I've Been Selling On eBay

Another bonus of preparing for Christmas in November is that I've had time to sell on eBay! I didn't know last month that I would have the time or take the time to do it. I'm glad I did though. It has meant more cash in our pocket AND less stuff in our home.

The desire to do some selling actually came as a result of buying a large lot of Wii U items on eBay for my daughter. The price I paid was about $100 more than I wanted to spend. I did it anyway because I knew quite a few of the items in the lot could be resold to other eBay buyers to help bring the cost within my budget. The good news is I sold $239 worth of stuff so far!! (That's not all profit, as eBay likes to dig in with their fees.)

While I was working on selling the Wii items, I decided to auction up some of my husband's work gear he no longer needs. And it was really time to move these items on. It was a full footlocker worth of gear that we even moved with us this summer knowing he no longer needed it! Some of that total above includes these items. I still have more work gear to sell, but I need to do some more research to determine if now is the right time to sell the remaining items.

Once I'm certain I'm done selling for awhile, I've got to declutter all the boxes I have been receiving and thus saving for my eBay sales. Empty boxes take up a lot of space! I could flatten them sure, but even then they can pile up. I generally keep a couple, but not too many more, since I know I can get free boxes at the post office any time!

I wouldn't recommend selling on eBay to many people this time of year, unless you already have some experience with it. It can be stressful. And it takes time! However, because of all my planning in November, this was a task I was ready to take on. And I'm so happy I did!

And one final thought. Saving the items you are letting go of to sell can be a mixed bag. It's great that you have valuable, or potentially valuable items, to sell. However, it is important to be realistic about your ability and desire to actually sell these items. Have you sold online before? Or had a garage sale? Were they a success then? Do you dread having the extra step of getting your item ready to sell. Sometimes, it is more valuable to let the item go completely and have the peace, rather than the guilt of needing to work on getting rid of it by selling.  I've done a combination of both, thus why I can see the pros and cons of both. 

Do you sell any of your items when you declutter? Do you save them in the hopes that you will sell someday? Would it feel better just to donate the items and just be free of them? If you think so, I can almost guarantee you won't regret it!