View Full Version : Time Wasters? Selling stuff on Craigslist vs. Donating it....
This is the question of the century for me. I still have some stuff left to get rid of, some of them are collectible nothing super valuable. My dilemma is using this example:that maybe "Is that $20 fishtank worth wasting time on lets say a few weeks reposting on craigslist over and over, to have to then donate it because I cant get that $20 I want? " Or would I rather donate and get on with my life.This is just a general question since I hate stopping what Im doing and posting senseless stuff on Craigslist or Ebay hours just fly by (Maybe a distraction") I urge to be rid of it all. Just have mixed feelings about that sometimes.Any similar experiences.
I tend to just give it all to Goodwill. I don't want people coming to my house, I don't want to drive to meet anyone, I don't want to wait, I don't think it is worth my time or energy, so Goodwill gets a bunch of stuff whenever I am clearing out things. I keep thinking that I had use of the objects, they don't need to earn their way out of my house.
When I downsized last year to make a move, I gave my kids first choice of whatever they wanted, asked a auction house to tell me what would sell, sold some to neighbour provided he cleaned up the large work shed, gave the unsaleable items to another neighbour to sell as he could and then I moved.
Have no illusions about the value of an item. You have had the use and enjoyment of it for as long as you needed it, now get rid of it. If someone can offer some objective advice on the saleability of the remaining items in your items, take it. It is hard to be objective about your possessions, I found.
Hope sharing that experience helps.
A friend told me that when his mother died, he and his wife cleaned/sorted everything out, hired an auctioneer with attached expenses of advertising etc. At the end of the day after a long cleanup, they made $2000 for a houseful of furnishings which were in good shape and quality antiques. They shared the money with one sibling who lived far away. He said that for all the effort and hassle that he and his wife went through for $1000, he would recommend simply opening the house to let people help themselves. More people are starting to do this.
mschrisgo2
12-4-15, 11:28pm
I have used Freecycle a lot, especially for larger things like furniture. The fact that someone comes and takes it away really appeals to me. I usually drag things to the porch, so no one comes inside.
Other stuff that I can bag or box goes either to Goodwill or the local animal rescue thrift store, probably actually more to the animal rescue, because Goodwill has started going through stuff before they will accept it.
rodeosweetheart
12-5-15, 12:23am
I know I should do the Dave Ramsey thing and have a big garage sale. But I always end up saying to heck with it and just giving it all to Goodwill, and the large stuff--I drag out to curb and put a free sign on it.
Williamsmith
12-5-15, 12:52am
Post only obviously valuable items on Craigslist. You will get decent people to deal with. Toss the rest. Or give it away to Goodwill and move on.
lessisbest
12-5-15, 6:13am
We'd rather donate to Goodwill/Salvation Army/DAV and get a tax deduction than the hassle of a garage sale. There was a day that wasn't true. When we had small children, a garage sale was how we funded back-to-school or a vacation.
I have used Freecycle a lot, especially for larger things like furniture. The fact that someone comes and takes it away really appeals to me. I usually drag things to the porch, so no one comes inside.
Other stuff that I can bag or box goes either to Goodwill or the local animal rescue thrift store, probably actually more to the animal rescue, because Goodwill has started going through stuff before they will accept it.
Freecycle is wonderful. I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff that way. And as for Goodwill, I'm with rodeo--my intentions are always to "have a garage sale in the spring" and I have boxes of stuff in the garage with that intention, but then the spring turns to summer and the summer turns to fall and now it's winter and those boxes are still sitting there. I just last week came to the decision that I'm just going to give it Goodwill or call the Vietnam Vets truck and take the tax deduction.
If you itemize, I think the IRS is fairly generous with their allowances and you can wind up with a tax deduction that might be even better than the few bucks you'd make on a garage sale.
Miss Cellane
12-5-15, 8:36am
The issue with Craigslist in my area at least is that everyone expects everything listed there to be a bargain. No matter how low you price stuff, you get offers for 50% of that amount.
My solution has been to put more expensive things up on Craigslist at a reasonable price. If I get interest, I'll sell it, usually for less than I was hoping for. If after a week, no one has responded, I take down the listing and donate it.
