sell

Best Money Tips: Places to Sell Your Clutter for Cash

Ashley Jacobs — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 11:00:33 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some fantastic articles on places to sell your clutter for cash, tips to track your spending, and ways to mastery in everyday life.

Best Money Tips: How to Sell Stuff on Craigslist

Ashley Jacobs — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:48:35 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some fantastic articles on how to sell stuff on Craigslist, ways to manage your money, and how teens can earn money for college.

Turn Unwanted Electronics Into Cash With Gazelle

Xin Lu — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:20:02 +0000

We all have a few old electronics lying around that we never use anymore. It seems a waste to just throw them away, but it often takes effort to sell them. Now there is a new service called Gazelle that allows you to trade your old electronics for cash with the least amount of hassle.

Gazelle has a very simple to use website that allows you to search for the gadget you wish to get rid of. After you find your item you can input the condition it is in. For example, I typed in Palm Zire 71 and I was asked if the item powers on and what condition it is in. After that, Gazelle spits out an appraisal and allows me to add the item for checkout. It also has an estimate of how much the item may be worth in the future. For electronics the price trend tends to go down because people always want to buy the newest gadget. After I checked out, it prompted me to print out a prepaid shipping label and ship the item with a box. For some qualifying items Gazelle will even send you a box to ship the item.

After the item is received Gazelle will inspect the item and confirm that it is in the condition you described, then you will be paid the quoted price. This process takes about a week according to the website. The company also guarantees that if you ship in an electronic with data on it they would wipe it clean so you do not have to worry about your privacy. They will also take items with no value for the purpose of recycling.

Currently the company buys mostly electronics such as cell phones or gaming consoles, but they may expand the types of items they are willing to purchase in the future. It really seems like a love child between a pawn shop and Netflix, and I am sure it will help a lot of people get rid of their unwanted junk because it is so easy to use. Users of Gazelle will reduce the amount of junk that go to landfills and also reclaim a few bucks in the process so it really seems like a win win situation. So go ahead and try it out, because that pile of junk sitting in your garage may be worth some gas money.

Click here to try Gazelle now

This article is from Xin Lu of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Make Your Hobby Pay Its Way

Philip Brewer — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:41:57 +0000

Hobbies generally end up in the expense category. Depending on the hobby, you may be paying for equipment, supplies, books and magazines, classes, training--the list goes on. Short of turning your hobby into a business, is there any way to get your hobby to pay its own way? Very possibly.

Most hobbies offer you a shot at any number of income streams. And, besides actual income streams, there are also ways to use your hobby to reduce expenses--which any economist will tell you is just as good. (Maybe better, because you have to pay taxes on any income.)

Sell your stuff

The most obvious income stream is to sell stuff you make. This really only works for hobbies where you make stuff, so it works better for potters and jewelry makers than for people whose hobby is mountain climbing or scuba diving.

My wife spins and weaves. Each year the local spinners and weavers guild has a show and sale where members sell what they produce. Some members go beyond the single annual sale. Some set up booths at any number of arts and crafts sales. Some set up booths at the farmers market. Some sell things on consignment through local shops and galleries. Some run web-businesses to sell their creations.

A single annual sale keeps you solidly on the "hobby" end of the continuum. The other options are all steps down the road to, essentially, running a small business. That's fine if you want to run a small business, but can take the fun out of a hobby.

Teach your hobby

The next obvious income stream is to teach the skills of your hobby. Some hobbies are very easy to pick up, and others have practitioners who are so excited by new adopters that they'll teach people how to do it for free. In either of those cases, it may be hard to make any money teaching. But, for many hobbies, there is plenty of opportunity to make a few dollars teaching classes or workshops.

Some hobbies, such as scuba diving and parachuting, are dangerous enough that there are certification processes to make sure that instructors meet certain minimum levels, but in most hobbies anyone can teach.

There are a hundred ways to get paid to teach. Around here it's possible to teach classes under the auspices of the local community college, the YMCA, the park district, and the public schools continuing education programs. Other places to consider are senior centers, youth centers, community centers, and public libraries. If your hobby has a local club, it may very well organize classes for members. Local businesses that cater to your hobby may offer classes as well.

