Give it away, give it away now?

[illy5603]

We recently decided to part with a lot of our stuff. This is of course a good thing, but my question to Mustachians is this. How much effort would you put into selling something before you decide it is just too much trouble and give it away?
 
Two examples:

1 - We replaced all of our carpet with hardwood flooring so my wife's (yes!!!) drum set that she had been ignoring for the past few years had to get out of the way. We tried to sell it on Facebook and Craigslist with no luck. We eventually let a friend of a friend from Facebook borrow it. The young man is super grateful but has no money to ever buy it. If we were really lucky we could get $100 - $200 for the kit which is now a 30 mile drive away and we still have no place to put it. Should we just give it to the guy?
 
2 - I have probably 500 CD's in my garage and we are out of space. There are maybe 10 - 20 that I really genuinely want to keep forever and the rest, I'm looking at you Pearl Jam collection, that I could really care less about. The local record stores stopped buying used CD's and eBay is a huge pain in the ass. Are there any ways to get rid of these things and make a few bucks or should we just give them away?
 
I would be interested in some of your solutions to (first world) problems like this. I really would like to make a few bucks but I also hate being hassled and am sick of the clutter.

[eldub]

This is awesome, and I totally commend you for starting the process!

Sounds to me though that both these items fall into the "give it away and be done with it" category.

The CDs - you've said as much yourself, there is no way you're getting anything for them anyway. So not worth your time or effort.

The drum kit I might have been inclined to try to get something for, but since it's already found a loving home and is so far away I say just let it go. The guy is stoked - think of it as good karma.

Focus your time and energy now on other things in your home that you can craigslist for cash. I've been doing this for about the past year or so and have made well over $2000! Mostly baby stuff, my wedding dress, some furniture, tools and a garage sale for the random other stuff.

Good luck

[ShavenLlama]

Donate the CDs to a thrift store or the library and deduct the value from your taxes. Even if you assume a value of $1/ per, you'll get more cash in your pocket for the effort than trying to sell them.

[James]

To sell things well I think you need to do some research.  With the CDs I'd start by using google to get suggestions for what to do with old CD collections.  I would guess there isn't much you can do with them, but I'm sure there is a lot of advice out there that only people with big collections to sell care about.  Go find that advice.  For example, I found this as the second link when I looked for advice in getting rid of a large CD collection: http://ask.metafilter.com/109058/Whats-the-best-way-to-sell-a-bulk-CD-collection

The drum kit probably was listed for too much on Craigslist, or else you are in a very rural area.  When selling on Craiglist you need to be realistic, if someone would spend $200 at an instrument shop for the used drums then ask $100.  If they would cost $100 at a shop then ask $50.  And whatever you ask, lower it every week until it sells, or just give it away if ti doesn't sell quickly.  Just call a shop and ask about the value if you aren't sure, it doesn't even have to be in your town.  But there isn't any one rule for every item you want to sell, it just depends. (At this point give the drums to the kid and be done with it, or see if he can afford $50 or some small amount like that)

So start by doing some quick research for whatever you are selling, shouldn't take more then five or ten minutes, and then apply that research immediately and ruthlessly to accomplish your goal.  Don't get bogged down in maximizing profit, just get what you can, or give it away, and move on.

And I highly agree about the tax deductions if you itemize, they can add up very quickly, just use ItsDeductible to figure out the values.

[illy5603]

Donate the CDs to a thrift store or the library and deduct the value from your taxes. Even if you assume a value of $1/ per, you'll get more cash in your pocket for the effort than trying to sell them.

Hmm, I am liking this idea. Following James' link (thanks BTW) and it seems I would have to be down for a lot of cataloging and, typing, shipping etc. to get any money from them. I like the library idea a lot!

[Russ]

plus if you give them to the library, you still get to enjoy them (almost) whenever you want!

[matt_g]

Donate the CDs to a thrift store or the library and deduct the value from your taxes. Even if you assume a value of $1/ per, you'll get more cash in your pocket for the effort than trying to sell them.

I will second this.  Donate & write off on taxes will net much more money than trying to sell it.

The drum set, give it to the poor kid who wants it!!

[Gerard]

I find when I give stuff away, I generally get more happiness from the act than I would from whatever I would buy with the money I'd make from selling it. Even without the tax advantages, I definitely like the library idea for the CDs... if they can't use them, they'll probably sell them themselves, and use the money to buy good stuff.

[illy5603]

Thanks for the input everyone. The drum set has been given away and we will rummage through the CD's in the coming weeks and get them all sorted. You are right, it really felt good sending the e-mail out that he could keep the drums. I hope he enjoys them!

[Anvil]

In the UK there is a thing called Music Magpie.  You get all your unwanted CDs, DVDs, computer games, and scan the barcodes with a phone or type in the serial numbers (or similar) on their website - they give you a price offered for each, and when you are done, you get freepost to send them off.

They will pay a pittance for most of it, but if you have many of them, it adds up and its freepost.  If it is rare/valuable they do offer more.  It might be worth looking into ebay or similar for the items that come up as collectables or higher prices.

No idea if there is an american version of this.

[kt]

anvil's said what i was going to, look for an online secondhand music shop which will accept them based on barcodes and do the work for you. or there is a chain called CEX here which is similar but for secondhand electricals and media. again, barcodes and then they sort for you.

would seem CEX is in america though don't know if it'll help you and it is likely to be a pittance: http://us.webuy.com/help/sellhelp.php#what

[Mickijune]

Last I checked Amazon buys used Cds.  Search music trade-in...

I haven't done it myself.

[Michento]

I get a lot of happiness from donating my stuff. I had some old horse gear (including a saddle, bridle, and other tack) that I probably could have gotten a couple hundred bucks for. However, I ended up donating it all to SIRE which is an organization that does equestrian physical therapy.

Goodwill is also my go-to place for donating. Just make sure you separate out the stuff that's donation-worthy from stuff that really needs to just be tossed.

Also, Freecycle is a great site to post things that may be harder to donate but not valuable enough to sell (like furniture). I posted our old couch on Freecycle and a young couple came and picked it up.

There's only been a few things I've made the effort to sell. We put our motorcycles on Craigslist and I sell a handful of books to Half Price Books from time to time.

I would certainly let the young guy keep the drum set and just donate the CDs. You'll make some people happy and unload a burden from yourself! :)