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Original poster

At what point do I just give up on ebay and charity shop all this stuff? I cannot bear the clutter but really need the cash!

48 replies

Jemster · 02/10/2013 18:19

Hi
I'm getting myself really stressed out. Trying to declutter as we have far too much stuff and loft is full to bursting. We are going through a very difficult time financially and have some debts to clear.
My thought was to put literally everything I can on ebay but it's just not selling. If it does sell I am making a pittance i.e just sold baby bath for 99p.
I tried an NCT nearly new sale and only sold half the stuff so the rest is now cluttering up my living room.

I just can't bear the thought of charity shopping it when I once bought all this stuff and want to recoup some iof that money. But the time involved trying to sell it and then getting peanuts for it is making me question all of this.

I work 5 half days too and even when I do sell on ebay it's a struggle to get to the post office.

Please give me some advice. I have a permanent headache from worrying about money and feeling guilty for chucking stuff out but the clutter is doing my head in! Thank you

OP posts:
lljkk · 02/10/2013 18:25

You could probably think straighter & cope better with your life without all the clutter.

giving to a charity shop is a good deed.

I would only try flogging stuff on Ebay you think you'll get at least £10 for (Advanced search -> Completed listings). Not worth the aggro, otherwise.

Little is selling well on Ebay right now, by the way. Long story & rumours about why.

RubberDuck · 02/10/2013 18:28

What about trying a car boot sale, then just boxing up whatever's left and dropping it at the nearest charity shop on the way home?

Iwaswatchingthat · 02/10/2013 18:30

Local paper? Usually free to list things under £100 and people pick up at your house or you drop off. We sold our double buggy this way - it had not sold on eBay. We took it round, got the cash and went out for a meal with it!!

Local supermarkets usually do cards for free too.

Why not delegate a room for all the 'to sell' stuff and work through it bit by bit.

reddaisy · 02/10/2013 18:31

Try Facebook selling sites and then charity shop the stuff if it doesn't sell. It is very liberating to get rid of stuff.

stringornothing · 02/10/2013 18:40

Well if you sold half of it at an NCT sale then that's great progress and you'll probably get rid of at least another quarter if you do the next one, especially if you're a bit more ruthless about pricing.

Choccyjules · 02/10/2013 18:42

Gumtree where you set the price, for those things you'd really like to get some money back on, otherwise I agree, charity-shop it and feel free!

veryconfusedatthemoment · 02/10/2013 18:46

I sympathise with your position - I am in exactly the same situation.

I used to ebay and do a bit now for collectable type items where the collector may be distance away. There is so much not working now with ebay - very sadly.

I also do NCT NNS (up to age 8) - selling 50% is really good. You at least know that the % you pay is going to a charity that does help local communities and is very good targeted selling. Do ask for extra tickets - you may be able to price up more than 50 items. I also book for back to back sales in my area - saves re pricing. I put the unsold back in and the new items for that sale.

I love going to boot fairs but find them quite depressing to sell at. Everyone wants everything for a £1 or less so not much good for more expensive items. However I have just signed up to an indoor boot fair for only £6. You could try organising one.

In the last year I have found facebook selling groups the best apart from collection. I live in a village outside the town and people are so reluctant to come and pick up the bargain they greedily baggsed first. So I now say collection or I will deliver for 45p per mile return trip. Funny - they normally collect quickly after that. Perfect for childrens books, toys and clothes.

I think adult books are probably best going straightaway to charity. Most schools do a textile collection for old resalable clothes (or try the local scouts - it is a good fundraiser for them in my area). Even charity shops will take rag marked as such on the bag. I do like as you can tell targeted recycling and sales :)

usualsuspect · 02/10/2013 18:49

Car boot or gum tree.

bail16 · 02/10/2013 18:53

There are lots of Facebook pages in most areas to sell bits?

PoppyWearer · 02/10/2013 18:54

That sounds intriguing lljkk!

sara11272 · 02/10/2013 18:55

I find ebay unpredictable and a bit depressing, mostly.

I agree with the other posters about local paper (this has worked really well for me) and Facebook and NNS both sound good though haven't tried either myself.

