free (excepting all those buyers who leave you negative feedback for stupid reasons which have nothing to do with the item you sold them at all!). However, it's quite hard to see what will sell well and for how long. Some things have a limited popular life in my experience and then buyers are on to the next crazy thing.
I sell anything I can from around the house - clothes I no longer fit into, ghastly presents people have given me (someone will love them), things I've won in online competitions, old bits of jewellery, button or ribbon collections, fabric offcuts and much more. I look at it as a form of recycling - keeping stuff out of landfill, if you like.
If I'm having a clearout I look at each item and think:
1. Can I use it for, or turn it into, something else?
2. Can I sell it on ebay?
3. Is it suitable to send to a charity shop?
4. Should it just go in the bin?
5. If it needs to be binned, can I salvage some bits of it to re-use or sell on ebay?
And that brings me to one of my breakthrough moments - I noticed the hose on my elderly Dyson vacuum cleaner has a small hole; I don't want to buy another hose as they're around a tenner and the Dyson itself is probably on it's way out, but what if I could find a second hand cheapy on ebay? I can't, but if my Dyson finally gives up, there's a few attachments I could sell before I binned the thing - including the hose - if it didn't have a split in it!
It depends on someone wanting that odd thing that you have! A friend of mine bought a strange looking, small piece of machinery off ebay to mend his lawn mower. His lawn mower didn't work, but someone else had the foresight to take all the useful bits off their own dead lawnmower and sell them - and for a couple of pounds my friend fixed his lawnmower. It's just an idea..
It can also work with odd items from sets of cutlery or china - they don't have to be antiques or collectables, but they do have to have been a named, popular make, then other people who've lost or broken items from their dinner service or cutlery set can replace them at small cost. Take good, clear photos and write a very full and accurate description useing all the correct brand names in the title post and in the body of the description itself - that way your item will be more easily found in a search.
Always try to offer postage on your items (so smaller items are easier to sell) as I have found that bigger, "collection only" items tend not to sell well - if at all. But that does also depend on your location.
So, give it a go - as you're standing over the rubbish bin with something in your hand ready to throw away, think again - you may be able to make some money from it!
Good luck and Happy Frugal ebaying!
