selling on e-bay vs. having a garage/yard sale

United States
September 13, 2007 5:27pm CST
For months I went back & forth on this subject. I'd had garage/yard sales before that were successful and my sister had an outdoor thrift shop (like a never ending garage sale) for a period of time near a friend's house which she did pretty good at. Finally, I decided on having a yard sale. At the last minute, I backed out of it and my kids wanted to kill me cause they wanted to have one. My things sat in my office/guest room for a while until I decided to try E-Bay. My first try was lame, no hits at all, so I re-listed. I couldn't imagine how some people make a living on E-Bay and are successful at it. Here are some pros & con I came up with for both sides. PROS & CONS OF E-BAY Pros: No setting up tents & merchandise. No worrying about the weather conditions. No sitting around watching your stuff. No customers in front of you. Cons: Having to mail items out. Setting up your item to be sold (pricing, photos, layout, description, etc.). Fees you have to pay. PROS & CONS OF A GARAGE/YARD SALE Pros: Not having to mail items out. Customers can see exactly what they are buying. Advertising is low cost. The money goes straight to you. Cons: Setting up & breaking down. The weather. Sitting around to watch your stuff. Having enough change on hand. Deciding what to do with what's left over. I guess everything in life has pros & cons. Whichever route you decide to take to sell the kids' clothes or those car parts your other half is going to use someday or the pink frilly dress that you were forced to wear for your cousin's wedding, I wish you many sales and not too many headaches along the way. Just remember that, "One man's trash is another man's treasure".
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