At what point do you just give up on selling and give it all away!?!

[Logan]

Im so sick of all the stuff waiting to be sold. First its waiting for me to take photos, then uploading, then waiting to get sold without Ebay, then there's all the fees and time taken with listing stuff, and going to the post office multiple times in one week to post stuff and and and.....

When I finally make decisions to get rid of stuff I want it out of my way. Especially stuff which is hard to part with in the first place. It ends up hanging around so long I want to just keep it. Im just over the selling, cant you tell? BUT....

We really need the money to recoup some of the losses of what we paid for it. I am trying to pay off some CC debt and feel like since the debt is from all this STUFF, then I should try to get back as much as I can from it by reselling. And a little does add up to a lot. We do have a good income to pay off the debt on our own in time, but it just feels so wasteful to give stuff away for nothing when its worth money we dont have now, if that makes sense

But Im wondering whether its worth it to just get rid of it all and start fresh! I do like giving stuff of value to the thrift stores as we often have great finds there too and I like the idea of others finding something really special really cheap. Im over the horrible time-wasting greedy freecyclers in this area and we dont have any friends who need the things we are passing along. So its thrift store or selling. When do you just take the financial hit and let all the (very nice) crap go???

[clutterwarrior]

Wow! I could have written your post word for word!!

I have ummed and aahed over this issue many times and driven DH batty talking about it and saying to him exactly what you said.

What I currently do is give most of the things to charity as it really does empty the house quickly and that is my priority, because although we also need money, I figure that if I let everything sit around in bags saying "sell for winter next year", etc...it just gets me down and so in the past I got bogged down and felt so overwhelmed by all the listing, packing etc that I even didn't bother to list most things.

I do sell on ebay but I now try to only sell things that are likely to make a good price, to make it worth my while spending the time.

I have to admit on occasion I will randomly photograph a few smaller things and list them, just because I happen to be in the mood! Even then I have never made much money on most of these small ticket items, yes you can be lucky, but it's unpredictable.

An advantage of giving it to charity is I feel good about giving to others who are needy, more needy than we are anyway. AND if you give it away, it tends to make you stop and think more about spending in future, as a little voice in your head isn't saying to yourself "I can always sell it on ebay later and get some money back.."

If you have a good income to pay it off gradually, I suggest you do it that way, and just be very selective about what you do spend time listing.

[zebra15]

Ive all but written off ebay for selling. Its just not worth my time and effort. I take what I can get by selling DS's old clothes and toys at the kiddie resale shoppe. Granted they pay really bad but its better than nothing. Eventually they take everything, it may take a couple times through. I keep a rubbermaid bin and when its full I make a run over there. Its on my way so its not out of my way or anything.

Other items I donate or toss as needed.

[ParisApril]

Since I buy our clothing second hand I don't feel bad giving it away when they are done with it. Even household items are more of a PITA to sell than to just give away. Every now and then I have an item that I think is actually worth something, like the kids old wooden rocking horse of rocking chair. I will try to sell it at a garage sale or take it to the consignment shop.

[The4OfUs]

I have had a LOT of luck on craigslist and on my local mom's board selling stuff to recoup some money. I give low prices, and meet people when I'm already going to be going out, so it's not a lot of extra effort for me and I make a little bit of spending money. Anything that doesn't sell in 2 weeks on craigslist is out the door to be donated. I'm not trying to pay down any debts though, just fund our fun activities during the week, so keeping prices low makes the stuff sell fast and gets it out of my house.

[lucyem]

For me it came down to my mindset. I read a book on decluttering that talked about how by clinging to all thee things you are telling the universe it will not provide for you. But by letting it go you are telling the universe that you trust it to take care of you. Another way to look at it: you need to make room for better things to come to you.

Yes I do put things on craigslist. It is hot or miss for me. I do put things on eBay if I am sure will sell for more then $20. But there comes a point where trying to sell is not worth it. So it goes.

I also try to avoid dwelling on it all. We do have some debt but have to sell a house to pay it off. I know it will eventually sell and the debt will be taken care of. I try and focus on that good positive feeling. I try and not dwell on the "I spent so much money on junk and now have debt that will take forever to get rid of and the economy sucks etc etc" The first feeling feels better and helps me get rid of stuff. Then I feel even better and more positive. The second feeling makes me feel bad and worried and I cling to stuff more and then I get all wrapped up in dealing with trying to sell the stuff and frustrated it does not sell for more and I feel worse.

