I’ve really had a go at tidying up cupboards, “misc” drawers and the loft storage this spring and summer, and I’m nearing the end here. It’s amazing how much stuff piles up after a decade or two…
After pulling stuff out and deciding what I’m gonna keep, the rest have gone into four piles: Junk to throw away/recycle, usable but non-valuable things to give away (in various venues), and valuable things to sell.
And it’s really the first time I’ve done the latter, so I thought I’d blather a bit about that here.
All in all, I ended up with 40-50 things to sell, so I thought I’d better get organisised before starting — I didn’t want to end up with a bunch of orders but then having to traipse around finding the right box to pack them in. I thought it would be nice to be able to expedite the orders sorta immediately — probably less complaints that way?
So I went to the shop that sells all that kind of stuff, and got lots of bubble wrap, padded envelopes, and boxes in many different sizes. The more correct box size, the easier it is to pack securely.
And! Most exciting of all! I finally got one of those packing tape dispensers THAT DOESN”T SUCK!!! I’ve always wanted to have one of those, an this one really works:
Good old Tesa.
I also got the bits to sell well sorted. The whole thing kinda appealed to my sense of process optimisation.
So I put all this stuff on the most popular Norwegian marketplace, Finn, and… I’ve now sold two thirds of the stuff over a week. Ka-ching! I’m rich! Rich I tells ya!
The whole thing is so streamlined — just get the bid and accept it, then pack the thing, write a five character code on the outside of the package, put it on my doorstep in the evening, and then magical elves come and carry the package away in the middle of the night.
(It’s the same elves that bring the newspaper.)
You never know whether you’re hitting the sweet spot price wise, but some bid lower and some bid my price and stuff, so eh, I don’t think I’ve gone too low, for the most part.
I guess the rest is more special interest stuff that’ll take longer to sell, but perhaps they’ll be gone in a week or two and I can pack away the remaining boxes and bubble wrap?
But! Here’s the amusing (and a bit puzzling) thing: I also sold two old Iphones. And while all the other things I sold went without a hitch, the Iphone selling experience was weird.
The both got dozens of responses like “if I buy it today, can I pay [half the given price]” and “I can meet you at the central station and give you [one third of the price]” and so on and on.
I first assumed that these odd people wanted to meet up in person to rob me or something, but if that’s the case, shouldn’t they have said “meet me in an alley and I’ll pay you [double your price]” or something?
Other people asked for receipts and stuff, and of course I don’t keep track of stuff like that…
But combining the two things — no receipts and the “meet me at this bar” thing — did they all assume that I was selling stolen Iphones? And… didn’t want a paper trail of them buying stolen goods?
Is that even a thing? Aren’t all Iphones locked? To wipe an Iphone you usually need to unlock it and then enter a code for wiping… So they assumed that I’d robbed some guy, then forced them to unlock and then enter the wiping code!? Do I look that brutal in my pics? Do I? DO I!?!?
So I don’t know whether to feel insulted or flattered, really…
But perhaps there’s other explanations for these weird messages? Like I said, didn’t happen with anything else I was selling… Anybody got any ideas?