How to Sell Stuff Without Having a Garage Sale

Jessica left a comment on the post about our sale:

I was wondering, besides garage sales, where do you go to sell your stuff? We still live in an apartment, and are not able to have a garage sale. So, I am always on the lookout to sell more stuff.

Here are a few places that I know of. Feel free to add more suggestions for Jessica in the comments!

1.) Craigslist.org. Craigslist has grown leaps and bounds as a great place to buy and sell stuff. If you live near a major city, chances are good you have an active Craigslist community in your area. It is free to list your stuff for sale. One word of caution – keep sales local! According to Craigslist, that will prevent most of the scams on the site.

2.) Ebay.com. I haven’t used eBay, but it’s on the back of my mind. I do have some things that would sell well. If you have something collectible or highly desirable, you might be able to make more money from it by selling on eBay.

3.) Local paper. Our local paper runs deals every now and then where they have a special to list items for sale. Otherwise it’s a little pricey unless you have something big to sell.

4.) Flyers. Some stores by us have community boards where you can tack up flyers. Take a picture of your item, make a flyer with your number (with easy tear-off ones interested people can take with them) and post them.

5.) Amazon.com. A few readers here have had success with selling books through Amazon.com. I’ve never done it though.

6.) Ask family/friends/coworkers. It’s funny how a potential seller may be right in front of your nose. I’d personally never ask someone if something they owned was for sale, but if they mentioned that they were going to be selling something I’d definitely pipe up if I wanted it!

If you have more ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments

Posted by Tricia on September 30, 2008 at 9:32 PM in Making Money | 15 Comments »
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anna responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 12:13 am
Around here lots of churches or other non-profit organizations hold flea markets as fundraisers – they use their site and sell you a table/space for $8-$20 which represents their profit and you keep whatever you make from table sales (although some places do ask for a 10% voluntary donation).
Nine Circles responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 2:07 am
My favorite place to sell things (particularly books) is Half.com. Unlike with eBay, you don’t have to pay to list things–you only pay for what actually sells. Also, they pay adequately to cover shipping costs (at least with books). Although books seem to sell faster on Amazon, they take a bigger cut and don’t pay enough to cover shipping.
danielle responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 7:30 am
I love Craigslist!!! I sold my daughter’s used bumbo seat for full price. This was right after they were recalled, and people really wanted them.
Skyler Collings responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 8:57 am
Also to note: Be careful. For example if you plan to sell jewelry or electronics. You might not necessary want to meet the potential buyers at your house. Just a word of caution.
Jen responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 9:34 am
I second half.com for book sales. It gets less traffic than Amazon but the fees are much lower. I’ve actually lost money on a few Amazon.com sales because the fees were higher than the cost of the item.
Shani responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 10:50 am
For Books: Cash4books.net

Everything else: Craigslist.org (LOVE IT!)
becky responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!
LA responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 11:40 am
I’ve used amazon.com to sell books, but it’s best for recent books and best-sellers. Usually I’d buy a selection for my book club, read it, and resell it if I didn’t want to keep it.

However, I now have an Amazon Kindle (a gift). Selections from amazon are cheaper, not to mention storage space in my house for all those books has dramatically reduced. Can’t resell selections, though.
Joe @ Simple Debt-Free Finance responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I’ve don the eBay thing and had pretty good success. I like Amazon.com because there are no listing fees, but it is a bit more limited than eBay. I’ve tried Craigslist, but no joy… I think Craig’s list works well if you’re more urban than rural in geography…
MakeMistakes responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 1:02 pm
One that is very popular where I live is Kijiji.ca

Anytime the topic of buy/sell comes up around here, three people jump up and recommend it!
GH4 Wiki responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Gumtree.com is quite good as a classifieds ad service, just like Craigslist.
doctor S responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I love craigslist too and have had both positive and negative experiences. eBay is a great tool when you get good at it and get the hang of it as well. Posting in work classifieds is also a great tool if you work at a large company. Try your local newspapers as well. Be easy
Jessica responded:
Posted: October 1st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Thank you so much for all the comments and for this post! It gives me great ideas!
danielle responded:
Posted: October 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 am
Tricia- Here’s an idea. You can join freecycle, and trade your stuff for other people’s books. Then, you can take them to half price books and sell them for cash at the selling counter.
Tricia responded:
Posted: October 3rd, 2008 at 9:29 pm
danielle – now that sounds like an entrepreneur