Wednesday 27 September 2017

If you don't love it, someone else will. How much stuff do we really need? Selling with eBay.

My Dad died suddenly in July this year. I was over from Dubai where I divide my year with my husband and his job and the adult children and my parents and family in the UK.

Like a lot of people his age, my father had collected a lot of stuff. He was from a generation where you reused things, kept things in case they came in handy and from an age where things grew in value and weren't disposable or easily replaced. You saved up and bought good quality items that would last for years.

So when Mumsnet offered me the opportunity to work with them and eBay, I decided to give eBay a go. I'm not sure I've ever sold through there, but I had an account which I'd purchased one or two items from, mainly for the children many years ago. Mum and I started selling the specialist items such as the train set and toy cars and some sports gear and made a few successful sales. We sold the fishing gear at a loss, but we needed the space in the garage to sort through other items. We've arranged for an auction house to collect some of the bulkier stuff and a couple of items have been sold on local face book groups. Several car boot sales have been done also. Next was selling the house and finding somewhere else for Mum to live and getting rid of Dad's 13 year old Jag which all took it's toll on me, but I finally succeeded this morning and decided I now had time to enter the world of researching some interesting finds from around the house to sell on eBay.

Once I reset my password and found my pay pal account details, it was a really simple process using my laptop. As soon as I started to type a description I was offered suggestions of similar items to choose from for listing, I could add photos and a further description, select from drop down boxes and choose a reserve price, length of time to sell, 'buy it now' option and there were suggestions for recommend sale prices. I found several helpful 'tips' as I proceeded on fees and free listings and P&P costs and alternative methods of shipping and collections and eBay saved my preferences for future sales.

I had a few issues with my laptop transferring pictures so I switched to the app on my mobile phone, which made my life a lot easier and a lot quicker and I'll be listing as much stuff as I can over the remaining few weeks before I return to Dubai. I've taken items to the post office, weighed them and checked postal costs so it'll be easy for Mum to post them out once they sell.

So far the money from everything we've sold has gone towards funeral expenses, bills, moving etc so it will be nice to raise some funds to do something nice for Mum and maybe she can have a break to Dubai over the winter months while she waits for the contracts to exchange on her house.

Below are a couple of items I've already listed on eBay.

 Bruce Forsyth Tram
 Golf Balls from Las Vegas
 1st Edition TV Times
Panini 1978 World Cup Sticker Album Complete.

I had an offer via the message system, within 20 minutes of listing, for the Panini Sticker Album, it would appear I didn't do my research thoroughly enough, so I'm taking my chances on people bidding on it and will see if I can get a higher offer, nearer the end of the listing period.

Disclaimer:
“I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity. [I have received a voucher as a token of thanks for this post].


8 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your dad! I like ebay. Personally I haven't had much luck whenever I put stuff up for sale on eBay. But the amount of all different type of things you can find is amazing! PayPal on the other hand I use a lot! #PoCoLo

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    1. thank you. I've listed 4 items but only had bids on the one. I've been told most bidding starts in the last few hours as a rule

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  2. My condolences on your lost. I've sold and bought on Ebay. Wishing you great luck of selling at fair prices. #PoCoLo

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  3. I've only ever bought on eBay never sold! Good luck with the sales...

    Why is your mom selling the house? Too big for her alone? Hope you find somewhere that suits her perfectly!

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    1. never had much luck till now selling on ebay. Mum needs to down size as the house is too big for her on her own and they were planning to move anyway

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  4. I'm sorry to read of your loss. I feel like I'm constantly decluttering here. #PoCoLo

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    1. i'm going back to Dubai now to declutter and downsize myself

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