Ebay.

Its a pretty safe bet that at about 25 days after the quarter I have a bunch of stuff I am trying to give away on ebay. 30 days after each quarter, I send a big fat check to MO dept. of Revenue for sales tax. This along with rent, credit card payments, house, medical bills, kids, student loans, makes for stress induced Carbon Cleanse.


There's a trick to ebay, that recently I have come across. People in California spend a lot of money on bike stuff. They also get home from work around 6, drink a little, then a little more, then go on ebay to buy stuff. I've listed stuff at different times of days for various reasons. Some people have ebay blocked at work, while some don't have Internet at home. I've tried focusing on various time zones at different times of the day, California between 7pm and 9pm (west coast time) is the best time to do it, preferably wed/thurs/or friday. If you live in the central time zone, list your stuff between 9 and 11pm, its my only trick for ebay.

What sucks with ebay is your usually out 13% or so after ebay and paypal fees. If I sell some $1800 wheels for $1k, I see about $870, even though I probably paid $1200 for it, its not a healthy thing to do...so I try to price things at least 10% above cost so I don't lose out. Ebay has adds now, claiming they have saved families lives, finances, people lose jobs, and start selling their belongings on ebay to make rent, they do, they make rent, pay bills/mortgages, and eventually start working again avoiding foreclosure/bankruptcy, you name it, ebay sells it.

The other thing that sucks about ebay is 9 times out of 10, you barely get wholesale out of what your selling, even if it is brand new. Seems most the people buying on ebay do their research, know their stuff, or already have a hook up for good deals, and still want a better deal. Last spring I parted out 2 7900 groups. 1 group, used by a colavita/sutterhome racer had 15k miles on it, had been crashed with lots of scratches. The other was pulled off a brand new fp3, brand new super good. The brand new group sold for a combined $1400 while the used group went for $1280.

Between now and Saturday night I leave myself in a pretty vulnerable position. I'd do just about anything to sell something cheap, just to have some cash flow to make it to the end of 1st qtr, 2012, 11-6 friday, 10-4 saturday at 39th.