How to make money from the Christmas presents you don’t want
The best online sites and apps for making money from unwanted gifts this Christmas
RATHER than shove your unwanted Christmas presents to the back of your wardrobe, why not make money from them instead?
There are plenty of places you can flog your festive failures, whether it's clothing, DVDs, books or gadgets.
1. eBay
Online auction site is often the first port of call for those wanting to sell new or second-hand goods.
COST?
It's free (for the first 20 items, then 35p for each listing thereafter), easy to use and the website has more than 165 million active users, so you're guaranteed to reach a large audience with your listing.
When you've sold an item, eBay takes 10 per cent of the final transaction value, capped at £250, and PayPal (which you need to have to sell on eBay) takes 3.4 per cent, plus 20p per transaction.
So, if you sell an unwanted gift for £50, you'll take home £43.10. You can work out how much you'll earn on the items you're selling by using .
2. Depop
This UK-based social shopping app is one of the easiest ways to sell in today's market: just take a picture of your unwanted Christmas gift on your phone, list it on , share it social media, and wait for someone to make the purchase.
COST?
Similar to eBay, sellers are charged a 10 per cent fee on the total price of each sale. The fee will be automatically deducted from the seller's PayPal account, and PayPal will add its own charges on top.
The app is free to download on iTunes.
3. Gumtree
Last month website was visited by almost 15 million people, so sellers will reach a large audience when listing their unwanted Christmas goods on the site.
It’s the UK’s biggest classified ads site with listings generally in the categories of cars, furniture and appliances. You can also sell smaller unwanted Christmas goods like clothing and DVDs.
COST?
Gumtree is mostly free to use. It all depends on which category you’re posting in and the location you’re posting from.
There are some exceptions where it costs to place an ad, but generally private sellers won't have to pay.
Transactions tend to be face-to-face, meaning there are no processing fees, but this does pose some risks for sellers.
When you meet the buyer, make sure they have checked the item you're selling and are happy with it. If the buyer pays in cash, check the bank notes to make sure they're real.
4. Preloved
is similar to Gumtree in that individual sellers can place adverts for free on the site - which has more than six million members buying and selling everything from furniture and sports equipment, to laptops and beauty items.
COST?
It is completely free to list or sell an item on Preloved. If you use PayPal for a transaction, PayPal will add its own charges.
Similar to Gumtree, Preloved works best when buyers and sellers can meet face-to-face. Unless you are paid in cash, always wait for payment to clear before handing over goods.
5. eBid
Vying for the attention of some of eBay's customers is , an online auction site similar to eBay but far smaller.
It has around four million listings on the site, so is still widely used, and is cheaper to use than eBay.
COST?
For casual sellers, it is free to list an item, and once it's sold eBid will take a 3 per cent final value fee - far cheaper than eBay's 10 per cent charge.
For more serious sellers, eBid works on a subscription basis, where you pay no final value fee at all, but pay a subscription cost.
For seven days it costs £1.99, for 30 days it costs £6.00, 90 days is £16.99, 365 days is £54.99 and lifetime membership costs £99.98.
6. Music Magpie
Music Magpie allows people to sell unwanted CDs, DVDs, books, games and technology, and has more than three million customers.
COST?
It's free to use, packaging and delivery is paid for by Music Magpie, and you'll be paid on the same day it receives your item.
It's unlikely, however, than you'll earn much for the books, CDs or DVDs you trade in.
For example, if you're gifted a DVD of Finding Dory (which is selling for £12.99 on HMV Online), Music Magpie will pay you just £1.27.
There's also a small snag - your basket needs to be worth at least £5 to complete an order, so you may need to sell a few more DVDs and CDs to reach this amount.
7. Zapper
Zapper is similar to Music Magpie in that it offers money for books, CDs, DVDs and games.
COST?
It's free to use and delivery is also free of charge.
Again, trade in values are fairly low, but Zapper offers significantly more than Music Magpie. The same Finding Dory DVD as above will fetch £4.09 with Zapper.
8. Etsy
Founded in 2005, has racked up 1.6 million sellers and 26.1 million active buyers. The website mainly sells handmade items, with sellers offering unusual and quirky artwork, jewellery, clothing and furniture.
While Etsy is predominantly used by entrepreneurs and online shops to regularly sell their goods, it is possible to use the site to sell one-off items.
COST?
Fees to sell are relatively high, at £0.16 per listing, with Etsy taking a 3.5 per cent transaction fee and a 4 per cent plus 20p payment processing fee.
Again, PayPail will deduct its own fees from the final value amount.
9. Car boot sale
If you don't fancy selling your unwanted wares online, there's always the old method of car boot sales. You can find car boot sales in your local area by searching on the car boot sales directory .
COST?
To sell at a car boot sale it costs around £10 for a pitch, and you'll need to bring your own table to present your items.
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