Note from the Editor:
This article was kindly written for the SDC by member @Doctor Alan.

As we move into retirement, a lot of us will realise the need for ‘downsizing’ – to simply say goodbye to many of the ‘things’ for which we’d only got a nostalgic interest. They may have very little value, or they may actually be worth trying to sell. One has to make a decision whether to ‘give them away’ to a charity shop or try to earn a little money from their sale. In the latter case, there are three main portals available: Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace and eBay. The advantage of the first two is that there are no selling fees required – they can be advertised for ‘pick-up only’, and people will give cash once they’ve inspected what you have to sell.



Of course, you will need to avoid scammers, who are present in most transactions involving money these days. In Gumtree, for instance, there is a buyer who ‘works on an oil rig’ but offers to organise a courier – they pay – to pick up the goods. Don’t even give them the time of day!

The advantage of eBay is that you have a much greater exposure of the item – worldwide if you like – and payment can be organised through PayPal, which has a high level of security. The downside is that you have to pay around 15% of the sale price in fees.

Preparation for sale:
If you’ve never sold on eBay, simply open up an eBay page and click on ‘Sell’ at the top of the page. You may need to create a selling account, but it’s not rocket science. You can always ask your grandchild, if you have one, for advice! If you click on ‘Selling’ and then ‘Overview,’ it may help you in your first efforts to sell on eBay.

The very first action you must take in selling an item is to arrive at a selling price. This is actually quite simple. You simply search on Google (or another search engine) or eBay for the item to buy, trying to select as close a match as possible. On eBay, you can even search for ‘sold’ items to see what they actually sold for. Obviously, if the seller has selected the item to sell by auction, it’s usually over seven days, and you won’t get a fair idea of the price until it’s sold.

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