What you pay: Nothing at all. If any money is exchanged alarm bells should ring because Freecycle is a not for profit charity.
Postage: No postage is paid as users are required to pick up items they desire in their local area.
Photos: Most listings do not have photos and if they do they certainly aren’t paid for!
Payment system: Absolutely no money is involved just postings of items and responses from people interested in the community.
Verdict: The only downside is that you don’t make any money, but you do get to get rid of unwanted items that may not sell well on an auction site like eBay (old tvs, bedding, top soil) for free rather than shelling out money to dispose of your junk.
Music Magpie
Music Magpie is a useful website if you are looking to get rid of old CDs, games or DVDs. Instead of an auction the website offers you money in exchange for your unwanted goods.
Fees and Postage: You don’t have to pay anything for using this service; in fact the only person getting paid is you. Music Magpie offers free postage labels to get your goods to its offices.
Payment system: You are paid by cheque, e-vouchers for Marks and Spencer or are offered the option to donate your earnings to charity.
Verdict: Music Magpie has made it very easy to de-clutter your entertainment cupboard. It has a handy app on smartphones that saves you typing in barcodes all afternoon and you can scan away to your heart’s content. However, you need at least 10 items to get started, you have to wait for items to reach Music Magpie HQ and then wait for the quality assessment. So the price quoted may be lower than expected if the quality of items is poor.
Also the value of your old CDs, DVDs and games is not a massive amount (more pence than pounds) so you may find yourself adding more items to the pile in order to bump up your payout.
Jumble sales and car boot sales
Before the internet second hand goods could be sold at your local school or village hall at jumble and car boot sales. It was fun, cheap and meant you didn’t have to take photos from every angle on each item for sale. Take a look at this useful website to see if there are any going on around you.
Fees and postage: The only fee you are likely to encounter is a couple of pounds upfront for coming to the event, which you should aim to recoup in your first few sales.
Payment system: Cash in hand means zero handling costs and maximum profit for you.
Verdict: You can declutter loads of items in one morning or afternoon. No need to wait for an auction to end, no need to wait for money to reach your account, no need to take pictures and no need to post.
However, buyers that attend these sales are perhaps more ruthless than your typical online bargain hunter. Be prepared to haggle and sell items at a lower price than it may fetch online, but remember it is old junk you no longer want or need – 10p is better than throwing it away.
Envirofone, Mazuma Mobile and the rest
There is a wealth of websites vying to give you cash for your old phone. Expensive smartphones often go for high prices on websites like eBay but the joy of a sale is spoiled by the fees you are charged in the end. Selling an iPhone 4 on eBay for example may get you around £300 but the fees could total £40 to £50. Places like Envirofone and Mazuma Mobile could offer you a better deal.
You can see what you could get using this comparison site.
Fees and postage: There are no fees for selling your mobile phone using these websites apart from maybe forking out for delivery.
Payment system: Many sites offer bank transfers, cheques or a higher value offer if you choose to accept vouchers for places like Argos or Debenhams. There are no hidden fees here but if you fail to let the company know the true condition of the phone in the initial online process you could receive a reduced amount.
Verdict: You can sell your old mobile hassle free and don’t have to wait for an auction to end. You can also be fairly sure of what you will get for it.
Preloved
Preloved began in 1998 and is another great alternative to eBay for all your second-hand needs. There are no fees, just free classified ads helping people turn clutter into cash.
Listing cost: Listings are absolutely free if you are an individual seller, but some costs may apply if you are a business.
What you pay: It is free to use this service but if you are a business you need to sign up for either Business Membership (costing £24 per month, which allows advertisers to have up to 15 adverts live on the site at any one time) or the Business Unlimited Membership (costs £60 per month and allows an unlimited number of adverts for second-hand items).
Postage: You don’t have to charge postage as people will pick the goods up if they are close by.
Photos: Images are free to add to your listing.
Payment system: People can use the ads to drive buyers to their own website or just like other ad websites you can get cash in hand, which is free of fees and means you get paid as soon as you hand over the goods.
Verdict: This website is definitely more aesthetically pleasing than rivals Gumtree and Craigslist. Adverts appear in over 500 categories and the website has seven million visits every month. However there are only about 6,000 adverts listed on the site so perhaps Preloved has some way to go to challenge the likes of eBay.
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