Happy Friday, Faithful Readers! How was your week? Did you get a chance to get outside on the nice days? I finally caved and mowed the lawn. It seems to be some sort of a contest for the neighbours around here to mow their lawns the earliest, or the most often. Once one does, it sets off a chain reaction of others following suit and doing theirs... I was being a scofflaw, but it was time.
Let's talk about sales, baby! The average US household has hundreds if not thousands of dollars of unused items in them. That collection of old cameras in the drawer? Unused electronics? Old toys? Unused decorations? Plenty. The fact is, some of these things get tossed in a drawer or on a shelf, and you forget you have them. Moreso you forget that they still have monetary value.
I have been doing my own quarantine sorting the last few weeks. In a sense, this declutterer has become somewhat of a tidy packrat, if you will. As I may have mentioned, when I moved two years ago, I got rid of all of my yard sale inventory before I moved, not knowing where I was going. My online auction inventory, however, was a different story. Every time I would come across something that I thought had value, I would stash it in a tote labeled “Online Auction Inventory”, and stash it away.
Well, Faithful Readers, as many of you know, out of sight, out of mind. A few totes snowballed into many... when I moved, I think my friends and family helped me make 7 (SEVEN!!) trips in a 15 (or 17?) foot box truck. All those “Online Auction” totes got stored in my shop in the basement, thought about, but never dealt with.
So thank you, Zombie Apocalypse (and Ethel, my little kick in the arse) for giving me the time and motivation to finally get some ish done. We didn't have any yard sales last year partly because there was simply so much else going on, and partly because my “Little Kick in the Arse” (L'KITA?) was in Florida. Also because my inventory was low due to me getting rid of, well, all of it.
Yet we are back! Kicking butt, taking names. Zombie Apocalypse has forced a lot of us to make sudden and unexpected changes, one for me has been delving into mostly online sales. What sales that have been conducted locally have been conducted outside, I leave product and sanitising wipes, buyer leaves cash and takes a wipe if necessary. Buyers sometimes wear masks, sometimes not. Cash gets sanitised. Everyone is safe.
Now, when I say “totes snowballed”, I am not kidding. I believe that it ended up being... 20-25 large totes worth of stuff earmarked for online auction. I decided with Ethel's help, we were going to start going through things, deciding what to estate sale and what to online sale. Things that would only yield $5-10 online isn't worth my time and effort (and fees). We are still hoping to have an estate sale (my estate!) of sorts at some point, thankfully I now have yard space where if necessary, I can distance tables 6 feet apart, and possibly allow a certain number of people to shop at a time. Time will tell.
All that being said, where, besides the yard, is a good place to sell things locally? I have been using Craigslist for years, however that seems to be waning in popularity. Next stop has been Faceyspace (Facebook) Marketplace, with mixed successes. So where else?
Interwebs to the rescue! Also, with mixed successes. My sister says the sites like OfferUp and LetGo are wildly popular in Arizona, but here in Tiny Town, I am finding that is notsomuch the case. Try looking into sites like these, NextDoor.com has a selling feature, Marketplace offers selling to a vast audience, and I literally just now found that Instagram has a Shoppable Posts feature if you have a business account (which from what I understand is free!).
Other options are more specific, like ThredUp, PoshMark, Tradesy, or Vinted for clothes or jewelry, or Chairish or Trove for furniture. Keeping in mind that depending on your location, some of these may or may not be available. Also in cases such as eBay or Amazon, while they advertise to a global audience, there will be fees.
One more caveat: I highly recommend taking good quality pictures, and many of them per item. As with eBay, I am allowed up to 12 pictures per auction, so I try to do as close to 12 pictures that makes sense. Blurry, grainy pictures are not going to help you sell things as well as good quality, bright pictures. If possible, take photos with a blank background such as a plain wall of a sheet behind your item if possible... and please, we all know that your Pupper or Kitteh is adorable, however keep them out of the photo (a pet peeve for me is the “Dog not included” comments on posts).
