Hidden Money Part 1

It’s In Your House!

Inflation is here! Gas prices are up, and people are struggling.  All of us could use some extra income.  Did you know that you could already have most of what you need to make extra money?  What if I told you, it didn’t require a start up fee, nor do you need to put money down? There’s no need to join a team either! It’s achievable.  The best part is that the key to this extra money is hidden in your house and in plain sight! Yes, you read correctly. I want to share how I have been able to make additional income when needed, from the comfort of my own home, since 2005. My hope is that by the time you are done reading this, you will feel confident enough to do the same! I’m going to explain how I do it, what I use, and some tips I have learned along the way! Let’s jump in!

Look Around!

We all have extra stuff just laying around that someone else would pay to have! No need to give it away if you need money, right? I am going to help you sell your old or new, but unwanted stuff, on resale sites and apps like eBay, Mercari and Poshmark! This will be very beginner friendly and I’ll walk you through the basics. It doesn’t matter how tech savvy you think you aren’t, you can do this!  Most of the items you need to get started, are probably in your house as well. Here is the checklist:

• Computer and phone with internet access
• Printer
• Postal Scale
• Your Stuff!
• Shipping packages/boxes
• Debit card/bank account (so you can get paid!)

Step 1: Decisions, decisions

The first step is to decide what goes in the ‘for sale’ pile. Gently used or never used clothes, jewelry, shoes, toys, books, games, electronics…the possibilities are almost endless! If you are curious about whether something will sell or not, download these apps, (which I recommend doing anyway) and take a look around. Get a feel for them. See what others are selling and have sold, and even the prices they sold for, and go for it! These sites all have a prohibited or restricted items section for what they do not allow.

Step 2: Take Pictures

After deciding what will be sold, you will need to take some pictures! You don’t have to be a professional photographer, but the pictures do need to be clear! I suggest:

• Take pictures in a well lit area of your house. Natural light in front of a door or window works well. Outside works great too, but avoid having shadows over your item. Shadows will make it look dark and that will defeat the purpose of using natural lighting.
• Take pictures of all angles. You don’t want to appear deceptive by not photographing flaws (if there are any.)
• Take pictures of the items as you will sell them. If you are selling two pairs of shoes together, then take pictures of them together, as well as a few individually.

Step 3: Post!

The last step is to post your items online, so they can sell and you can get paid! 

ebay

Let’s discuss eBay! I first joined eBay as a college student back in 2005. I was looking for a coat…and I found one! It was denim with a fur lined collar! I wore that coat for years.  As I needed more items, I looked on eBay again, and success! I realized I had access to other people’s stuff that I wouldn’t normally have access to! Who doesn’t love a good bargain?! Ebay is a global yard sale! After I got my feet wet, and learned how the site operated, I was ready to sell some items myself. If you feel like you may need to do that, I understand completely. As a matter of fact, I purchased my postal scale on there for less than twenty dollars, including shipping! I use it all the time! Even if you don’t move forward with selling your items, I still highly recommend that you BUY A POSTAL SCALE! Trust me 😉  The price has increased since I purchased mine, but the exact one I have, can be found here.

What do you have?

Describing your item is very important! It’s how your listing is found if someone is looking for a specific item. Instead of inserting “blue shirt”, you would want to put something like, “blue men’s polo shirt, M, Medium”. I use the ‘M’ abbreviation for medium, and the actual word, to gain more exposure for those searching.

How do you want to sell?

As you go through the prompts to list your item, eBay will have different options for how you want to sell your item. You’ll want to decide if you want auction style listings or buy it now pricing. You can also have buyers make you an offer. You can choose one, three, five, seven, or ten day listings for auctions. Seven days is the default for auction style and you set your starting price. If you want customers to be able to buy it now, those have a default of thirty days. Either listing option will be relisted a few times for free, if your item doesn’t sell the first time.

Shipping with eBay

EBay makes it easy for you to prepare your items for shipping and print labels right from home! They use FEDEX, UPS, and USPS. They also have local pick up.  The postal scale is vital for this part!

eBay Fees

All of the sites I mention will charge fees for selling with them. Ebay’s selling fees can be found by clicking this link. Ebay is usually really good about telling you if you have any other fee coming out other than a final value fee. That is the only fee that is necessary unless you choose special options while making your listing.

eBay payout

After you’ve sold and shipped your item, eBay will pay you a few days after you ship and your funds can go right into your bank account.  Keep in mind it will be minus the fees and possibly shipping.

