I'm leaving for India in exactly one week and I'm determined not to leave any major possessions behind that would be a burden on anyone.
The last major possession was my truck. I expected it would take at least a few days to sell. After all, it's not like there's anything special about my 11 year-old gas guzzling pickup truck with 215,000 miles on it, right? Everyone I talked to about selling it said I might get $1,000.
Within 30 minutes of listing the truck on CraigsList, I had half-a-dozen emails from people who said they had cash and wanted it right now... for $1,200! When I exchanged the title 6 hours later for $1,400 in cash, I had almost fifty emails in my inbox from people who wanted to buy it.
I've sold several other things in a similar fashion. Several boxes of bathroom tiles that were left over from when I owned rental properties a few years ago sold for $50 in 3 hours.
A wooden office table that I tried to give away to friends remained in my storage unit for over a year before I almost tossed it into the dumpster. It sold for $60 in 2 hours.
How did I do it? What was my secret? It's simple:
Price it low.
There comes a point where the price of the thing you're selling is so low that people just know it's a no-brainer. They don't even bother finagling the price or trying to get a deal because they know they're already getting a deal. The value of the item is greater to them than the value of the cash they're exchanging it for.
Could I have gotten more for the items I sold? Absolutely. Would doing so have taken more time and energy? Definitely. I sold the items for less in return for peace of mind and a quick sale, both of which are more important to me right now than a few extra dollars.
If you're serious about selling something, don't check the prices online to see what it's valued at or compare it with other used prices. Figure out what your price is and go from there.
Ask yourself, what is the smallest amount of money you would be comfortable accepting right now in exchange for the item?
List your item for that amount and see what happens. You'd be surprised how quickly you can sell things.
Possessions don't bring happiness. In fact, the less we have, the more we appreciate the things we own. Most of our possessions have some monetary value. Even if that value is less than what we originally paid for it, our happiness and peace of mind are worth far more.
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