eBay

We all have stuff lying around the basement or attic that we simply don't use or need anymore. eBay is a great means of getting rid of those items and getting some money for them too.

What's great about eBay is you can easily find which items sell be searching its Completed Listings section (you'll need to be logged in to do this). You search on the item in question and then check off Completed Listing option on the left hand side of the eBay screen.

In order to get the most out of your listing, make sure you specify the condition of the items your are selling and take several pictures of each item at various angles. Be clear on what your shipping policies are and also be available to answer questions that potential buyers may have.

You want to make sure that you level of customer service is top notch. Even though you may only be selling a few items, you never know when you may want to sell again in the future. Having a good seller's rating helps in a big way when it comes to sales.

Fiverr.com

​Fiverr.com is a place where people buy and sell services for five dollars. This may seem like a small amount of money to offer your services from but if you set up your gigs in the correct way you could easily earn more.

The key is to offer upsells or what Fiverr calls premium services. For instance, suppose you offer video creation services and you have a gig that offers a 30 second video. You can add additional time to the video for $5 for each additional 30 seconds, etc.  Or you could add voiceover services, etc.

You will need to have 10 successful gigs before you are allowed to include premium offers to your gigs so those first 10 gigs you won't be able to take advantage of them.

As with anything else, you want to make sure you deliver great customer service as your reputation can mean the difference of getting gigs or getting ignored. You want to keep your reviews as high as possible so do everything in your power to make your customers happy.

Bidding Sites like eLance and Freelancer.com

There are plenty of jobs available at these types of websites but the biggest problem is standing out from the rest of bidders when trying to get the gigs. Nevertheless, if you have a decent portfolio already built up you can have that displayed in your profile. This will serve to increase the visibility of your profile and get more gigs.

Sometimes, it may be worth it when first starting out to simply come in at lower bids and build up your reputation. As your reputation gains, so to will your ability to increase your rates.

Craigslist.org

It is possible to sell just about anything on Craigslist. Of course, there are much more possibilities for scammers to hit using a site like Craigslist. Your listing is bound to get some great visibility so you will likely get responses when posting on here.

Again, it pays to be cautious because Craigslist is still like the wild, wild west of selling stuff. With sites like eBay, Amazon, and eLance, the management tries to ensure a smooth transaction (as long as payment is made via PayPal on eBay, there are protections for purchasers). But Craigslist has no such controls in place. The buyers and sellers are matched up directly.

If you decide to go with selling your wares on Craigslist, it is always a good idea to include pictures of the merchandise whenever possible. Even services should include some kind of graphic as to stand out from the many of listings that don't include graphics.

If you find that the buyer and seller need to meet up to make the exchange happen try to arrange for the meet up to occur in a busy area where people will be (like coffeeshops, etc.) Beware of any meet ups that will be in remote locations.

Etsy.com

​Selling on Etsy.com is for those that are good with crafts and homemade types of items. Etsy allows its users to set up stores and that's why it's important to have a tightly focused theme for your store. If you are selling handmade, knitted clothing items, you should avoid trying to sell paintings unless you set up another store dedicated to paintings.

The key to success with Etsy is to have a fair amount of inventory built up before you even open your store. This will prevent you from having to fulfill orders in panic mode. It also gives you flexibility in certain instances, of offering bundles (where applicable).

As with many of the quick cash ideas of this article, displaying your item with several pictures can really help you stand out as people want to remove doubt in their purchase decisions. Excellent customer service is a must!

Sell on Amazon

People are often surprised at the amount of different ways they can use Amazon to sell their stuff. I've written a complete article on this that profiles all the ways currently available. Instead of reiterating that here, I will simply give you the opportunity to read that article (opens in new window).

Sell from your Own Website

Having your own website, whether free or paid, is generally a good idea. Even if you are using the other ideas to generate quick cash, it can't hurt to build up a web presence in order to increase traffic to your offers.

Although it's beyond the scope of this article, you could also create an ecommerce website if you happen to have products that you want to sell and are comfortable with such items as payment processors, fulfillment of orders, shipping, returns, etc.

Many people often start with Amazon (see above) and then as they grow, they branch out into developing their own website. In the end having your own website gives you full control but you will have to manage everything.