Turning Unwanted Items Into Much Wanted Cash
With the economy the way it is right now, every penny counts. Many people from around the globe have been forced to “tighten up the belt” by cutting corners and eliminating some of those “luxury” items from the budget.
Times like this is an especially good time to take a “new” look around the house and develop a plan, a mission an actual self competition to turn some of those unwanted items into cash!
Getting started is simple, once you have a plan of action which includes goal setting. What you will need to get started is three empty boxes. Grab a marker and mark each box:
- eBay
- Garage Sale
- Research
A few other items you will need:
- Post-It Notes
- Price tag dots or masking tape
Once you have the boxes marked, place the eBay and garage sale box by the computer and use the research box to start seeking out items from around the house.
When I am working with moms, the first place I advise them to start is with the toy box. When working with dads, I advise them to start with the garage. And, for those in-between start with the unwanted gifts that you graciously accepted from family and friends.
Once the research box is filled up then get yourself comfortable at the computer to prepare to do some research. First off, I am assuming you are already an eBay member, if not then you will have to join eBay to do this type of research. Only eBay members can search using this manner.
Now that you are an eBay member, sign into your account and notice the “search” bar which is located on every eBay page. Next to this search bar button is the words: Advanced Search. Click on that page and now you can view more options for searching.
The key here is to check mark the box reading: Completed listings. I wouldn’t bother with any other options on the page. Only that box. After you have that checked you can now choose an item from your research box and type a few keywords into the search box.
Example: Say you have a figurine in your box that is a dog. Look to see if there are any maker marks on the bottom or anything that stands out. If you notice something like that then you will want to include this into the search box. Such as: Lenox Doberman.
If there are no maker markings then try a few different styles such as:
- Doberman Figurine,
- Doberman Statue or
- Doberman Resin.
Simply type in whatever the item is made out of and the name of the item. Play around with a few different words. The more you practice this type of search the better you will become at it.
While searching completed listings on eBay, you will notice the listings with red numbers and others with green. My motto is “show me the green!” The items in green means that they did sell and the items in red did not sell.
If the search results produce a large amount of items, you can easily narrow things down by adjusting the drop-down box to the right of the page after you do your search. Drop-down the box and I suggest to only view: Highest Price First. Again this means “Show Me the Money!”
Now you will learn from those that sold for the most amount of money. If your item is a good seller, then write a listing note on a post-it note and add it to the eBay box. If your item is not a good seller then put an appropriate price tag on it and add it to the garage sale box! Follow this procedure until you have enough items to get listed on eBay.
Keep a spot in the garage or any area to store the garage sale boxes. Then, when you have plenty of boxes, everything will be priced, ready for you to have a sale. Or, if you’re old like me and not into the garage sale mode, then what I do is put up a local ad stating something like: Boxes of misc. items are garage sale ready, no time for a garage sale, make offer! Nine times out of ten I can move all my boxes with one visitor and make a few bucks too. Saving me hours of having live garage sales which I usually spend most of my money on carryout food during the sale! This strategy allows me to make a few bucks to go out to eat and not spend the weekend hosting a sale!
When you are ready to list items on eBay, use the post-it notes as a guide for listing the items. When doing the research you may want to write notes to yourself that will help sell the item, such as:
- Which category to list it in.
- Starting price.
- Auction or Buy it now with make an offer
- Reserve or no reserve
Take some nice photos of each item and start listing them on eBay!
Challenge yourself!
How much money can you make? Blog about it, keep a chart and enjoy the challenge of turning your stuff into cash!
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