Turn clutter into cash
Sell Your Stuff
The average home is sitting on hundreds of pounds of unworn clothes, outgrown gadgets and forgotten games. One honest weekend of listing can beat a month of side hustling — here’s where and how to sell.
Where to sell
Match the platform to the item — it makes a real difference to price and hassle.
Vinted — clothes & small items
No seller fees (buyers pay the charges), postage labels generated for you, and everyday brands genuinely sell. The lowest-hassle starting point for clothes, shoes, toys and homeware.
eBay — electronics & collectables
The biggest audience for tech, branded goods and anything collectable — and private sellers no longer pay selling fees on most categories. Auctions work best for rare items; Buy It Now for everything else.
Facebook Marketplace — big & local
Furniture, appliances, bikes, anything too bulky to post. No fees, cash on collection, and listings take two minutes from your phone. Expect hagglers — price with a little wiggle room.
Trade-in sites — media & tech
Sites and apps that buy books, CDs, DVDs, games and old phones by scanning the barcode. Prices are lower than selling directly, but you can clear a whole shelf in an evening with zero listing effort.
How to sell for more
Photos do most of the work: natural daylight, plain background, and shots of any flaws (honesty prevents returns and disputes). Put the brand, size, colour and condition in the title — that’s what buyers search for. Check what the same item actually sold for recently, not what others are asking, and price just under it.
Timing helps too: list on Thursday or Friday so your item is fresh over the weekend, when most buyers browse. And answer questions quickly — a fast reply often closes the sale before a rival listing does.
What actually sells
Branded clothes and trainers, children’s clothes bundles, video games and consoles, LEGO (even loose, by the kilo), old phones and tablets, tools, and anything discontinued — people pay surprisingly well for the exact thing they can no longer buy new. Don’t bin anything odd before checking it: “weird” is often “rare”. A quick search for your item plus “sold” will settle it in seconds.
The tax question (and staying safe)
Selling your own unwanted possessions is not normally taxable — decluttering isn’t trading, however much you raise. Tax only enters the picture if you’re buying things to resell or making things to sell: that’s trading, and you get a £1,000 a year trading allowance before any tax is due. Be aware that selling platforms now report high-volume sellers’ details to HMRC, so if you do cross into reselling, keep simple records.
Safety basics: for local collections, take cash or verified bank transfer before the item leaves, and for anything valuable, meet in daylight with someone home. Never accept “courier will collect and my agent will pay you” arrangements — that’s a scam, every time.
Cleared the clutter?
Put the proceeds to work with the rest of our money-making guides.
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