Mercari

Next, we have Mercari. Mercari is best used as an app on your cellphone. As soon as the app is loaded, there will be a “sell” icon at the bottom. Mercari is pretty cut and dry, and doesn’t ask for some of the specific details eBay does. However, it’s still best to provide as many details as are needed to avoid getting repeated questions from potential buyers.

Mercari Fees

Again, you’ll want to be specific in naming your item. When setting your price, Mercari will let you know how much they’ll take out for fees and what you will make. The ball is in your court after that! They do take a 10% commission, AND 2.9% PLUS .30 per transaction. But as I stated, they let you know exactly what you’ll make from your initial pricing.

 

Promoting with Mercari

One cool thing about Mercari is that if you feel your item isn’t selling fast enough, you can promote it. Promoting basically offers a discount to potential buyers. With the click of the button, Mercari will notify the marketplace that the price has dropped on your item. You also have the option to ‘send offer to likers’, which offers an even lower price to those who have ‘liked’ your item. When pricing with Mercari, I’d price a little higher than the amount you’re wanting, in order to make room for promoting and accepting offers. 

Shipping with Mercari

Mercari is also great about shipping. They use FEDEX, UPS, and USPS, along with local pick up and QR codes to do drop offs. They provide you with shipping options after you put in the weight of your item, and then make suggestions for you. You can choose to pay shipping yourself, which makes it free for your buyer…or you can have the buyer pay and it adds the shipping amount onto your listed price for them to pay…completely your choice!

Mercari Payout

After the buyer receives their item, they will rate you, then you will rate them, and your funds will be available on Mercari. You can transfer your earnings to your bank account for free, or immediately to your debit card for two dollars.

Poshmark

Lastly, I’ll talk about Poshmark. I haven’t sold a ton on there, but it is another good option for selling. I do feel it’s the easiest of the three to post items. It’s very basic, just post pics, and follow the prompts.

Poshmark Fees/Shipping

Poshmark takes a flat 20% of your profit. This is a little steep to me, but just try pricing accordingly. The good thing is, they provide the shipping label, and it’s a flat $7.95 to ship priority. Once your item sells, they email you a shipping label, and you print it off and ship. If your item or items weigh over five lbs., you will need to follow this link to upgrade your shipping label.

Poshmark Payout

Poshmark’s payout is similar to Mercari’s. Once the buyer receives their item, they accept it, and you’re paid. You will need to transfer to your bank account, and that takes a few days.

The Postal Scale

Alright, now that I’ve discussed how these sites work, let’s talk about that postal scale. I love having one. Other than selling on resale sites, I also sell and ship via Facebook. A postal scale makes it easy to ship from home and not have to wait in line at the post office! Cue the Angels singing…serious bliss! When I’m creating listings, I always put the packaging or box I’ll be shipping in, and the actual item on my postal scale to weigh it, so that shipping is accurate when I enter it in and I don’t lose money when shipping. If the weight is in between ounces, I round up just to be safe. This was my biggest mistake when I first started selling. I underestimated shipping because I didn’t own a  postal scale and kept coming out even, or even losing money instead of making a profit. By shipping through these sites,  you get a discount, so take advantage!  Use the postal scale for accurate weights, and print and ship from your computer! It also makes it easier for the buyer to track their package.

Drop Offs!

Lastly, if shipping is already paid for on a package, (which all of these will be when the labels are printed) you can drop them off on the USPS counter! Or alternatively, it would be worth the wait to hand all packages to a postal worker and obtain a receipt for your records if you’re not comfortable dropping off. You can also open a free usps.com account and order free packaging materials for priority shipping (items weighing between one and seventy pounds), and schedule pick ups! UPS and FEDEX also offer pick up services, but USPS is my jam!

Are You ready?

Now that I have went over how to sell on these resale apps, my hope is that I’ve helped you learn how to make money from home, possible starting a new hobby, or side job, just by using tools you mostly have at home! Are the wheels turning in your head with ideas of what to sell? Have you gained new knowledge from this? Let me know in the comments!