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Where's the best place to sell secondhand things?

(25 Posts)
threesugars Fri 29-Jul-16 11:40:47

We've been having a good clearcut (thank you Gransnet for introducing me to KonMari!)
I've realised I've been hanging on to a lot of things because I spent good money on them and I hate to see it go to waste. I'd really like to sell some of the things I'm getting rid of but not sure where would be best? eBay (and then paypal) seems to take exorbitant fees and it's not worth traipsing to post office for something that might only sell for 99p... What sites/methods have worked best for you? Car boot? Gumtree?

spyder08 Fri 29-Jul-16 11:55:48

Threesugars are you on Facebook? Often there will be a selling site for your area typically called xxxxxxxsales and wants or similar. Worth a try..buyer collects. I have seen all sorts for sale on our local one ranging from cars/furniture/clothes/toys and all kinds of household items

Charleygirl Fri 29-Jul-16 12:00:12

Have you got a local Streetlife on line? That appears to work and in the majority of the cases the person will pick up.

Witzend Fri 29-Jul-16 14:09:54

My d and her dh seem to sell everything on Gumtree.

ninathenana Fri 29-Jul-16 15:55:12

We used to have a local paper called Free Ads.
Sadly not anymore but you may have one near you.
As spyder says FB is good I've bought through our local page.

tinaf1 Fri 29-Jul-16 16:00:35

I would also recommend Streetlife

M0nica Fri 29-Jul-16 17:46:09

I have never found ebay particularly expensive to use and always quote a separate price for postage and packaging.

You could also try taking a car to a car boot sale and advertising other things in your local newsagent. If all else fails put it on Freecycle or Freegle.

How you dispose of things very much depends on what the item is.

BlueBelle Fri 29-Jul-16 17:57:11

i don't find ebay that good they do take fees every month that you sell, people pay very low amounts for good stuff, and postage can put people off for a low priced item, I ve never had any luck with Gumtree at all, but do sell regularly on local FB sites you do get time wasters but on the whole that's where i've found the best success We do have a local 24 hour auction on FB with no fees which works quite well

mrsmopp Fri 29-Jul-16 18:33:11

I like gumtree. I bought a lovely Parker Knoll armchair for £50 - best bargain ever as it is good as new. I also find it hard selling thing and I worry what would happen if the buyer said the goods didn't arrive or arrived broken.
I understand there are people who sell things for you, for a percentage. It might be worth considering that for peace of mind.
I never know what to charge for anything either. I do give a lot to charity shops though,

Humbertbear Sat 30-Jul-16 09:10:31

I do sell on eBay but I also give things away on Freecycle. If you are using eBay you can set your minimum price and you can also stipulate 'buyer collects'. We even sold a cooker that way.
Have you thought of an American style garage sale or taking a stall at a car boot sale?

harrysgran Sat 30-Jul-16 09:36:49

Street life is great for this and just keeping in touch with what's happening in your local area and it's free.

oldgoose Sat 30-Jul-16 09:55:47

My neighbours set up a stall outside their house and sold their unwanted stuff from it and they did very well. If you have a garage you could have a garage sale and advertise it in local shop windows or the local paper.

Pittcity Sat 30-Jul-16 09:59:08

Did you know that there is a For Sale, swap and wanted section on your local Gransnet pages? Free and easy to use.

marpau Sat 30-Jul-16 10:31:28

Local sales sites on Facebook are easy and no postage involved they either collect from your home or a local meeting point

rosemary55 Sat 30-Jul-16 11:45:56

I sell my stuff on a local selling site on facebook, its a really good way to get rid of stuff. People comment then come to pick up. And for the bits I have for less than say £5 I take to car boots that's by far the quickest way to get rid. and do it now while the weather is fine.

EmilyHarburn Sat 30-Jul-16 12:03:51

You may find there is a village hall near you where someone runs a table stop sale each month. You can pay for a table, and set up your sales. Good luck. I plan to do this each year just before Christmas in November but have not yet got round to it. I have plastic boxes labelled gifts. Some I have given to raffles but plan to sell others. Good luck.

