How to practically liquidate lots of little things of moderate value
Operation: Move Far Away is well underway in my house.
As part of this operation, I am realizing that I have quite a lot of Stuff. Stuff that is worth selling, but not huge collections that I can get an auction house involved with. This is Stuff that I have inherited, or happened upon over the years of being in various hobbies.
Things like alternate cover DnD books , what I assume is the exact same collection of Pokemon cards that every other 30something has, porcelain dolls of some flavor, coins, video game paraphernalia, that kind of thing.
I figure the best way to liquidate this stuff is just to list it all on ebay, but that requires an account with a buildup of reputation that I neither have, nor have time to build up.
I figure the worst way is to take a box of stuff to the nearest pawn store and ask what they'll give me for it.
I am curious what kind of middle ground approaches other people have tried. Is there some version of a business that takes Stuff and sells it on ebay, pocketing some percentage of the sale? Is there a different kind of business that I should be looking for?
This has to be a common enough scenario that a solution exists in some way, but I'm just not sure exactly what to look for.
EBay is probably still the best bet. I have only sold a handful of things, and eBay reputation has never seemingly been a problem. eBay also makes it incredibly simple to sell things. They will find similar items to fill out most of the details of the listing, notify you when it sells, and help you purchase postage directly in the app. For me, it has always been USPS postage, so all I have to do is pack it and ship it.
eBay made their buyer protections really good. This can be bad for sellers, but it does mean that buyers don’t really care about profile reputation anymore.
Hey friend, I'm in a similar boat and have been doing the same thing for the last year or so in preparation of a big move across countries. What I've found is that a lot of the small things I'm trying to get rid of really are not worth the hassle of trying to sell them. I've been using FB marketplace to great success, cash only and local pickup so no worries about shipping or returns or whatever. But we are fortunate that my wife is currently a stay-at-home mom and has the time to actually respond to messages and sell stuff while I'm at work. Anything less than like $10 we've come to learn is just not worth the time and effort for us. So we list the bigger items, say stuff that goes for $20-300 bucks, and donate/discard a lot of the smaller things. Forget what you paid for them. Forget what you THINK they could go for. The only factors that matter to me now are how quickly I can sell the item and how much space it takes up.
I guess it would be different if we were doing this more for income and maximizing how much we get for things, but we're at the point where anything is better than nothing and I just want it all gone. And if you're in the 'get rid of things' mindset like we are rather than 'trying to maximize how much money we get' then don't be afraid to list it for quite a bit less than what you'd ideally want. Better to sell a bunch of stuff for less-than-ideal prices rather than sitting on them for weeks or months dealing with the stress of keeping it and storing it and replying to messages. If something doesn't get multiple offers within a week, we've probably listed it too high and will drop the price by like 25-50%. We have made a couple grand in the last year doing this, but more importantly have gotten rid of a metric shit ton of stuff that we know we will not take with us. So every penny made feels like a bonus.
Someone else mentioned tax discounts for donating items like clothing. We did that and I can definitely recommend. Much better to get rid of like three giant bags of clothing/towels/bedsheets all at once rather than trying to get rid of them individually.
So yeah TL;DR the advice I would give myself a year ago when I first started this process is to stop trying to maximize how much I get from selling stuff, because the actual feeling of relief and getting rid of a lot of stuff vastly outweighs whatever money we make. Better to sell something for $25 bucks and be rid of it in a week rather than $50 but have to store it for a couple months and respond to 20+ fb marketplace questions and lowball offers. People expect less when things are listed cheaper, saving you stress and headaches and time and space.
Good luck!
If you're in the US and itemize taxes, you could donate the items to goodwill or another org and use the value as a deduction. It's not the same as cash but at least you can claim the full value, which could be worth it depending on your tax situation.
I do eBay: my advice is to not go that route except for things that sell for enough to be worth the time to list and ship them. (search for the thing, then click on 'sold items' on the left side a little ways down)
What is your time budget? Do you need everything gone right away, does it not matter if it takes half a year? The time budget has a huge impact on your practical options.
General options:
Consignment stores
Set your house up as a 'living estate sale' and advertise that locally.
6 months is when we are hoping to be gone, so it is soon but not "next week" soon.
The "living estate sale" is a really good idea though!
Ok, with your time frame, I'd pick between the first 2 options here:
Least / zero effort from you, but least $$ return or likely even a loss (you could end up spending money to get rid of stuff where you could have just given it all away):
If you want to trade your money to conserve your effort (I run into this at times due to ADHD / Executive Dysfunction issues) then you can go with one of the services that have been mentioned that will just take care of everything for you. BE AWARE that you are likely to make no money, or even lose money doing this. If you go through an auction-house-ish service expect plenty of your lots of stuff to sell for the initial $1 or $5 minimum bid, and much or all of it to get eaten by the auction house fee - they do that to protect themselves against having huge volumes of low-dollar stuff dumped on them and go out of business from high labor costs to low sale return ratios.
