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‘Tis the season to be jolly. Which for many means decking the halls with boughs of holly… and various decorations from Christmas trees to wreaths and everything in between.

If you are like our family, the Christmas decorations get stored up in the loft for the eleven months of the year they aren’t used. Every year when it’s time to get them down we tend to have a good moan that we can’t find everything we know is there because more and more ‘stuff’ has been dumped up in the loft on top of the decorations boxes. Most of the stuff up there is totally unnecessary to hoard and actually could be useful for someone else. Which is why I’m writing today to encourage you to use this time of the year for a big clear out, get rid of your unwanted goods and make some money at the same time.

When those Christmas decorations go back up in to the loft, take a really good look at what’s stored up there and see if it’s really worth keeping, or if you can have a clear out and make some money at the same time!

Here are some of the best ways to sell unwanted items:

Local Facebook marketplace

If you have small value items and you want someone else to do the legwork in terms of collection, posting your items for sale on a local Facebook site can be a great way to offload them. Often the buyer will collect and you don’t need to pay anyone any commission. I have several pink sacks of baby clothes and blankets in the loft which I saved ‘just in case’ we ever had another baby. I don’t think we’re going to need these anymore and I really just need to take an hour or two, sort them in to sizes, photograph them and get them on to Facebook. In my experience, clothes sell very quickly on Facebook marketplace and this is one of the best ways to make a quick and easy sale.

Carboot sale

I used to love visiting car boot sales when I was younger and searching through all the treasures. They are GREAT fun and you can easily shift lots of knick knacks. My top tip for getting the most out of a car boot sale is to do your research and find a really popular local car boot sale. You want plenty of foot traffic to maximise your selling potential.

In terms of making as much money as possible, be prepared for a lot of haggling and start with prices a little higher than you are prepared to accept! Also, it’s best to price groups of items at the same price and keep them together to make agreeing sales with potential buyers easier. And wear a bum bag for keeping all your change in and making ‘doing the deal’ easy! It’s a tiring day with an early start and a lot of time on your feet but lots of fun too!

Auction

Higher value or more rare items eg watches or jewellery are a perfect candidate for auction. If you have these types of items for sale, your first point of call is to find an auction house and contact them for a valuation. A valuation would either be conducted by a valuer viewing your assets in person, or by conducting a desktop appraisal. They would then talk you in detail through the best route to market. You’ll pay some commission to sell via auction but their expertise will help you realise the best possible price for your item(s). The payment for the goods will clear through the auction house before the goods are transferred which, for higher value items especially, provides a degree of protection not afforded by other selling methods.

eBay

I’ve written before about how much I like the ease of listing items for sale on eBay. There are items listed ranging from 99p through the high value items; you can find old shoes through to cars! You can list items for collection only but to reach the widest audience, you will likely need to physically post the item to the winning bidder. Postage and packaging and either getting to a post office or arranging a courier add a layer of effort to this method of sale, but the reach of potential buyers is great because the website is so well known.

I hope I’ve given you some inspiration to not just throw everything back in the loft or garage in a few weeks when the Christmas decorations go back in to hiding. Instead, have a look around first and be ruthless; do you really need everything you have stored, and is there anything saleable up there? You could make a really good start to your 2018 holiday fund, you never know!

Disclaimer: This post has been written in collaboration with BPI Auctions.