tips & advice for selling everything
 

We're heading off on a long trip in July, been planning since last July and savings are going well. Have read through the awesome posts about affording the lifestyle etc, but haven't seen much in the way of tips for raising money for the asset-poor! We're Aussie renters, temporarily based in the UK, so no house to sell, but own a bit of furniture, household rubbish, car and a shed full of tools. Surprisingly, a few friends have shown interest in our furniture (one even wants car AND sewing machine!), so step one is holding a friends-only open house to see if some other stuff can go this way.

Any advice for selling smaller bits and pieces? One couple I read said they'd made 300 pounds from selling small stuff! We're planning on doing car boot sales once we have most stuff ready to go. I've found reasonable tips for garage/yard sales just poking around on the web (ask if you'd like the list), but does anyone have good tips from experience for attending boot sales?

I've trawled through loads of UK-based ad websites to find good free ones. Have only tried Gumtree and Preloved so far (with varying results for Preloved and none from Gumtree), have yet to try any of the others on the list below but will look into them soon. Warning - you might want a separate email account for signing up, as some really weird emails come through!! Also worth checking your local papers - often have free ad listings for cheap stuff.
Anyone got something to add to this list?
Gumtree.com: UK's No. 1 in classifieds - jobs, property, cars and more
Preloved | UK free ads - buy and sell with local classifieds

www.Freeads.co.uk or Freeads.net - Classified ads, place free ads - also lists as

http://household.uk.freeads.net/ and Freeads.net - Classified ads, place free ads
free ad listing site



Oodle UK Classifieds - Search UK Classifieds and Post Free Classifieds
acts like overall search site (picks up ebay and preloved etc) but you can list own ads

iBootSale - Online Car Boot Sale
online car boot sale!

••▷ Free ads, classifieds, FREE CLASSIFIED ADS, 450,000+ free classifieds in the UK
Car Boot Sale . Jumble Sale
ads for car boots etc.

Car boot sales Directory listing all local UK car boots.
set up for searching car bot sales but do free sales online ads too


craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums various sites over the world

craigslist: united kingdom classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events UK lists


Don't forget Freecycle United Kingdom (UK) Freecycle Groups' Homepage when you just want to get rid of stuff!



Finally, we've had a few friends move away and they've held leaving parties. Basically you get together, eat the last of the food, drink the alcohol, and give everything away - all the leftover packets of spice, flour, vermouth, and futons! We're thinking of holding one where we get rid of the crockery, cutlery, tuppperware, kettle, ornamental stuff, and anything else that hasn't sold, and leaving a donation box on the table for people to leave what they like in return for what they take away. Hope it works - every 30 pounds is another day!


Cheers, Tam

Ebay and Carboots
 

Hi there,

We're just ahead of you. Good luck when you get there :)

We leave in 3 weeks and spent this whole weekend like headless chickens trying to empty our house for the new tenants. Before that we have spent the last year or so ebaying and at car boot sales, making perhaps £2000 or thereabouts.

Ebay is right royal pain in the ass, but makes good money for some stuff. It's timecomsuming with all the listings and wrapping, but made easier by the fact you can now print postage and addresses from the PC.

Car boots you make less money but are more fun. My two top tips for this are:

1. Go with someone else, as it makes it 100 times more fun. Not just your partner, but anoter carbooter next to you that can add to the fun.
2. Bring your own food! The first time we got there at 7am for our first one. Made a tenner seller all our CDs, and immediately spent that money on a sh1tty burger cos we were a bit hungover and hungry! Doh!

The only other thing I would add, is do it as soon as you can, the amount of stuff we have thrown away is a real shame, but we have tried and tried to get rid of it, but you can only use so much of your weekend etc.

Good luck anyhow!

Cheers

Ollie

Good luck Ollie,

We are in NZ now waiting for our Aus visa for another year so may see you when you get here.