Ultralight
12-5-15, 8:53am
Post only obviously valuable items on Craigslist. You will get decent people to deal with. Toss the rest. Or give it away to Goodwill and move on.
This is very good advice. I used this method when I was minimizing.
I also sold a few things on eBay with the same rationale. Very helpful!
When I am doing a household purge, I offer things I don't want or need to my friends on Facebook, sometimes for free or a nominal price. I got rid of my futon mattress that way; still in pretty good shape but I was not able to sleep on it comfortably. I posted it on Facebook and a neighbor up the street took it to make a couch for her guest room after she bought a futon frame off Craig's List. I was happy to help her, and it was an easy way to get it out of the house so I could get a real mattress in.
Other stuff that I know has value I sell at our local consignment shop. Every few years I pay $15 for a year's membership and again, when I am ready to purge yet another layer, the more valuable stuff goes there. This summer when I was off work from the broken foot i helped my mom go through her myriad jewelry boxes and weeded out a lot of items that she no longer needed. Many pieces had vintage value and I know she will get money for them. I recently made $68 by selling two coats and some jewelry to a vintage shop on campus - one jacket was a fringed '70's suede that a friend gave me when he moved out of state, and the other was a long wrap coat that had a vintage feel to it that I acquired at a clothing swap. I wore it once or twice and decided I was done with it. I was thinking maybe I'd get $40 or $50 for the lot, so I was pleasantly surprised when the owner of the shop wrote me a check for $68, seeing that both items were "gifted" to me!
The moral of the story here is, I don't make it too much of a time consuming effort to sell items, but I have a good instinct about the value of items and current going prices for them, and knowledge of outlets in my area to sell things at. I don't bother with yard sales anymore, especially in my neighborhood where people try to bargain down the price of a $1 pair of shoes. Other stuff that I am done with at home, or clothing I am ready to give up just goes back to the thrift stores, from whence they came!
iris lilies
12-5-15, 9:42am
Yesterday I found myself thinking about, as I walked around a few stores of vintage stuff, which items I have that fit in with the store's stuff. I could DONATE the items to these stores, I'm fine with that.
My main goal in getting rid of stuff is to get it into the hands of someone who wants it. So in the vintage clothing store
I was suddenly reminded of my mom's striped bathing suit from the 1940's. I don't know what I'll do with it otherwise than give it away. It's a funny piece.
I do have two fabulous vintage coats that I'm not ready to give up yet, but when I am, I'll take them to a vintage shop and donate them, they are completely marketable.
iris lilies
12-5-15, 10:51am
I agree about posting only substantial things on Craigslist.
I see the most ridiculous tacky things on Craigslist and I wonder who these sellers are who think their ticky tacky little pieces of junk are worth $7 and how did they arrive at the price of $7, and how they have time in their lives to fuss with this junk?
ToomuchStuff
12-5-15, 2:40pm
I tend to research what I want to get rid of on CL. Is there a lot of them? Do the listings seem to disappear (and if a lot, what price range, etc)? What price am I asking, verses what is my time worth? So IMHO, a lot of smaller things at the same time, tend to be better via Garage sales (where you still get people haggling), or post in the barter section of CL ($price or this), then Freecycle, or donate.
who these sellers are who think their ticky tacky little pieces of junk are worth $7 and how did they arrive at the price of $7, and how they have time in their lives to fuss with this junk?
I've often wondered the very same thing.
My cutoff for craigslist is $20 and even then there's only so much time I'll put into it. My general rule is that the buyer has to come to me (or a public place near me if practical). I'm not driving halfway across town to sell a $20 item. In fact, I had that very conversation this past week via email with someone interested in a piece of audio gear I'm parting with: She asked if I would drive out to her, across town (despite my ad clearly stating pickup near me), because her car has very bad tires on it. The adult in me wants to shake her to get her attention and suggest that if her car's tires are that bad maybe she should put the money she's giving me (for this very optional piece of electronics) into tires. But she's (theoretically) an adult. As it is, I suspect she's going to flake out on the buy. And (probably) not buy tires.
