You know what kids are like; they have a pesky habit of accumulating lots of stuff and then promptly growing out of it. I’ve been a bit lax on getting rid of S’s old things lately, so I thought I’d have a go at selling some things on Ebay.

When Ebay first started out, I remember mostly using it for second hand books and CDs (remember those?) and paying for them via cheque (remember those?) via post. Things got a lot quicker when PayPal was introduced, and these days you can buy and sell just about anything on the site. 

I’ve been a bit lazy about selling on Ebay in the past; I’ve dabbled here and there but I think the last time I made a concerted effort was with selling S’s baby clothes a few years ago. I was intrigued to see how things had changed, and whether I could make a little money on some of S’s old things.

I decided to start off simple, selling S’s old winter coat. 

ebay-selling

It was really simple to list the coat; you just start typing your description, and Ebay suggests a category for you. There are drop-down boxes to help you describe the item, what it’s made from, how it’s patterened etc. It even suggested a price for the coat, and helped me to sort out how much I should charge for postage. 

I put the coat on with a low starting price, as suggested by Ebay – and then promptly forgot about it (there was some emergency surgery in there somewhere; I’m not completely useless). I was really shocked then ten days later, when I got a PayPal notification to say the winning bidder had paid for the coat – £13.50! 

Using the Ebay site I can print out a packing slip and address label, and even prepay for postage so that I can just hand the parcel over, either in the post office or at certain other locations – which just makes it so much easier.

The second item I decided to sell was a little more controversial in our house. S has a large collection of Toot Toot Drivers track and vehicles, which she amassed over a few years. Since we moved into this house last November, I have deliberately not unpacked them. They’ve stayed in boxes in S’s bedroom, and I’ve periodically tried to persuade her we should get rid of them. The answer has always been no. This time though, I approached it a little differently. What if we sell the toys, and use the money to buy something different? She went for it – thankfully!

toot-toot-selling

I put this one on with a higher reserve price than Ebay suggested – because it’s an expensive toy, there’s loads of it, and at least one of the sets has barely been played with. I set the listing for ten days and it didn’t sell – possibly because of the reserve price. Luckily, Ebay make it really simple to relist, so I went back in and lowered the reserve price before relisting it. I set it for collection only because there’s just too much to post (and I’m unable to lift anything at present) and I’m hopeful all of these bits and bobs will be gone from the house soon!

I signed up to review the Ebay selling process in the hope that it might inspire me to clear out and start selling the endless piles of junk currently hanging about my house. It always seemed like such a drag to be bothered to list things on Ebay but actually, after this experience I’m already lining up more things to sell on there. After all, Christmas is just around the corner and we’ll be needing the extra space and the extra cash!

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.

 


Vicky Charles

Vicky is a single mother, writer and card reader.

1 Comment

Jo · 07/10/2017 at 09:05

Thanks for sharing your experience – I have used ebay in the past and had mixed experiences, but I’m reading a book all about decluttering and I ‘know’ lots of my really good quality clothes are going to have to go – so thank you for the reminder, I’ll get on there later tonight.

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