How We Made Facebook Marketplace Our Bitch

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It should come as no surprise that we love selling, and even occasionally buying, stuff. When we sell stuff through Facebook Marketplace, we get a small thrill. It’s essentially killing three birds with one stone. We are getting rid of something, making money, and giving an item a new home where hopefully it can fulfill its purpose. The same could be said when we buy stuff through Marketplace, except we are the ones on the other side giving new life to a forgotten item.

Selling Shit

Time for the good stuff. You may not know this, as we’ve been very secretive about it, but James and I are moving to Cyprus in less than 2 weeks, and we’re not shipping anything over. So that means we have had to sell, donate, or re-gift the vast majority of our household items. It started with selling our Fiesta dinnerware at $15 a set. We only got 3 sets sold before my mother said she might like to have them, which worked out in our favor…you’ll find out why we stole them back in the future. Selling those first few items segued into finding other stuff we could still sell through Marketplace and make more money, which wasn’t hard.

What Did you Sell?

Before our yard sale, we had sold a myriad of items. While we sold these things for more money, it was taking us longer to get them sold. Getting rid of them item by item. Piece by piece. A few noteworthy items are:

• Couch and Chair – $150. This is the same couch that James picked up off the side of the road two years ago in St. Louis.
• Discontinued Hair Conditioner – $80. No explanation for this at all. People must really love that brand.
• Ring Camera – $140. I won this as a door prize at an event. We didn’t have any use for it, so we sold it on eBay.
• My Bicycle – $125. James picked it up nearly three years ago on Craigslist for $75.

The yard sale itself wasn’t a success until after some yard sale aficionado came by and suggested that we advertise it on Marketplace. According to her, when you list key, hot ticket items on your yard sale listing, people will flock to your house and snatch that shit up. But, you don’t want to post too many of the items. You need to create allure and appeal.

Makes sense. Thank you yard-sale Fairy Godmother.

So, we posted that shit on Facebook and Craigslist with some of our intriguing and unique items. I won’t bore you with each and every item we have sold through the yard sale and Facebook Marketplace, but I will tell you that we have made over $1600 selling stuff. Admittedly, we starting cutting some ridiculous deals toward the end of the yard sale. We didn’t want to have to bring the shit back inside and list it online or pile it in the car to bring it to the already overflowing thrift stores. It was better to get rid of it then and have less time invested in the process.

Total earned: $1,633

Moral of the Story

I wish I had taken advantage of Facebook Marketplace a lot earlier. It really is the next best thing since sliced bread. It’s essentially better than Craigslist. In addition to how easy it is to list items, you can also look at each other’s profile to make everyone feel more comfortable selling to one another. The drawback is that because there are so many people on there, it’s easy to get inundated with message after message from people that may have no intention of following up to buy an item.

Having said this, it is an incredible way to not only get rid of clutter but also make a little cash, hence the drug money we earned from selling stuff. I understand that at one point in time, the stuff that was sold was bought new. That would normally make those items and purchases sunk costs, but selling them off helps bridge that gap. Having less items, while making a little more money makes the process worthwhile, to us.

Additionally, according to The Earth Awaits, that $1,600 will cover nearly two months of our living expenses in Cyprus. Who knew that selling a shoe rack, some old clothes, decorations, and other unused clutter would fund a life on the beach in an exotic location?

If you want some tips on how to make your Facebook Marketplace listing top notch, check out our article about selling on Craigslist. Don’t forget to keep us updated on any successful, or unsuccessful, stories when it comes to buying and selling on Facebook Marketplace!