Selling Everything to Travel

One of the big things we did in preparation for our year of travel was sell all of our stuff in order to move out of our apartment. We didn’t want to pay every month for a storage unit of stuff to then have to deal with when we’re back from traveling. So we spent months going through everything we had. And since we were downsizing, selling as much as we could helped us buy almost all of our gear for the trip. So here is our process for selling everything to travel including the best platforms to sell and tips we learned along the way!

We went through things such as clothing and shoes, kitchen pieces, furniture and other miscellaneous items. This definitely isn’t the only way to prepare for long term travel. We could have simply organized everything and stored it for when we return. However, we viewed this an opportunity to really go through everything we have. From there we decided what items we would definitely want when we come back and what we could part from without thinking about it again.

How We Picked Items to Sell

The first part of selling is identifying which items you are ready to get rid of. We found it helpful to go through different parts of our apartment and look at all of the items in that area. Doing it in sections like that made it less overwhelming to downside an entire apartment at one time. Then we asked ourselves questions like:

Do we use this item regularly?
Does this item bring us joy or make us happy? It sounds very Marie Kondo but if you’re being completely honest with yourself you can weed out the items that really don’t make you happy or items you feel indifferent about.
Does the item serve a specific purpose or is it a “just in case” item? A just in case item is something you keep just in case you need it at some point. Usually those are the things that end up sitting in the drawer for years never being touched. If you really needed it you would have likely used it already!

The first couple rounds were much easier as it felt like we were just trimming the fat or the extra stuff that we already knew we didn’t really need. But the more and more we went through our apartment the less items we had and then it became harder. The biggest thing we kept in mind, for our situation, was whether it was an item we cared enough about to store for the next year and whether it was an item we would definitely want to have when we’re done traveling.

Travel Truth: A good compromise we found for items that had a large sentimental value was to take a picture of the item so you can still look at it and recall the associated memory but don’t have to keep the actual item.

Ebay

The first platform we started listing items on was Ebay. After successfully selling things on Ebay we would say it is best for name brand items that are relatively easy to ship (small and not fragile). We actually had a lot of success selling bags.

Because you don’t necessarily know where the buyer lives until they purchase a listed item, you could be shipping it to the next town over or across the country. Which means Ebay requires a lot of packing supplies such as shipping envelopes and bubble wrap as well as a lot of trips to the post office. That’s probably the hardest part of selling things on Ebay. If going to the post office over and over isn’t something you can or want to do (including learning about shipping methods and updating tracking numbers) then Ebay may not be your strategy.

We started listing items on Ebay first. Using the Ebay App you can take pictures of an item and list it all within the app. You can also use the desktop version but that means transferring the pictures and seems like it adds an extra step.
A watcher is someone who has chosen to keep “watching” your listing. There is a function that allows you to send an offer to a watcher. While it sounds like a good tool, we were never successful in getting a sent offer actually accepted. By all means if you have the option send it but we were really surprised by this.

Tips for Selling on Ebay

Start early with Ebay! We found things took some time before getting an offer so give yourself enough time to get enough views. It also helps to lower the price by a small amount to intice watchers or interested buyers.
Because you are shipping items, make sure when you are completing a new listing to take a look at the shipping cost. You can choose a flat rate or a range based on the weight of the item. Whichever way you choose make sure it’s reasonable (to your knowledge) otherwise you will end up decreasing your profit with extra shipping expenses.
An old post doesn’t necessarily get the same views and ranking as a new post. There definitely seemed to be a bit of an algorithm to Ebay listings. We found the older a listing got, the less it seemed to be prioritized which means less views and subsequent offers.

Beware of scams on Ebay where a buyer sends you a message requesting to send you money outside of Ebay. While often times they say it will avoid the fees for you as a seller, there is no protection for you if something goes wrong. If it sounds too good to be true it most likely is.

Letgo

Letgo was honestly such a surprise for us! We knew we were going to need to find a different platform for certain items that wouldn’t sell on Ebay as well as furniture items as we got closer to moving. We talked about Craigslist and Facebook Market Place but got a recommendation for Letgo and decided to try it. While it may not be the fanciest app, Letgo definitely works! Download the app, input pictures and a description and then await the messages.

Instead of submitting an official offer like on Ebay, interested buyers will message you either asking a question about the listing or with an offer. The format lends itself to negotiating because you can message back and forth as well as get more information about condition or size of an item.

Inputting a listing description was much less official on Letgo compared to Ebay. We chose to put in plenty of information (to be upfront and not have any issues later on) but the requirements to list an item are significantly less detailed than Ebay.

Tips for Selling on Letgo

People message all the time asking if an item is still available. Which is a valid question so we would respond yes and then nothing. I don’t know if it’s part of a buyer strategy within Letgo or just a big coincidence but we would get so many of these messages that wouldn’t continue after that.
Letgo listings are organized by zip code to allow you to view current listings near you. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they are very close. Keep that in mind when messaging with someone about an offer. We had a few encounters where once the person got more information about our location they were no longer interested.

If the hardest part of Ebay is shipping then the hardest part of Letgo is arranging pick ups. Agreeing on a day and time for both sides can be tricky if you have opposite schedules. We also had a few people ask if we could deliver an item to them or meet somewhere. This is up to you and what you’re comfortable with. We tried as best as we could to have buyers come to our apartment building where we knew there were other people nearby and felt comfortable in case there was an issue.
Beware of scams on Letgo where a buyer tries to send you money digitally or a check. The best (and recommended) method of payment is cash at the arranged time.

Yard Sales

Yard sales are tricky. You have to decide ahead of time that you’re interested in selling items at a yard sale. If you have a house or area to host you’re own you can do it individually but living in an apartment building in the city we looked for community yard sales. This required finding a nearby community yard sale, signing up, and paying the vendor fee. Then it required time to set up, the hours of the actual yard sale as well as time to pack up at the end.

All three of the yard sales we did were on Saturdays which means spending your whole Saturday doing yard sale stuff. If you’re dedicated to it then it’s not a big deal but it is a fair amount of work from start to finish. You also have to be okay with selling items for significantly less. We found very few yard sale buyers were willing to pay more than $10-$15 for something.

Tips for Selling at Yard Sales

Before signing up for a community yard sale consider how much the fee is to sell items. The first yard sale we did was $15 while the last one we did was $35 and some can be as high as $50 depending on the event. This is important because if you pay $50 for the spot it means you have to make back that $50 before you can even begin talking about profit.
Selling items at a yard sale is different than Ebay because you’re not shipping anything nor are you arranging for a pick up like on Letgo. It requires you to pack everything that you want to bring with you and prepare ahead of time. This is an extra step for you so don’t wait until the last second! We waited until the night before our first yard sale and had to stay up late putting everything in bags to go into the car.

Presentation is everything at a yard sale! Think about how you are going to display everything you’re bringing to sell. If you have kitchen items, decor, clothing and shoes, etc. it needs to be displayed so it catches someones eye while being accessible enough for them to look at.
1. At our first yard sale we brought some clothing items to sell without thinking about how we would display them. We brought them there in a plastic tub but the vendor across from us had a clothing rack. Significantly more people looked through theirs than ours because no one wanted to crouch down and search through a pile of clothes.

What Did you Do With the Money?

We used the money that we made from selling everything on Ebay, Letgo and yard sales to buy a new Sony A7iii camera, a wide angle lens, and all of our other clothing and gear for our year of traveling. While we know this isn’t the only way to prepare for long term travel like this, for us it gave us enough money to buy a really nice camera and lens for photographs as well as everything else we knew we were going to need that we didn’t already have.