Midrange option - moderate labor time for some reasonable return (I advise this option):
Take EVERYTHING that is cheap on the secondary market and price super-low or just give it away. Clothing that isn't high-end near perfect condition. ANYTHING THAT IS LARGE such as huge TVs, couches and other furniture, aquariums / reptile tanks, you get the idea. The sweet-spot for cheap is $20 items or $20 lots on Craigslist / FB Marketplace with 'First person here with a $20 gets it, no holds' or similar message. For clothes: I'd say just take them to the local donation center that will give you a tax receipt, then claim it as whatever the max allowed amount is for that years taxes.
EBay: if you have items that will sell for $50 or more individually, AND they are physically small and not heavy, then go ahead and list them on eBay. Not having a feedback score isn't a show-stopper - just don't use AI descriptions. Take all your pictures for all your items in the same location with the same table / rug / background / whatever (to communicate you aren't a scammer who is copying other listings) and write a description for each item, then copy/paste a blurb about what you are doing 'Hi, I haven't done eBay before but we are preparing for a big move and need to sell off a bunch of stuff. Yes, I know I have no feedback, yes the listings are real, feel free to ask questions.' If you have one, put a digital clock on the table with all your listings if it displays the date (to show when the pictures were taken). Set up a PirateShip account (it's a free service) and use that to pay for your shipping labels (WAY cheaper that way), and if possible try to get your boxes and packing materials from Craigslist / FB Markeplace free sections, except for tape, you'll need to buy that.
Put everything not in those first 2 categories on your local marketplaces. Oh, and for the big/heavy stuff, feel free to give a shot and trying to get good money for it for, say, a month or two, you might get a bite on something, but after that don't risk getting stuck with it and put it up for cheap, then for free.
High labor option (don't do this - it is literally an example of what would waste your time and energy):
You could list literally everything individually on eBay and local markets, trying to get best price... this approach is only for the person with unlimited time and storage space. Don't do this.
Thank you for this advice!
further to this, MaxSold.com
How it works is two ways: they come and take (iirc) $3000 of your money, then they take photos of ALL your stuff, label everything, put them up into approximately $20 worth of value lots, and let people bid on them for a month. Everyone comes to pick up their stuff on the sale date, whatever doesn't get picked up has already been sold and someone will take it off your hands as a freebie. The other way is slightly cheaper (iirc) where they take less of your money but you have to do all the photos, label everything, and the sale will be marked as "seller managed". Same pick up procedures. You pocket the end sales profits if any.
So it really depends on how much money you think you can make back at the end. The good thing is that your good stuff WILL be sold at good value to people who actually want these things. The down side is that it's an expensive service. Worth looking into for folks who are heavily downsizing and have actual valuables like pokemon cards , not smoke yellowed bed sheets with only a few moth holes and 10 stacks of old falling apart magazines.
Question for you since I've been thinking about selling a few things on eBay, how do you protect yourself as a seller?
I'm thinking of selling an old-but-still-somehow-valuable GPU, among other things, and one thing I consistently hear of is tech sellers getting scammed by buyers claiming whatever it was is broken on arrival.
I know my area does have a couple of businesses that will take your stuff and sell it on eBay, taking a cut, but I wouldn't hazard a guess as to whether your area does. I'd take a look, as getting that labor off your plate seems as valuable as whatever cut they're likely to take.
I used one of these about a decade ago. They disappeared after they picked up my stuff.
Not saying all places are like that, but it's worth looking up reviews.
Oh, yeah. The only places I know of in my area have actual storefronts. A place that doesn't have a physical location is inherently ephemeral.
How would you suggest finding these kinds of businesses? I can't think of what I'd search for.
The brick-and-mortar equivalent of this is called a consignment store, so maybe start by searching for
ebay consignment [location].I'd search for consignment shops and ask them if they sell things on eBay or other platforms.
EDIT: Perryapsis got to it first, and I cosign their suggestion.
What about a Yard Sale?
This was my first thought, especially if you're in a high traffic area. Our move coincided with our old neighborhood's annual garage sale weekend, so we managed to sell a lot of stuff we didn't need anymore. Some of it admittedly went for much less than it was worth (think of a smoker in particular), but we were prioritizing downsizing more than making money.
Yeah a yard sale will happen, this was more about the stuff that is "worth" quite a bit but not necessarily to a random passer by. The yard sale will be for furniture, clothes, toys, that kind of thing.
