Do you have a garage, attic or spare room filled with unused items that are just collecting dust? I was in that same situation, but decided to finally clean things out and make some money instead of donating everything. After researching different online selling platforms, I settled on trying Letgo - a local marketplace similar to OfferUp. Over the next few months, I was able to sell over $3,000 worth of unused stuff through Letgo. Here is my experience selling on Letgo in detail.
Things I Sold
The first step was going through all my unused items and grouping them by category. Here are the main types of things I ended up selling:
Collectibles
I had a lot of comic books, trading cards and toys from my childhood that I no longer wanted. These collected value over the years and sold well on Letgo to other collectors in the area. Some top selling collectibles included vintage Star Wars figures, Nintendo games and Pokemon cards.
Electronics
My old laptop, digital camera, portable DVD player and other electronics were taking up space but still had value to someone else. I tested everything to make sure it worked before listing. These items like the laptop and camera sold for a few hundred dollars each.
Clothes
My closet was overflowing so I pulled out clothes I never wore anymore like brand new shoes, pants and shirts that were too small or out of style. These sold in bundles for $20-50 each.
Home Goods
I also found unused kitchen items, toys, books and home decor while cleaning. Pots, pans, toys and books sold individually or in sets for $5-30 depending on condition.
Overall I ended up with over 100 different items to list spread across these main categories. Now it was time to prepare everything properly for selling.
Preparing Items For Sale
To get the best price, it's important my items looked their best online. Here's what I did:
- Cleaned everything thoroughly to remove any dirt or stains so it appeared in new condition.
- Organized similar items together in photographable bundles when possible.
- Took multiple clear, well-lit photos against a plain background from different angles using my phone.
- Researched "sold" listings of comparable items online to determine a fair asking price.
- Wrote a detailed description for each listing mentioning any signs of wear, included measurements and answered common questions buyers may have.
This preparation stage took some time but ensured my items would stand out and sell for top dollar on Letgo.
Setting Up My Letgo Profile
Setting up a profile on Letgo only takes a few minutes. Here are the basic steps:
- Sign up using your email and create a password. Letgo keeps things secure.
- Add your first name, location and upload a clear profile photo - this helps build trust as a seller.
- Customize notification settings so you don't miss out on messages or sales.
- Play around with the interface to get comfortable making listings.
Letgo has seller-friendly policies like no insertion fees. Once my profile informed buyers of my real name and location in [City], I was ready to start listing items. Checkout Zipprr Letgo Clone App Script.
Listing Items For Sale
Listing items for sale on Letgo is simple. Here's what I did:
- I was able to list multiple items at once by uploading my pre-organized photo batches.
- For each item, fill out the name, category, description, price and my location.
- Letgo easily geotags listings to nearby buyers so my items showed up locally.
- All my listings went live immediately on the marketplace searchable by others.
It only took me a few hours spread over a few days to list my entire inventory of over 100 items. Now it was time to wait for interested buyers to contact me!
Negotiating With Buyers
Within days, I started receiving messages from potential buyers interested in various listings. Here was my process:
- Many people would make offers lower than my list price. I was open to reasonablenegotiation while still leaving profit on the table.
- Letgo has a built-in secure messaging system to chat with buyers in the app.
- I answered questions buyers had and worked out meeting logistics like locations and timing.
- For higher priced items over $100, I'd negotiate a little more to get a confirmed sale.
Being responsive yet firm helped me negotiate multiple sales without losing money on underpriced deals. The whole negotiation process took just a few minutes per buyer through the app.
Payment and Shipping Options
Once I agreed on a price with buyers, it was time to complete the sale:
- For local pickup sales under $500, I had the buyer pay via the Letgo Payment Protection between us in the app before meeting.
- This ensured same-day cash in my PayPal account linked to Letgo - no waiting for checks to clear.
- For higher priced electronics, I've shipped through the Post Office myself fully insured after receiving payment.
- Buyers can also arrange shipping through their own carriers which I've accepted on larger orders.
Letgo's payment system gives both buyers and sellers confidence with every sale protected. Now it was on to the logistics.
Marketing My Listings
While Letgo promotes new local listings organically, I took some additional steps to market my items:
- For highly sought after electronics and collectibles, I shared the listings to related Facebook buy/sell groups and subreddits to boost visibility outside of Letgo alone.
- Since items sold quite regularly without much effort, I kept re-listing unsold items weekly to keep them active and visible.
- For big ticket items like the laptop, I promoted them on social media with my own professionally taken photos knowing there was value.
This extra marketing gave my items even more eyes without much work on my part. Combined with the built-in Letgo reach, sales happened consistently.
Selling Over $3,000 in 3 Months
Through several hours of preparation upfront and a handful per week maintaining listings, here were my final totals selling everything over a 3 month period:
- Clothing/Shoes: $387 from 12 bundles
- Collectibles: $1,235 from 35 individual items like toys and games
- Electronics: $1,475 from 5 larger items like camera and laptop
- Home Goods: $249 from 27 smaller items like books and kitchenware
- Other misc. items: $150
My grand total earned was $3,496 before any fees. For essentially spare unused items filling my storage, this was a great return with minimal effort ongoing. I was able to make good money decluttering while others enjoyed getting good deals too.
Tips for Selling on Letgo
Through this experience, here are some tips for making successful sales on Letgo:
- Take advantage of natural lighting to photograph items clearly showing details. Zoom and enhance as needed.
- Research fair market prices for comparable recently sold items to price competitively.
- Provide clean, thorough descriptions including relevant details, measurements and answering common questions.
- Be prompt responding to all messages from interested buyers even if just to decline politely. This builds reputation.
- Consider negotiating on price within reason but don't lose money pricing something too low initially.
- Have a professional looking profile with your full name and city displayed to give buyers confidence.
Following these small but important tips can really help items stand out and lead to more sales quickly on Letgo.
Comparing to Other Marketplaces
Letgo differs from other online selling platforms I considered in a few key ways:
- Its focus is local sales within a city, so items sell faster than national marketplaces where shipping applies.
- Letgo promotes impulse buying given its target of nearby potential customers. This suited my smaller lower priced goods.
- For collectibles or higher value electronics, I may have earned more on platforms like eBay with a larger national audience willing to pay shipping. However, Letgo fees are lower too.
- Facebook Marketplace offers a free local alternative, but lacks the built-in communication, payment andseller interfacefeatures of Letgo.
For my needs testing out unused goods, Letgo was an ideal hassle-free marketplace to earn thousands with local reach.
Would I Use Letgo Again in Future?
This experience selling unused items on Letgo was remarkably simple yet lucrative. I'd definitely use the platform again going forward:
- Letgo provided a turnkey solution from listing to payment that required minimal continued effort on my part to earn thousands over just a few months.
- It gave me an easy way to generate some extra income while decluttering spaces without appointments or shipping logistics through a trusted app.
- New items accumulate, so periodically listing "new" goods will allow me to continue cashing in on unused stuff through Letgo.
- The income lets me continually replenish my tech and hobby interests without additional costs thanks to reselling things no longer needed.
In conclusion, I highly recommend others use Letgo as a marketplace to test selling any unused items collecting dust. It takes little time while providing the potential for earning hundreds or even thousands like in my experience. Letgo allowed me to profitably declutter and maintain a revenue stream from spare possessions without much work.
