To paraphrase a Yorkshire man Ebay gum

Sorry, couldn't resist it.

OK lets start with an honest opinion. I don't like EBay. I never have, but it is a means to an end. It is a ready (huge) audience of people willing to buy your stuff, assuming you have the stuff they want. I mention it because it is another car boot sale, but not as instantaneous.

I use EBay when:

1) I have something small to sell
2) I have something I think is collectible and have a good idea of its value.
3) I have time to sell it
4) It's raining and I can't be bothered to go car booting ;-)

The plus side: You will (occasionally) get a lot of money for some things

The down side: You have to pack and send off things. You have to pay EBay and Paypal their slice. People will try and scam you for as little as they can.

There are numerous sites that can tell you about EBay and how to make it work for you, so I will only share my experiences.

• EBay can be frustrating, when you list an item you have a huge selection of categories to list it under. So before starting do some research to ensure that you list in the right place.


• I have sold mostly unwanted CD'S and DVD's on EBay, although I also successfully sold some unwanted OS maps and books. These are all easy to handle and post.


• I buy padded bags in bulk, they work out at a few pence each. I can afford to list unwanted Cd's at 1p, this means I don't pay insertion fees.


• I take the default postage and packing fee of £1.50, which means whatever I am bid I will make a £1 profit. Once again, if I sell for 1p good luck to the buyer. He is taking something I don't really want!

I think it is time to mention Freecycle. Now I know that technically this is against the spirit of the blog, but I love Freecycle as a way of getting rid of stuff. Here's how it works, you have something you don't want to take to the dump (either because you think it still has some life in it or you just can't be arsed) you put it on free cycle and someone comes and picks it up and gives it a new lease of life. Recently I got rid of a filing cabinet, a bookcase, some unwanted flooring, a huge fluffy cushion and some other bits and pieces in a few hours, made the garage a lot less cluttered.

Now here's the shocking idea, how about getting stuff from free cycle to sell on EBay. There it's out! I can't believe I just said that......