Thursday, March 28, 2019

27/ Places: Selling Stuff

I've been selling stuff (there's no better word to describe things we've owned but no longer want) online for a dozen or more years—first on eBay and then books on Amazon, and then on Craigslist for whatever I can't or won't ship. This year I added Facebook Marketplace to the mix.

When you sell locally, you have to decide on a place to meet to hand over the item and receive your money. I can think of only four times when buyers came to the house: when I sold a giant old piece of farm equipment, an even bigger stand-on-the-floor stainless steel kettle, and two generators. When I list an item for sale, I usually tell what county I'm in, and name a couple of places in the county and in a neighboring county where we can meet.

I sold a juicer outside a church where I was photographing a jazz concert, and a TV in our high school parking lot. I've met buyers in front of Starbucks, TJ Maxx, and Tractor Supply. Some buyers have puzzling suggestions. My most recent transaction was with a woman who suggested we meet in a town I'd never heard of. I don't know how she came up with this, since we live less than 10 miles from each other, and the town was 60 miles away.

27/ Places: Selling Stuff

I've been selling stuff (there's no better word to describe things we've owned but no longer want) online for a dozen or more ye...