Where best to sell your items?

jonbeeza

jonbeeza

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Over the years I have amassed a lot of items, probably like most of us. All sorts of items, gadgets and electrical and other bits and bobs. I often ponder the thought of sticking them up for sale, either on this forum, or places such as FB etc. Then it comes to the daunting process of detailing stuff with a description, and photographing the items etc. I suppose what really puts me off is, people wanting the item for next to nothing.

I love a bargain, just like the rest of us. I think it can be difficult getting a fair price, while keeping the buyer happy. After looking at some selling threads, not necessarily on here, but all sites that I visit, I get put off selling my stuff.
 
See what they sell for on eBay and then decide if your happy to accept a lower price if so try your luck on the forums. If not try on eBay.

Best to be dispassionate about these things and yes selling can be a real ball ache.
 
Brazo said:
See what they sell for on eBay and then decide if your happy to accept a lower price if so try your luck on the forums. If not try on eBay.

Best to be dispassionate about these things and yes selling can be a real ball ache.
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Not used that site in years. Last time I did, it cost me money. Plus I had dishonest people trying to scam me, and idiots winning bid and not buying.
 
I sell things on both eBay and Facebook. Larger items not suitable for posting go on facebook (and eBay) and smaller, collectible items on eBay.

I have sold literally hundreds of items on eBay and rarely experienced problems and it is still the selling medium that reaches the largest audience, more than half of my 'collectable' items end up being sent abroad. In my experience, buyers on fb are far more likely to 'mess you around', but there are no selling fees to pay.

Both work for me.
 
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Cartus said:
I sell things on both eBay and Facebook. Larger items not suitable for posting go on facebook (and eBay) and smaller, collectible items on eBay.

Both work for me.
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I did manage to sell a motorbike on there once, this was in the very early days when it was an exciting place to browse. Now it seems full of adverts, all selling the same item, and using the same photos.
 
Cartus said:
That's not my experience at all I have to say.
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Maybe things have gotten better since I last used the site. Just had a quick look just now, still looks the same. Full of shop adverts popping up.
 
I did sell a car on preloved a few years ago. The buyer only lived down the road from me. Reminds me, not been on that in ages.
 
How about donating the stuff to your favoured charities.
 
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Nod said:
How about donating the stuff to your favoured charities.
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I was looking at a couple of charities the other day, I was gobsmacked at how much they had in the bank, I was also annoyed at the salaries of their CEO,s.
 
I won't be buying a car of p**bay anytime soon, on the news tonight. Couple from Norfolk travel to Manchester, with £9000 to buy a car advertised on p**bay. They got robbed of all their cash.
 
I now give my stuff to charities, if they do not want it - furniture etc. I stick it on freecycle or similar.
 
jonbeeza said:
I won't be buying a car of p**bay anytime soon, on the news tonight. Couple from Norfolk travel to Manchester, with £9000 to buy a car advertised on p**bay. They got robbed of all their cash.
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Yes I read that too
I assume the police can nail the culprits as eBay will have the sellers details
If it’s the same case the buyer rang the seller to say they had arrived then got robbed seconds afterwards
 
jonbeeza said:
I was also annoyed at the salaries of their CEO,s.
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I worked on a project for the investigations department of the Charity Commission in the 1980s. Even then there was disquiet about the size of the salaries being paid out by the bigger organisations. :(
 
jonbeeza said:
I was looking at a couple of charities the other day, I was gobsmacked at how much they had in the bank, I was also annoyed at the salaries of their CEO,s.
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And that's the problem, the big successful ones are run in much the same way as big successful businesses.
The one I'm involved with has nothing in the bank, has only 2 paid employees (manual workers). Everything else is done by the trustees and by other volunteers, who don't even get paid expenses.
 
I don't sell much stuff as I can't be doing with the sort of person that calls you "mate" and puts in offers that they call "cheeky" but are more like cheapskate , or gets upset when they make such an offer on a topic that says "no offers" and get ignored by the seller.

Cars are even worse, in 32 years of car ownership I've never sold one. PX-ed a couple, scrapped a few, but never tried to sell. Life's too short for that nonsense.

