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The internet is a magical tool that has opened up countless opportunities to engage in markets with other people. When historians write about the legacy of the web, this will surely be it. Today, we focus on the fact that it is an “information superhighway” and that everyone “has the world’s knowledge at their fingertips.” But the real value is the capacity of the internet to bring buyers and sellers together. That’s fundamentally what all of the biggest and most popular sites in the world do. 

For people like you, therefore, this is great news. It means that you can drum up the cash you need rapidly without spending lots of money on fees. What’s more, though, the web massively increases your access to your target customer. Anyone with a device can just hop onto an online platform and flog whatever they have of value. 

This fact means that you probably have quite a bit of stuff that you can sell to make money – and fast. Check out these ideas you might not have thought of. 

Sell Empty Jars

You would have thought that empty jars would cost practically nothing. But that’s not the case. You can sometimes fetch up to £1 for each you collect. People want jars for all types of things, like pot plants, smoothies, or homemade chutney. 

Sell Your Empty Boxes

Likewise, empty boxes don’t sound like they’d sell for much, but there’s a massive market for them. Every year, thousands of people move home and need some sort of container for all their stuff. They can either go to official box sellers, who are expensive or can look for alternatives. If you have some boxes lying around, all you have to do is undercut the price for new boxes or storage rental, and buyers will come flocking. 

Sell Your Broken Phone

Everyone knows that there’s a second-hand market for phones in good condition. But did you know that you can sell broken mobile phone handsets too? Well, it turns out you can. You sell it on to a specialist refurbisher. They then remove the broken bits and replace them with new parts from the manufacturer. If the repair job is easy, you can usually make a lot of money. A cracked screen doesn’t necessarily mean that your phone is a dud. 

Sell Personalized Gifts

People really want personalised gifts, but getting hold of them can be a challenge. However, some companies are now using regular people like you to personalize their items before they sell them on to customers. You can, therefore, become a middleman and skim a healthy profit off the top.

Sell Your Old Egg Boxes

Are you a little partial to eggs? If so, it might be worth saving up all your egg boxes. 

It turns out that egg boxes have special sound-proofing abilities. Their unique shape means that they absorb sound energy instead of transmitting it. This feature makes them ideal for music studios, workshops, and other settings. 

Granted, you’ll need to do quite a bit of saving to sell these for a profit. But if you happen to have fifty knocking around anywhere, you can sell them for about a fiver. 

Sell Your Old Beauty And Makeup Samples

This idea is a real money-spinner because you probably didn’t pay for your beauty and makeup samples. Instead, the vendor sent you the products in the post in the hope that you’d shell out for the full product. 

Samples, though, aren’t free. If you miss the promotion (as most people do), you can’t try out the product. And that means you have a choice between going without or taking the plunge. Most people want there to be a third way: a sample. And that’s the market to which you’re selling. You make a pure profit, and people get the products that they want. 

Sell Old Coins

Selling “money” might sound like a strange concept, but there’s a market for it, just like everything else. Thus, if you have any old coins knocking around in your attic or drawers, you could make a lot of money. 

The priciest coins are the type that you might find on an archaeological expedition. If you happen to own rare coins from the ancient world, you can make a fortune. Gold sovereigns and other coins made of precious metals also tend to fetch a reasonable price at market. We’re talking up to £2,000 per coin. 

After that, there are the old coins from the imperial system – or historical coins that existed before the introduction of the euro. Some of them are worth the same as their face value, but many are worth more. 

Sell Instruction Manuals

Instruction manuals might seem like a free (and disposable) item included with your product, but they can make you some serious cash. 

Often people buy household appliances second hand to save money. Mostly, though, the stuff they get doesn’t come with a manual. The original owner checked it out ages ago. 

Smart people, therefore, are now turning to the internet to get hard copies of the original manual. And that’s where you might be able to get quite a decent return.

Sell Old Clothes

The second-hand clothing market is enormous. If you have an overflowing clothes drawer, therefore, that’s great news. You just pop your items up on the internet and then wait to see if any of them sell. Many people looking to buy clothing on eBay are searching for the best deal possible and so don’t mind if somebody has worn something before. 

Sell Your Loo Roll

Selling your loo roll was a viable option before the coronavirus depression and pandemic arrived. But now it is even more lucrative. People are willing to pay over the odds for spare toilet roll, partly because they want to avoid having to visit the store. You can capitalize on this market need by getting rid of your stash. Do you really need all of it? 

Selling stuff, therefore, has never been easier than it is today. With the internet, you can make a small fortune, and fast. 

This is a collaborative post.