We've all done it: cleaning out a closet, you come across that item you've forgotten you had. Obviously, you can live without it, since you didn't remember it was tucked away. You probably need the space more than you need the item... but what to do with it? Give it away? Donate it? Or...try and sell it on eBay?

Most people I talk to about eBay say pretty much the same thing: "You can find anything on eBay!". (Just today, as a matter of fact, I found someone selling sand. Regular beach sand - that's his whole business! Amazing, isn't it?)  But, just because you can find it, does that mean you should sell it?

I have a consignment business, selling for those who don't want to do it themselves (too busy, don't know how, etc), and I often get people who hem and haw over selling a particular item. My advice to them is this: "You can always decide to sell it later, but you can't decide to keep it once it's been sold."  If you're not ready to part with an item, don't.

You'll want to consider a few things when deciding whether or not to sell:

Will the item get the amount of money you are expecting? 

Often times, I'll see clients who think their item is worth $X. When we check to see what it's selling for, we'll discover that it's less than they were expecting. If the price the item is selling for is not reasonably close to what you want for the item, don't sell.  You can absolutely try and list it for the price you'd like for it, but if others are selling for $10+ less than what you're asking, chances are that it won't sell. Why waste your time and money?

How come some people sell their items at these prices, you ask?  It's probably a combination of answers, and more than I have here:

• Sellers who offer some items cheap to get interest in the rest of their items (an advertising expense, if you will)
• Sellers who aren't paying attention to how much the auction is costing them, and thus don't realize it
• Some sellers who are just starting out will often "practice" on cheaper items, to get the hang of the auction process (they don't want to make any big mistakes on expensive items; better to make any mistakes on a cheaper item)
• Some sellers who are starting out will sometimes sell less expensive items to gain feedback. This way, when they move to the more expensive items, potential buyers will be more confident purchasing from them.

How much is it selling for? 

This kind of sounds like the question above, doesn't it?  It's different, I promise! 

Let's say you stumbled across what you thought was a really rare Red & Yellow Polka Dot Widget.  A search on eBay shows that this item is selling for about $2.  Is it worth it to you to sell it? 

• Listing the item will cost $0.30, if you start it at $0.99 or less. Final value fees will cost you about $0.11. If you receive a PayPal payment, you'll have another $0.34 in fees. So far, we're up to $0.75 you're paying to sell a $2 item.
• You then have to consider the amount of time you spent creating the listing, answering any questions, and packaging and shipping the Widget (probably around an hour overall).

Is that one hour of your time worth $1.25? Is there something else you'd rather be doing for an hour that you'd get more value out of?

How much work will have to go into shipping it?

Not too long ago, we sold an upright freezer (it worked, we just didn't need it) that we haven't used in over a year.  It went for about $50, if I remember right.  This particular auction was sold as local pick-up only, as we didn't want to have to get into preparing it for freight shipping, or delivering it anywhere. Selling this way really cut back on the number of people who might have purchased it, but it definitely save us a lot of work.

Back to the Really Rare Widget: is this Widget something that can be slipped into a padded envelope to mail, or will you have to make other arrangements? Does it need any special packing material, or large boxes? Consider what you'll need to do in order to ship it before it sells; this can save a lot of headache later!

• Example: I sold a used French Horn for someone.  At that time, I was very excited that people were bringing me things to sell for them, and didn't stop to think about how it would ship.  I ended having to ship it in a very oversized box, and use almost $20 of packing material to properly secure it.  I lost something like $30 in shipping on that item, because I didn't take into account all that would go into shipping it.

Is it something you could donate and get a tax write-off for?

Certain items that are donated (to churches, non-profits, etc) can often be claimed on your taxes.  Anything that is donated, you should get a receipt for, in case the IRS comes knocking.  You'll want to check with an accountant to see how exactly this works (I don't want to lead anyone wrong here!), but if the item is large in value or if you have a lot of a particular group of items, this may end up getting you a better break than selling it would.

I'm sure there's a few other things that should be considered beforehand, and as I think of them, I'll be sure to update this list! If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Also, if you have found this guide to be helpful at all, please vote!  I know the voting doesn't count for much beyond the icon after my ID, but I do love seeing it there! Thanks!  :-)