Yard Sale Vs Craigslist: How Should You Sell Your Unwanted Goods?

Are you looking to make extra money this summer? Do you want to de-clutter your home? Do you want to do both? If so, you may consider selling items around your home that you no longer want, need, or use. These items may include old exercise equipment, home decor, outgrown children's clothes and toys, and much more. When it comes to selling your unwanted goods, you have two great options. They include listing your items for sale on Craigslist.org and hosting a yard sale. Which option should you choose?

When determining if you should host a garage sale or sell your unwanted goods on Craigslist, you should consider four important factors. They are cost, time, ease, and success.

In terms of cost, Craigslist.org is the best way to go. It is free to buy, sell, and trade items online. You create a listing describing what you have to sell, upload a picture, and set your selling price. Interested buyers will contact you. This entire process is free. If you host a yard sale, you must spend money. No one will come to your garage sale if they don't know you are having one. For that reason, you should write a yard sale advertisement for your local newspaper. This usually costs around $5. Even if you just hang signs around your neighborhood, you still need to purchase poster board and other supplies.

In terms of time, it goes both ways with yard sales and Craigslist.org. With Craigslist, you can create your listings multiple ways. Most sellers use one listing for each item they have. You can also group similar items together. For example, if you have 20 old DVDs to sell, you can offer the entire DVD collection for $40. You can also add in a little note saying that negotiations are possible for individual DVDs. This is a great alternative to creating 20 different for sale DVD listings. On average, it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to create a for sale listing on Craigslist. The time you spend will all depend on how much you have to sell.

Keeping with time, a lot of time and effort goes into hosting a yard sale. First, you must decide what items you want to sell at your yard sale and set them aside. You must price those items. Then, you must setup your items on the morning of your yard sale. Most importantly, you must stay the entire time of your sale. If you advertise a yard sale from 9am to 1pm, there is four hours of your time right there. If you don't have time to sit and plan a yard sale, selling on Craigslist.org is your best option.

In terms of ease, it all depends on what and how much you have to sell. As previously stated, holding a yard sale or garage sale requires a lot of time and effort. However, many people like the idea of setting one or two days aside to make money and de-clutter their homes. With Craigslist.org you can spend weeks waiting for interested buyers to contact you. If you have 50 or more items to sell and are looking to do so quickly and with less stress, host a yard sale. You communicate with interested buyers on the day of your sale only. There aren't days of going back and forth to negotiate a price or a pickup time.

In terms of success, both hosting a yard sale and selling on Craigslist.org have the potential to make you money. Once again, it all depends on what you have to sell. Off brand products, like clothes, are likely to sell better at yard sales. People are already there shopping, so they are likely to pickup something they like. Appearance, need and fair selling price is more important than brand names in this situation. Not everyone shops at yard sales, but not everyone knows about or visits Craigslist either.

In keeping with success, if you opt for Craigslist, set a fair selling price, be clear in your descriptions, and upload pictures. If you opt for a yard sale, summer yard sales do better because the weather is nice. If you can get other families or neighbors to join, you can market your sale as a multi-family sale, which will increase your traffic. Also, include a sample of what you have for sale in all newspaper listings.

In short, hosting a yard sale and listing your unwanted and unneeded goods on Craigslist.org both have their pros and cons. Of course, the decision is yours to make. If you are looking to de-clutter your home and make the most money, why not try both? You can hold a yard sale. Afterwards, list any unsold items on Craigslist. In fact, advertise your yard sale on Craigslist too!