Sell it vs. give it away

[cyclemama]

We are planning a yardsale this spring to get rid of a lot of toddler clothes, outgrown toys, high chair .... You get the picture. Some of the items were passed down, or bought new, for us by friends and relatives. I'm feeling rather torn about selling them, like perhaps it might be more appropriate to give them away, since the items were given to us by others with kind hearts. It seems like bad karma to actually make a profit on those items.

Usually, I try to give outgrown items to those who can use them. But people in our neighborhood do tend to have an ebay mentality. I've often given away items to neighbors, only to have those same neighbors approach me later about buying a used bike or snowsuit from them for $20. It's a little awkward, and annoying.

My question: How do you decide whether to sell something or give it away?

Cyclemama

[annettemarie]

Moving to frugality

[jeca]

If I need the money or it was important to me I sell it. If it's something average or I don't need the money for anything I give it away. Yard toys I usually sell, most clothes I give away unless they are higher end then I try to sell them.

[beansricerevolt]

clothes we give away
Toys- we sell some and give away some (depends on our needs at that moment)
Things like musical instruments, furniture in good condition, bikes, stroller, slings, books, kitchen appliances in good condition, records/cds, computer software ect. we sell.
I usually give away things like dishes, baskets, linens, shoes ect.

[tempestjewel]

I hate selling things, even when we need the money

Do you have a freecycle list in your area? We have lots of local freecycle groups in our area, and when I list the item and people email me who want it, its usually quite easy to find someone who appreciates and really needs what I'm giving away. You can search here: http://www.freecycle.org/

We've gotten rid of furniture, baby items, etc this way. Sure, they could turn around and sell it, but I try to be careful who I give things to and so far I've gotten some stuff out to some great and thankful mamas.

[babycarrier]

Any shelters or dv centers in your area? That way you could give it away and not worry about people selling it.

I recently contacted a local church looking for a place to donate and was amazed at the coordinated efforts that they hooked me up with.

[KariM]

I tend to give away most of our unneeded items these days. We used to save them up and then have an annual garage sale with the "leftovers" donated to local thrift stores.

Now we just keep a donate box around the house and unused items go straight into the box and when it fills up we drop it off at a local charity thrift store.

I honestly think it's better karma and don't want to sell items any more.

I'll also freecycle bigger items. I just hate to freecycle when it's assorted stuff because it seems so complicated trying to arrange pick-ups.

[Shiloh]

I've moved towards giving away anything under 20 bucks...also giving away something that I might get 20 bucks I might have paid 100 dollars for...giving it to a friend or shelter I may have just saved someone 20-100 bucks and the karma is better..

it costs you a lot of time to sell things, you could look for a place to give you a charity reciept then you might save money down the road...

I free cycle odd things that I am not sure will go to a good home at the salvation army (like my childhood dollhouse stuff -went to a retired guy that makes dollhouses for children's hospitals how cool

[Piglet68]

It depends on how much I could make on the item and how much of a hassle it would be for me to sell it. I have a low PITA tolerance, lol, so I rarely sell stuff.

[mamadelbosque]

95% of DS' clothes come from the good will or used clothing stores... so I bag them up and take them back to resell back to them. I actually have two different stores that buy clothes an stuff back... what they don't buy I give back to the good will. Thats my rule... I wouldn't feel bad about selling stuff for a couple bucks if I was you though.

[Shellie]

I do feel uncomfortable selling things that were passed along; I feel like I should "pay it forward" as well. I like the idea of donating everything we don't need any more, but I do sell things I know I can get $$ for when we are in a situation where we need $$. If it's a few dollars, I give it away. But if it's $10+ then it's usually worth it to me to sell it.

[EFmom]

I just don't have time to sell this stuff. Dh has tried to do garage sales a couple of times, but he just doesn't get that you have to really work at it, so he ends up not selling anything.

I just bag up the clothes as they are outgrown and bring them to the Salvation Army. I suspect that the tax deduction we get is equal to anything we'd get by selling them anyway.

[PrettyBird]

I donate all clothes. I will probably give away all baby gear to a DV shelter when our second DC grows out of it. To me it is just not worth is to sell stuff like that. For the cloth diapers I will probably sell anything in good condition and decent value but give away the rest and use the prefolds as rags. We can't have a garage or yard sale because we live in an apartment and have neither a garage or a yard.

