$272 of Found Money

Last weekend I got off my butt and started the process of selling some unused clutter on eBay to create some "found money". It is one of my goals for 2008 to work hard to create extra cash to speed up the process of paying down my debt.

So far I have completed 10 auctions of inventory from my failed MLM business. I looked at other auctions to get a feel for how much money I might generate, and it turns out there is a fairly robust trade in this company's merchandise. This is in spite of a company-wide ban on online selling, through auction sites or otherwise. Because I no longer have any affiliation with the company I could care less about their unethical no-internet rules. Supposedly these rules are put in place to "protect the brand image" but I think it may actually be more about making sure the market does not get a chance to set prices. If a consultant does not know what the product is really worth they are more likely to buy inventory from which they will never recoup their investment (like what happens to most who start with the business).

Anyway, here are the results. I have received $272 for the 10 completed auctions. It seems useful to look at this in a few different ways. First, the retail price for the items I sold is $1,048. That means the average eBay bidder got a 74% discount off of retail price (good for them, bad for me). The second way to look at these sales is to determine how much money I lost in the transaction. According to my records, I paid $568.30 for these items. That means that I lost $296 by purchasing over priced merchandise and selling it for much less. The final way to look at these sales is that I now have $272 that I didn't have yesterday. This is what actually matters to me now. I have put in a little effort and now I've got $272 cold hard cash.

I have started a second batch of eBay sales that will finish off the last of my inventory. I don't expect these auctions to pull in quite as much money but it should be more than pocket change. Also on my For Sale list will be some old books, DVDs, and CDs. I've noticed lately that my wife and I have nearly killed our media buying habits which at one time were pretty substantial and now nearly non-existent.

The final important task is to load up the car and haul these items off to the nearest Kinko's or UPS Store to get them out of my life. This too is a benefit because I will have less crap in my house. All-in-all this has been a win-win-win situation. I recommend everyone clean out the closets and create a little Found Money.