Step 29 – Liquidate Your Assets

List your stuff online. 

If you are regular reader of this blog, you will find numerous (some might even say, excessive) references to kijiji.ca.

I love this website.

This has been our first line of defence in liquidating our assets.  [Some people use Craigslist, though I’ve found …uh, better success with kijiji. Fewer seedy people… fewer dirty underpants for sale… fewer ads for “massage parlours”].

Some tips for selling things online:

• Start early. The longer your stuff is out there, the better chance you have of catching the interest of someone who will pay you a fair price for it.
• Price fairly. Do your research to find out what your item was worth new, and what others like it are selling for online. You’ll get fewer people lecturing you on overpriced goods if you price your stuff reasonably.
• Post lots of pictures. People really do respond to the visual stimuli – use it to your advantage.
• Add lots of detail to your ads. When people have to ask for lots of information, it wastes your time and theirs, and delays prospective sales.
• Make your ad stand out. Tell a story. Give funny details. For example, I add the line: “Whatever you do, do not look at my other ads” to tease people into viewing my other ads.
• Reply promptly. The faster you reply to inquiries, the more success you’ll have capitalizing on people’s instant gratification reflex.
• Be prepared for low-ballers. There are some people out there just looking for the deal of a lifetime. They’ll offer you $10 for something worth $500.  To combat this, decide ahead of time what is the lowest you’ll accept for a certain item, then politely reply with “Sorry, that’s too low for me.” Sassy responses only result in online harassment, so don’t waste your time.
• Negotiate price online. You’ll come out on top if you agree to a price ahead of time rather than negotiating at the door.
• Use common sense when setting up a meeting place. You can meet in a public place, take someone with you, let someone know where you’re going if you’re going alone. If you’re not comfortable with people calling and texting at all hours, don’t put your phone number on the ad.
• Be prepared for no-show-ers. I’d say about 1/3 of the people who say they’re coming to pick something up do not show up.  You can email a reminder on the day of to remind people to show up. And be polite in following up with no-show-ers (i.e. Hey, I figure you’re not able to make it today. I hope everything is OK – let me know if you’d like to reschedule).
• Disregard the crazies.  The internet is chock-full of loonies, lonlies, lollies and trolls. Don’t engage with ANYONE who baits you.
• Watch out for scams. There are jerks out there on the internet, making their livings stealing from you and me. Key words to tip you off to these people include Pay-pal, money transfer and requests not to text back. Do not engage. You can report them to kijiji and forget about it.
• Repost. Repost. Repost.  As often as you can stand it, delete your old ad and repost it in as a new ad.  It will keep your ads at the top of the pile and makes all the difference in the world.  Do not leave old ads up, or make multiples of the same ad.  Kijiji shoppers find that SUPER annoying.

Here is how we’ve done: