There are some prams out there that are more expensive than my first car was. Seriously. And then there’s the cot, Moses Basket, baby carrier, sling, changing unit, mat, all the toys they’ll probably never play with and clothes they’ll probably only fit into for about a nanosecond.
Babies are expensive. And the sentimental amongst us would probably argue that the joy they bring is priceless. Yes, it is. But I sure wanted to earn something back from all that money spent on brand spanking new baby stuff that my first child apparently really only needed for about ten seconds.
You can easily run into the thousands on buying for a new baby, kitting out a nursery and filling a wardrobe with enough clothes to see them through the first year or two. Easily. And with such remarkably quickly growing human beings, the reality is most of the stuff could still be in near perfect condition by the time you’re finished with it.
There’s a huge market for buying and selling used baby stuff though. So if you want to clear your loft of all your nearly new baby stuff, here’s a bit of advice about where to sell it and getting the best money you can for it.
I should probably point out that I’m no baby retail expert. I’m just one of those Mums who spent thousands of pounds on baby stuff to find it just ended up cluttering my loft in nearly new condition a matter of months later!
In terms of where to sell used baby equipment, you pretty much have two choices:
- Sell it online (some websites follows)
- Sell it offline (again some resources follow)
Where to sell second hand baby stuff online
The benefit of selling your used baby stuff online is that you really could have a nationwide pool of buyers to sell to, though postage can be a pain for bigger and bulkier items if you do open your sales up nationwide.
That said, here are some options for you:
- eBay – the most obvious online selling platform for used goods
- Gumtree, Preloved and other classifieds sites
- Facebook marketplace groups
Selling Baby Stuff on eBay
So eBay has a whole lot going for it. In fact, some of the company’s recent stats include:
- 164 million buyers globally in Q2 2016
- Around 20% of those are used items
- Look at this….
A Lego product is sold every 19 seconds in the UK!!
eBay also offers you the flexibility to set your own delivery terms so if you have bulky items you don’t want to post, you can opt just to allow buyers to pick up (limiting your audience generally to a local one, but with all the other benefits you get from eBay).
It’s a quick way to get your product listed and has a ready made audience of buyers who feel reassured buying on the eBay platform.
But, you’re up against 1 billion listings, basically! So while the audience is huge, the competition is tough too. And don’t forget that people going to eBay and buying used products are generally looking for a bargain so it might not always be the best platform for the best price.
You’ll also have to pay some relatively hefty fees for eBay:
- Your first 20 items each month are free to list (with each subsequent one incurring a cost of 35p each
- You then pay 10% of the final transaction value (including postage) in fees to eBay up to a maximum of £250 in fees per transaction
- If you accept payment by Paypal, as is commonplace with eBay, you’ll incur fees there too
So it’s not necessarily the best way to get the highest price for your second hand baby goods, but does have a huge audience.
Selling Baby Stuff on Classifieds Sites
There are loads of online classifieds sites, with two of the UK’s biggest being Gumtree and Preloved. There are free listings options on sites like these and premium/featured options too in many cases.
The main positives of selling via Classifieds sites:
- This is a cheap way to sell. Once your ad is live, you’re typically not dealing with fees and things like that
- They’re usually organised geographically, so you’ll be listing in an area of the site that is visited by people looking for items in your local area. This means you’re generally dealing with local pickups, skipping the logistics and added cost of delivery
On the flip side though:
- There’s no buyer or seller protection with classifieds sites. eBay, for example, encourages users to rate the buyers and sellers they’ve dealt with, so you can see a history of their other dealings. This isn’t the case on classifieds website
Facebook Marketplace Groups
If you use Facebook at all then you are highly unlikely to have missed the recent surge in people using the platform to sell items. Facebook has switched onto this too and given added functionality to these groups to make pricing clearer etc.
It has a number of the same benefits as classifieds websites:
- Free way to sell
- Local (and often large) audience
But whereas classifieds sites often feel fairly anonymous, Facebook has the added benefit of people dealing with profiles. Of course, you are still ultimately most often dealing with strangers. But the reassurance of selling to someone with a few friends in common, for example, or a lot of previous activity on the marketplace groups is clear.
Try running a Facebook search for “for sale” and filtering by groups. That’s a good start to find groups and Facebook will often organise these by relevance to you – so you’ll find the ones geographically most appropriate or the ones that have your friends as members.
Selling Used Baby Stuff Offline
Your second option is, of course, to sell offline:
- Your local council will certainly have information about markets and you could set your own used baby stuff market stall up.
- Car boot sales are another option for you
- Mum2Mum Market
Mum2Mum Market
I want to write about Mum2Mum Market specifically because this is a great way to buy and sell used baby items. Essentially, it’s a “nearly new” market that takes place all over the country specifically to allow parents to sell their used baby items in excellent condition.
You pay a small set fee to run a stall and can then sell whatever baby items you have without paying any sort of commission.
Offline selling does of course take a bit more effort than online! But without fees on each transaction, without needing to worry about delivery and with the ability to negotiate and build up trust with buyers face to face it could be a more lucrative way to earn on used baby items that are in fantastic condition. So I’d recommend checking out their website and finding out when the markets closest to you will be taking place.
How did you sell your used baby items?
Did you use a different method than these? Give us a shout! Get in touch and tell us about the creative ways you sold your baby items and we’ll add your ideas!
Hi All,
Be Savvy – Buy Safely when buying pre-loved baby goods.
Take a look at our new online pre-loved shop call The Savvy Little Monsters Ltd, newly opened.
Servicing areas in an around West Sussex.
Delivery options for further afield addresses available by using Royal Mail.
4 price grade options Used – Good Condition, Used – Excellent Condition, New – Without Box, New – In box
7 day return option