[freeze]

As I am getting older I have decided to try to sell some items that my husband and I have collected such as policemen and nurse items. That was our 2 professions. We know that our children will not want them. I have tried ebay and craiglists but no luck. I am thinking it's the economy. We are not asking high prices. Has anyone else notice the same thing.

 

[ladytoysdream]

Keep doing your research on your items. Seems so you will be able to sell them at some point in time.

I have been doing the think outside the box, on craigslist. I go to the wanted areas and look to see what people are looking for and then check what I have here to fill some of the needs.
My success this week, has been selling a lady a box of yarn. Then after she saw what I am doing, we ended up doing a swap for a second box of yarn she wanted from me, for a box of yarn colors she had that I wanted. Worked out real sweet.
I just got a email from another want ad I replied to yesterday.....a lady looking for some romance books, and I just dug out 39 of them so far at a buck each from her list.

Now I am working on finding some guinea hen eggs for my son

The economy is rough yes......but people are still looking for things.

 

[hotprincesscm]

Have you tried a consignment store? They might buy the items off you!

 

[freeze]

I have been thinking about checking the consignment shop nearby to see what they are selling.

 

[gardening momma]

I don't know how much ebay-ing you have done (and I'm not a pro either), but when I sell things on ebay, I look for similar items already listed. I check to see how much they're selling for, how they list the item (content), how many people have viewed the auction(s), how the item is titled. I find that the wording of the title is VERY important. I try a variety of different search terms to find items similar to what I'm selling, and look at the most successful auctions (# of bids, bid price) to see how they titled their auction. If you leave out important words, or waste title space with unnecessary words, it'll make all the difference. Saying "wow" or "Look" doesn't help--no one searches for those words (I don't think). The more people that get your auction in their search results, the better. They might have been looking for something else entirely, but with certain words your auction may show up in their results.

 

[peanut]

I gave up selling stuff locally...or on-line. Instead I just donated to my charity of choice. I really just wanted to be rid of the stuff!

 

[cojo]

I have the same problem.

I bought my grandmother's house from her recently when she moved into an assisted living apartment.

It is very nice, but I also inherited all the items in the house. She and my grandfather inherited the entirety of 5 estates and they were packrats.

My aunt was so sweet as to empty out the first 2 floors (it took a whole week) but we still have more stuff than we could ever use, especially in the attic and basement.

We're giving the family until July to take anything they want, and then we will be selling it at a garage sale - but the idea of going through more items, putting it all out and then not selling it all makes me exhausted!!

It's kind of an embarrassment of riches, but there really are more things than we could ever ever use.

 

[peanut]

cojo: If your grandparents inherited that much, then be on the lookout for things of value...like antiques of various sorts. It's a good idea to hold some stuff back for the grandkids as they grow older and learn to appreciate that stuff.

I was about to get rid of Mom's jewelry when one of my sisters had a bird about giving away her daughter's inheritance. You never know what people value. Now I've kept the jewelry and have specific plans to divide it up amongst the grandkids (and their wives) when they grow up. However, in order to pass it out in a somewhat even fashion, I am going to have it all appraised at some point.

 

[Saydee]

We had a rummage sale a couple of weeks ago and it was a tremendous success. I think people are looking more a yard sales and not buying new.

 

[cojo]

cojo: If your grandparents inherited that much, then be on the lookout for things of value...like antiques of various sorts. It's a good idea to hold some stuff back for the grandkids as they grow older and learn to appreciate that stuff.

She has 13 grandkids including me...none, except for my sister, have even seen her since she moved 6 months ago. It's kind of sad. I am holding three rooms worth of items for their parents though.

I know there are antiques in her collection of stuff...she has about 10 rugs that no one has claimed that they want, and I think some of them are very old and handmade. We still have the sofa my grandparents had when they were married in the forties, and it was several decades old when they got it (Victorian-looking). We are fortunate enough to get a hutch and a dining room table. It's tough separating the junk from the valuable stuff but basically if it's beautiful, I'm not tossing it.

 

[freeze]

So I went to the consignment store near our house and they are going out of business. I will try a garage sale this summer and see what happens. We give lots to goodwill but my son next door is going through a divorce and he sure could use some extra money. He is trying to get full custody, which means very high lawyers bills.

 

[peanut]

I know there are antiques in her collection of stuff...she has about 10 rugs that no one has claimed that they want, and I think some of them are very old and handmade.

I'm a traditional rug hooker. Look those rugs over carefully. Depending what they are they can go at auction for $20,000 or so... (Usually the uglier ones are called primitive style, are the oldest, and go for more). I would suggest you try and contact a local rug hooking guild or a textile appraiser...usually associated with art galleries. Or contact the editors of Rug Hooking Magazine for names of people in your area who might be able to look at them. Who knows, you might have a Grenfell in that collection.