Long Time Seller Down Sizing and moving Out of State...Where do I start to Liquidate?

[tr3ats]

        Hi all, I am a long time seller with 2 accounts and I keep about 800 "Buy it Nows" going most of the time. We are moving out of state and have to empty our house in 75 days and I'm not sure what to do with the items I have listed currently.

      Do I slash prices to sell quick, change them to auctions with low starting bids or  just pull the listings and sell at a garage/estate sale, too much small stuff to sell on Marketplace or Craigs.

    Selling on Ebay would be bring the most money, which we could definately use, but involves all the shipping headaches, etc.  Any thoughts and ideas apprciated!

[katzrul15]

Can you sell them in large lots on e-Bay?

[mightymouse]

Just a though, are you planning on doing this after you move? If so you can put on away mode or you can end all the listings pack them up and unpack them at your new location and relist them all. I have found that if I try and sell locally only about half of the items would sell and the rest go to a thrift store. Looks like you have time to work it out still.

[wastingtime101]

You can run a 50% off sale on eBay, but by the time you factor in fees, bubble wrap and packing materials - is that even worth it?

If you don't want to take all those breakables with you, I would yard sale them. Donate the clothing.

[katzrul15]

Homeless shelters/womens shelters will gladly take clothing. 

[tr3ats]

     I already have the listings running, to sell them in lost I would have to redo the listings and would still have to ship it all.

[kds99]

You're facing a tough decision. Having recently moved parents and parents-in law out of their homes in recent years, don't under-estimate the tremendous amount of effort it takes both before and after the move. I personally can't envision selling much on eBay for some time under your circumstances. Best of luck to you, whatever you decide!

[chapeau-noir]

You could do what I did when I moved house (that is if you plan on continuing to sell) - "keep the best and donate the rest" - I would not donate the clothing - I've never been able to keep Lord Jeff sweaters in stock when I've found them.

[krazzykats]

I would pull the best, then have an estate sale, inside and out.  Limit the number of people entering the house, and station someone in every room.  Lock up the best stuff, in "one" room.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

Agree, been there and done it.

@tr3ats 

All your glassware pull, it's too much moving and packing, estate sale is the way to go, advertising in fb market, local and ck with HOA if appropriate. Might want to add your a large ebayer seller, resellers welcome. 

Man each room and if you have a cash register that's good ( receipt wise) take off doors and get saw horses for tables if needed, buy a box of price tags ( ebay has em cheap)

     Now your going to need to do this in the next couple of weeks as moving will take up most of your time. Good luck in your new adventures!

[dbfolks166mt]

     Given everything else you have or will have on your plate for the move you may look for a consignment auction house or as others suggested a estates sale company. There are a coupe of nationwide consignment auction companies that will handle everything from setting up the auction, posting the images handling the financial aspects and taking care of the shipping. They also address any problems or issues with any of the sold items. 

     One of the ones I am aware of splits the fees between the buyer and seller. The % of the seller fees is based on the size of the sale inventory value they then add a % buyer premium to each sale. I have used them for several things. Their fees are a bit higher than eBay but given the seller issues associated with eBay and the amount of work it requires the extra few percentage points are not that bad. I have also noticed that a lot of the items they sell bring prices far above what similar items sell for on eBay or other ecommerce sites. They also have few if any restrictions on the type of merchandise they will sell. 

     It looks like you are pretty close to Minneapolis so probably a significant buyer base in the immediate area. 

[krazzykats]

If you have a lot of stuff in the house, go through each room and pull out the keeps.  Any large items you are taking with you, mark them as SOLD with a red tag.  Put all the small keeps into one room with a lock.  Then price tag everything else right where it sits.  You don't have a lot of time and it may take several weeks/days to sell off the bulk.