Hello! Sorry for having gone quiet for a few months. I haven’t abandoned my goal of mastering my personal finances – on the contrary, I’ve been busy studying, researching, and even starting to attend some free workshops. Over the coming weeks and months, you can expect some book reviews, as well as a much closer look at tax and investment advice for American expats (I’ve found someone who specializes in us, and has agreed to give me some free advice!)
For now, I wanted to share some reflections on my September project: selling things I own online. I’ve been reading a lot about “side hustles” – the ways people earn money outside of their day jobs – to understand more about them. Mainly, I’d love to find a way to do writing or communications consulting on the side, and start to build up my own business – but as I delved into the subject, I realized I had another way of generating income: selling things that are cluttering up my house that I no longer need.
I had avoided selling things online for AGES because I HATE eBay – I don’t like the bidding concept, and I don’t like how you have to pay for your posting, regardless of whether your item sells or not. But, in my pre-austerity days, I was a champion shopper and have acquired a lot of ‘stuff’ over the years, and I thought to myself – might as well see if I can make some money off of it.
I spent a lot of time researching different platforms to sell my belongings on, and I’ve included a list of the platforms I’m using, as well as the others I’ve researched, at the end of this post in case it’s helpful. These sites all have great tips on how to sell on their platforms, so if you’re serious about doing this, I’d read their tips. Instead, I wanted to share some broader reflections about my experience.
First, let’s just be real – this definitely isn’t going to be a ‘replacement’ income for me. In the past month, I’ve made a grand total of £120, split equally between sales of shoes, dresses, and books. Looks like I might get another £20 on Monday from an old raincoat that no longer fits me. I’m definitely keeping my day job.
Instead, the biggest, and most unexpected, benefit, has been the constant metaphorical slap in the face as I confront my old spending habits. For dresses that I spent upwards of £100 on at high street and boutique stores, I’d be lucky to get £20. I’m going to list a whole range of shirts I’ve bought over the past five years at £5 each. All those books that I bought for £10-15 and read once, never to be read again? They’re worth no more than £1 each. I’m currently either selling or have sold 9 pairs of shoes, 16 dresses, 4 pairs of jeans, 3 tops, and 30 books, which I estimated I paid approximately £3,300 for, and for which the most I can hope to earn by re-selling online is £550. That is a terrible return on investment.
Thanks to this exercise, I have totally kicked my shopping addiction. Before, sure, I had to adjust to living with a budget here in London, which meant I couldn’t buy as much as I used to. But still, I would walk by Mulberry every morning on my way to work, and think “if you’re good this year, Kate, you can treat yourself to a new wallet at the end of the year.” Not anymore. I’m done spending money on things that won’t generate ongoing income for me. I’ll wear my clothes until they wear out, and I’ve got a library card.
What am I doing with the money I’m earning? It’s not going back into my general spending account. Instead, I’m putting it into a separate account that I’ve opened to save up for bigger purchases. Right now, I’m working towards saving £600 for a new mattress. Previously, I would have put it on my credit card (along with other bigger purchases, like that £250 L.K. Bennett dress and the £300 in hotel costs for a weekend away), and paid it off eventually. But now, I’m militantly rigorous about not using my cards, and instead only paying when I have the cash available – and that is cash available after I have paid into my retirement account, my emergency fund, and – soon – my investment account. There’s something full-circle about money from my old purchases being recycled to fund new ones.
For those of you who are not current or former shopaholics, you’re lucky. But I hope this post inspires people who have been wanting to save more, but struggling to say no as they see that gorgeous pair of high heels on sale. Will they really bring you happiness?
The online platforms I’m using
For clothes
Vinted is the one I’m having some success with. It’s a place to sell high street clothes (i.e. from common brands), and most of the users seem to be between 20-35. You don’t pay any fees for listing and selling; you only pay if you want to ‘promote’ your items. Promoting does help sell faster – I tend to use a small portion of my sales to bump up other items that I think are ready to pop. You can pay out directly into your bank account.
These are the other ones I came across in my research – they didn’t seem right to me, but maybe they are for you!
- The RealReal: An online consignment shop for designer clothes; you get 55% of the selling price
- Vestiaire Collective: For luxury designer goods; they take a 35% commission
- Edit Secondhand: Also seems to be for luxury designer goods
- Depop: Only for unique, Instagram-ready clothes (according to a review I read)
- Hardly Ever Worn It: Takes a 15% commission. I haven’t used this one yet because it looked intimidating, but I might actually give it a try for some of my L.K. Bennett and Karen Millen pieces – looks like a slightly more high end site than Vinted.
- Rebelle: This one also looks a bit more high-end than Vinted, so I didn’t think it was applicable for most of my clothes; however, I think I’ll go back here and list my Christian Louboutin pumps and my L.K. Bennett boots. They have a concierge service whereby you can send in your clothes and shoes for free, and they will photograph them, write a professional description, handle all details of the sale, and then transfer your earnings. They seem to take a pretty hefty commission of around 30-40%, but I think I could get more total earnings from their site for my high-end stuff vs. selling it on Vinted.
Books, DVDs, and CDs
Zapper: This is addictive. Download the app, and you can start scanning the barcodes of all your books, DVDs, and CDs that you have stacked up on your shelves or in boxes – you’ll immediately see how much they are worth. The value definitely comes from clearing out in bulk – most books only get around £0.50 – £1 (I earned £45 for 30 books), although those non-fiction books you get at corporate training events bring in a hefty £4/book. However, I got a ton of satisfaction from clearing out three boxes of books that I will never read again, and have been carrying from flat to flat, and across oceans. I just wish I had known about it before I gave away all my old CDs for free, just to clear out space.
Other used goods
I’ve only just started listing other goods online (starting with dish sets and curtain fabric). So far, I’ve listed on Gumtree, Shpock, and Preloved, and have gotten the most interest from Shpock.
Gumtree is great if you have stuff you just want to get rid of (for me, a standing lamp left over from previous tenants, an old vacuum that no longer worked, a big outdoor planter that had come with me from Dubai) – if you list something in the ‘free’ section, someone will come within hours to get rid of it, saving you from having to find another way to dispose of your rubbish.
Austerity Kate 