Do you want to have more disposable cash on hand? Do you feel like you are living too close paycheck to paycheck? We have all been there, ok. Don’t stress first of all. You may need to look into how you are spending your hard earned cash first and learn how to budget better before you read this article. Here are some valuable blog posts with finance tips on how to better manage your personal finances. Then you can truly delve into these Ideas on how to make money quick and online.
Secondly, there are lots of ideas on how to make money online these days. You don’t need experience selling to get a lot of cash from these sites! I’ve broken down the best online sites I use to make cash quickly. This is done by selling things I don’t need or want around the house. Remember, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! Same goes for women too ;).
In each of the examples below, I’ll show you how much profit you will make by selling, for example, an old coat you have in the back of your wardrobe that you NEVER wear. I’ll demonstrate that is you sell this coat for £50, how much profit you can make. (minus all of the different platform fees too.)Then, you can choose the best platform to sell on based on your criteria. Whether you’d prefer the most convenient, or indeed the one that charges the least amount of fees! You can decide and learn from these Ideas on how to make money quick and online.
1. Depop
I personally love Depop and have used it on and off over the last 2 years. Its an app where you can sell your used clothes or those new clothes you bought but never got round to wearing! But you can also sell makeup, skincare or any household bits really on this platform too. Bear in mind that it’s mainly used to sell your clothes.
Personally, I’ve been able to buy Levi’s jeans with the tags still on for an absolute bargain on here. And I even saved £20 by buying someone’s unwanted gift of a Drunk Elephant cream! SO GOOD!
BUT you probably landed here because you want to sell (not buy!). So, here is what you need to know:
- Fees to post an item online to sell: is FREE. Its completely free to post an item up for sale on this app. So if you change your mind, at least you’re not out of pocket when you take it down.
- Fees when Item is sold: Once you make a sale, 10% automatically goes to Depop (including shipping), then a further 3.4% and £0.20p fee goes to Paypal. So bear this in mind when setting your sale price. You can put whatever price you want on there. But its good to do some research on the app to see what other people are charging for a similar item. If you are priced too high, the longer it will take to sell it. For example, if you set the price of your Coat for sale on Depop for £50 with free shipping. If it sells, £5 gets deducted automatically for the Depop fee (10%) and a Paypal take a slice of the pie too at £1.90 (3.4% & £0.20p). Add on a £5.30 local post office cost to post a medium parcel, for example, and your profit in this example would be £37.80. Still pretty decent!
- Postage Fees: Items for sale can be shipped by courier through Depop, which is a useful option to have. They can cost more that going to the post office directly yourself. But if you opt into their courier service, they can collect your sold item, right at your front door. Nice.
- Your Profit: If you sell your item on Depop for £50, you get to keep £37.80.
- Selling Price Calculator: Here is a link to a Depop calculator to help you set your listing price and get selling!
2. Ebay
This is probably the most notorious way to sell your old stuff. The most well-known and one that springs to everyone’s mind. However, just because its the most popular, it doesn’t mean it’s the best option for you. It really depends what you want to sell on this platform. Ebay is perfect for those looking for ideas on how to make money quick!
If you are happy to auction off your stuff, or have a big ticket item like a car, then Ebay is best. They do have fees to sell on their platform though, which is why I steer more towards Depop when selling clothes. But as I said, Ebay gets a lot of traffic to their site, so lots of chances to sell your item quickly.
- Fees to post an item online to sell: Private sellers can list for free on eBay. After using your monthly allocation of 1,000 free listings (or more if you have an eBay Shop), you’ll be charged 35p for each new listing created. Ebay also has additional fees if you want to include a “Buy Now” Function, or set a “Minimum Target” on auction items or even pay extra for larger pictures! Make sure to check the cost of these optional features when selling.
- Fees when Item is sold: When your item sells, you pay 10% of the final transaction value. They cap final value fees so you’ll never pay more than £250 for a single item, which is great if you are selling a used car for example. Remember the above PayPal fees come into play here too.
- Postage Fees: Your local Post Office!
- Your Profit: If you sell your item on Ebay for £50, you get to keep £37.80 including postage (same as Depop). This is if you get a free listing option and don’t add a minimum target. There will be slightly more of a deduction if you set a “Buy Now” cost, but not much more!:)
- Selling Price Calculator: Here is a link to an Ebay Calculator to help you set your selling price and see what profit you’ll make.
3. Facebook Marketplace
Of all the Ideas on how to make make money quick, FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE is the underdog! This has increased in popularity over the last year in particular (for me anyway). I would argue it’s the best place to sell your furniture and home goods that you don’t need/want anymore. Not only is it free to post and sell on this platform, but you can also avoid fees from PayPal by receiving cash in person from the buyer. There is always a risk with any site that promotes meeting in person to exchange goods. So, make sure you do the necessary checks and feel comfortable giving your address to someone on the internet. I think that the facebook marketplace platform is one of the best ideas on how to make money quick, but you do always have to be careful.
If you don’t feel comfortable giving your home address, you can always suggest to do an exchange in a public place such as a car park nearby. The best way to sense check if the person interested in buying is – somewhat normal- is to check their facebook profile. Do they have photos/posts over the years? Or is it just a blank profile with no info. That’s what I personally do to check before I give them my address to exchange a sold item. I don’t know if I’m being too cautious but I feel it’s better to lead on the side of caution with these things!
- Fees to post an item online to sell: FREE. Absolutely free to post your item for sale, once you have set up a Facebook account.
- Fees when Item is sold: FREE, then the same fee as above for Paypal’s portion when you sell. Or you can do cash exchange in person either.
- Postage Fees: FREE as they can come to your door to collect it!
- Your Profit: If you sell your item on Facebook Marketplace for £50, you could get to keep 100% of this if they give you cash at the point of collection. Otherwise, if you sell through Paypal, you get to keep £48.10. Very very good return!
- Selling Price Calculator: Here is a link to a 2021 Paypal calculator that will help you figure out your sell price if you want to use PayPal.
4. Gumtree
Another strong contender, for Ideas on how to make money quick, is through Gumtree. Gumtree feels like its been around for AGES. I don’t know why, but I rarely feel tempted to sell on this platform. I think it’s mainly because there isn’t much visibility on who the buyer is, or indeed who your seller is. At least with Facebook Marketplace, you can get an in depth view from their facebook profile, on who the person is. This makes it all feel safer when they show up to your home to collect an Item.
Gumtree is still a good and useful platform though, as you don’t pay fees to list a product for sale, and you can get cash in return for it face to face, so similar profit to FB Marketplace. I prefer Facebook Marketplace personally, as there feels like there are less scams when buying. But in terms of selling your items, Gumtree literally sells everything it seems! Even puppies and kittens! SO if you have something quite random to sell, that is of good value, then Gumtree might be the best option for you.
- Fees to post an item online to sell: FREE. Absolutely free to post your item for sale.
- Fees when Item is sold: FREE, then the same as above fee for Paypal’s cut when you sell. Or you can do cash exchange in person either.
- Postage Fees: FREE as they can come to your door to collect it!
- Your Profit: If you sell your item on Facebook Marketplace for £50, you could get to keep 100% of this if they give you cash at the point of collection. Otherwise, if you sell through Paypal, you get to keep £48.10.
- Selling Price Calculator: Here is a link to a 2021 Paypal calculator that will help you figure out your sell price if you want to use PayPal.
What’s your favorite platform to sell on? Share your winning stories in the comments below if there’s ones I’ve missed out on!
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