Yard Sale/craigslist Question

A friend used to buy clothes for her kids by the box on ebay. She'd pay 30$ for a lot of a certain sized clothing. The seller would get rid of a lot of stuff at once. Sounds like a win-win to me.

I would just take them to a 2nd hand child store!

We have a couple different stores here who buy and sell gently used baby stuff. You will get far less than what you think they are worth but it will be quick and probably a 'one stop' kind of trip...which would work best for me, but I dig the easiest route and am impatient and less money would be worth it to me rather than tons of time! :)

~Such shops in my area are:
Other Mother's
Once upon a child

CL is very popular out hear so I'm not sure if my advice is applicable. You may need to repost daily to keep your listing from getting buried. Also, if you do a yard sale, advertise on CL. You can also use ebay. Good luck!

on crags list you need to repost your item every few days. Especially furniture. Or it gets lost on the bottom of the pile. Also, just keep lowering the price until it sells.

Pick a day and do a yard/garage sale.
Price things reasonably, and they'll sell.
At the end of the sale, pack up what's left and donate it.
When time's-a-tickin' you can't be dickerin' for too long.
Pick a day as far ahead as you can and ADVERTISE your sale on craigslist!

Be sure to look at the other postings for the same type of items you are selling.. Then you get an idea of what people are paying.

There have only been about 3 things in all of the years we have been posting on Craigslist that we did not sell. I

really try to remember.. I would rather people pay me something and come haul it away.. than for me to have to haul it somewhere or hire someone to haul it away..

It's probably just the economy. I normally start my items for 1/2 price & if I don't get any hits after a few days, I lower it in small increments. Refresh/repost the ad each week.

If your weather permits, hold a yard sale, or just donate it, if you don't sell it. Emergency family shelters are always in need to baby/kid items.

If you attend a church or have any other way to network or get the word out, go for it.

I don't know if you have facebook or not.. but around here there are many, many different "pages" that is like craigslist... its buy/ sell/ trade.

I live the corner of 3 states... so there is different county/ state/ larger towns or cities that have these pages.

There is even one for just baby things. I know when ever I see some one post baby things they are gone with in a day or so, if it even lasted more than a couple of hours.

That could be something to try... or even ebay.

First stop I'd make would be to the local resale shop. Here in San Antonio area we have:
Once upon a Child
Kid 2 Kid
Sweet Repeats

If you're into craigslist, my suggestion is to type each item individually. ie: "Children's Books" and list the books and price. And UPDATE what is still for sale. And give a discount if they buy ALL of them. "50 cents a piece or $10 for the whole box." Then next item post would be "baby girl clothes" and describe them and quantify them. "$10 for the box of 20 onesies size 0-12 months. Stain-free, smoke-free home." When I am shopping on Craigslist, I do not click on ANY posts that don't have pictures. I think no pictures is lazy and don't want to do business with someone too lazy to put pictures online. When I've posted items on CList, I put the maximum 4 pictures on there every time - front of the item, back of the item, a pic of the label on the shirt/product, etc.

Other than that, I'd just have a garage sale with bright neon signs and have it on a Friday/Saturday if possible. A lot of people like Friday sales and feel they're getting to the sale before the Saturday people come, therefore getting the "best" stuff. My parents had a garage sale a month ago. Sold $1300 worth on Friday. $50 on Saturday. The closed down early on Sat b/c of that.

I did a "craigslist yardsale". I took pictures of pretty much everything - it was mostly baby stuff. I decided on a price and put it up as "everything must go". A few people responded asking for some of the pieces, but one wanted it all and gave me a good price for it. It took very little work or time. You may not get a bunch of money, but you should get a reasonable deal.

If you have the time and resources to do a yard sale, go for it. I've been told that to do it alone is very difficult, especially if you have kids around you. You need to answer questions, pay attention to the money, and watch people so there isn't theft. If you can have someone with you to help, that's best.

I agree with the tips in the article posted about Craigslist and what others have said. Craigslist absolutely works and is well worth the time and effort, if you have time. I have only had a few items that I have not been able to sell, and I have sold upwards of 40-50 things. From major things like a treadmill and TVs and bikes and football tickets. Make sure you make a Craigslist account so you can update and edit your ad as needed, and make sure you "renew" it every few days so it goes back up to the top.

