How to sell unused goods when moving a house in India

As I have conveyed through my previous posts that the best way to reduce your burden before leaving your current place is to donate or sell unused goods when you are moving to a new house, especially in India. You can save yourself from the hassles of packing and moving them and also save on the bills of movers and packers for shifting services. I would rather sell unused goods and household items and make some money to pay the bills, than taking all the pain in packing and transporting them to my new house. Especially when I know I don’t need those items in near future.

How to sell unused goods when moving a house in India

Selling of old and unused items has become really easy after all the leading free classified ad posting websites are providing their unmatched service. They have even introduced features in their apps and software’s that enable you to determine the exact market price of those items based on various comparison data at their disposal, and they used that data to obtain those estimates. But few problems are still pertaining; like most of the contacts that you get through them might be from distant places, and cost of moving your items might be too high for them to afford your old goods.

You could also donate your unwanted goods to charities that will accept them happily, and even get valuable tax deductions in the process while helping a good cause. But if you want to earn some money back from the goods which have got some resale value, then that’s what I am going to focus on here:

All these will require a little haggling skill, you must have heard about the best seller novel, “Tom Swayer” by Mark Twain. He was a very shrewd character and in one of his adventures he made his friends to paint the wall of his home, for which he have taken a lot of favors from them. In short he not only made them work for free but also took goodies from them in return (you can relate to it if you have read it before). The reason why I am sharing this example is that to make you aware that you need to know the value of the goods you are selling and got to create the demand of those stuffs in a way such that they get convinced that the old sofa they are purchasing will be worth their investment.

The idea is to consider that the junk you declare to be useless, having no value at all can be of much worth to someone who is looking for it. Here’s how you will figure it out:

Determine the cost of replacing your old stuff with a new one

First of all you should find out how much it would cost you to replace the particular item you want to get rid of. You should also pay attention to the availability of the item i.e. whether it is easy to obtain item again or not. If you can’t find the same item, look for reasonable, similar replacements and note how much they cost.

You can also compare their value in sale sites

You should compare their values before auctioning them or selling them so that you can have a clear idea about its after sale value. You can do it by searching for similar products in various sales sites make a note of how much they’re asking for and then you can easily set a price of those items.  Also keep an eye on how many people are selling the item and also the condition of the items which are sold.

Setting a range for the items “right” selling price

First of all try to determine the difference of price between the old and new item. Observe whether the item is widely available new, but not available as used, you may be able to sell your item easily as long as you price it well.

If you analyze that the item is rare to find new, but widely available as used, (vintage items that are antiques now, usually a super old radio, tea pot, some decorative item etc). You be on a fix while selling them, unless you’re willing to compromise the selling price for everyone or if the condition of your item is better than most.

The same is true if an item is easy to find both new and used. However, if your item is difficult to find both new and used but sale prices are high, you must be having something extremely rare, then you can set its price accordingly. Hence assess the condition of the item you want to sell, compared to the sale listings you’ve seen, and set your price.

Don’t go for barter system

People might offer other items in return to a particular item. Avoid that, remember your original motive was to get rid of old stuffs not get some old ones in return. I remember during my childhood people use to exchange old worn out clothes with utensils. That way my mom use to end up with lots of unwanted utensils, that was not a bad deal if you have genuine requirement of those utensils, otherwise you can donate your clothes to poor people.

Online or local selling

If you’re selling your wares online, then you have to account for shipping and insurance for the items to whom you are selling. If you got some local to buy your stuff, then people may expect discounts because they’re picking something up or taking it right off your hands. And in case of any trouble regarding the items they can back track you easily.

Garage or yard sale

If you are planning to sell them at a garage or yard sale, you might get better deals selling them there. Here you can also grab attention of many people who are passing by and might be interested to buy your stuff. Just follow the basics while appraising the things you want to clear out of your home.

Conclusion

Remember that the cost of packing and moving somehow depends on the volume of goods you want to move. There is no point in moving items which is no more in use and if you could sell them off to cut the cost of home shifting services and pay the bills of movers. You can follow these tips for selling anything while moving your house from one city to other city, anywhere in India. Assuming you want to get the most possible money back for it as well as get rid of unwanted wares which will unnecessarily increase your headache while moving and shifting your house to another place.

As we are talking of cost cutting measures, comparing movers before booking is also something that you should not ignore. When you compare rates and have options, you can hope for a better deal.

Scroll to Top