How Can I Earn Money Selling My Stuff?
The average American household has 50 unused items worth about $3,000! Many of these items were never opened or used. Why not sell them and make some quick cash to pay off debt?
Sell your clutter – You would be surprised what items you can see on eBay.com, Amazon.com, Craig’s List or other auction sites. You think your junk is worthless, but to someone else it might be a treasure. It can be something as innocuous as an old book, CD’s, clothing, albums, posters, furniture, toys, appliances, etc. – the list goes on and on. You can find out what items are the best sellers and at what price they sold at whatsellsbest.com, where you can get a free estimate of what your item should sell for. Amazon.com will even let you ship your items to them and they will take care of the order fulfillment for you.
Other ways to earn cash for the stuff you own but no longer need are as follows:
(1) Old clothes – Many people are interested in buying designer or vintage clothing and children’s clothing on the Internet or you can sell your unwanted clothing at consignment shops or used clothing shops. You can even sell those tacky Christmas sweaters online. Websites such as Tradesy.com and ThredUp.com and Dresm.com will let you send them clothing and shoes and they will pay you whenever your item sells. They do take a percentage of the sale as their fee. The major clothing retailer H & M will give you a 15 percent discount on purchases for every bag of used clothing you bring in to one of their stores (http://about.hm.com/AboutSection/en/About/Sustainability/Commitments/Reduce-Reuse-Recycle/Garment-Collecting.html)
(2) Printer ink cartridges – Both Staples and Office Depot allow you to earn money or rewards for every empty printer ink cartridge you return to them. Learn more about Staples ink cartridge program at: http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/products/ink-recycle/index.html. Learn more about Office Depot’s recycling program at http://www.officedepot.com/a/promo/pages/0912_green/.
(3) Electronics and old phones – Best Buy, Walmart, and Radio Shack will give you a store credit for certain computers, cell phones, and other electronic gadgets you bring in to them to recycle, or you can recycle electronics online at websites such as NextWorth.com, YouRenew.com and Gazelle.com. At these websites you can get an instant quote of what they think your item is worth, and some will let you mail it to them free. You can sell your used electronics at: Amazon.com – Guzu.com -- Cellitused.com – instantsale.eBay.com. Not all of these sites will give you cash; some of them will give you a gift card. Other websites that will buy your old cell phones are BuyMyTronics.com, GoRoostr.com and USell.com.
Find out if your old cell phones are worth anything by visiting CellForCash.com and FlipSwap.com. Type in the info about your cell phone to get an instant quote of its value. If you want to sell your old phone, they will let you print out a mailing label so you can send it to them easily. Your phones might be worth no more than $5 but they could be worth $50!
(4) Vehicle batteries – Advanced Auto Parts will give you a $5 gift card for your old car battery and enter you into a monthly drawing to win a $500 gift card, or you may be able to sell your battery at a scrap metal recycling center for about $5
(5) Books and textbooks – You can find out the value of any book at Cash4Books.net by entering the ISBN number (located on the copyright page or back cover of the book) into their search form. You could even make a small business of this by buying books at thrift stores, library sales and garage sales and selling them to Cash4Books.net. Other places to sell used books are Half.com -- Betterworld.com – BlueRocketBooks.com --- Half.com. Use BookScouter.com to compare prices offered by many book websites. See also Where to Get Free Books
(6) Kitchen appliances – You may not have any use for the expensive juicer you bought two years ago and used once, but someone else is willing to pay you a decent amount for it. You can sell kitchen appliances at eBay, Craig’s list and other places. Some people even make a business out of buying kitchen appliances for next to nothing at garage sales and thrift stores and reselling them for a big profit at auction sites, such as eBay and Amazon.
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(7) Sports gear – Get rid of all the sports gear you never use at PlayItAgainSports.com where lots of people go looking for bargains in sporting goods equipment, particularly cash-strapped parents needing sports equipment for their kids. SwapMeSports.com is a good place to sell your gear online.
(8) Video games, CD’s and DVD’s – Find out if your unwanted video games, old CD's and DVD's have any value at SecondSpin.com or CashForCDs.com. Gazelle.com will bye your used video games, Blu-rays and DVDs. You can sell them yourself at Craig's List, eBay or Amazon.
(9) Craft supplies – The big crafting website Etsy.com lets you sell your unwanted crafting supplies through them.
(10) Furniture – Whether your furniture is antique, or just old and unwanted, you might be able to sell it through a consignment shop or advertise it at an auction site. There are always people looking for good, used furniture.
Auction websites that let you sell all sorts of items you don’t want are eBay, Craig’s List, Auctionopia.com and SwapMamas.com
Free Job Training – There are hundreds of federal and state programs to help people get a new job. You can find out more about what programs are available at ServiceLocator.org or at your local public library. There are also free online classes on the Internet and at local colleges and universities. For example, Project Working Mom (www.projectworkingmom.com) allows mothers to earn an online degree and have expanded the program to allow working dads to earn degrees too.
Give Retailers your Feedback. On many sales receipts you receive there is often an area at the bottom that invites you to complete an online survey and you are rewarded for doing so in some way. You might receive a big discount on your next purchase. Some stores offer a 20 percent discount or a $15 gift coupon. Walmart will enter you in to a $1000 gift card sweepstakes when you complete their online survey (details are on your sales receipt).
