I recently went through a house move and as many have written before, the exercise was long and tedious. Cleaning out the home was part 1, the garage clean up was part 2.
An important part of this clean out was identifying what was to be taken with us and what could be either thrown out, given away or sold.
Once we had done this, we also had to put a value on each item we thought could be sold and work out how and where to sell it. This was not easy.
Facebook Marketplace
Of the few things I have sold in the past, they have all been via Ebay. I have generally found the sales process very long with very few bites. In all honesty, Ebay is such a huge marketplace and if your item isn’t from an in-demand category, getting attention is difficult.
A friend of mine who also went through the same home and garage clean up process, told me that he had used Facebook Marketplace and that it worked quickly and easily.
I gave it a go and listed bookshelves, bedheads, wooden shelving, plates, a fridge, statues, gym equipment, lights and even the kitchen. Over a 3 month period I have sold pretty much all of it. The same items were also listed on Ebay and Gumtree. The Kitchen was the only item I successfully sold via Ebay. Everything else went via Facebook Marketplace. Most of the interest was via Facebook.
Giving Things Away
I generally found that if you want to give things away, it worked a treat. I gave our 20 year old fridge away within 24hrs. With everything else, you need to work on a price that has flexibility. People will ask you to half it, so ensuring you factor some of this in allows you to reach a reasonable price that also moves it on.
Another thing to look out for is that you will get plenty of enquiries. Some of these people will not be serious and will waste your time. I had one guy promise to pickup a bookshelf in 2 days and never arrived. When I tried to contact him, his Messenger was off and I couldn’t. In that time I had several others asking to collect it and I had told them it was sold. Very frustrating.
From what I understand, unlike Ebay they also don’t take a commission on these items which helps a little.
Large Furniture
The fridge I mentioned earlier was from our garage. I also managed to give away some old work out equipment and an old bed head that was in our garage. It all went within a few days of it being listed.
One of the challenges with larger furniture is how it is collected. In one case, the person paid me an extra $50 to deliver the book case them.
Council Drop Off
Monash Council offers an ability to drop off items such as used paint cans, car batteries and even empty gas bottles free of charge. You can also leave mattresses (for a small fee). I plan to take advantage of this to finish off my garage clean up.
So with a little research and preparation the home and garage clean up process can be made much a lot easier and successful.