To be successful, a class requires students, which probably means getting the word out to potential students. Fliers at libraries and related businesses are a good idea, as is networking with local hobbyists. Develop relationships with others who teach related classes.

If you've not taught before, it can be quite a bit of work to design a class, and then it often takes some experience teaching before you develop teaching skills to match your hobby skills. Knowing how to do something is not the same as knowing how to teach it.

Besides teaching a class, it may also be possible to tutor someone one-on-one.

Because of the work involved in developing, marketing and teaching a class, it too can turn into a small business, if you let it.

Sell a training DVD

A related option is to create a training DVD. The big attraction of this option is that, once you have the DVD, you can sell it and go on selling it, with minimal extra time and effort.

The equipment to record, edit, and produce such a DVD is cheap and readily available, but of course this option requires not only that you know the skills of your hobby, and how to teach them, but also how to produce a video. Still, even if you need to learn new video-making skills, or bring in another person to help, the attraction of being able to go on selling DVDs makes this an attractive option.

Write articles or books

An obvious possibility is to write articles or books about your hobby. You can sell them to magazine or book publishers, both those that specialize in the area of your hobby, and (possibly) mainstream publishers.

Start by surveying what's already available. Many hobbies have a vast array of specialized book and magazine publishers. Many pay quite well for well-written books and articles, especially ones that cover an area that isn't already covered.

One advantage of non-fiction writing (over fiction) is that you don't have to write a finished work to market it. Create a proposal for an article or a book and shop it around to potential publishers. If no one wants to publish it based on your proposal, come up with some new ideas.

Just as teaching is a separate skill from those of your hobby, so is writing. There are innumerable books and articles on writing books and articles (duh), so check out a few.

Become a local rep

If your hobby require specialized equipment or supplies, you may be able to act as a local representative for a supplier. For certain hobbies, it can make sense to do this simply to get the materials at wholesale prices. It may also be possible to sell to fellow hobbyists in quantities that will bring in some actual cash.

Give talks

If your hobby is interesting, it may be possible to get people to pay you to speak about your hobby. Many groups have regular meetings and want a speaker at each one--they often have a budget that allows for paying an honorarium to the speaker.

Unless you're a celebrity, you're not going to make a living out of speaker's fees, but even a small fee can go a some ways toward paying the costs of your hobby--which is the whole point.

Lead groups

You can make money--or at least reduce your own expense--if you're willing to lead a group. Many hobbies--kayaking, rock climbing, bird watching, fishing, scuba diving--are more fun some places the others, meaning that participants end up wanting to travel to those places. If you're willing to do the work of organizing the travel, it is often possible to arrange things so that your own trip is subsidized.

Even in cases where no travel is involved, it's often possible to get discounts on supplies, equipment, the use of a location, and so on, if you undertake to arrange an event where the other participants pay to attend.

Barter your products or your skills

Americans are so tied into the money economy that they often don't realize just how much opportunity there is for barter. You may be able to barter items that you make for other things that you want or need. This can work very well with individuals and local businesses; typically not so well with big corporations.

You can also work out barter arrangements with your skills. Help someone make a yoga video in exchange for yoga lessons. Swap massage therapy sessions for rock-climbing lessons.

Make gifts

At gift-giving time, always think to give something that you've made. It's more personal and more thoughtful than buying stuff.

I know lots of people who love the jewelry, quilts, scarves, hats, pottery, paintings, photographs, stuffed toys, and handmade books that people have given them, made with their own two hands.

It's not an income stream, but remember--to an economist, not having to spend money is just as good as getting paid.

All these ways of making your hobby pay its way work synergistically with one another. Writing articles gives you contacts for teaching classes which gives you contacts for leading groups which gives you contacts for bartering services, and so on.

Any one of these activities could easily blow up into a business, if you're not careful. Most of them wouldn't blow up into a big enough business to actually support you, unless you have not only the skills of a hobbyist, but also the skills of a small businessperson. But one of them--or two or three of them--could go a long way towards bringing in enough money that you can enjoy your hobby and not be out-of-pocket for supplies and related costs.

This article is from Philip Brewer of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

My car payments are too much! What should I do?

Andrea Karim — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 01:22:06 +0000

I've been struggling with a big financial dilemma for the past few months: whether or not to sell my car. I decided to take my question to three of my favotire personal finance bloggers.

