How to Sell Your Junk Through Online Classifieds

Everyone has unwanted clutter. Old furniture, appliances, books, electronics, exercise equipment, clothing, whatever. With a little effort, you can trade these items for cash. While garage sales are a great way to declutter your home in one fell swoop, they require organization, and planning. An alternative, is unloading unwanted goods item by item on online classifieds. This How To will help you post effective ads in your local online classifieds that will help you trade your items for cash.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Unwanted Items
• A Computer and internet connection

1. Clean the dust off your unwanted items. Clean items look newer to potential buyers, and hence more valuable.

2. Take a picture of each item you wish to sell. Each item should be photographed individually as images displayed on online classified websites are often small, and it can be difficult to pick out an individual item in a photograph. Photos should be taken with good lighting (try to take photos during the day), be in focus, and give potential buyers a good idea of the condition of the item.

3. Write a description of each item. Descriptions should contain words potential buyers might use to search for such items. For example, if you're selling a bookcase, you may want to use the following words in your description: shelf, shelves, bookshelves, bookcase, etc. This will make it easier for a buyer to find your ad. In free online classifieds you are not charged per word, so avoid brief descriptions that fail to give buyers a good idea of your items.

4. Start placing your ad. Each item you wish to sell should be put in a separate ad unless a group of items makes up a coherent set. It is easier for buyers to find ads for specific items, and buyers will tend to click first on the ad with the lowest price. If you list all your items in one ad, the price for each item will not be clearly displayed in the ad title.

5. Give your ad a title. A title should be brief and describe the item you wish to sell(i.e. 'Bookcase').

6. Give your item a price. Pricing too high can deter buyers from contacting you. Pricing items too low, means you're not getting as much as you could. Rather than think about what you paid for an item, check out how much a similar item might cost new as prices often drop as time passes. If your item is in great condition, try discounting the new price by about 25% or 50% as a starting point. If there are similar items already listed in online classifieds, stick to the same ballpark price.

7. Add your contact information. Most online classifieds will allow buyers to contact you without revealing your email address. This is great for avoiding spam, and there thus is no need to post your email address in the ad. However, you must make sure that emails will be properly forwarded to your email address. You can add your phone number so that buyers can contact you directly. This is often simpler for arranging pick-up times with buyers.

8. Upload your photos, and proofread your ad. Use proper spelling and grammar, and be sure the pricing is consistent every time it is mentioned. Be sure your photos are displaying properly, and submit your ad!

9. Check your email often, respond promptly to buyers' emails, and wait for your items to turn into cash!

Tips & Warnings

• Accept only cash, and only sell locally. Anyone asking you to ship an item or accept a cheque is trying to scam you. Ignore all emails making such requests.

[thegoddessmaria]

on 2/24/2010 Excellent, concise article.

[ashcraft]

on 2/17/2010 Great tips! 5* rec

[raene]

on 2/13/2010 Good tip on cash only transactions and local dealings :)