As an option, I offer one more suggestion: Hire a professional to sell your items for you! Feel free to reach out to me, I definitely do consignments!
Have a great weekend, stay safe, stay calm. If you have any questions, send me a message!
~m.
Let's talk about sales, baby! The average US household has hundreds if not thousands of dollars of unused items in them. That collection of old cameras in the drawer? Unused electronics? Old toys? Unused decorations? Plenty. The fact is, some of these things get tossed in a drawer or on a shelf, and you forget you have them. Moreso you forget that they still have monetary value.
I have been doing my own quarantine sorting the last few weeks. In a sense, this declutterer has become somewhat of a tidy packrat, if you will. As I may have mentioned, when I moved two years ago, I got rid of all of my yard sale inventory before I moved, not knowing where I was going. My online auction inventory, however, was a different story. Every time I would come across something that I thought had value, I would stash it in a tote labeled “Online Auction Inventory”, and stash it away.
Well, Faithful Readers, as many of you know, out of sight, out of mind. A few totes snowballed into many... when I moved, I think my friends and family helped me make 7 (SEVEN!!) trips in a 15 (or 17?) foot box truck. All those “Online Auction” totes got stored in my shop in the basement, thought about, but never dealt with.
So thank you, Zombie Apocalypse (and Ethel, my little kick in the arse) for giving me the time and motivation to finally get some ish done. We didn't have any yard sales last year partly because there was simply so much else going on, and partly because my “Little Kick in the Arse” (L'KITA?) was in Florida. Also because my inventory was low due to me getting rid of, well, all of it.
Yet we are back! Kicking butt, taking names. Zombie Apocalypse has forced a lot of us to make sudden and unexpected changes, one for me has been delving into mostly online sales. What sales that have been conducted locally have been conducted outside, I leave product and sanitising wipes, buyer leaves cash and takes a wipe if necessary. Buyers sometimes wear masks, sometimes not. Cash gets sanitised. Everyone is safe.
Now, when I say “totes snowballed”, I am not kidding. I believe that it ended up being... 20-25 large totes worth of stuff earmarked for online auction. I decided with Ethel's help, we were going to start going through things, deciding what to estate sale and what to online sale. Things that would only yield $5-10 online isn't worth my time and effort (and fees). We are still hoping to have an estate sale (my estate!) of sorts at some point, thankfully I now have yard space where if necessary, I can distance tables 6 feet apart, and possibly allow a certain number of people to shop at a time. Time will tell.
All that being said, where, besides the yard, is a good place to sell things locally? I have been using Craigslist for years, however that seems to be waning in popularity. Next stop has been Faceyspace (Facebook) Marketplace, with mixed successes. So where else?
Interwebs to the rescue! Also, with mixed successes. My sister says the sites like OfferUp and LetGo are wildly popular in Arizona, but here in Tiny Town, I am finding that is notsomuch the case. Try looking into sites like these, NextDoor.com has a selling feature, Marketplace offers selling to a vast audience, and I literally just now found that Instagram has a Shoppable Posts feature if you have a business account (which from what I understand is free!).
Other options are more specific, like ThredUp, PoshMark, Tradesy, or Vinted for clothes or jewelry, or Chairish or Trove for furniture. Keeping in mind that depending on your location, some of these may or may not be available. Also in cases such as eBay or Amazon, while they advertise to a global audience, there will be fees.
One more caveat: I highly recommend taking good quality pictures, and many of them per item. As with eBay, I am allowed up to 12 pictures per auction, so I try to do as close to 12 pictures that makes sense. Blurry, grainy pictures are not going to help you sell things as well as good quality, bright pictures. If possible, take photos with a blank background such as a plain wall of a sheet behind your item if possible... and please, we all know that your Pupper or Kitteh is adorable, however keep them out of the photo (a pet peeve for me is the “Dog not included” comments on posts).
As an option, I offer one more suggestion: Hire a professional to sell your items for you! Feel free to reach out to me, I definitely do consignments!
Have a great weekend, stay safe, stay calm. If you have any questions, send me a message!
~m.
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