To Every Season, Turn, Turn, Turn…
Most people will tell you that if you have a lot of extra stuff lying around, you should get it out of the way by either storing it or selling it. Being that I work for a self-storage company, you are probably thinking that I am about to spend the rest of this blog entry championing the former. However, your needs may go beyond renting a self storage unit. Therefore, I say, why not do both?
Just like the Byrds’ lyrics I referenced in the title above say, there is a season for everything. If you are one of those people who buy and sell a lot of items on websites like Craig’s List or Ebay, you know that you ending up losing money if you don’t sell your items at the right time. For example, if you try to auction off your artificial Christmas tree in the month of July, you will find that you don’t quite get the results you would have gotten if you posted it up in September or November. Like so much in life, when it comes to getting the most value out of the possessions you have, timing is indeed everything.
Another timing issue to keep in mind when selling your items is to aim for months when you know people will be in front of their computers. The fact of the matter is that people are not looking for stuff to buy on Ebay or Craig’s List as much during the busy, active summer months. Additionally, I have heard of people getting an average of as much as 30 percent less yield on the things they sell during that time, versus the winter months. That can really add up, especially if you have a lot of items that you want to sell. So, ironically, you could find it easier to sell that boat in the fall or early spring than in the heart of the summer when people are more apt to actually use that item.
In case this seems somewhat confusing; I’ll just tell you that sometimes it can indeed be. I’m not telling you to sell your boat at Christmas time. Perhaps you could get more for that hypothetical aforementioned boat during the summer than in the heart of winter when no one in their right minds is thinking of going boating. On the other hand, it might be better to fine-tune the timing of when it goes up for sale to be right before the summer, as opposed to during it. There are obviously many factors at work here, and every item is different. Basically, you just have to study-up and play the odds.
So, in conclusion, in order to get the most out of your items to be sold or auctioned off, one must keep in mind the importance of timing. Instead of just rushing out to sell that extra parts-car or power-drill immediately, conceptualize the best time to sell it, and, if it is not the present time, why not (you guessed it) put it in to self-storage? This way, the power of timing will be in your hands and all that extra stuff will be immediately moved out of your way, allowing you all the space you need. Even better, you wont have to sell your snowplow for 70 percent of it’s potential value in June!
Recent Comments