Anyway, if the items haven't sold in the craigslist 45-day expiration period, I'll donate them someplace. The lower-value items I'll donate right away. Why waste my time with fielding emails/texts, arranging pickups (oddly, the hardest stuff to part with is the free stuff; what is wrong with people?), etc. when I can drive up to Goodwill and a smiling attendant will take the items out of my car and hand me a tax-deduction form?
Heck, half the stuff probably came from GW in the first place...:|(
we sell lots of stuff on our local facebook auction site. We don't work too much anymore so we have time. I guess we make $50 a month or such, some months more, some months less. My dh spends his money, I use mine to go out to lunch.
We leave everything in the back porch with a money box and we have never had any problems. We are in a small town though.
I list things on CL quite a bit - usually $35 and up in value. The one thing that I cannot get rid of is a top of the line 90s TV armoire. Neither Goodwill or furniture consignment places will take these diinosaurs. To get it out to the street for someone to haul off is a job in itself as it is huge and solid wood. I may just dismantle it and put the pieces out just to get it out of here.
iris lilies
12-5-15, 6:39pm
I list things on CL quite a bit - usually $35 and up in value. The one thing that I cannot get rid of is a top of the line 90s TV armoire. Neither Goodwill or furniture consignment places will take these diinosaurs. To get it out to the street for someone to haul off is a job in itself as it is huge and solid wood. I may just dismantle it and put the pieces out just to get it out of here.
fortunately we never purchased one of those. we repurposed a big black lacquer Chinese style chest for one TV and just plopped the other one on a table. I can't remember if we drilled holes into the Chinese chest or not, but If it does it's no loss It's a modern piece of furniture and
I am finished with my Chinese phase anyway.
pinkytoe, do you have a Habitat for Humanity Restore near you? They're always loaded with those types of pieces. I think they will pick it up too.
I was lucky to get rid of a mattress and entertainment center on Freecycle. Both were in excellent condition and would be a pain to dispose of. The furniture was taken apart and I labeled all the pieces so it could be reassembled easily.
Most things just get donated to places suited to what I'm donating: animal related things to a rescue thrift store, books to a local library sale, etc. Anything worth decent money I will try to sell on Craigslist if I can. We have a 1950s bamboo framed sofa with original cushions sitting in my cousin's basement--these sell for over $300 if someone is willing to pay that.
Once it's gone, I don't even think about the item anymore so the loss of money is forgotten.
I think I'd sniff farther than Craigslist - ebay, or maybe a site devoted to the genre - if I had something that might just be a collector item, like IL's bathing suit, and donate the rest or have a yard sale. Listing and selling small low-profit things one at a time and having to deal with individual offers and buyers over weeks or even months would drive me nuts.
...
We have a 1950s bamboo framed sofa with original cushions sitting in my cousin's basement--these sell for over $300 if someone is willing to pay that. ...
Oh, I would snatch that up in a heartbeat! I think we had one when I was a child. I guess you wouldn't deliver to the west coast...:~)
Mostly, I donate without a backward glance; I have a few collectible items I'll probably sell on eBay or Yahoo, but very few. I've used Freecycle, too.
We are cleaning out our shed since the city's "bulky pickup" is next week. I found three large boxes of miscellaneous colorful tins that I used to collect - tea, cookies, pasta etc. At one time, they were displayed in the space over the kitchen cabinets. I don't have a clue what to do with them now since they may have some value to someone. Additionally, found quite a few boxes of Avon stuff that MIL used to give us every Christmas. As they say, ugghh!
rodeosweetheart
12-6-15, 2:32pm
We are cleaning out our shed since the city's "bulky pickup" is next week. I found three large boxes of miscellaneous colorful tins that I used to collect - tea, cookies, pasta etc. At one time, they were displayed in the space over the kitchen cabinets. I don't have a clue what to do with them now since they may have some value to someone. Additionally, found quite a few boxes of Avon stuff that MIL used to give us every Christmas. As they say, ugghh!