[crunchy_mommy]

I made over $150 on craigslist in the last couple weeks just selling toys we never even paid for (i.e. gifts, things I found on the side of the road & thought we 'needed', etc.) -- so they weren't particularly valuble or anything & I was surprised it added up so quickly! I stay away from ebay etc. because I always have issues (spend more time at the post office than anywhere else & then the buyer wants to return it because they didn't read the description and then I'm out the money it cost to ship it...)

Anyway so usually I first get rid of (freecycle/donate) things that aren't worth my time to sell. So anything worth less than $5-10 has to go -- not worth the frustration. Let someone else make $5 off it...

Anything $10 & up (or things you can sell as a group, like 5 toys for $15) I list on craigslist.

I keep everything out of sight (in the basement) while I'm waiting for it to sell. Yes, there are one or two things that I have trouble parting with if they don't sell... but most things I feel OK donating if they don't sell after a couple weeks.

Also I list things on CL all at once. So I take all the pictures at once & list all the ads at once.

When I'm just about to give up & donate something, I lower the price ridiculously low or group it with another more sought-after item -- then it often goes & I still get a few extra bucks.

You could also have a yard sale & get rid of a lot in one swoop. Then let people come take the leftovers off your lawn (free)... then donate whatever's left after 24 hours.

[happysmileylady]

I find my best bet is to keep it local. I have sold very little on ebay and I find it to be a pain-ebay fees, shipping, trying to work the ad just right to make sure it gets looked at...I am not a marketing genius here, I don't wanna compete with stores and people who do this for a living. I just wanna dump some crap from my house.

So, craigslist, garage sales and consignment shops are how I sell, when I want to sell.

Garage sales-now is the time for end of the season sales, so people are out lokoing for them. And you can advertise on craigslist for free for a sale, and that is how a LOT of folks find them. I had one the first weekend in August. It was super tiny...but then I live in a neighborhood that has two neighborhood sales a year, so I just joined in that. That does make it easier. But seriously, all I had was a coffee table, about 15 clothing items from my teen daughter, a small crafty looking end table, a microwave, an ugly green chair, some books, a small handful of other odds and ends and then two cars. We actually SOLD one of the cars and then $30 worth of the the other stuff too! I threw it together the night before and listed it on CL...and most of the people that stopped by actually said they saw my ad on CL and that's what brought them out. And when you add to the considerations that I was 32 wks pg, it was August and my only helper was my disabled MIL, I was impressed we sold ANYTHING. It sounds to me like you have more than I did to sell, I am betting a garage sale would help you even more. I actually even held a garage sale in NOVEMBER last year, and made like $75, which isn't a lot but then again, it was NOVEMBER, it was like 40* out and so not garage sale season.

For stuff that doesn't go well in a sale, or if I don't feel like putting a sale together, Craigslist is the way to go. We sold a laptop on Craigslist last week, I had it sold within 2 hours of listing. The keys I find with CL-keep re-upping your ad...people look at the stuff on the first page or two. Especially in a busy area like babies and kids, it can sometimes be tough get the ad noticed. You can delete and repost an ad like every 48 hours. Also, the lower you price it, the faster it will go, which should be a duh moment but it's true. At the same time...ALWAYS price higher than the absolute minimum that you will take and be ready to negotiate. Everyone wants to negotiate. As far as pick ups...most folks, I find do like to meet in a public place. For some stuff-couches, cars etc, that's just not possible, but you know I haven't met anyone creepy or anything either. I think the safety factor is really no different than freecycle or a garage sale or having your name and address in the phone book. So often, I don't even meet someone somewhere unless asked.

As far as when I give up on selling and just dump it...that depends on why I am getting rid of it. If my primary goal is "get it out of the house" then it gets a shot at the garage sale, if I am doing that, or a week or so on CL (with regular re-ups) then it goes to goodwill, or the trash. If my primary goal is "we need the money" and I have the room to store it, I just keep it around till it sells. This goes for things of all values. We have donated a car to Goodwill before, because it's sitting in the driveway was more in the way than us needing the money.

[mattemma04]

I started posting things on craigs in June.It was good at first,but there were a lot of no-shows.

I lowered prices and if it did not sell I donated.

I recently donated a lot to a cat shelter.

I am still holding on to a few items I hope to get $25 each for(posted on my picasa page) .I gave myself until October.Then I will probably donate again to a shelter to raise money for them.

[mattemma04]

Just wanted to add that I try not to look at what I paid for an item,but I would look to see what others were selling the same thing for.

It is hard to sell something for $20 when you paid $60 for it,but sometimes that is the best you can get.I do hate seeing people buy low and resell my item for higher,but oh well atleast I got what I did! I try not to look,lol.

Best wishes!