How to sell unwanted household goods for free online

It’s not difficult to post your stuff including unwanted gifts on virtual sales websites such as Kijiji or Craigslist. The best part about this is that posting on these sites is free; you can post your items on more than one website; and you’re selling locally, so buyers come to you to pick up the items.

What you will need

• Computer
• Internet access
• Camera (optional)
• Email address
• Time

Keeping Safe When Selling Online

• Accept cash only.
• Try to have your for sale item inside the front door waiting for the potential buyer. Don’t let anyone into your home. If you’re on your own, arrange to have a friend on hand.
• Don’t use your personal email address. It’s safer to set up a separate email address for your virtual ads. Free ones are available on Yahoo, Google, Hotmail or your internet provider and are easy to set up.
• Use an anonymous user name in your ad to protect your privacy further.

Posting Photographs of Your Goods

• You don’t need to post any photos but items sell better if a potential buyer can see the item. It also cuts down on emails requesting more information. If you’re pressed for time, get one of your kids or a neighbor’s kid to do it for you for a small fee
• Clean up whatever it is you want to sell. Place it somewhere with a neutral backdrop and take a few pictures of it. One should be close up to show details of the product. Others should show different angles of it.
• Download the images to your computer and save in a separate folder. Name it something like ‘My Online Sales’.

Posting Your Item Descriptions Efficiently

• If you plan to use more than one website to sell your stuff, write up a description and title of your items in a word processing file. The more details you put in, the better, and don’t forget to add condition and dimensions.
• Once you’ve done all that you can simply cut and paste your description in the ‘Title” and “Description” boxes at each site.

Placing Your Virtual Ads

• Go to the website and click on ‘Place ad’ (or similar) and select the category that best suits your product.
• Enter in all the necessary information and descriptions of your items and don’t forget to upload your images.
• If don’t want your phone ringing off the hook when your ad is up, just post your email address.
• Reply to all the emails you receive and, when you get a serious buyer, arrange for a time for the buyer to come by. Remember to accept cash only.

Practical Tip For Keeping Your Ad Up Front

• All of these online sales websites provide an easy editing function, but don’t just change the price on the original listing. Since all listings are chronologically organized, your old listing may be 75 to 300 listings deep in the queue. Instead, copy the text of your old ad and delete the listing, then post a brand-new listing with the lower price.