You will need to price it reasonably and if you don't want to wait to get your price, then keep lowering it. Search around and see what others are listing their items for-- even if it's not on the Dallas CL, you can find something similar listed somewhere. And be patient... I had a playmat on there for 6 months for a very reasonable price and it was in great shape. It eventually sold. I wasn't in any hurry. I don't know why some things go quickly and some don't.

Garage sale ads work very well on there. I listed many things I was selling and had lots of people come by that had seen my ad. If you do this, make sure and put your address in the title.

I never put my phone number on there. I always ask people to email me first to weed about potential scammers and spammers. I set up a "junk email" account on gmail and that is the email address I use for my CL ads. If you reply to an email, make sure it is going back to the email address that wrote you. Sometimes it will change and you know that it is spam. This is a good time to be judgmental about people. If they can't write a decent email, then they may not be worth dealing with to sell your stuff.

I also always make people come pick it up so that I know they are serious about it. I don't want to meet someone somewhere and have them not show up. I have only done that for people I have talked to several times and they gain my trust.

Lastly, don't try to list several items in one ad. Post them separately, and always have pictures. You can also include links to new versions/pictures/reviews of the items or manuals that go with the items to help people with their research.

Added: If you have the time and want to work a little, there are many children's consignment sales in the Dallas area. Check out JBF: http://www.jbfsale.com/default.cfm

Good luck.

http://www.moneycrashers.com/craigslist-selling-tips/

You know, when I used craigslist, I found that it does require some effort at coordinating meet-ups.

When it came to yard sales, I believe the rule is that you can only post once per week, and they do get buried.

Could you put an ad in the local newspaper? (Depending on what they charge?)

We had a great garage sale last year. What helped a lot was good signage (you can even find a tutorial online for this-- make sure your signs are simple, clear and easy to read from a passing car headed TOWARD your sale).

Good luck!

I have found that if I sell on-line (Kijiji) I get the best price, but there is a lot of people who will waste your time as well. (Like they say they are going to come and buy a bike this afternoon between 1:00 and 2:00pm for $20, then after you've already waited around they call and say they can't make it, can they come tomorrow, and when they finally show up the next day they offer you $15). If you don't put up pictures no one will contact you. Where I am from, if you sell to the second hand stores they will pay you 40% of their selling price, and they sell for 50% of what the item is new. (So, if you take in a $100 item, they sell it for $50, and pay you $20.) We have Y-Neighbour Kids Clothing and Toy sales, where you can rent a table. They are ususally very well attended, and you can get pretty good prices for stuff, but table rentals are high, and it's a lot of work lugging you stuff around for it. Yard sales here are absolute bargain basement. Clothes, books and most toys go for 50 cents to $1 an item. At least you still get something for your stuff, if you don't mind devoting a whole day to it.

I don't use Craig's list.

If you have a few weeks, I would suggest taking many of your baby/toddler items to a consignment shop.

Depending on your location, a yard sale can be a great way to get rid of these items and make some cash at the same time. If you live in a busy area not too far from a main road, you can just hang up a lot of signs in your area guiding people to your sale, or you can put an ad in your local paper.

If you do have a yard sale, have a plan for the items that don't sell. Where are you going to donate them to, what are you going to leave on the curb with a free sign, etc?

We did a yard sale a couple of years ago and advertised it on craigslist with a list of the big/more popular items posted. I found that quite a few of our buyers stopped by with a specific item from the list in mind so I know that helped us get some customers. So happy the treadmill sold! (and then i took up running. of course.)

You may have better luck taking the baby stuff to a kids resale shop. Some are very picky so make sure everything is clean. Kid to Kid in Bedford, or Once Upon a Child in various locations.

The thing about yard sales and CL is that people want it for nothing....

If you go to a resale shop, you will not get 1/3 either.

We donate everything to the women's shelter becausemost of the women and children who are there came in with the clothes they were wearing and that's it.

It goes to good use plus the tax deduction is better than any yard sale/CL. Time=money

Have you considered a consignment store for any of those items? Especially the bulky stuff?