I am stressed out. I am way stressed out: swamped at work, full social calendar, and having a potluck dinner at my apartment for my birthday on Saturday (which necessitates a lot of chores). However, I'm also inspired by Krystal's recent efforts on eBay, and I have these four pairs of shoes I bought from Zappos.com more than a year ago and never returned (returning things is one of my great financial weaknesses; I'm working on it. I really have improved, I swear!). I'd love to a) get rid of them, and b) get money for them.
However, I'm not overly keen on putting in the eBay time, and, more problematically, I don't have a working digital camera (I lost the dock to my Nikon Coolpix in my not-really-at-all-recent move, and haven't yet replaced it). I'm sort of considering just dropping the things off at I Sold It, which sells your stuff on eBay, takes a nearly-50% commission, and send you a check. I find the "does it for you, sends you a check" part appealing; the nearly-50% commission, not so much. But I worry that if I wait until I have the time and equipment to do it myself, I'll never do it.
There's an I Sold It location tantalizingly close to my office. It would be so convenient to just drop these damn shoes off, never see them again, and get a check for $40 or whatever.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
I Sold It: Worth It?
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14 comments:
I think it's worth it if you're not into doing the eBay thing yourself. If you're not going to wear them, then it's better to get some money for them, than keeping the shoes and not getting any money at all.
That being said, it would sure suck to have to give away 50% of your profit to someone else.
I've never sold anything through I Sold It, but I have bought from them several times. They charge a lot for shipping fees, and I'm afraid that can discourage a lot of bidders. If I remember correctly, the auctions I won only had very few bids, if not just mine alone.
Would it be too much trouble to try and sale them from your blog? If the shoes are still listed on Zappos then you can just create a link to them on you site and go from there. Even though your sending readers to the actual site, it works out in your favor because the shoes would be cheaper if someone bought them from you.
If you really don't want them around and you won't sell them, then anything is worth it.
Otherwise, do you have a friend with a digital camera? That alone could probably save you a great deal. Or is there someone at work who might lend you theirs? I have friends do my photographing or lend me their cameras...
You can always try selling them on craigslist as well--that takes almost no effort. And like the anonymous poster said, I'm sure you could find pics of the shoes online. Copy-Paste-Done!
Some of the books I sell on Amazon come with closer to a 100% commission (the only profit I make is on the dollar or two between the shipping credit and the actual postage, which I'm probably spending on tape and envelopes and time, anyway). By that standard, 50% is not bad at all. ;)
I think if you wouldn't sell it on your own, then it might be worth it to drop it off. 50% of what it will sell for is better than getting nothing and having it sit in your apartment taking up space. But if you can even take a picture through your camera phone if you have one... I just hate to give my money away to other people for performing minimal services.
I echo everyone else...50% is better than nothing! And I agree with Kim too. Craigslist is super easy.
Back in grad school, I sold vintage clothes on Ebay as a supplemental income, reasonably successfully. Then I realized that I was working far too hard for the money I was making, and sold the whole shebang to a friend who was starting his own vintage online store -- thank heavens I got more than I'd paid for the stuff!
The problem is that Ebay is now pretty expensive, and it's hard to get a decent price unless you're a powerseller or prepared to put a lot of money into marketing. Splitting with a re-seller would make the take even less.
Why don't you just take them to a good consignment shop? Take the packaging and the original reciepts, if you have them, so they know what you paid; new things in decent sizes do well on consingment, and you'll get about a third of your original price.
Another easy option you might want to consider is donating them to good will, get a receipt for your donation (and if they are new-in-the-box-with-receipt, you can basically fairly claim something pretty close to what you paid for them), and take the tax deduction.
It might be as good as what you'd get from the I Sold It folks, and you get to do something charitable in the process. Just a thought.
Bronx Chica-I think it is better to donate your shoes if you don't want to sell them. Or just finally wear them. It's either you want money, donate, or wear them!
1) Negotiate for a lower commission and see if they will accept your offer.
2) See if you can borrow someone else's camera.
3) See if a friend is willing to list the items on eBay for you and pay them a smaller commission.
i understand why you might not want to do ebay directly. i often wind up giving things away because it's less trouble than trying to sell them.
i think that losing 50% of your profit is bad. perhaps you should try to do it yourself - no rush, no pressure. OR give the things away to someone who may need them and get a tax deduction. OR just give the things away.
I think you should borrow a friend's camera...hey, someone will probably bring one to your BBQ. Take a few pictures...call it a day...list them when you have a little time. While I agree that 50% is better than nothing, why not get everything you can from them?
Given the amount English Major makes in a year, I don't think tax deductions are going to be helpful for her - better off with the borrow the camera or Zappo's pic and put on craigslist.
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