Best Way to Sell Household Items

• 

  captobvious on 15/05/2016 - 16:48

  +2

  Garage sale for sure.
  Advertise the garage sale on Gumtree, fb and the classifieds plus notice boards at the local shops.

  People will be at your door step early in the morning to grab a deal

• 

  banzini on 15/05/2016 - 17:18

  +3

  Gumtree if time poor and not wanting to dedicate entire weekend to it.

• 

  the-mal on 15/05/2016 - 18:26

  +3

  Gumtree is fine for big things (hard to scam, requires physical pickup, paid in cash, no fees etc).

  Knick knacks and small things of value (including electronics) are probably better suited to eBay so you can post and get a wider audience and protection.

• 

  scrimshaw on 15/05/2016 - 18:55

  +2

  Knick knacks that are not actively being sought after, such as old books, CD's and DVD's, cutlery and crockery, etc. should be sold on eBay or in a garage sale.

  If you sell on eBay do remember that you have to post the item and pay eBay fees, so it might actually be better to just do a garage sale. No fees to pay. Fragile items such as crockery should also not be sold on eBay, unless you want to do a pickup-only listing but you may as well put it on Gumtree.

  kitchen appliances, laptops, mobile phones should be sold either gumtree or ebay

  If you want to sell for a high price on eBay — TAKE GOOD PHOTOS and write GOOD descriptions

  Use a good camera or a phone that takes good photos, line up your items on a plain background and make sure the image is clear. This will maximise returns.

• 

  sparkles on 15/05/2016 - 19:06

  +4

  It all depends on how much time you have to dedicate to the process, and whether you need to get top dollar.

  I would start with Gumtree for large items like fridges, couches, beds.

  When dealing with a lot of items eBay is hard work, and doesn't neccessarily ensure a quick sale, nor a decent price. In fact, it can be a very long drawn out process with very little to show for the work required.

  You've neglected one option which is a market stall. This could have some success with smaller appliances, general household goods like kitchenware, knick knacks, tools, toys.

  As a last resort there is always Cash Converters. After that, what is left over call for the Salvo's, Vinnies or Brotherhood truck to come.

• 

  altomic on 15/05/2016 - 19:43

  +3

  ozbargain has a classifieds section

• 

  YTW on 15/05/2016 - 20:23

  +2

  For a massive clear out like this I would list all my big items on gumtree and multiple local buy/sell fb groups explaining that they were for sale immediately or would be available at my garage sale at the end of the week. The deadline helps get people moving, we sold about half of our big items before our garage sale this way.

  Then heavily advertise the garage sale online in the lead up to it - both directly and indirectly (by advertising the individual items, or boxes of items, in it and mentioning they'd be at the garage sale if not sold beforehand). Roadside signs get a lot of passer by's in on the morning too - presuming you live somewhere with regular traffic nearby.

  Reduce any bigger items that haven't shifted by the time the garage sale rolls around, when you have an entire household worth of stuff to get rid of it's sometimes just easier to be done with it than hang on hoping to get an extra $10 for something.

• 

  bengal tiger on 15/05/2016 - 20:59

  +4

  I know many ex-pats who leave a city and often list all their sale items in a spreadsheet (including brand/model) along with a 'suggested' sale price and availability date (e.g. you probably need your cutlery and dishes until the latest possible date). They then post it on their work Intranet sites and also send the spreadsheet off to friends and work colleagues, who also fwd it on to their friends and so on. Photos are optional but best to mention they're available upon request.

  You can sell off anywhere between 25%-75% of items through this, though YMMV as it depends on how many interested buyers receive the spreadsheet (the more the better) and how cheap your asking prices are. Ex-pats prefer this method it saves them time (you don't waste time maintaining an online ad or half a day holding a garage sale) and lets them deal with people they know or their friends know unlike going through Gumtree. Easier to deliver as you can make smaller items available for pick-up at work without frequent trips to the post office or going out of the way to odd locations.

  Doesn't hurt to re-issue a revised spreadsheet a few weeks later with massively reduced prices for any remaining items. Anything left (e.g. that popcorn machine which seemed like a fun purchase at the time) you can advertise online, give away to friends (I've received plenty of leftover kitchen items) or just leave for the next tenant depending on the value of the items.

• 

  GnarlyKnuckles on 16/05/2016 - 04:47

  My advice is that unless you are willing to devote countless hours to the process in order to (maybe) make a few bucks, it would be best to forget about trying to actually sell your "crockery and cutlery [and] just little knick knacks we have collected"; because the time/effort required will not be worth it. Offer them to any friends who might want them for free, and donate the remainder to your local Salvos/Vinnies.

  Re 'bigger' items (i.e. items that currently cost more than $100 to buy new, are still in near-new condition, and are not too old), I would try GumTree. But even these may not sell, so don't be disheartened if that is the case. The fact is there are a LOT of 'surplus/unwanted' 2nd-hand goods out there that peeps are trying to sell, so you cannot expect to get much for your stuff, if anything at all; unless it is really good stuff.

  IMHO the best thing you can do is realise this, and not waste too much of your (presumably) valuable time.

  I also agree 100% with 'the voters' in your poll, that as a private seller it is not even worth considering 'FEE-bay'… a combination of policies/fees has rendered that particular mode of selling basically non-viable for private sellers.

• 

  mskeggs on 16/05/2016 - 08:41

  Are you able to connect with inbound ex-pats from another country arriving in the reverse of your situation?
  You might be able to off-load the lot in one go.
  I know there are various Facebook groups for this, but can't supply links.
  Maybe one of our OzB brethren can?