What you can do with two turtle doves
Online markets help find new owners for unwanted gifts
The Daily Telegraph, Today Online 28 Dec 07;
The needles are falling off the pine tree, you have polished off the last few scraps of turkey and there is nothing but wall-to-wall ads for the holiday season and cut-price sofas on television. Proof, if it were needed, that Christmas is well and truly over.
Inevitably, for every snazzy game console and CD you have received, there are countless books, socks and bathroom potpourris that you do not need. But thanks to the Internet, you can sell your unwanted Christmas gifts online without too much difficulty — and, if you are lucky, you might even turn a profit.
One of the foremost online marketplaces is eBay, but there are alternatives to this auction behemoth and these can sometimes prove more fruitful if you are selling rare or niche items.
Try QXL, Tazbar or eBid. Most have user forums and you can often list your item for sale on them, so that you are targeting a niche audience, and it should guarantee you a good price for your item. Amazon has also entered the online auction arena, at Amazon.co.uk/auctions and through the Amazon Marketplace.
If the thought of selling your unwanted gifts for profit seems a step too far, you can take the ethical route and exchange them or give them away through Freecycle or donate them to the charity shop.
There are even sites that will let you swap your unwanted gifts for things you want. Hitflip, for example, allows you to build a virtual library of all the DVDs, games, CDs and books you are prepared to swap, and charges about 79 pence ($2.30) per item.
eBay remains the marketplace of choice for most people and it is not hard to see why. It has more than 200 million members around the world and if you cannot find someone who wants to buy your toast rack in the shape of Thomas the Tank Engine on this site, you probably never will.
The secret of successful selling on eBay is to create a listing for your item that will attract potential buyers. This means using the right keywords and the appropriate categories to give your unwanted goods the best chance of being found.
Think carefully about what category to put your item into — this is easy for most things, such as books and CDs, but that toast rack is a bit trickier.
Search the site for similar items to see how they have been labelled. On most sites, you can list your item in multiple categories but this often bumps up the cost of listing the goods.
It is probably worth doing if you are trying to sell something obscure but not for everyday goods.
The item description is perhaps the most important aspect of selling online, so write it as though you will not be accompanying the item with a picture, says eBay expert Dan Wilson.
According to Mr Wilson, old hands at selling on eBay swear timing is a key to success, making sure that their auctions end on Thursday and Sunday evenings, when eBay is at its busiest.
When it comes to setting a price for your item, be realistic. Look around the site to see what the going rate is for similar items.
If you are auctioning unwanted Christmas gifts and the site allows you to set the starting bid price, kick things off at the lowest fee you are willing to take for that item. Ensure you have taken into account postage and administrative fees.
Of course, all your hard work will be wasted if you end up being conned by your buyer. Never accept payments in foreign cheques or other currencies, or methods you have not used before yourself.
PayPal is an excellent way to do business, as your buyer can send you payment instantly via this website without having to disclose their credit card details to you personally, and you can be certain that the money has been received before dispatching the goods.
PayPal charges a small fee for this service, but you cannot put a price on the ease of use and peace of mind it gives you.
So, gather all those novelty jumpers, bad compilation CDs and duplicate computer games and donate them to charity or put them up for sale online. You will start the new year with a clean slate and some change in your pocket.