Also, if you have lots of wearable clothes, is there anyone near you who comes and buys bags of clothes for £ per kilo? We have a couple who pay either £5 or £6 per 10 kilos so this is quite a good way to ditch volume clothing that's ok but not worth v much. They sometimes take towels, curtains, shoes etc too.

I had loads of car boot sale clothes that we'd taken several times and not sold...part of me thought 'but these are worth £1 each'...but part of me just thought they're not, actually, until someone actually pays you £1 for them...so you might as well get rid.

Good luck getting rid of it all, it's so satisfying! I still have lots to go but am making progress, like you.

Rooners · 02/10/2013 18:59

Sorry to hijack but lljkk - could you elaborate? I've found the same with ebay lately, it seems not to be worth the bother but have not heard any rumours.

HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey · 02/10/2013 19:03

I have just taken loads of stuff i would have normally sold on ebay to the charity shop.

I have had an ebay account for 11 years and it is awful at the moment and i am only listing stuff i know will sell well, Boden, Converse ect.

lljkk · 02/10/2013 19:15

The ebay discussion boards are full of it. I don't know how much is just grumpy moaning & exaggeration by disillusioned Ebayers. But my own sales (my old clutter) are sharply down, too.

When you search Ebay for things you use their proprietary search engine to search their database. it used to be Voyageur, but new version is Cassini. Rumour is that Cassini prioritises what to exclude on basis of poor quality (long story how they define quality). So some listings people pay listing fees for maybe never get displayed, no matter how hard you search.

In theory some sellers are benefiting hugely from Cassini, I suppose most of them are too busy to talk about their success online.
I haven't tested it for myself. Google Cassini to find out more.

other long-standing rumours about geographic distortions in search results, this seems less likely to be true.

lljkk · 02/10/2013 19:17

The main thing to understand is that almost everything you ever thought you understood about Ebay buying and selling: is false. Has changed hugely. Ebay users need to start all over again in understanding how the site works.

Rooners · 02/10/2013 19:19

Thankyou for explaining. Off to google!

Original poster
Jemster · 02/10/2013 19:30

Thanks for the ideas. I have loads of individual things to sell but nothing that would fetch £10.00 or more on its own.
Even if did facebook, gumtree etc I've still got to find the time to list things and I just don't think it's worth my while.

I've done car boots before but can't be doing with haggling over 10p so I think I'd rather give it to charity. I do feel good when I take a bag to charity shop as they are so grateful but my heart sinks when I think how much these things cost me in the first place.

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 02/10/2013 20:18

The free cards in Supermarkets are handy for stuff that will not sell well on ebay (e.g. too heavy to post) and is not very expensive.

Even a few pounds will be better than chucking stuff away, and less trouble than boot sales as they can phone, and call to collect for cash at a convenient time. You will get some no-show buyers.

On Freegle people will even carry away heavy household appliances, provided they are in working order.

PrincessWellington · 03/10/2013 22:45

Put an ad on Gumtree - bag of car boot items £
Sell it in one go

expatinscotland · 03/10/2013 23:03

I've had way more success on our local FB selling page.

hazchem · 04/10/2013 06:08

Do they have have garage sales in UK? In Australia you can open your garage/ front lawn and people come over and buy from there. Similar to a boot sale I guess but you can access your own toilet and make coffee and lunch.

123bucklemyshoe · 04/10/2013 06:16

We have beeen carbooting stuff recently to get rid of stuff. It's a bit mixed - but usually make enough to make it worth it. However, clothes seem to sell really badly.

MissMarplesBloomers · 04/10/2013 06:23

Please consider your local Womens Aid if going down the charity route, always grateful for anything found in the house!

monkeytennismum · 04/10/2013 06:32

In the same vein as MissMarples have you tried your local HomeStart? They are a charity which support vulnerable families / people in your area. They will take ANYTHING as the people they work with often have nothing - women from refuges / asylum seekers etc. I know you get no money from it but I personally really like knowing that my stuff is going directly to people who really need it. Esp. baby stuff - as it all gets loved again Smile

lljkk · 04/10/2013 19:53

We do get yard sales, Hazchem, but weather is not reliable, so not many such sales. They are big in California, too.