[ShaggyDaddy]

I need money
or
I need to get rid of this stuff

I have found that I need to pick one or the other or nothing will get done.

We recently gave away 90% of our belongings and constantly people were like "Oh really, free? um you should charge for this stuff" and we would be like "What would you pay... That's what I thought... please take it!

[seeingeyecat]

I dont think there's any bad karma associated with selling things. What's wrong with trade? and Money is just an object, like that toy or piece of clothing you want to get rid of. Generally yard sales underprice things so much that they're practically free when you compare them to what you would have paid for the new. And, when you sell something, you actually know it's wanted and going to be used. It seems that quite a few of these bags of old cloths and toys just get passed around a circle of donation, making work and cluttering our lives while they also help us feel like we're doing something positive. Freecycle seems to have solved this dilema, however.
Yardsales are fun, social, communtiy events that help kids learn about marketing and display and handling money. If you actually have enough stuff to sell off, and you're willing to put in the extra work, have a yardsale! and have a great time!

My friendship circle has a strong tradition of "swap meets" where we all bring the stuff we dont want and make a big pile, eat some quacamole, and then take home what ever we'd like to have. It's a fun sort of party. What ever is left over gets donated to a local charity colecting things for their anual yardsale. We have noticed that the same items keep coming back and back to the swap meets, pasing from hand to hand.
There's also a give-and-take shelf in the laundry room in my apartment complex. It's eairy how often I spot something there that I was about to go buy, and how quickly other people snatch up the stuff I thought was very nearly garbage.

When someone gives me something I know I'm unlikely to need, I keep it in it's packaging and with tags on. I save this stuff up and bring it all to a department store that allows refunds without a reciept. We use that money to buy other things that we'd rather not buy at that department store, but we're there anyhow and there are few other local places to buy stuff now that the big store has out-compeated the local shops.
I also sell some tags-on never worn baby stuff at consignment stores. If i drop something off and it doesn't sell in six months the shops donates it to a charity for me. If/When I have a second child I will not be de-tagging and washing every set of newborn pjamas someone gives me. By our due date the pile of baby clothing nearly reached the ceiling. We could have consigned/traded/returned a lot of that stuff for the cloth diapers and groceries we really needed!

[lilyka]

If you have time and space to store it and do a rummage I say have a rummage sale and make a few dollars. then pack everything up and give it away. ask some of those selling sort of friends if they want to join you. My friends and I did this once and we all traded stuff at the start. that way they didn't have to feel bad if there was something in our pile they didn't want (after all we wanted to leave each other something to sell ) and we all got rid of some stuff and walked away with some stuff.

or you can take it to a consignment shop for credit (trading is different than selling . .karma wise and all) and give away everything they won't take. we completely clothed our youngest for her first 3 years in consignment store cast offs. i was not all offended when my friend offered them to me (she mentioned the consignment store wouldn't take them so she would understand if I didn't want them but they were so sentemental that she couldn't give them to goodwill).

[savithny]

I have big karmic qualms about selling things that were gifts to us. I know not everyone does, but I have a hard time doing it, unless we're selling in order to replace (ie, selling our old car got us money toward the next one).

I also think selling something you were given as a handmedown is questionable, and I honestly pass stuff on now saying "I don't really need this back, so when you're done please give it to someone you know can use it to pay it forward."

In my case, the special things - the ones that have memories - are the ones I'd prefer to find new homes for by donation.

[hopefulfaith]

Originally Posted by Shiloh

I've moved towards giving away anything under 20 bucks...also giving away something that I might get 20 bucks I might have paid 100 dollars for...giving it to a friend or shelter I may have just saved someone 20-100 bucks and the karma is better..

That's what I do, too. I think about all of the money I've been able to save being gifted and re-gifted so many baby things - that I have given away the vast majority of stuff and hoped to bless other people with it.

[phatchristy]

I love to donate to charity. We do that, as well as give to family and friends. There have been a few items that occasionally I have sold (not much recently), but generally we give away.

If I did have a higher ticket item, likely I would sell.

[sabrinat]

Originally Posted by KariM

I tend to give away most of our unneeded items these days.

That's me. While I would love to sell some stuff in terms of recouping some of the expense, it just doesn't seem worth it to me...it's just stuff really. I try and pass it on to someone who will use it and appreciate when I no longer do.