I am just having my first experience with online selling.  I have been hearing for years that people are able to get rid of all kinds of household stuff  around the house and actually get paid for it.  Mostly, I thought it sounded like too much work and when I cleaned out, I would usually just put a big FREE sign at the end of the driveway or take the bags to Listen.  I figured at least I wasn’t sending my extra junk to the landfill.  But  of course, I was also giving perfectly good stuff away—stuff that I paid perfectly good money for—for free.

I decided to start with Craigslist. Craigslist allows pictures, and after all, pictures are worth a thousand words.

I started small: a little round coffee table I picked up at a yard sale thinking I would refinish.  It didn’t really fit the space I had, and I never got around to refinishing it.  I set up an account, and with a few clicks it was done “round table, wood unknown, condition good, $50”  I asked $50 because I had no idea.  I knew I had paid around $15. Twenty minutes later I had a buyer.  He offered $35 which I was delighted to accept.  I met him with the table at the library.  That was fun.  I was hooked.

Next went the seed/plant growing table.  It was a hot item.  I got almost what I paid ten years ago.

“Plastic toys, boxes of leftover tile, old Christmas decorations, craft supplies… Sold!”  Some of it for a few dollars, some for probably less than I should have asked.  Not everything sold in 20 minutes.  Some of it didn’t sell at all and I do have to be fanatical about keeping up with the postings, but it is fun.  For once instead of being a thrift store customer, I am the thrift store.  

I am not much of a haggler. I am just decluttering, so anything I make is a bonus and is freeing up some much needed room in my closets.  I see how people can get addicted.

However yesterday, as I was passing off my wool cape coat to its new owner, for $15, I had to pause for a minute.  I bought that coat for over $200 three years ago.  It is a lovely soft gray, boucle wool cape with sleeves.  So warm it could probably perform double duty as a sleeping bag in Alaska.  That really was the problem: I am not in Alaska, and the only time I am outdoors is to ski or snowshoe not wear fancy coats.  I should not be excited to be selling it for $15. I should have never bought it in the first place.

Lesson learned— if I didn’t buy all this stuff, I wouldn’t be selling it. Instead of turning Craigslist into my new occupation I could be vacationing somewhere warm with all the money I never spent.