Selling our old baby and kids items and clothes that they don’t use anymore or have grown out of is something that I do on a regular basis. I can make an extra $300 a month by selling things that we don’t need anymore.
It can take me a few days out of the month to do this because you have to set aside time to bundle items, take photos, list items with descriptions and then ship items.
My mind is in constant de-clutter mode.
I have boxes that I keep in an extra bedroom in our home and every few weeks I will go through the kid’s old clothes and items, toys, furniture that they don’t use anymore and throw them in the box.
Chances are that, if you haven’t used something in a year you don’t need it.
WHAT TO SELL
Here are a few things that I sell on a regular basis.
Clothes – Most of the time the kids name brand and boutique clothes are sold on eBay and non-name brand clothes are sold in bundles locally.
Shoes – Baby and kids shoes can be sold for a few dollars a pair or can be bundled together and sold in lots. Lots and bundles are popular when it comes to baby clothes and shoes.
Toys – Toys can be great sellers around the holidays. We love wooden toys because they are high quality and last forever and are more likely to sell online versus the plastic toys.
Baby Items – Baby monitors and other electronics used for babies like cameras and vital monitors are always in demand. Baby carriers, wraps, slings, loungers, nursing pillows along with large items like bassinets, rockers and cribs also sell really well online.
Books – I have purchased many of the girls Dr. Seuss books in lots that I have found online. I have yet to sell any back but when I do, it will be online.
WHERE TO SELL
1. EBAY
One of my favorite places to sell is Ebay. Just this month I made $300+ from Ebay alone from selling some of the girls boutique dresses and their Halloween costumes that didn’t fit them any longer. I also sold a baby monitor and a hammock that we don’t use any longer.
Ebay is pretty easy to use. You can list your item for free and then you pay a percentage at the end of each month from your sales. It’s worth it because on Ebay you are opening up your items to so many shoppers!
Jackets and warm clothes sell pretty easily on Ebay during the winter.
In my experience people will pay much higher prices on eBay than they will on other sites and in-person garage sales.
As far as what to charge, Ebay is pretty user friendly when it comes to listing your items. All you have to do is start by typing in the item description and it will do a quick search for similar items and give you some recommendations on what to price it based on how similar items have sold.
When it comes to shipping you have some options. You can limit yourself and sell only what will fit in the flat-rate boxes that you can get from the post office. This way you know exactly just how much something is going to be to ship. The other option is to get a scale and charge or account for it based on the item.
I have this scale >> Table Top Postal Scale that tells me just how much a package will weigh. Once you have your weight you can compare the weight with the postal weights and shipping costs.
I always take that into account when I list my products. Most of the time I list my items as free shipping because it looks better to the customer this way, but I do account for some shipping into the list price.
So example. I sell some of my girls handmade boutique dresses online for around $5 each. I know shipping them will probably be around $3 or so so I will make the final listing price $7 or $8 and mark it as FREE SHIPPING. It’s more attractive to the buyer this way.
2. FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE
Something that I just recently discovered. It works by connecting you to others in your area that have posted something for sale somewhere (usually in a group) on Facebook. You can post an item for sale and make it available to everyone in your general area.
3. CRAIGSLIST
Any large items I will list on Craigslist for local pickup. I will usually sell the old before we upgrade. We just sold our our wooden kitchen on Craigslist so that we could get this vintage kitchen. vintage kitchen.
4. THREDUP
If you don’t want to mess with the whole process of taking photos, writing descriptions and shipping. You can use a resale site like ThredUp. This is a great legitimate site that I have used to both buy and sell. They will pay you for what they take to resell and pay you for it. You won’t get the money right away though, you will get your cash via PayPal but that could take a few weeks. So this is not quick money like the others.
The way it works is, you first request a Clean Out Kit which is packaging they send you to send your clothes back. Once they receive it back they will decide which pieces they will keep for resale and send you cash for those items.
FREE APPS WHERE YOU CAN SELL YOUR KIDS STUFF
There are also a lot of apps that you can use to sell your baby and kids stuff.
VarageSale, OfferUp, PoshMark and Kidzien are just a few.
Do you sell your your baby and kids things? If you’re using sites other than the ones I listed, leave them in the comments so we can check them out!