Smart Money: Re-Commerce
Just read an interesting article today. It's about a new trend called Re-commerce. I guess it's not really new, but all of a sudden it's become much more popular.
In a tough economy like this, bartering, trading in, and selling some of your old stuff is a great way to maximize your dollars. And there are a lot of new websites and companies all lined up ready to help you. Here are some of the ones I've found:
Gazelle is a site where you can turn in your old cell phones, E-readers and tablets for cash. It's not a lot of cash, but it's something. My year old Motorola Droid was quoted a price of a whopping $32.
Levi's in Singapore has begun offering $100 in incentives for people who trade in their old jeans. $50 off a new pair and an additional $50 in coupons.
The famous London store Marks & Spencer had an event last year where they were offering a 5 pound coupon for any item of their clothing traded in. The clothing was then given to charity. The Gap did something similar with a 30% discount with any trade-in. These aren't everyday deals, they are special events, but it does show a new trend in discounts for clothing recycling. Marketplace is a new site specifically for high end fashion clothing and I've seen sites where you can borrow high end purses and other expensive fashion items for a limited time.
There are also trade-in programs for toys, both adult and children's toys. There are sites that take trade-ins for bikes, golf clubs, and Toy's R Us offered a similar program to trade in old baby gear for a discount on new items. Probably the most famous place that offers deals like this is Play it Again Sports. Just today my niece was looking for a treadmill and that's where I told her she could find the best deal.
Craigslist is also a site where you can buy or sell just about anything. I've frequently bought and sold a number of things on there. In fact, I am sitting on a Lazy Boy couch I found on there last week. I paid a ridiculously low $30 for it because my husband needed a left handed recliner after his shoulder surgery. It's ugly and pretty well worn out, but it will suit our needs quite nicely over the next few weeks.
I get practically all of my books, CD's, movies and E-books from Amazon.com. Some I buy new, but if it's not a gift or something, I will usually buy them used to save from 25% to 50% off the in-store prices. Then often, when I'm done with it, I'll turn around and sell it back. Last year, I bought a Crayola color mat for my granddaughter, but it didn't arrive in time for Christmas. So I put it out there and sold it for $15 more than I had paid for it. That's a score!
There are also brick and mortar stores like Plato's Closet, Kid2Kid, Music-Go-Round, and Game Stop that are willing to take all sorts of clothes, music, games, and all sorts of stuff. You don't get a lot of money for them, but how much money do you get when this stuff is hanging around your house gathering dust?
Stubhub is a new site where you can buy and sell tickets on your SmartPhone right at the event. That sounds a lot better than standing around on a street corner trying to sell an unwanted ticket or two.
And I think everyone has heard of this whole Groupon-type mania. I've bought bunches of these and have gotten some really good deals that way. In fact, I bought one just today - $50 worth of groceries from our local dairy delivery service for $20. That's a huge score in my book.
Can't forget Ebay, the original buy and sell marketplace. I actually started out as an Ebay seller and I probably did it for about 5 years. I did thousands of auctions and made a fair bit of money at it - sometimes. Other times, I lost my shirt, but that was kind of the fun of it, to see what items were going to sell and what crazy prices people were willing to pay for things, or how cheap they were willing to sell them for. I started with stuff that hadn't sold at my last garage sale, and made hundreds of dollars on this junk that no one wanted. I was hooked.
I hope this gives you some good ideas on buying the things you want at a better price and maybe even selling a few extra goodies you have floating around your house.
By TwitterButtons.com
In a tough economy like this, bartering, trading in, and selling some of your old stuff is a great way to maximize your dollars. And there are a lot of new websites and companies all lined up ready to help you. Here are some of the ones I've found:
Gazelle is a site where you can turn in your old cell phones, E-readers and tablets for cash. It's not a lot of cash, but it's something. My year old Motorola Droid was quoted a price of a whopping $32.
Levi's in Singapore has begun offering $100 in incentives for people who trade in their old jeans. $50 off a new pair and an additional $50 in coupons.
The famous London store Marks & Spencer had an event last year where they were offering a 5 pound coupon for any item of their clothing traded in. The clothing was then given to charity. The Gap did something similar with a 30% discount with any trade-in. These aren't everyday deals, they are special events, but it does show a new trend in discounts for clothing recycling. Marketplace is a new site specifically for high end fashion clothing and I've seen sites where you can borrow high end purses and other expensive fashion items for a limited time.
There are also trade-in programs for toys, both adult and children's toys. There are sites that take trade-ins for bikes, golf clubs, and Toy's R Us offered a similar program to trade in old baby gear for a discount on new items. Probably the most famous place that offers deals like this is Play it Again Sports. Just today my niece was looking for a treadmill and that's where I told her she could find the best deal.
Craigslist is also a site where you can buy or sell just about anything. I've frequently bought and sold a number of things on there. In fact, I am sitting on a Lazy Boy couch I found on there last week. I paid a ridiculously low $30 for it because my husband needed a left handed recliner after his shoulder surgery. It's ugly and pretty well worn out, but it will suit our needs quite nicely over the next few weeks.
I get practically all of my books, CD's, movies and E-books from Amazon.com. Some I buy new, but if it's not a gift or something, I will usually buy them used to save from 25% to 50% off the in-store prices. Then often, when I'm done with it, I'll turn around and sell it back. Last year, I bought a Crayola color mat for my granddaughter, but it didn't arrive in time for Christmas. So I put it out there and sold it for $15 more than I had paid for it. That's a score!
There are also brick and mortar stores like Plato's Closet, Kid2Kid, Music-Go-Round, and Game Stop that are willing to take all sorts of clothes, music, games, and all sorts of stuff. You don't get a lot of money for them, but how much money do you get when this stuff is hanging around your house gathering dust?
Stubhub is a new site where you can buy and sell tickets on your SmartPhone right at the event. That sounds a lot better than standing around on a street corner trying to sell an unwanted ticket or two.
And I think everyone has heard of this whole Groupon-type mania. I've bought bunches of these and have gotten some really good deals that way. In fact, I bought one just today - $50 worth of groceries from our local dairy delivery service for $20. That's a huge score in my book.
Can't forget Ebay, the original buy and sell marketplace. I actually started out as an Ebay seller and I probably did it for about 5 years. I did thousands of auctions and made a fair bit of money at it - sometimes. Other times, I lost my shirt, but that was kind of the fun of it, to see what items were going to sell and what crazy prices people were willing to pay for things, or how cheap they were willing to sell them for. I started with stuff that hadn't sold at my last garage sale, and made hundreds of dollars on this junk that no one wanted. I was hooked.
I hope this gives you some good ideas on buying the things you want at a better price and maybe even selling a few extra goodies you have floating around your house.
By TwitterButtons.com 
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