Friday, December 9, 2011

Selling things on eBay / Craigslist / Amazon

I, like most Americans, have entirely too much stuff. Luckily I live at a time when it's never been easier to divest myself of my excess stuff and make some money in the process. Mr. Money Mustache got me thinking about Craigslist; a few years ago I bought and sold some items on eBay; and I unloaded a ton of extra books on Amazon during my high school / early college years.

Here is a load of stuff I'm looking to get rid of, and enhance my 'stash in the process:


Those boxes on the right are all Beanie Babies. Both my dad and my girlfriend's dad were collectors back in their hayday, which introduced me to the concepts of market bubbles and rampant consumerism at an early age. There are stacks of books I'm no longer interested in, including some from grad school that I hope are still worth something. A coaxial cable still in its packaging; a stock video card that came with my Dell; an iPad case; a Dell keyboard; and a laptop lap pillow surface thing. This isn't everything I want to get rid of but it's a start.

Most everything I know I can sell on some combination of eBay, Amazon, or Craigslist. The Beanie Babies, though, are going to be trouble. From my cursory research on eBay, there's virtually no market for them anymore. This doesn't surprise me. My strategy is to go through these boxes and look for relatively more sought-after Beanies, unload those on eBay, and then donate the rest at either Toys for Tots or Goodwill or whatever charity can make use of them. (I don't want to just dump them on a charity who can't use them; that's how I came to possess them in the first place.) If anyone has a better idea I'm all ears.

With the holidays fast approaching I don't know when I'll make time to list some of these piles. I need to man up and make it happen. I know that it's not hard or time consuming, but for someone who hasn't done a great deal of online sales, it seems daunting when it's nagging in the back of my mind.

Here's hoping my new-found readers will keep me honest.

5 comments:

  1. Hey dude, a fellow traveler on the Path of Mustachianism here. Just wanted to let you know that reading your post inspired me to go review my listings on Amazon, where I discovered that I a whole bunch of textbooks that I thought I had listed for sale were in fact not listed! So I jumped right on it and put those up for sale. Every little bit towards the 'stash helps! Good luck with your sales!

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  2. Woo hoo, glad I could help! I didn't have time to list anything this weekend (excuses excuses) and tomorrow my girlfriend's parents in town, so I'm looking to get my eBay on this Tuesday or Wednesday.

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  3. If you ever need help pricing your items (and save lots of time), I would recommend this new startup called Statricks. You get the going market price for almost all used goods (like a Kelley Blue book, but not just for cars), and so you can see what an item is going for on eBay or/and Craigslist. I just signed up and I'm very happy with this tool! It'll definitely come in hand for eBay selling!

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    1. This looks really promising! I'm going to check it out. Thanks!

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  4. I just moved (well, not so "just"... it's 3 months now) and find myself surroundes by dozens of crates with stuff i never touched during the last 8 years and likely will not touch for the next 8 years to come. (Several years of car magazines, and, still from school days, role playig games...)
    Goal: get rid of them. Why haven't I done yet? Guess I'm way to lazy...
    Thanks for the friendly mustachian facepunch.

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