Selling Your Property.Strategies
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The determination of how successful you are in selling your personal property will be based on:
- Exposure - can your buyers find it and how long you have it for sale.
- How competitive you have it priced.
Selling strategies
Successful sellers don't offer rare items locally where national or international buyers can't find them. Example: If it's a rare painting, sell it nationally like on eBay. If it's furniture, sell it locally like on Facebook Marketplace.
Offering your item for sale at a competitive price compared to others in the same condition gets your stuff sold fast. You don't have to offer your item at thee lowest price if your photos and presentation are better than other listings. Unique and rare items take up to 24 months to sell. Check to see how successful your sales campaign is by occasionally searching for your item to see how competitively priced it is, it's listing ranking and presentation desirability when compared to other listings.
Offering your item for sale at a competitive price compared to others in the same condition gets your stuff sold fast. You don't have to offer your item at thee lowest price if your photos and presentation are better than other listings. Unique and rare items take up to 24 months to sell. Check to see how successful your sales campaign is by occasionally searching for your item to see how competitively priced it is, it's listing ranking and presentation desirability when compared to other listings.
eBay
1. Offer your item for sale as a buy-it-now (not auction). This will take a lot of headache and stress out of selling. Requiring immediate payment will keep non paying buyers from wasting your time. Another option when you're not sure how valuable your item is, is to offer your item for sale on auction for three quarter of the suspected value (start price) and see what happens. Never put a "reserve price" on your stuff. If the item doesn't sell, develop a plan to reduce the price or put it on for "buy-it-now or best-offer".
3. Ship by weight and size. Don't put vague shipping costs in your listing because it will drive away sales. Just enter the packed weight, size and shipping company. Now each buyer will see the correct personalized shipping cost! I DO NOT recommend "eBay ShipCover Insurance", USPS insurance and standard carrier insurance is much better. The carrier you ship with will likely pay out claims 10 x faster and won't have 200 exceptions for what they do not cover.
4. Supplies that you need include a good 50 lb shipping scale, about $30.00 on eBay or Amazon. Every place I shop is throwing away nice boxes and I re-use all the better boxes of stuff sent to me. Also USPS.com offers free boxes too, but avoid flat rate boxes unless you're shipping bricks! The high shipping charge on those will drive away buyers and cut into your profits.
3. Ship by weight and size. Don't put vague shipping costs in your listing because it will drive away sales. Just enter the packed weight, size and shipping company. Now each buyer will see the correct personalized shipping cost! I DO NOT recommend "eBay ShipCover Insurance", USPS insurance and standard carrier insurance is much better. The carrier you ship with will likely pay out claims 10 x faster and won't have 200 exceptions for what they do not cover.
4. Supplies that you need include a good 50 lb shipping scale, about $30.00 on eBay or Amazon. Every place I shop is throwing away nice boxes and I re-use all the better boxes of stuff sent to me. Also USPS.com offers free boxes too, but avoid flat rate boxes unless you're shipping bricks! The high shipping charge on those will drive away buyers and cut into your profits.
Facebook Marketplace & Craigslist
1. When using Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist you can choose to meet in a safe place such as a police station or a bank. When selling furniture or large items you can have buyers call or message you when they arrive and take them to your garage instead of into your house.
2. If you sell a piece of furniture, take your selling photos staged in your house BEFORE you take it out to the garage. If you take photos of items like furniture in your garage, buyers will be put off and think you already discarded your item and loose interest.
3. I recommend only taking cash! Especially DON'T TAKE ANY CHECK FOR ANY REASON AS PAYMENT. Most selling scams are based on the buyer paying by check. Ignore out of state scammers that want to send you a guaranteed check of any type and / or have a shipping company pick up your item. Other scams commit fraud through Zelle, Venmo PayPal. If you only take cash, it protects you from most fraud situations.
4. Click here to read HOW TO AVOID A SCAM.
5. Click here to read HOW TO STAY SAFE.
2. If you sell a piece of furniture, take your selling photos staged in your house BEFORE you take it out to the garage. If you take photos of items like furniture in your garage, buyers will be put off and think you already discarded your item and loose interest.
3. I recommend only taking cash! Especially DON'T TAKE ANY CHECK FOR ANY REASON AS PAYMENT. Most selling scams are based on the buyer paying by check. Ignore out of state scammers that want to send you a guaranteed check of any type and / or have a shipping company pick up your item. Other scams commit fraud through Zelle, Venmo PayPal. If you only take cash, it protects you from most fraud situations.
4. Click here to read HOW TO AVOID A SCAM.
5. Click here to read HOW TO STAY SAFE.
