Earn Extra Cash Selling Your Stuff

Need a little extra cash, or have a lot of junk lying around your home? In the middle of a not-so-great economy can be the best time to sell your used things. People are looking to save money on items they might normally buy new, and are more ready than ever to go the second hand route. With so many people out there ready to love (and buy!) the junk sitting around your house, you have no excuse to just throw it away. It's time to get selling!

There are lots of ways to sell your extra things. But the most popular --and easiest-- are through garage sales or internet sales. No matter how you go about it, though, there are a few things to keep in mind that will help you to sell more efficiently, have more fun, and make more money.

Garage Sales

In the United States alone, the classic "garage sale" is a $3 billion per year industry. That's a lot of money changing hands. And it can also be a lot of fun. There are hundreds of thousands of people who love to spend their Saturday mornings canvassing garage sales for the best deals. With just a sign and a pile of goodies, you're ready to go.

To make your garage sale a success:

Catch the eye. The whole point of a garage sale is to get everything sold in a weekend. After removing items from their places at the top of a shelf and dusting them off, you don't want to have to return them to their solitary shelf lives. So getting as many visitors to your home as possible is key. And getting those visitors is all about advertising. Put an ad in your local paper or place a free ad online advertising your sale. Then make sure any signs you put up (put them on major roads near your home, and provide address and directions) are clear and easily visible. Balloons or bright colors will really help to draw the eye.

Display it right. You're selling all this stuff for a reason: you don't want it anymore. But you expect people to buy it for the opposite reason: they do want it. You can't expect anybody to covet your things if they're displayed as if they were junk. Don't just lump items together. Hang clothes on a make-shift bar. Display other items neatly on tables. And if you intend to sell any electrical objects, have an extension cord leading up to the house so potential buyers can test them out on the spot.

Know your money. One of the hardest parts of planning a garage sale is getting the pricing right. Spend some time in the weeks before the sale tagging and pricing everything you plan to sell. If it goes on sale, it needs to have a price on it. Most people are willing to ask, sure, but others will just walk away. Also, plan to drop by the bank the day before the sale and get plenty of change, especially singles. Chances are most of your buyers aren't going to have exact change.

Make it bigger. The bigger the garage sale, the more buyers you'll draw in. If you really want to have people flocking to you, invite some of your neighbors to join in and sell their things, too.

Selling Online

When you compare the number of people who might stumble across your garage sale to the number who might struggle across your online ad, there's really no comparison. If somebody out there wants what you have to sell, chances are they'll find you on the internet. There are lots of great places to sell items online. The obvious one is eBay, of course, but there are also plenty of other online auction sites, as well as internet ad sites for secondhand goods.

Compare pricing. The customers who show up at an online ad or auction are going to be a lot more educated about the pricing of similar products than the ones who appear at a garage sale. So you need to see what others are charging before you can even begin to price your items appropriately.

Never skip the picture. When I'm looking to buy things online, I don't even click on ads or auctions that don't include photos. In fact, photos are just as much of a "must do" for selling your things as they are for selling yourself on an internet dating site. Even if you don't have a digital camera, borrow one and be sure to use it. It'll make all the difference in the number of interested buyers, and the final sale price of the item.

Take fees into account. When you use a site like eBay, you're paying them for the privilege of using their marketplace. For each listing and transaction, you'll have to pay a pre-set fee. Be sure to calculate this into your pricing when it comes time to list your items.

Selling your things online or even at garage sales can be a lot of fun. In fact, for some people it becomes something of an addiction. If you do it right, there are very few easier and more efficient ways to make a little extra cash. After all, you're giving your buyers something they want while doing something great for your home: clearing out the clutter!

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