Garry Edwards said:
And that's the problem, the big successful ones are run in much the same way as big successful businesses.
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There's the question, if appointing a CEO at £200k/year to replace someone on £30k/year directly results in an increase in revenue of £2m/year, then the net benefit to the charity is £1.83m/year despite the higher salary. So, do we moan about how much the CEO is paid, or congratulate them on raising more money for the cause?
 
Also, it creates a lot of resentment from low paid charity workers and charity volunteers.
Charities, IMO, should operate as such and not as huge, tax exempt businesses, I don't think that many donors would support them if they knew that they sit on huge cash reserves instead of spending it on the charitable objectives.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Once you reckon results trump morality you've already lost the fight.
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So do you think it immoral to pay someone what they're worth?


I really want to get to the bottom of the problem with paying people that work for charities what they are worth. I have no self-interest in this, I want to understand why someone should take a huge pay cut bring their skills to a charity.
 
What I don't like with charities , is when they sit on loads of money, and not releasing it to the needy.

Anyway, so where is the best place to sell your items? :)
 
onomatopoeia said:
So do you think it immoral to pay someone what they're worth?
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I’m impressed. That’s a good attempt at misdirection but it won’t work. To begin with, there’s no such thing as “what someone is worth”. We are all “worth” the same if we are worth anything. Then there’s the question of what charity is about, Most religions seem to agree that it’s about the duty owed to the unfortunate by the fortunate. If you have you give and if you lack you are given. Finally there’s the simple question of general morality, which emerges from the previous two points. If you insist on being rewarded for being charitable then you are, pretty much by definition, an immoral person. Hence: allowing you into a position of trust is not a sensible thing to do.
 
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For the older member really. But ohh, for the days when you could put your Vauxhall Viva, Hillman Imp, Hillman Avenger, Ford Cortina etc etc, in the local paper. Normally Thursdays paper was better, your car sold. Plus the phone never stopped ringing, and it rang for days after. Same when you tried to buy a car from the classified ads, back in the day. The cars were always gone.

But now, it is so hard to sell your car. To be honest, it is hard to sell anything now. :thinking:
 
jonbeeza said:
.But now, it is so hard to sell your car. To be honest, it is hard to sell anything now. :thinking:
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I used to wander round the small garages and see what hey were desperate to shift. I had a succession of cars that cost me a week’s pay and each ran for a few months before they gave out. Then came the MOT...
:tumbleweed:
 
Sold various bits on facebook for work over the last few months. you should provide a few clear images and a good clear description....If people then ask for more than 2 bits of information that are in the description, or want to collect more than 2 days later block them and move on....
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I used to wander round the small garages and see what hey were desperate to shift. I had a succession of cars that cost me a week’s pay and each ran for a few months before they gave out. Then came the MOT...
:tumbleweed:
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I remember them days, Austin 1100 for £30, and it ran for ages. I think I sold it or £50. It was a long long time ago. :)
 
Mozthecat said:
Sold various bits on facebook for work over the last few months. you should provide a few clear images and a good clear description....If people then ask for more than 2 bits of information that are in the description, or want to collect more than 2 days later block them and move on....
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I think I did try to sell something on faceberk or some other social media site. When buyer started asking me loads of silly questions, when I saw their location was not even in the UK, I did not bother any longer. There are too many silly people out there.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I used to wander round the small garages and see what hey were desperate to shift. I had a succession of cars that cost me a week’s pay and each ran for a few months before they gave out. Then came the MOT...
:tumbleweed:
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Bangernomics they call it nowadays ;)

A few sites dedicated to it on the web.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Also, it creates a lot of resentment from low paid charity workers and charity volunteers.
Charities, IMO, should operate as such and not as huge, tax exempt businesses, I don't think that many donors would support them if they knew that they sit on huge cash reserves instead of spending it on the charitable objectives.
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You make a good point. I recall listening to a radio programme on this very topic and the advice was to help small local charities.

In this link below is the 2020 list of top-paying charities.
https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-pay-study-2019-top-earners-26-50/management/article/1579232

I suppose,to be fair..I do my best to be fair, that running these major charities needs well qualified and experienced people. In the list I see that are three that are are religious organisations. The United Church Schools ..United Church Schools Foundation and Jewish Care.

