How to Make Money Getting Rid of Clutter
You refresh your space, someone else gets the specific item they've been looking for: win-win.
By Lynn Andriani
The "It" Appliances
If you're the new owner of the kitchen appliance everyone's talking about—the
Instant Pot—you probably don't need your slow cooker anymore (since the Instant Pot can do its job, as well as a host of others). Consider selling it on
eBay and you could make anywhere from $20 to $50. eBay dean of education Jim "Griff" Griffith says that in recent weeks there have been about 7,000 sales of slow cookers on the marketplace (compared to about 5,000 sales of Instant Pots). Another sought-after appliance is blenders (it's hard to make a trendy smoothie without one). Griffith says the most popular brands are Vitamix, Oster, Ninja, Magic Bullet and Hamilton Beach; pre-owned Vitamixes can go for anywhere from $50 to more than $300.
The Living Room Lighting You Never Use
We're not suggesting you sit in the dark, but if you've got a light on the side table or sitting in the corner that you never turn on, why not free up some space? The number-one in-demand style, says Michael Capo, owner of
Capo Auction in New York, is midcentury modern. It's been hot for awhile and continues to be; Venetian styles made with Murano glass in particular have lately become enormously valuable, fetching between $150 and close to $1,000. Of note: pairs of lamps are always more attractive to collectors than a single lamp is.
A Looking Glass Worth Taking a New Look At
Mirror, mirror on the wall…I don't like you very much at all. If you're putting up with the mirror you took from your parents' attic after college simply because you've got to look somewhere to make sure you don't have toothpaste on your face in the morning, it's time to trade it in. In fact, Capo says mirrors are some of the easiest home décor items to sell; far easier than other items you'd hang on a wall, such as paintings or clocks. You'll know if you've got a true antique by checking the glass; if it has random (not uniform) cloudy spots around the edges, chances are it's truly old and not a reproduction. And the back on an antique will be wood, not paper.
Accessories with an International Allure
Chinoiserie, with its Asian imagery of intricate pagodas and monkeys-in-costume, first rose to prominence in the late 19th century, and Griffith says there's been an interest on-and-off since then—"its popularity has never really waned." Wooden trinket boxes, china cabinets and mirrors are some of the most common chinoiserie items, as are lamps, especially in blue and white, which can fetch between $90 and $350. (Some of the most prized chinoiserie items aren't actually from China or Japan, Griffith says; pieces made in England or the U.S. can be even more valuable.)
Vintage Table Toppers
When it comes to tablecloths,
Marghab is the name that trumps all; it refers to linens that are handmade on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Tablecloths, placemats and napkins from the '60s with the Marghab name are always in demand; a recent set of 6 cocktail napkins went for $85 on eBay. Griffith also says table linens from the '80s and '90s are picking up speed lately; we spotted a late-'80s Lenox tablecloth which has since been discontinued that recently sold for $200.
Published 03/08/2018
