by Vea Terrie

Created on: September 16, 2008   Last Updated: November 17, 2008

Cleaning out your attic, basement, closets, and garage can be a profitable venture. After you decide what you are keeping and what is no longer useful or wanted, you have three options; the local weekly paper, a garage sale, or eBay. As a small business owner with six years experience as an eBay seller, and over fifteen years experience selling in garage sales and with local ads, I would like to share some of my own experiences with you.

Garage Sales:

With a large family, there is always lots of cluttertoys, games nobody wants anymore because they now have the newer version, and outgrown clothing still in excellent condition. We always have a couple of last months hottest fashion item that no one could possibly wear this month because their friends would think they were weird. Then of course, there is always the dishware set that started out as service for eight and ended up as service for five and a half. Weather permitting, we set aside a weekend every so often and held a garage sale or tag sale. The biggest drawback to this type of sale is that it requires a lot of patience because you will attract more browsers than buyers and it is generally limited to just your neighbors. We tend to give away more than we sell in our garage sales just out of sheer boredom.

Classified Ads:

We have always attracted more buyers from classified ads in our town's local weekly publication because of its large circulation. The ads have come in handy for selling a bedroom set, odd pieces of furniture, and a plow. The larger items sell faster in this venue, but I have always been uneasy about inviting strangers into my home.

Ebay:

It took about a week of browsing the site before I decided to try placing a listing on eBay. My first "test" item, a Disney Character Tee Shirt, sold within four hours. I was ecstatic! Fortunately I had not used my second choice item a new four slice toaster I received as a gift (I have three of them) as my test case because that item had to be re-listed several times before I made the sale; even though I priced it below the other listings for the same item. Had the toaster been my first choice, I would have considered eBay a waste of time and returned to garage sales.

Suggestions for Selling on eBay:

EBay's membership is so vast worldwide that, with a little patience, you can sell just about anything. It is always best to have a clear photo of the item you are listing. First, choose the right category for your item, and then include search terms in your title

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