August No-Spend Month Challenge Day 16: Selling on Facebook Local Groups

 

Hello again, savvy savers! I hope you are all well rested, and ready for a new No-spend Challenge! So, for today we will tackle selling on Facebook.

So, why Facebook? Well, it’s super simple to sell your unwanted stuff on Facebook local Buy, Sell, or Trade groups. So, today I am challenging you to look for Facebook sale groups in your area to post, sell, and profit from your household items, clothing, sporting goods, and baby items.

 

You might consider the following great benefits to selling locally on Facebook:

• On Facebook, you set your price and there’s no one taking a cut of your sale price or charging you to host your listing.
  You can set your own preferred method of payment.
  You also have the opportunity to become part of a community where people are looking for bargains as much as others are looking to declutter their homes.

 

So, if you decide to start selling, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Search for your state or region and the word “sell” or “buy” to find local buy/sell/trade groups.
2. If there are none, you can always start one and get the word out in your community!
3. You may find that many of the groups are closed, so you’ll have to ask permission to join, and others only accept certain types of listings.
4. Many have strict listing requirements and limits on how many items you can try to sell per day in order to stave off spammers and scam artists.
5. Be sure to check out each group/administration rules prior to joining.
6. Once you are a local group member, list your own items for sale, and set your own prices.

 

 

Once you have items listed for sale, here are some pointers to keep in mind when negotiating locally:

• Be sure to note whether you’re willing to ship something, or—in the case of furniture or large electronics or appliances—whether you’d rather the buyer come pick it up.
• Be specific in your pricing and listings; do not use vague terminology, such as “make me an offer.”
• Be prompt in answering questions, commenting on posts, as well as taking down notices for sold items.
• Always check your “other” folder in Facebook messenger; those whom you are not friends with, will have messages posted to this folder, so be sure to check it often to not miss out on any awesome offers of sale!
• Every 24 hours you can “bump” a listing, an action which will automatically move a listing to the top of the groups wall by typing “bump” in the comment section under your listing; this can be done once per item, per group, per 24-hour period.
• Be courteous. Allow users to ask questions, and then try and sell to the first inquiry before continuing down your list.
  Don’t be afraid of offers or hagglers. Know your items worth, not it’s sentimental value. In order to make a sale, you must be willing to negotiate on price; this doesn’t mean accepting insulting, low-ball offers, but reasonable offers.
• When scheduling a pick-up time, schedule your drop offs in a well lit, public place, and bring a friend or family member with you. Also, if selling multiple items, have your buyers come in 15 minute increments to avoid wasting gas and time waiting on buyers who may be no-shows!
• Have fun! This goes without saying you should have fun, even when selling goods!

So today, I challenge you to start selling your items on Facebook using these steps:

 

• Set a small goal, say $100.00 in value, or ten items to sell.
• Find a local Facebook Group.
• Join your group.
• Prep your items for sale; make sure items are clean, ready for pick-up, sorted, and photographed.
• Be patient! Sales take time.

So, for today’s challenge I did the following:

• Overall, I set a goal to sell $100.00 on Facebook.
• I listed ten clothing items, several new with tags (NWT).
• I have also already made arrangement for pick-up, and so my items are now listed as pending pick-up (PPU).
• I made sure to set my Facebook setting to notify me of all new messages, so that I can quickly check messages on my pc, laptop, iPad, and iPhone quickly. I am a third done selling, and have thus far potentially earned $78.00! 
• I feel that I am quickly going to make my selling goal! 
• I also cross listed items into several other local groups, and a local vintage group, too!

As well today I was also able to accomplish:

1. As part of my #Choose30 Daily Challenge, I woke up at 7:25, walked my fur babies, showered, & dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
2. Worked on my daily Motivated Moms Planner.
3. I finished a day’s worth of clerking assignments ahead of schedule!
4. I cooked from my pantry for each meal.
5. Read my daily devotional.
6. I waked two miles.

Yesterday I saved:

• I eat at home this evening for dinner, saving our family $6.95. 
• I recycled, upcycled, and composted one bins of deluge, and saved $0.25, the cost of 1 trash bag. 
• I cooked three meals from my home pantry, saving $6.81 in the process.
• My family drank water today, and saved $0.69, the cost of a 2-liter of soda.
• I also did not watch cable tv, and saved $3.68 by doing so.
• I lost a half day’s worth of electricity costs, and saved $3.00! 
• I earned a $200.00 tax receipt from donating goods to local charities. 

Total amount I saved my family: $21.38

This months savings goal remaining: +$21.38

 

Here’s to saving,