Those tins are a hot item right now at goodwill because people like to use them to give homemade candy.
Teacher Terry
12-6-15, 3:05pm
Something has to be at least $30.00 for me to bother. It also depends on my mood. Sometimes I just put it for free in front of my house since we live on a street with a fair amount of traffic.
I have 3 auctions ending in the next few days. A bath rack which should fetch $18 or so, a Le Crueset pot which will probably get $30 - 40 and a book, that will only get about $9, but will have a good home. It doesn't take me long to sell these things. It all helps me declutter and get some money for treats.
My dh has some finishing this week too, a watch at $30, a backgammon game at $14 and something else at about $20. All money in the bank as far as I am concerned.
I think the trick is to take a lot of photos at once so they are all on the camera. Then put the items up for auction 3 at a time (the limit - so dh and I 6 at a time) and just keep tabs on them. Not a lot of work if you are retired, semi-retired or well organized.
Maybe the folks who have sold on both craigslist and ebay can set me straight on this, but I think selling on ebay is a couple of orders of magnitude more complicated than selling on craigslist. There are many more pictures to stage/take (yeah, I know I'm a photographer, but I don't have a studio set up), tending the listing, packaging and shipping... Am I way off base?
Steve, you are totally correct. You need to be able to take and download good pictures, develop a good clear and complete description with terms of sale. You should understand the postal system, payment system (paypal) and have the appropriate materials available. You need to be available for questions and ready to process all sales ASAP.
It is important you know your product, set a realistic price, and provide the necessary info for buyers to make a correct buying decision to eliminate as many post sale problems as possible.
We have almost 5000 positive feedback and it is a lot of work. We always figure between 20/25% as our cost of selling on Ebay. But it exposes the product to the geographic area you choose. For years we sold all around the world. Right now, I am limiting the few sales we do the the US only.
local facebook swap and shop or auction or buy and sell seems easy to me and it will be all local people.
Thank you for the awesome replies. I went into the crawl space and donate three boxes of Christmas decorations. Mostly things from my mom's old store she closed and sent it to me with lots of outdated Hawaiian clothes in very small sizes and handpainted ornaments with strange tacky flowers. So I tought I would resell it years ago which I did, sooo much effort and time wasted to make like $20 at the end. This year because we now have a new baby and the things he will get for first Christmas it will get cluttered again. So it was time to go and it was extremely liberating! Literally closing the chapter on the distraction of selling something "one day". Closure is beautiful! I learned to not start "projects". I used to believe we had to stay busy with "projects"
Sorry I posted this last one accidentally to soon. ......I used to believe we had to stay busy with "projects" as a way of making progress or achieving some kind of hollow success. Now it's to have a clear head and enjoy now.Those were truly distractions. Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. Relax whenever you can and smile.
Oh, I like that, Sylvia. I think I've been carrying the guilty weight of Projects Uncompleted on my back since a failed papier mache tiger in the fifth grade netted me a C-. You may have just put your finger on a new year's resolution and some potentially cleaner closets. :)
simplelife4me
12-11-15, 7:37am
I tried to sell an armoire entertainment center last week and the only person asking about it turns out to probably be a scammer from who knows where. Dealing with that is a drag. I almost fell for their story but then decided to check Craigslist recommendations and they had multiple strikes against them for it being a probable scam.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams
Do not extend payment to anyone you have not met in person.
Beware offers involving shipping - deal with locals you can meet in person.
Don't accept cashier/certified checks or money orders - banks cash fakes, then hold you responsible.
For me, unless the value is over $100, I just donate it. The $2.00 in gas is worth my sanity. We do have a local HOA page and I will post items there and if they don't go within 2 weeks, I just donate them. I figure the people live within my hood so it's not such a hassle.
Ultralight
12-11-15, 9:28am
I think that the "sunk costs" fallacy plays a big part in why people are hesitant to donate something.
I'll likely be doing this shortly - 20th anniversary at work, and I'll be getting yet another gift I have no need or want for. Last time was a choice of clocks I didn't want. I researched which one was selling for more on Ebay, picked that one, and immediately got rid of it. I'll probably do the same for these new ones (choice of silver frame or silver bowl).