Last August, I decided to purchase my first new car ever. I had only ever owned used (and entirely paid-for) vehicles prior to this. I researched the type of car that I wanted and settled on a 2007 Mazda3. It's a sexy little hatchback. It's sporty, zippy, and has all the trimmings. Problem is, it's busting my budget.

I got a decent base price on the car, but I fell for all the extras that the salesmen throw in at the end. You know, the extended warranty, the LoJack system. They kept showing me my monthly total (and not the grand total), and before I realized it, I was paying $3000 more for my car than I should have. I should note that this is pre-Wise Bread, so I wasn't nearly as wise as I am now. Ahem.

My payments aren't horrendous, and I have an excellent interest rate on the loan. But all together (insurance, gas, payments, upkeep), the car cfosts me about $600 per month. Everyone keeps telling me that $600 a month in transportation costs isn't that bad. But I can't stop thinking about how I could use that money every month to pay down my debt or contribute to my IRA.

Also, my car contributes to my laziness. It's an enabler. Having a car allows me to go anywhere, any time. While flexibility is nice, it's rarely necessary. I drive to the supermarket instead of walking. Hell, I drive to the closest mailbox instead of walking. I go to Target on a whim, buying stuff I don't need.

I'm thinking that if I didn't have a car, I wouldn't be so prone to spur-of-the-moment shopping, or runs to Safeway for blueberry sorbet in the middle of the night. I'd have to bike and bus to work. I have a motorcycle, so I can use that to get around if I need to go farther than a couple of miles, or go somewhere that Metro Transit doesn't cover. Also, the Flexcar program is increasingly popular in my area, and there's a pick-up location not too far from where I live.

Now, I know that I would still have to pay for that transportation, so the full $600 won't be going directly into a new money market account. I figure that, without the car, I could spend about $150 a month in transportation costs, max (I have a free bus pass, and my motorcycle gets great gas mileage). So I'd really only be putting away $450 per month.

My remaining balance on my car loan is just under 19K. My car is valued at about 19.5K. I decided to put the car up for sale to see if anyone wanted it. So far, I've had three people try to lowball me ("Yo, man, I'll give you 15K cash – here's my digits") and sales people try to help me list it on eBay. But I'm not getting a lot of bites. I tried lowering the price to 1K below the Kelly Blue Book value, but I'm still not getting much in the way of responses.

My questions to my favorite PF bloggers:

Should I just suck it up and continue making the payments? At the end of five years, I'd have my own car and not have to make payments anymore, so that's good. But on the other hand, I'd be paying well over 25K for something that I don't technically NEED.

Which is worse? To sell the car for less than it's worth, and thereby losing a couple of grand in payments that I'd still have to make to pay off the loan? Or keeping the car and paying all this money that could otherwise be going to shore up my finances?

Below is the advice that some very busy bloggers graciously offered me in response.

Leo Babuta, Zen Habits

"It sounds to me like you definitely want to get rid of the car ... so I would do it, assuming you can afford to pay for the difference between the loan principal and the selling price. You might be losing a few thousand dollars, but you will lose even more than that in interest over the course of the loan. The important factor here isn't financial, though, it's psychological: you want to be free of this
debt, and using the $450 per month on improving your financial situation, rather than spending it on something you don't need. And that is perfectly legitimate, and admirable in my opinion. As for surviving without a car ... many people have done it, it's better for your health, and better for the environment. Positives all around!"

Nina Smith, Queercents

Six hundred dollars per month is a boatload of money. How much money do you make each month? How much do you pay in rent? I’m not expecting an answer… I only ask to emphasize that your car expense is probably more than half of what you’re spending on housing per month. If you really love the car, then you could consider living in it like this college kid did to recover from his financial sins. His vehicle is a truck and a bit more suitable for sleeping. So even though most of us have found frugal uses for the backseat at some point in our cash-strapped lives, it’s probably not an option for you.

So by all means, sell the car! A car is a depreciating asset so it should be treated as a liability (which means the money spent on it isn’t working for you – it’s working for someone else). Liabilities bad! I drive a Volvo that’s paid for and seven years old. I certainly think (at my age and income) that I deserve to be driving an E class Mercedes, but it’s tricky to build wealth and buy assets, when you’re paying for the privilege of driving a fancy car.

