 yours.
This is the page where you do the research that matters most. If every completed listing for items like yours (even the ones for 4.99 or less) is red... it’s probably not worth your time to try to sell it.
Only you can decide what your time is worth. Only you know if it is wise for you to spend hours researching, photographing, describing, answering questions about, packaging, and shipping this item. Or should you spend those hours continuing your decluttering efforts?
The cookbook that sold for more than eighty dollars after I removed it from my “All Books – 25 Cents” garage sale box? It was worth it.
Have you had success selling on eBay? Are you holding on to something that might be worthless?
If you have an antique – the best thing to do is to ring up an antique dealer, and find out how much they are willing to pay for it.
They’ll tell you whether it’s a reproduction or not – and if it’s worth selling, they’ll offer you a price. It’s a dealer price, so yeah they’re going to be making money on what they give you – but you will get a reasonable price for it AND they’ll take it away free of cost.
Which for antiques is way better than trying to work out the cost of wrapping, etc, etc.

My husband and I have sold items at garage sales, which are good money makers, but a huge amount of work to sort/price/tag/sit and haggle with buyers. And we sell on eBay. And you’re right, the research is the most time consuming...and the photo taking if you are married to my husband who is never satisfied with the photos you give him.
We have some wonderful antiques we’re selling/sold; dealers consistently offered us less than half of their actual worth. On eBay we are getting at least what we paid for them, and that’s good enough for us. But Kiri (above) and you are correct that you do have to be careful to consider shipping costs. We’re pretty anal and haven’t been burned yet.
Thank you so much for this post. I’ve often entertained the idea of selling on ebay. I love searching through boxes and bins looking for that one perfect item. A few things have held me back over the years such as linking my personal info to PayPal. Yes I know I can get a seperate account but its still my info. Another thing is shifty buyers. I’ve seen too many tv court shows where the buyer tried to get one over on the seller. And finally, the time investment. As you mentioned above,it can be time-consuming. Thank you for the honest details.
I tried e-bay, and for items like video games and movies I didn’t want any more, and for that new Mary Kay set someone gave me that I didn’t want, it did great. Everything else…nope. I didn’t loose tons, just tons of time. Clothes were the big one I tried and failed on. But I discovered something better for clothes. If it’s in like new condition I can sell it at my local consignment shop. I take it all in one trip, they happily donate what they can’t take so I don’t have to take another trip to goodwill, and I make as much from it as I would on Ebay, without having to take pictures or write descriptions or take multiple trips to the post office.. I do have to wait til the clothes are in season to bring them in, and make sure they aren’t all wrinkled and such, but the one bin that I keep in my garage and the small area of my closet where I hang the “to consign” clothes are worth what I get back from it.
Great info! I doubt I’ll ever sell on E-bay–I’m way too impatient, but you never know. This is a great resource, thank you.
My son thinks that you are a long lost relative. Wait until I tell him that you have a pair of Lederhosen just like me! And I am waiting to sell them on ebay! 🙂 Yea, I’ve been waiting for a few years!
Oh Amanda, that is hilarious. I truly thought I was the only one...
WHY can I not think to sell them in September???
I didn’t know about showing the “completed” listings, that is great!
Do you have any opinion on listing as “buy it now” vs bidding?
You are so “right on” with this blog about hanging onto something to sell! I am in my 50’s and am still working on discovering the systems that work best for me and I can stick with. I have done garage sales and ebay, my ebay selling reached its pinnacle when I sold a ‘lot’ of bag phones (the really old style we used in the car) for over $200. This “bug” lasted for a couple of years, and now, like you, I have sold so much more at garage sales and given stuff away, simply to get it out of my house! The freedom for my mind is far more important than the little bit of money I might make off of an item. Thanks for your blog, I am sure you are leading the way for many, many others to sort through their STUFF.
So….Just catching up several years later….I’ve done the garage sale/ebay thing. My best suggestion is to create an area or two of expertise for yourself….mine was Tupperware (believe it or not, those vintage pieces can go for big bucks), board games and original Nintendo systems. If you know what the potential price point is, you know what to pay. Yes – I had some awesome sales on random things, but I’ve also had some junk to deal wit!
I am in total agreement with this post. I have sold a few things on eBay over the years, but right now, my time is WAY more valuable to me than what I would make reselling the things I’d sell on there (mostly new and gently used Gymboree clothing and DVDs). So I just sell them to the consignment stores instead.
Sure, I make a lot less money that way, but it’s easy-peasy, and the stuff is out of my house! Which is my main goal anyway.
I’ve had some moderate success on eBay – even had some people get into a bidding war over one of my items, which was exciting. I haven’t done it for awhile now – takes a LOT of time, like you said. One thing I did before I start was take a class on selling on eBay through the local community college. It was well-worth it. I did things the right way, right from the start. I highly recommend this. You’ll make less mistakes. In fact. Nony’s example of the 99 cent dog crate is similar to what the instructor told us!
there is a shop local to me that makes it their business to sell things on ebay or amazon. you can take all your crap to them, they will determine whether its worth it to list, do all the legwork and give you a small cut. if you know you have stuff that’s worth something, but not the time to put into it, it’s probably worthwhile to look for a similar business near you.
Quite possibly the best break-down of eBay I have read. And I have been selling on there since the beginning! The “new” and NOT improved eBay however is a different animal altogether and if you are thinking of selling there—well—I HATE to discourage people BUT ebay has finally admitted to HIDING our listings–not just mine but potentaily EVERYONES–sales are dismal for a lot of small sellers. We are in year 7–SEVEN!!!!–of a three year un-needed “Disruptive innovatoin” (What???) of the business by the CEO. He is leaving but the new guy may prove to be just as weird and just as cruel to small sellers.
The new “Seller Defect Ratings” are KILLING people and more than ever scammer buyers are everywhere–encouraged BY eBay. So==think long and hard before listing there. I am looking at Facebook; Craigs; Etsy and eCrater right now. WE have sold a lot of stuff vioa FB and Craigs.
OF course BUYING stuff you need on eBay—esp kids stuff and those hard to find items–is ALWAYS worthwhile!
And eBay and Paypal are seperating—which could be good or–not. It may mean we as sellers can DECIDE what form of payment WE want. Fingers crossed!
Meanwhile I have TONS–literally-of STUFF that WAS selling. Brand names and classics and vintage etc–and it stopped DEAD last year. I still sell–but no wheres NEAR what I WAS selling–and no fault of my own. I have passed by so MANY good items that I KNOW people are LOOKING for—but if they can’t SEE them–they can’t BUY them. Why oh why there is no alternative to eBay that will let us run this as eBay USED to be–as our OWN BUSINESS–I cannot fathom.
In the mean time=-=-yes; this stuff IS taking up LOTS of ROOM in MY house!
As someone who used to LOVE the opportunities provided by eBay that weren’t available anywhere else, it hurts my heart to hear all this. I can truly FEEL