Float On
12-11-15, 12:14pm
Post only obviously valuable items on Craigslist. You will get decent people to deal with. Toss the rest. Or give it away to Goodwill and move on.
Very true!
I've used craigslist a lot to sell things. I make sure it's always on my terms. Seems when people read me as being firm they never try to haggle. $25 is my minimum for selling something and I am available to meet at exactly (whatever time) on these dates at this location (I usually pick the Target parking lot on the north side of town because most of my buyers have been from towns to the north of me and it's easy for me to drop by there when I'm done working). Being firm, I've never had anyone be a no-show. Big items I let them come to my house but always make sure my husband or kids are home. In the last month, I've sold a $50 item, $300 item, $100 item.
Ohhh creaker I love the clocks story. I actually did that when I got this set of towels I didnt want or asked for, to my surprise my mom forget to remove the receipt and she spend $60 on these uuugly towels. So I marched back to Sears got my refund in cash and had extra money to put towards my son's acne medication.It's true DH is gonna have a hard time getting me something, I dont want anything. Maybe take me out to dinner on a nice date. I think simplifying comes in layers like my onion analogy, first you want all stuff, then you want some stuff, then you want just the very special/ useful stuff, then you dont want anything because you have what you need and the rest you go without.Im at the last stage, dont want anything. I do have a language I use with my family so they can understand my point, "Honey , dont buy me anything I have everything I need. " "We have no place to keep it." "Ok you want it keep it in your room!" " Where can we store it? In the garage daddy will make some room for it in the garage."Usually by then they give up because 1. They dont want to cram up their rooms with more stuff. 2. DH has no more room in the garage and it's getting packed(he actually rather donate it now which was unheard of years ago.). Now my family members will have to deal with the clutter in their own personal spaces.Family/community space is clutter free.The baby "make room for the baby stuff" is the best excuse for preserving space at this. Speaking in our simple living, minimalist language will not work, if they dont share that passion to simplify then you need to keep it as generic in terms to get results. So far so good.
I list things on CL quite a bit - usually $35 and up in value. The one thing that I cannot get rid of is a top of the line 90s TV armoire. Neither Goodwill or furniture consignment places will take these diinosaurs. To get it out to the street for someone to haul off is a job in itself as it is huge and solid wood. I may just dismantle it and put the pieces out just to get it out of here.
Maybe post it with a few pinterest remodel ideas photos. Those have been popular.
iris lilies
12-11-15, 2:04pm
I'll likely be doing this shortly - 20th anniversary at work, and I'll be getting yet another gift I have no need or want for. Last time was a choice of clocks I didn't want. I researched which one was selling for more on Ebay, picked that one, and immediately got rid of it. I'll probably do the same for these new ones (choice of silver frame or silver bowl).
My retirement gift clock was engraved. Sigh. No selling possible.
I have two or three pieces of old furniture in very good condition which I am likely to try to sell in order to learn about the value of old goods. I have art work, furniture and some decorative objects which may bring a good price but it's hard to know unless you "test the market." It's also hard to know how much time it will take and whether it is worth the effort so I am experimenting.
Ultralight
2-26-16, 5:26pm
I have two or three pieces of old furniture in very good condition which I am likely to try to sell in order to learn about the value of old goods. I have art work, furniture and some decorative objects which may bring a good price but it's hard to know unless you "test the market." It's also hard to know how much time it will take and whether it is worth the effort so I am experimenting.
Experimenting is a good idea.
In Columbus, OH it is hard to sell furniture because of the bed bug plague. You'll often see a couch that looks new on the curb with a sign that says: "Free. No bugs!"
freshstart
2-26-16, 6:00pm
I'm having trouble with freecycle posting a post for a nice collection of iPhone cases. It keeps saying moderator to review but I email them and they never answer. I've gotten rid of tons of nice stuff through them so I hope this is a fluke. I went and made a new post to see if they accept that. I have heard of some freecycle groups with mods who are very picky but I don't see why iPhone cases wouldn't pass muster. Weird
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