Jeff “the Blog” Bonforte

In preparation for a new addition to the family, my wife and I have been selling a lot of stuff online to make room for the nursury (BTW, I just learned that “nursery” with an “e” is for plants). We had originally thought of doing a garage sale, but my last experience with that was very unpleasant (“I’ll give you $1 for that GPS unit”).

Here is a list of the stuff we have sold, and where we sold it:

1. EQ3 Couch – Craigslist
2. Coffee Table – Craigslist
3. Ikea Rug (3) – Craigslist
4. 32″ Olevia LCD TV – In the family!
5. Bose Accoustimass Speakers – Amazon Marketplace
6. Sony A350 DSLR – Amazon Marketplace
7. Sony 18-70mm lens – Amazon Marketplace
8. Sony 70-200mm lens – Amazon Marketplace
9. Pottery Barn plates – Craigslist
10. Bose 3-2-1 AV system – Amazon Marketplace
11. Chumby (basically still in box)- Ebay
12. Pleo (robot dinosaur, sealed-in-box) – Ebay
13. A TON of books – Amazon Marketplace
14. End Table – Still unsold on Craigslist
15. A slightly damaged Denon AV Receiver – Craigslist
16. (2) Amazon Kindles (1 mint, the other slightly used) – Craigslist
17. Dining Room Table + 4 chairs – Craigslist
18. 19″ Dell LCD (missing cables): Craigslist 
19. Tom Tom 910N GPS (missing parts): Craigslist 
20. Timbuktu Bag (2): Craigslist

I know I am forgetting a bunch of stuff. In the end, we made over $5,000 selling all this stuff, which more than paid for all the new stuff we bought for the baby, such as a crib, dresser + changing table, new AV receiver and speakers, etc. Here is what I have learned about selling things online, that may be helpful for you.

• Stuff that is heavily used or slightly damaged: Craigslist. You want to be able to talk over the condition face-to-face with the buyer.
• Stuff that is crazy expensive to ship, like a couch, or dinnerware: Craigslist
• Stuff that is more expensive to ship than it is worth: Craigslist
• Stuff that is mainstream electronics, still in production (or nearly so): Amazon
• Books: Amazon Marketplace
• Stuff that is selling for a lot over market – Ebay or Craigslist
• Super Random Stuff (my wife sold the boxes we used to move): Craigslist
• Stuff you are giving away for free: Craigslist
• High End Electronics: Amazon Marketplace
• Cars Under $15k: Craigslist
• Cars Over $40k: AutoTrader.com

There are a few reasons we chose these various marketplaces. 

Complexity of shipping - like furniture or dinnerware - [winner: Craigslist]
Nothing beats handing something to the guys in the neighborhood. The speakers I sold were expensive and hard to ship…cost me about $75. But the price I got on Amazon was about $200 more than I could get on Craigslist, so I sucked it up. I sold Series II Bose speakers at a time when the current model is the Series IV. That meant I had to keep the price a bit lower than normal to attract the attention of a potential buyer and give myself a chance to make my case that the Series IV weren’t worth the extra price.

Electronics - still on the market - [winner: Amazon Marketplace]
In order to get a good price, Amazon’s selection and reputation really play in your favor. Your item is listed in the “New and Used” area. If you want to sell your stuff in 24-72 hours, just make sure you are the lowest priced item in the list. Imagine that Amazon sells millions of items a day. So while you think no one will be looking for your random piece of stereo or camera equipment, think again. There is one issue with the shipping. On my 50lb speakers, I had to spend $75 packing, insuring and sending via FedEx Ground. Amazon fixes the shipping you can charge, in this case at $30. In every case except books (below), the amount the charge the customer is about 30-50% below what it actually costs. I guess this is because they get such a better rate from UPS than the average Joe…but it kind of sucks.

Electronics - outdated or damaged - [winner: Craigslist]
I had an AV receiver that was no longer in production (meaning that you can’t even list it on Amazon, as it is not in the catalog) that had some oxidation damage in the back. The damage was cosmetic, but it was there. I sold it on Craigslist for $70. The Dell monitor was in good shape, generally, but we didn’t have any of the manuals, discs, original cables, etc. This kind of thing is better explained face-to-face. With our Tom-Tom, it turned out when the buyer got to our house, I couldn’t find the remote control. He offered to knock his price down by $10. SOLD!

Books - [winner: Amazon Marketplace]
I had NO idea how quickly and how profitably you could sell books on Amazon Marketplace. My wife and I sold 20 books, including paperbacks up to 18 years old in a matter of days on Amazon and net over $300. It is incredibly easy. And the shipping is with a special “media rate” from the USPS. Basically any book you sell costs under $3 to ship. This is probably the result of the magazine industry lobbyist getting a special deal…I dunno, but it is great. I have also become a big consumer of these “New & Used” books from Amazon…they are just a great deal. There are some interesting dynamics in this space, I have learned. First, common paperbacks, like a John Grisham novel, sell for 1¢ legitimately from sellers. I guess they do so much volume that the $1 margin on shipping is enough for them. For me it wasn’t worth the effort, so I donated these. Also, books like a great old dictionary sell for 1¢ and you LOSE money on the shipping, best I can tell. I guess this is also the volume, margin on the shipping bit, too…but I was fascinated to see a dictionary that sold for $20+ just 25 years ago when I was in college now are basically sold for the shipping costs.

In Demand Items - [winner: Ebay and Craigslist]
We sold a few things that are really in demand around Christmas. Our Kindle and our Chumby. The Kindles we sold on Craigslist because Christmas was too close to use Ebay effectively. Obviously, they were being given as gifts, so it helped that I had kept the boxes and most of the accessories in the box (like the manuals and charger). In one case, I was missing the white USB cable, so I had to buy it online and ship it to the buyer via Amazon…that cost me $5 (I am Amazon Prime, so shipping is free). The Chumby, amazingly, sold for basically full price. I see today that it is available at their store with a free tshirt, new for the same price we got on ebay. Ebay is just weird that way for some items. Overall, I hate ebay. They take too much from the transaction, the process is painful and unreliable (lots of stuff goes unsold). The customers seem less sophisticated, so I have more issues after the sale.

Lazy - [winner: Craigslist]
There are a bunch of times we are just too lazy to optimize on the max profit. In these cases, we use Craigslist. Listing is easy and free. Transactions are in cash. Items are sold “As Is”, so you never hear back from the buyer. The only issue is that on Craigslist, we find, for items over $50, you often get 70-50% as much as you would get from Amazon Marketplace. With ebay, it is tough to predict sometimes.

Automobiles - [winner: Craigslist and AutoTrader.com] 
We have sold three cars in the past four years online. In general, Craigslist is excellent for this: low transaction costs and local buyers. But when I tried to sell a Porsche I should have never purchased, I got no traction on Craigslist, and eBay Motors seemed like a nightmare. We used to sell cars in the AutoTrader in San Diego, so I gave AutoTrader.com a try (about $50 to list). I got five or six inquiries within three weeks and sold the car to someone in LA. So for me, AutoTrader.com worked on a car with a limited market.

Let me know what your experiences are with these and other means of selling your stuff online. If you can figure out a way to sell it for more, or ship it for less, I am very interested.