I know that I have threatened to sell things in the past. By all accounts, I should have gotten off the stick and got to work. But, in the process of moving, I came to the realization that there are things that I really don’t need to move, like this stack of canning jars. I don’t need to move them because I don’t really need them. With just two of us in the house, six dozen quart jars is plain overkill.
My wife has also been on me sell my lumber pile. That too I do not want to move, but I also don’t want to get rid of all of it either. Woodworking lumber can be very expensive and I literally have thousands of dollars worth of it that I am selling at 10% of its value. Nevertheless, I set about on my first, recent experience with selling items on-line.
You could probably label me as an old fogey. When I think online classifieds, I think Craigslist. But, all I hear is that Craigslist is dead. I don’t know, not only do I really not sell things, I don’t really buy things either. I set about putting an add in Craigslist, Nextdoor and gasp Facebook. I broke my personal ethos and made my first ever Facebook post (on Marketplace).
I am no rube, I know how to sell things. Marketing, pricing and potentially negotiation are all involved. I took a spin around the market to see what jars are going for. I also looked at new jars and I knew that I wanted to sell all of them as a lot. A dozen jars go for $15 at the store, I thought that I would sell the entire six for $40. That was a even amount that I wouldn’t have to make change for. Don’t even get me started about electronic money.
I could not believe the response that I got. The very first night, someone emailed me, so I assume that must have been a Craigslist hit. We arranged that she would come tomorrow and pick up the jars. Well, I waited and then I waited, no show. Her email actually had her phone number in it but I just stewed.
While I was waiting, I checked Facebook Messenger, I had eight other buyers. I was certain that I was going to complete the transaction that night so I responded to all the potentials that there was a sale in progress. When that person did not show up, I went back to all of those messages in chronological order. The first person only wanted the wide mouth jars, the second person wanted to offer $36, the third person offered $30. I said no to all of those people. The forth person responded immediately when I said I was in talks, they also asked if I had anything else. This was the one.
Not only was I a little overwhelmed by the number of offers and the amount of communication that was required but I was working around two different house showings that weekend. Then I got several offers off of Nextdoor. Now, I had to include that platform in the communication loop. This process spanned from Thursday into mid-Sunday afternoon. I won’t lie, I questioned whether this was actually worth the money. Throwing the jars away would be so much easier and then this would be over.
In the end, the jars went to the right person I feel like. They wanted them, they didn’t hassle me on price, in fact they said this was a good deal and so they recognized the value. They communicated and I am sure that they were going to use them. I think that is why it was worth my effort. It would have been easier and possibly cheaper to throw them away but that would also be wasteful.
I am going to have to go back and revamp my wood listing. I need to get all of the stuff cleared off the pile and take a few more pictures. Because I was under pressure from my wife to get it listed, I did the minimal amount of prep. In all of the house selling and jar selling chaos, I missed out on some timely communication with potential buyers. The wood is also priced to sell but it will be more than pocket money.
I also didn’t realize how much woodworking wood was out there for sale. When I did my initial research, I was seeing prices of $10 a board foot for Douglas Fir from lumber suppliers. But, I see it on Facebook Marketplace at $1 per board food. I priced mine at half of that but I may need to re-evaluate things now that I have a better feel for the market. I am still not giving it away, if I do it will be to my neighbor who will burn it. They have done a lot for me over the years and I don’t feel bad about that.
End Your Programming Routine: I have learned that I don’t get a lot of charge out of selling things online. It is why I have things I would like to get rid of but have not done it. The chairs I talked about a couple of years ago, shotgun barrels, things that all have value. I probably need to focus on one thing at a time and possibly one platform if I am going to be successful at this. I am happy that I am not bombarded with messages at the moment.
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