By selling the sporty Mazda and taking a loss, you’ll lose on the front-end but you’ll be better off in the long run. Plus, you’ll be uber cool by going car-free.

Trent Hamm, The Simple Dollar

I'd continue making the payments and sell it later when you can get closer to book value. You've already made payments through the period where the car really depreciates - selling now is the equivalent of selling a stock at its low point.

--------------------------------------------

So, what do you readers think about this predicament? Should I just deal? Should I sell the car at a loss, because I'll come out ahead in the long run?

This article is from Andrea Karim of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Sell handmade goods, buy cheap handmade goodies.

Paul Michael — Tue, 22 May 2007 20:15:59 +0000

In these days of mass-production and Wal-Mart's low prices and lower standards, it's great to see handmade artifacts making a comeback. Today, my wife introduced me to a site that is a meeting-place for buying and selling wonderful handmade items. Everything from jewelry and ties to paintings and teddy bears. And it's all 100% hand crafted.

ETSY.COM - your place to buy and sell all things handmade

This place is a treasure-trove of beautiful, lovingly-made goods. When I first heard about ETSY, I thought it would be more for my wife than me. But although it does seem to cater more for the ladies, there's so0me great stuff for the guys. If you want to be individual and get noticed, check out the selection of metallic silk-screened neckties. The green silkscreened tie with the black raven is awesome. I also loved Bombs Away . And the price...just $30. For a handmade silkscreened tie, well, I think that's rather good.

Something for everyone.
Form gifts for your mom and dad, to cool gear for the kids and babies, there is literally something to suit every taste here. I'm having a lot of trouble keeping myself from buying all of my upcoming gifts from this site. Check out the Sunday-best onesies . There are great purses, stuffed animals and all sorts of other cool things. You can also use the TIME MACHINE to see what other folks have been buying, updated every minute.

But hang on....there's also some quality fine art, too.
My wife has put me straight on this one. She's not happy with the cheap part of the headline (hey, I'm a Wisebread blogger) but she's absolutely right. There are some stupendous pieces of original art on ETSY, hand-painted oils on canvas, some as much as $6000. I like this one below , a steal at $500 (as an artist myself, $500 for a piece of original work is a crying shame actually, considering how much love and time goes into a piece of fine art). The word CHEAP should not be applied here. Or, in fact, to any of the items on ETSY. I'm sorry ETSY folks. I certainly didn't mean to imply that anything you offer is cheap...it's all just amazing value for money.

How are the other prices?
I would say reasonable, but sometimes that's an understatment. Considering everything is lovingly made by hand, these prices are surprisingly low. $60 for a hand-dyed indigo cardigan, knitted with love, seems to me to be a bargain. You'd pay way more for something produced fresh from a slave-labor factory in Taiwan.

Selling your own creations.
ETSY has made it really easy to do your own selling . Similar to EBAY but without a lot of the hassle, you can create your own store on ETSY and the whole process is very reasonable, with exceptional rates...

Sign Up. It's free and easy. Choose your username and password, then confirm an email address. There's an extra step of signing up to be a seller (after choosing your username). To prevent against fraud we require that you keep a valid credit card on file.

Set up your shop. Every seller on Etsy gets their own shop (for free), located at username.etsy.com. For example, if my username is rokali, my shop is at rokali.etsy.com. You can customize your shop by adding a banner, bio etc.

List an item. Listing an item is done in five simple steps. We recommend that you've got your photos and description ready before jumping in. Listing an item costs 20 cents per quantity.

Selling an item. As a seller you get to choose what payment methods you accept. We recommend PayPal, as it facilitates instant payment and offers anti-fraud protection. When an item sells both the buyer and seller are sent emails with the transaction details in it. There's a 3.5% sales fee.

Fees. Sign up - free, your own shop - free, listing an item - 20 cents, selling - 3.5% fee. That's it. All listings include up to 5 images. Listings stay up for 4 months.

So there you have it. ETSY. A great way to support local artists and craftsmen/women, plus a great way to turn your own hobby into something a little bit profitable. And best of all, you now have a place to get unique, creative gifts for your friends and family. Life is sweet.

Main photo from ETSY.COM, the Geisha Stamp Notecards . Wonderful item.

This article is from Paul Michael of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: