If you are on a pinch and need to start making extra money ASAP... look around your home. One man's trash is another men's treasure. People will buy your stuff, specially if you are selling for the right price on the right place. You might not get retail value (well... sometimes, if you are lucky, double) but it will free up some space and you will have the cash you need.
How to start...
EBAY - yeah... it is not perfect, you might find assholes, and there are fees, but if you have some good collectibles or designer stuff. It might work well.
It is not a hard thing to do. Just remember to have good etiquette and apply any customer skills that you have. Or if you don't, just remember to treat others the way you would like to be treated.
The customer service at ebay it is actually very good. They will answer your questions and even guide you over the phone.
It is super easy to use the ebay phone application. You can take pictures and post instantly with it.
What you will need:
- Paypal account - easy to get, just link it to your bank account, low fees, safe and secure
- Be able to take good pictures: just look at them! Is it out of focus? Does it show your mess on the background? etc... oh and please, unless you are a model - don't use yourself
- Be honest: just highlight any problems or defects. If you want to sell it fast don't jack up the price. And also be reasonable with shipping.
- Write a great title: think a lot of information on a few key words, the more the better. Use designer name, size, purpose, etc
- Get a scale - I use a food scale and I try not to sell heavy items. If it's heavy and I can't fit in the Priority Mail envelope, I don't even try selling it on ebay. (but that is just me - I got a soda machine and computers on ebay) - It is cheaper to print a label at home and easy to put the items you sell in your mailbox. It is actually a fast way to get it to your customer. And even better if you know your mailman, that way you do have a witness in case USPS loses your stuff (yeah... it does happen)
- Re-purpose your shipping boxes and envelopes: Save money by saving the bubble envelopes you get when you buy stuff online. Or buy in bulk. USPS offer free boxes, but they are standard Priority Mail stuff, and you cannot use them for anything other than Priority Mail.
- Offer free shipping when possible: If you start your auction on a very low price, do charge shipping. But if you are starting at a decent price and can afford loosing a couple bucks, (just in case it doesn't attract a lot of buyers) do the free shipping. It does get more views and it jumps to the top of the page.
This is all based on personal experience. I love to sell on ebay. But I was very disappointed when I encountered a schmuck that tried to get something for free. People will do that, specially with low cost stuff, they do think that you rather loose the money than receive a bad review. Well... I didn't. I am stubborn that way. And even though ebay sided with me, they said that it was nothing they could do about taking the bad review down. Oh well...