Take a look at the Tax relief paragraph in this link.They don't pay tax on any dividends or capital gains from investments.
https://knowhow.ncvo.org.uk/setting-up/charitable-status/pros_and_cons_of_becoming_a_charity

Re the religions. 5 years ago The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society..aka Jehovah Witnesses tried to block an inquiry by the Charity Commision into covering up child sex abuse. They eventually relented. They (Elders)conduct their own 'investigations' which sometimes involved questioning a child infront of the alleged perpetrator infact I read of an instance where the police were informed ( by the parents) and the perpetrator was eventually sent to prison. Upon his release the Elders made the 7 year old girl relate, infront of the abuser what she alleged he did. Infact they have a 'two-witness' rule that requires an accuser to have a witness. For child sex abuse ?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...charity-drops-attempts-to-block-abuse-inquiry

The Catholick Church is the same..as we know and the C of E makes the right noises in public but fiercly fight (with highly paid lawyers) cases brought to court..and Islam
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...terrorism-record-high-extremists-pose-deadly/.

The work a charity does should be for the public good..ie existing for social good as a whole ...as you stated and I cannot, for the life of me, see how taking religion to people ..and they do..meets that criteria whatever good societal work they undertake. A plague on all their houses,I say.

Not in the same class..no pun intended but I see Eton College is on the list...lol. Eton ?? The September registration fee alone is £400...and if a child gets in then it's a £2000 acceptence fee..I read that it cost s £40,700 per annum with extra fees for music tuition and being a member of the Sports Club.

Re all the public schools listed as charities.The sums involved
https://actiontutoring.org.uk/independent-schools-deserve-charity-status/

There's also Winchester-Harrow-Rugby-Westminter-Shewsbury, Roedean (for girls only)etc.

Have a look at the paragraphs just above and below the photo of Nadhim Zahawi MP
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...vate-schools-charitable-status-strip-benefits

As you say, these days they seem to be running as tax exempt businesses.
 
I have noticed charities tend to sell items at too high a price. There was a thing on faceberk showing one charity selling second hand Primark clothing, for more than the new price.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
To begin with, there’s no such thing as “what someone is worth”. We are all “worth” the same if we are worth anything.
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Some people are capable of doing a job better than others, why shouldn't they be paid more for doing so.
 
I've sometimes sold things on ebay but people seem to want something for nothing, I'd rather give it away!
 
I did half thing of doing a car boot, but after visiting one, I decided against it. Someone who did a car boot, was saying how bad things were. You could be selling a pair of shoes for 50p and some one will make an offer of 10p. Besides a car boot pitch is something silly like £20 per day, or something like that. By the time the site has been paid for, and the fuel costs taken off, you are money down.
 
Most of the stuff you don't want others don't want either, charity shop or Freecycle

Some things like phones ,spectacles, tools and computers can be given to specific charities that send it to third world countries
 
nilagin said:
Some people are capable of doing a job better than others, why shouldn't they be paid more for doing so.
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One reason is that this is supposed to be a Christian country and Jesus was a good socialist. Look up Matthew 19:23-24 in the New Testament to remind yourself of the (alleged) Christian view of wealth. I am not, I hasten to add, into religion myself.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
One reason is that this is supposed to be a Christian country and Jesus was a good socialist. Look up Matthew 19:23-24 in the New Testament to remind yourself of the (alleged) Christian view of wealth. I am not, I hasten to add, into religion myself.
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That has nothing to do with paying someone more because they can do the job better than just adequate.
 
nilagin said:
That has nothing to do with paying someone more because they can do the job better than just adequate.
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I reckon, in the context of the discussion about pay for the employees of charities, it has everything to do with it.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I reckon, in the context of the discussion about pay for the employees of charities, it has everything to do with it.
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Why? Just like any other job, it will reflect input, responsibility and ability.
 
nilagin said:
Why? Just like any other job, it will reflect input, responsibility and ability.
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I disagree. You of course are free to hold your own views.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I’m impressed. That’s a good attempt at misdirection but it won’t work. To begin with, there’s no such thing as “what someone is worth”. We are all “worth” the same if we are worth anything.
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Pretty impressive attempt at misdirection there yourself. Someone that can do heart surgery is worth more to the NHS than someone that cannot. If we follow your argument to its logical conclusion, everyone should be paid the same irrespective of the role they fulfill, level of training and expertise.
 
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