How can I make more money? How can I have a side hustle that’s easy and not stressful? Those are the questions I have constantly asked myself until I came across the world of selling online.
For quite some time I had heard that many people would sell things online and make a good profit. I remember searching how to sell online and how to start because I didn’t even know where to begin! Let me tell you, the first time I looked into it I did not understand. It wasn’t until I met someone who knew about this topic that I got a better understanding. They helped motivate me to give it a try.
I started off by creating an eBay account. EBay is great for when you want to sell collectibles and vintage or rare items. However, this required me to do some thrift shopping. The goal was to find these items at any thrift shop like Goodwill and Out of the Closet, and sell those items at a higher price. Here’s the catch: you have to have a good eye and spot out those valuable items. This was an automatic fail for me because I don’t have the patience or the eye to catch these items; I didn’t even know what I was meant to find.
I quit eBay after I tried to sell a BannerDay shirt (thinking it was valuable) and it didn’t work. For months it was on my account and nothing happened. I got unmotivated and uninstalled the app to free up space on my phone. But, sometime during the pandemic, someone ended up buying a textbook that I had been trying to sell. I was beyond happy and quickly prepared my textbook to be shipped. Once again I was motivated to sell and went back to try and go to the thrift shop. It was another fail when I came back empty-handed and this time, I left it for good.
However, that’s not where this story stops! I decided to try Poshmark next. This was easy to set up, but it was hard to sell because it seemed that you needed to have several followers and be well known. It was difficult and, even though I followed many people in hopes that they’d follow me back, it didn’t work. So, I moved on to OfferUp.
OfferUp is a great app to sell almost anything. It’s local and convenient. The only thing that I personally don’t enjoy is actually having to meet up with the person; it can be a little hard to schedule a meet-up with the other person, which causes them to move along to another seller. I sold a Samsung TV in less than 10 minutes, which was very exciting. I started listing more things that I no longer needed but wasn’t very successful. But, I ended up making a Mercari account next after my friend told me that it was easier to sell on their platform since you could ship the items out.
At first, I didn’t get the hang of it but now it’s been easier. I have sold a total of four items on the app and while that might not be much, it’s definitely a start! Instead of throwing my things out, I can list them and see if anyone is interested.
Of course, in the future, I do plan to give thrift shopping another try. Who knows, maybe I’ll be luckier! As they say, the third time is the charm! My advice is to not give up. As frustrating as it might be. keep trying. Eventually, you’ll sell a few things and probably be more motivated to continue. I wish you all the best and hope my story inspires you to give online selling a try!