There's a time to buy things, and there's a time to sell things. The thing has outlived its usefulness, or it's the wrong color now, or it's no longer played with by your kids.
The thing is taking up space, or taking up your mental energy, or costing you some monthly maintenance fee — or maybe all three. It's time for you and it to part ways.
But you aren't to the point that you want to just give it away. Unlike a grand piano that no one wants to buy, you're looking to get something for your thing. (A friend of mine used to say that if he could rent properties for a living, he'd sell his alarm clock. No reason to throw it away when someone might pay 50 cents for it!)
What price should you offer?
There is some wisdom in saying “make offer” because usually the first person who speaks in a negotiation loses. (The prospective buyer might give you more than you expect.)
Since some selling venues demand that you set a price, this might not always be an option. So, what price do you offer if you want to get rid of something?
You price it to sell. You do some research to determine fair value for what you're selling (like on eBay for example) and then go a bit lower. You're then offering a bargain to people, and they should be interested.
If you need to sell your house, go $5,000 less than the current comps. People will take notice. If you want to rent your house, go a bit lower than rents for a comparable house in a similar neighborhood. If you want to get rid of something that you can sell on eBay, start it at $0.01 with no reserve. It will sell in seven days if anyone bids on it.
Offer real deals to people, and they'll take you up on them.
Just watch out that you don't turn off legitimate buyers by insulting their intelligence. I saw a recent Flippa auction for a personal finance blog that had a Buy It Now price of $150,000. By itself this isn't overpriced, but this amounted to over ten years' worth of earnings, which is insane for an otherwise nondescript blog. Yet the seller stated that she wanted to sell. The $150,000 was just “the price you would have to pay … to avoid the auction process.” Flippa is the biggest market for websites and domains on the web. The buyers aren't stupid, and they're certainly not sugar daddies, which is what this seller was fishing for. This auction went unsold because the bids didn't reach the reserve price. Like the Buy It Now price, the reserve price was too high as well.
It's better to not get into a place where you have to sell, because then the buyer has the upper hand. But if you do, make it easy for them to say “yes” by pricing your item to move.
I needed this today! I’m 13 days away from a MASSIVE yard sale, and as I was going through our stuff, I was definitely not pricing things to sell. I’d rather get rid of it – even if it’s not for top dollar – than be stuck with it!
Good luck with the sale! Cleaning things out is satisfying if you can get over the hurdle of letting go. 🙂
I love Flippa, its great place for selling websites, but like you say, you need to set a realistic reserve. Websites can be wiped out overnight if Google, Bing etc decide to change the algorithm, so valuing a website over a ten year period is completely ridicules.
I just sold a China Cabinet on craig’s list. I think it took 2 or 3 days. Teh buyer and i were both very happy with the transaction. You do have to do your research so that you don’t over or under price yourself.