EmilyHarburn Sat 30-Jul-16 12:06:16

I forgot a friend and I took our vintage clothes of excellent labels to a second hand 'preloved' shop where they keep them for 3 months and hand them back when unsold taking a margin on the sold ones. The woman would not take them, we felt awful as if we were gipsies trying to sell tat so that we ruled that out.

inishowen Sat 30-Jul-16 14:24:21

DH loves Gumtree. It's local and he's bought and sold a lot of things. This morning I did a car boot sale with my DIL to get rid of toys and childrens clothes. She sold hardly any clothes! The popular things were perfumes, gift sets, note books, storage boxes, and cuddly toys with the labels intact. She only made £30 but it was very quiet and the weather wasn't very nice.

Mrsdof Sat 30-Jul-16 14:53:35

Our local selling page on Facebook is called 'Facebay for (town)' and I put my GDs bike on at 8pm Wednesday and had sold it for the asking price at 8.10pm! Buyer collecting it tomorrow. Always sold on EBay before but will definitely use facebay again. As already mentioned Streetlife for your area is also very good.

aspella Sat 30-Jul-16 15:41:48

Depends where you are (city/country) and what you are trying to sell but you might find selling on Preloved successful. It's free to join and free to list items for sale; there are no fees or charges when you sell. It's a bit like eBay meets classified ads in a shop window, you just upload a picture, write a short description, set the price or ask for offers. You can get cash on collection or offer to post item and get paid by Bacs or PayPal. You can get offers via phone or the Preloved internal message system so you don't have to give everyone access to your phone number or email address.

You can get paid up to 60p for joining the site and paid to list items via cashback sites (Quidco/Topcashback).

Diddy1 Sat 30-Jul-16 16:48:01

Must just tell you, my DH uses a site on which people sell everything via Internet,its all over the Country it is here in Sweden, well he saw a photo of a moped the type he was looking for, rang the man selling it, and sent him half the money as a deposit, in order to be sure of him getting the moped, the seller couldnt be at home to meet my DH but was sending the key to his garage in the post,a day later, he rang and said he hadnt done that, but would be home instead on the following Monday, my Husband really excited about this buy, put a trailer on the car and travelled four hours, quite a way away, to find when he got there, there was no person at that address, a neighbour came out and said there had been another person loking for him the previous day! So a four hour journey back, and no moped, and no money of course, I think people like this dont have any conscience at all. Apart from the eight hour journey in one day, my Husband hasnt got the moped and will never get his money back, the Police said people dont usually have their money returned. A motto here, dont pay anything as a deposit, and check up on the seller if possible, my Husband paid the equivelant of £300, too much to loose at our age, but a lesson has been learnt. Take heed.

mrsmopp Sat 30-Jul-16 17:46:43

I have just found this info in a Saga magazine: if you'd like someone to sell your goods online for you, try stuffsusell.co.uk or sellyourstuffonebay.co.uk
An experienced eBay trader will collect your items, advertise them online, send them to the buyer and then pay you. They charge 1/3 of your profit but I think it would be useful as they take care of all the hassle.
I am tempted to try this out as I don't have a business brain in my body and would love someone else to take care of the hassle.

henetha Sat 30-Jul-16 17:51:36

I sold my car recently on Gumtree and was well pleased. I like the local aspect of it, and there were no fees as I didn't want any extras or embellishments. I shall definitely use it again.
I've sold loads of stuff on eBay, but there are fees to pay whether you sell or not (they do have special offers of 'no fees' from time to time though), and some things go for far less than they are worth. But it's one way to get unwanted items out of your life.

Victoria08 Sat 30-Jul-16 20:35:55

Where I live, we have an online buyers and sellers site.
It's all local to the area I live in, so don't have to traipse miles and miles.

There is also a babies and children's buyers and sellers site.

I have bought lots of baby equipment for GS and have sold it on when he has outgrown the stuff.

Very very useful site. Everything is secondhand. Post a pic up of item to buy or sell. Easy peasy.

NannyinOgmore Sat 30-Jul-16 23:30:44

A word of warning if you intend to advertise on Facebook. I thought I was on my local site only and happily put on a whole array of items for sale but to my horror I later looked on the regular Fb site and saw my ads there for all my Facebook friends to see. I feel somewhat embarrassed as I did not want my old shorts and tops out there for scrutiny especially as they can see how much I am asking for them. Cringe.