Selling...Selling... Here is what I learned when selling items on-line and in person

Once I start something, I tend to go overboard. As we prepare to sell our home, and prepare to move long distance, we need to downsize. Furniture in our current home will not fit in the new one. Storage will be at a premium in the new home. We are going from a home with three floors to one-floor living. Simply cannot fit it all. Slowly but surely, we are sorting, tossing and listing many items for sale.

I began with Ebay and since Halloween was approaching at the time, I listed a few Halloween decorations. Four items sold at what I felt was a decent amount and I was hooked. The only downfall I found was shipping. As I did not have boxes to ship the items, I took them to our local UPS store to package and ship. Chalk that up to mistake number one. Ebay helps you estimate the shipping cost to add to the item and the buyer pays this amount when purchasing. The USPS pricing is substantially less than UPS plus the box and packaging. This resulted in my shipping cost draining a bit of the profit earned on these items. Not discouraged, I began searching many items on Ebay and their potential sale prices and earnings. Every object in our house was at risk to being sold. I have listed Precious Moments collectables, automotive tools, Christmas ornaments and more.

Facebook Marketplace has been successful with larger, heavier items. We placed car dollies and a car trailer that sold quickly but with a bit of hassle. The wheeling and dealing were exhausting plus had a "no show" or two. Next up on Facebook Marketplace will be some furniture and decor. Our real estate agent told us to not worry if the house is empty when it goes up for sale. An empty house has now become my goal. I suggest bringing your sold item to a public place or shopping center to meet your buyer as apposed to them comimg to your home.

I heard about and excitedly submitted requests for quotes for furniture to a furnture resale shop. Unfortunately, they only selected one item to purchase citing the items submitted did not sell well in their store. This may mean that we need to resort to more on Facebook marketplace or research an estate sale company. I spent way too much time researching other options for selling furniture. Craigslist - scary (I listened to too many true crime podcasts) Sotherbys Home - too high end; Chairish looked promising until I read the reviews from both buyers and sellers.

Clothing has not escaped my selling obsession. There are many options out there for selling personal items but I settled on Poshmark. The app is easy to navigate and I have had more success than anticipated. Once pictures of your clothing, shoes, purses and more are uploaded and shared, followers will find you, share your items, send invites to specialty "parties", like and purchase. Any item under five pounds can be shipped easily with their labels with Poshmark taking a small fee. It can be time consuming to take multiple photos for each item and post. I have many more to do - need to get on that!

Another option I will try is a local resale shop. I have done this before and as I'm sure you know - they are extremely picky. Not that I would try to sell anything with stains, rips, tears or overly worn, but items must be in the current style. Not sure I have ever been "current". Most of my clothing is what I would describe as classic and is mostly work wear such as suit jackets, dress pants, blouses, sweaters, etc. Now that I work from home, yoga pants, tshirts, sweatshirts and hoodies are my daily attire.

We have books, CDs, VHS cassettes and BluRays gathered and ready to take to our Half Price Books store. We have taken trips there previously and they make the process very easy. Probably the only issue I have is, you have to remain in the store as they go through all of your items. Please do not get me wrong, there is plenty to look at - often my fear is spending all of our earnings!

Updates will be posted as this process continues. It is time consuming but in the end, I feel it will be well worth it. Always looking for new ideas and suggestions for selling used items - if you have them - please send them along!