If you're in a major centre, don't underestimate how many people will come out to buy your stuff if it's listed on Marketplace. Take good photos, explain why you're selling and the condition of the item, and price it for 2/3 or half of the going rate from other sellers.
Honestly, stuff flies out of the house. Best yet, if you have a covered space and are able to ask people to e-transfer or leave cash in your mailbox, I've found that trusting people to pay and take works. Of course, only do this if the value of the thing is less than what you're willing to lose.
Cosign Facebook Marketplace or local buy/sell groups for sure.
For some specialty items - my local game store buys cards, and will consignment sell board games for you and does an auction annually. It's nice because they're out of your house and then "surprise" you have a store credit.
Just want to confirm that putting out a (free?) listing on Craigslist titled "Estate sale with <collectible franchise> and <collectible media format>" still works in metropolitan areas and actually brings in the right clientele. Even a whiff of vinyl, comic books, even cassettes (sold by the box of course), will turn up the sort of value-collectors who understand that you're looking for good money but that they can still get a deal.
My father put up a listing of my grandparent's vinyls and specified a few to give a flavor of the eras covered, along with how many boxes there were. We had three or four enthusiast type people show up, reasonably presentable, personable, and they paid cash to buy whole boxes with minimal fuss. There wasn't any "let me camp in front of this box for two hours and pick out the several I actually want" or "can I just buy five for $2???" kinds of things that leave you with boxes of stuff and a wasted morning. They are experienced and knowledgeable and usually have some kind of quirk that makes collecting bulk that way more economical, yet they have the money to make real offers.
So don't be afraid to give that a try first because that'll be much better than ebay (unless you live super rural).
(@DeaconBlue) Going into more detail in a separate comment because this will take more time for me to write. But I've done a variety of these things over the past few years so I can offer some answers:
Yes, there are "pickers" who buy bulk from individuals/estates. They are a dying breed due to a variety of factors. I could write a whole post about how Mercari, eBay, and antique middle-men/scalpers are killing that industry. But the short answer is to find flea markets or "antique malls" (not just small stores) and get business cards for everyone even remotely adjacent and to your theme and give them a call or email/FB DM.
Conversely, people bidding on storage units seems to have grown a lot due to pop-culture. Those people don't frequent estate sales typically, but there should be some crossover. You should be able to make inquires via Craigslist and maybe have someone reach out to you, but I wouldn't do this first. I'd do an estate sale first and try to get the most you can, then incrementally lower expectations. If there are things that are really high dollar value ($300 comic book alt art, a mildly valuable signed poster, etc.) then I would list those individually.
For comic books, DnD, and Warhammer, I would go to your local indie comic book stores and inquire with them. If they have a "no soliciting sign" obviously don't ask them directly, but you could walk around the store for a few minutes and then go up to the owner-manager and ask if they know of anyone who would buy comics by the box. If they seem interested themselves, you could casually drop a "well ... I do have a box in my car ..." :) Otherwise, they might have some leads of local collectors who appreciate volume or specialty items (like alt covers, framed stuff, etc.). Plus, you know it's going to a good home and maybe they'll come pick it up from you rather than the other way around.
There are estate sales companies and they have different styles (and styles probably vary by economic region). My experience is different from chocobean's because my family went with a different "style," but their experience is very relevant. Here's what ours was like (and this was in a nice area):
They will run a "yard sale" inside your home. Some will run auctions right there in your home at a specific time and make it very formal, then the rest of the time is basic yard sale activity. Items for sale are laid out, people can bring them up to the estate sales associate and bargain with them a little, and the sales associate is responsible for sticking to your wishes (whether you're willing to come down in price a certain percentage, drop the price up to 50%, take any offer, whatever). So they do a day's worth of yard sale work and you don't have to stress.
These companies do all the advertising and stuff themselves, saving you time and money in some ways -- and probably reaching better audiences in the process. Most of these entities will be looking for estates of grandma's old furniture and jewelry, not 30s-male-collectibles, but you might find an estate sale company that is willing to give it a shot.
They'll come to get a sort of appraisal of what's being sold, how much time they should dedicate to the process, who to send (you wouldn't want their silverware expert...), and whether they will charge you or take a commission of sales. If you don't have at least a certain value to sell, they probably won't work solely on commission. But if you have some really valuable stuff, or enough of it that would be parted out rather than be sold as a set, then an estate sales company would know how to manage this and they'll also help you price things for sale.
As someone also doing a Move Far Away, this thread is making me very grateful I don't have that much stuff to sell and will probably offload a lot of it onto friends and neighbors for cheap to free. Keeping an eye on the suggestions here tho.