Last week I added a link to my Sellpy Shop to my blog header (see image above). It shows all my items available on Sellpy. I have been sending in 2 – 4 big bags of things a week, so this is regularly updated.
As I have previously mentioned, when I declutter I generally sell gold or unusual silver jewellery at a local auction house, and trend-led clothes at a couple of consignment stores.
There are, however, things that are in very good shape that neither of the above places accept. I usually sell these items myself via my blog, on Facebook, or on local versions of eBay and Craigslist. Photographing, describing, measuring, listing, answering questions, packaging and postage takes so much time though, and I have a full time job and a blog that always come first. In addition, dealing with buyers of cheaper items in more public forums can be very very frustrating. Dealing with choosing beggars sometimes almost does my head in.
I tried Sellpy a while back when it was newly started, and was very disappointed. Communication was poor, they did not accept things that were perfectly sellable, and just donated most of the things to charity. There are loads of things I know nothing about, but one thing I do know about is handbags and jewellery. And I know they didn’t even try to sell things that would have fetched a good price. I, and a couple of my colleagues actually left bad reviews at the time, and we were definitely not alone. There were many many red angry icon faces on Facebook ads. I definitely thought Sellpy would go out of business.
Well, they didn’t, and they have improved so much that selling those bits and bobs is easy. I have to give them high praise for adapting their business model and becoming so successful that there are copycat companies popping up AND Sellpy branches in several European countries.
It is all very simple:
- register an account to buy or sell
- your first bag is free, and further bags cost $2 each. There are often campaigns where you receive free bags, and you receive a free bag with each purchase, so you generally don’t have to pay for them
- fill your bag with clean items that you would be happy to buy yourself. Each bag is the size of a big blue IKEA bag, and is sealable
- book a free pickup via courier
- the courier collects and labels your bag for you (you don’t have to do anything except fill and seal the bag)
- once your bag is in Sellpy’s possession it is registered and you are given an approximate date for sorting
- when sorting begins: if items are rejected you can request reassessment, return of your item, or to donate the item to charity. You can have as many things as you like returned to you (via courier to your door) from each batch of bags $5.
- during sorting: item is measured, photographed and listed. You can change the price or description, and cancel the listing at any time
- during the period the item is for sale (about 4 months): you can extend the listing time, change the price, cancel the sale, and request return of your item. Each auction costs $1. Sellpy will list anything that can be sold for $5 and upwards.
- after a sale: money goes into your Sellpy account immediately. You can use it to buy things on Sellpy at a 5% discount, have it transferred to your bank account, or donate it to charity
- after a sale: Sellpy packs, posts, and deals with any returns
- if you buy something from Sellpy (also a nice experience, and you receive a Sellpy bag with your purchase) and decide to sell it, you just reactivate the ad and Sellpy takes care of the rest.
- commission: Sellpy takes 60% of the price of items under $50, and 30% of items over $50. If you sell on consignment in Sweden, the split is the same – 40% for you and 60% for the seller. I have always thought this is fair enough as they do all the hard work, and I am not out to make a profit.
- other: You can also request a smaller green Sellpy bag to put inside your blue one. The green one goes straight to charity. This is an easy way of donating to charity without having to physically take yourself there.
This is a perfect service if you are looking to donate to charity, declutter, and earn a bit of money. It is not for you if you want to make a huge profit or sell niche items. If you want to do either of those things, you have to sell the things yourself.
The things in my shop are:
- clothes and shoes that didn’t suit me
- things that no longer fit (I used to be tiny!)
- larger handbags because I have shoulder problems and can no longer carry heavy bags
- costume jewellery
- unused makeup and sealed skincare from the past few months
In this batch of decluttering I have been selling between 2 and 5 items a day on Sellpy. Not huge amounts but it is nice to have it ticking over in the background while I am at work.
