Why You Always Should Sell Stuff – Revenue Ideas

You Probably Have Some Stuff You Don’t Need – why not sell it?

With all the money advice out there, I always find it odd that this tip doesn’t come up. Over my past 20 years throughout college and up to today – I always have been selling random stuff on Amazon, eBay or Craigslist.

While everyone is going to have different seasons in life – I definitely have been able to sell at least $200+ of items a year with a few years hitting close to $1,000.   20 years times $200 = $4K of sales… not insignificant and I know I have sold more than this.

I call all of this selling “found money” that can redeployed to pay bills and hopefully have some left over to save.   Which can add to my investment portfolio… as a reminder every dollar counts:  How to Make $1 a Month for Life with $400

What I Have Sold

Instead of being a vague post I went through my archives and here are a list of the items I have sold over the years:

1. Free drink tickets on Delta ($5 a piece.. don’t laugh – good money)
2. Enfamil checks and coupons (cover the bar code in your pictures!)
3. Text Books – all undergrad and graduate school books were online as soon as I was done with the class
4. Old high school instruments
5. Baseball cards
6. Household items – pillows, blenders, higher end clothing, wife’s purses
7. Sold all my DVDs in the 2000s
8. Old phones, streaming devices etc….
9. Cat food after my cat died…sad but I did it…. 🙁
10. Child clothing or toys after they out grow (we have NOT had good luck at the kid consignment stores)

What to Sell vs Donate

The primary item I always come across when we have “stuff that needs to go” in our house is whether or not its worth selling or donating something.

My rule of thumb that we have come up with is if I can’t really expect to get more than $5 of profit after shipping for any one item – to just donate it.   The hassle involved to generate profit less than $5 at a thrift store or through an online sale will be eaten up by your time or gas to/from the location.  Just not worth it.

How to Value – Quickly

The biggest issue for most people is not knowing what something is truly worth.

For items that don’t have a bar code – I usually do a quick eBay search and can find out pretty quickly.   Clothing is very hard to value given how styles go in and out and even my wife’s higher end clothing that I have tried to sell on eBay and posh and some of these other markets really don’t move.  When we know we have something valuable for clothing we have had our best luck at consignment stores.

For everything with a bar code……… Ebay and Amazon can quickly get you a price.  Here are some pictures of Ebay and Amazon valuing a random object my wife hasn’t been using that I am thinking about selling…

Ebay Bar Code Scan:

Amazon Bar Code Scan:

How to Sell

I have Millennials that I run into at work that are surprised I am always selling something on eBay or I have some other side sale gimmick.  Despite the wonders of technology I think sometimes people don’t realize how advanced the market place has gotten for used and small cheap stuff.

I am not going to go through this in depth but in general:

1. You should have a paypal account – it is the best way to settle on eBay and other payment platforms
2. Amazon will pay you through their site if you sell through them
3. Find a comparable item on eBay or Amazon or your other preferred engine….. click “sell similar item” and follow the prompts… its really easy.

I can usually get an item listed in less than 5 mins including taking pictures…. pretty incredible how technology has evolved.

Tips on Selling

My primary tips on selling are:

1.  Take good photos – everyone is visual but note how I didn’t say “great photos”….. don’t feel like you need a back drop and a nice camera to get your items sold.  Just get that item listed!
2. Determine if you are a “free shipping” kind of seller or a “shipping is extra – calculated” type seller.  I have always been the later (shipping is extra) as it takes the guess work out of your profit and sometimes I can get some extra margin here.   Amazon may force you into an option depending on your item.
3. Don’t forget handling / packing your item – this is a cost!  If you have to buy shipping supplies you may not make money.  A pro tip to always keep a few boxes around

My Adventure Down Selling Box Store Items Online (Flipping Items I Don’t Own)

You might have heard about this in passing from friends or random internet stories but there are people who non-stop shop at Walmart, Goodwill, and other big box locations and then resell their items on Amazon or Ebay.   No joke people make a lot of money off of this if you hit it right.   The videos and research I have done over the years on this are all over the place but the ones that are most successful are people who focus on a category or two so they know what they are looking for….. Shoes and Textbooks seem to be the most common success stories for categories.

My successful experience has always been around Kitchen Pots and Pans that I bought at Walmart, Target, Homegoods, Marshalls, etc.  First some back story – My wife likes to bargain shop which takes up time.    I get bored in these stores and I eventually started using the bar code feature (above) to look at items on the shelf to see if there was anything I could flip for a profit.   For profit, I have routinely been able to make $5 to $10 per item sold when I have focused on this category with some of my items allowing me $20 of profit.   Some stories I have seen online show individuals selling Shoes getting close to $100 a pop in margin.

My tips:

1. You need something worth over $50 someone is willing to pay for… you are going to need to pay for shipping so you need some raw dollar margin if you are going to flip.   Shipping on average is about $10 for larger items and someone has to pay for that!
2. I always buy and list on the same day… if it doesn’t sell within 30 days – I return it!  Keep your receipts where yo can find them!
3. I love clearance items and items that are marked down or “2 for 1” deals.  My largest margin items have come from here.
4. I always charge everything on my credit card for rewards!  This adds 2%-5% to your profit!   See my post here:  Why Cash Rewards are King

In Summary

I know all of this sounds a bit silly – especially from a controller at a multinational – but if you have stuff in your home that you are not using…. why haven’t you sold it if it has value?   Stuck somewhere and see something you can sell?  Why not sell it?   My constant turnover of items in my house has had the effect of me really valuing all of this “stuff” we have around.   You likely have lost appreciation overtime for how much all of that stuff adds up.. I know I did and those kids toys, old phones, and anything of value goes out the door quick!   Happy Selling and Just another way to grow your revenue!    Your Life as a Profit and Loss Statement