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Is Your Trash Another Person's Treasure?

One of the most common ways that many people try to get rid of items they no longer want is either by giving them away or perhaps having a garage sale. Both of these come with a lot of pitfalls. A much easier way is to make the internet work for you in getting rid of what you now consider to be trash, but may be of great value to someone else. You can do this by using buy and sell platforms.

What's Wrong with the Garage Sales?

There really is nothing wrong with garage sales, and yes there are lots of people who make some good money off of them. However, they take time and work. It means dragging out everything that you want to get rid of. There is no way you are going to advertise a garage sale when you only have five or six items to get rid of. So this means going through the entire house to find everything you are willing to sell. Then you have the hassle of setting all these items up on your front lawn and sitting there for the entire day.

Give Aways Are Not Always Appreciated

Many of the items that you are giving away no doubt still have some great use to them but when you offer them to friends and family and they so this may be a bit of a shock to you. Don't take offence as they may be in the same boat that you are in. They don't want to add anymore clutter to their homes. Then of course you could donate them but that can be a big hassle because you have to bag them and then find out which donation centres will accept them.

Go for the Easy Solution

You may not have realized it but there are many different types of buy and sell sites online that probably service your particular area. These are like Mom and Pop sites which are really informal. You just have to find out what they are for your area. In most cases you can add your items for free.
Then there are other platforms that are more formal like Craigslist or Kiiji.

The Process for Online Selling

Getting your used items online to sell is the easier part of this task.

First Step:

Start by doing some research as to what private sites are available in your area. One that is becoming quite popular at least in some regions of Canada for example is a site called Verage. It is becoming more of a business entity but you can search for it and find out if there is a Verage in your area.
You can also choose to list on Craigslist or Kiiji for your area. Don't forget to use Face book for this if you are in touch with people in your area.

Second Step:

Once you have decided where you are going to list your items you want them to present well. So take some good pictures of them. Be honest in your description of them. For example, if you are selling a door but it doesn't come with the framework or hardware make sure you mention this. Chances are once you start using these platforms you are going to be doing it more than once. You want to be known as a credible seller.

Third Step:

Now you have to prepare yourself for the sale of these items. People that are interested will start contacting you. They may have additional questions they want to ask. So you need to make sure you are available as much as possible to answer these queries.

Fourth Step:

Be prepared for delivery or pickup. For real convenience you want to arrange for the buyer to pick up the item from your residence. If you are not happy about this then you can either arrange to meet somewhere in your local area, or if you want you can deliver it. Some people have become so comfortable about selling like this they simply leave the item outside their door with a container for the buyer to leave the money in. This way the seller doesn't even have to be at home waiting for the pickup. Be cautious with this method however as it is easy for items or the money to get stolen.