I started selling on Gumtree Australia when Scott Pape, my lord and savior told me to sell my junk. While climbing out of the financial wreckage I called my life, I took stock of every piece of crap I bought over the years. Unfortunately, I had accumulated 30+ years of stuff that had clogged my life and home. Fortunately for me, lots of that stuff was now seen as “collectable”. I made over 10k easily, selling via Gumtree and Ebay. I learned a few selling strategies and the differences between the platforms and how to make more money using them. Learn my top 10 tips when selling on Gumtree.
Selling on Gumtree Recommendation
It’s easy and it’s free, I say Heck Yes – I recommend the platform.
Now please carry on and ready the top 10 Tips.
Top 10 Tips for Selling on Gumtree
It’s amazing how much stuff we accumulate over the years. Eventually we throw it away, believing that the junk is worthless. I knew some of the stuff I kept for 10+ years was now worth money, like action figures, video games comic books. I was confident I could sell that. The experiment for me was selling the actual junk, like old exercise equipment, DVD towers, old chairs and dryers. This junk could qualify for the “Hard Rubbish” pile, but I thought someone would find value in these items. Which means I could sell them.
I decided to follow what Scott Pape said during my “Financial Awakening“. I wanted to see how much money I could make selling everything. After selling between 50-100 items, I discovered a few techniques for selling on Gumtree and I think I believe they can help you before throwing all of your stuff to sell online. Or if you want to refine your current approach. But firstly, let’s go into my recommendation of selling on Gumtree.
1. Do Some Research and Don’t Leave Any Money on the Table
When you list an item, make sure that you do some research on how much you could potentially make on the item. The worst thing you can do is think “no one will want this” and make it really cheap. Then someone will snap it up really quickly and you will wonder, could I have asked for more? Always put your highest price on the item and see how that goes. If after a while you get no response, you can always reduce it later. But start high and work your way down if needed.
2. Take Lots of Great Photos
Companies like Airbnb found that their business really took off when great photos were taken for their listings. When this happened, the service took off. The same principle applies here. That picture can sell the dream, and it’s worth taking decent photos of the item for sale. And take a few shots from various angles if possible. And make sure that main image is the best one. You want to make it exciting, and enticing for the person to click into the add and hopefully buy your item.
3. Write an Interesting Title and Description
Write a good title, and put something in it to stand out, after the Title. Like “Videogame for sale – On Sale Bro” or something that stands out. This is the hook, and then when you write the description, tell a little story. Make it short, but interesting. For example:
“I bought this here video game back in 1999, It was game of the year and it’s still a stone cold classic. Now it’s a collectors item and it is worthy f being in your collection as it’s a rare one. I’ve had it in storage and it’s in great condition as you can see from the photos. It’s looking for a new home.
Let me know if you’re interested or have any questions.”
I tell a story, make it amusing and hopefully engage with the potential customer in some way. Hopefully, it will make them want to have the item. I also use words like “collectors Item”, “rare” and other words that may make my item seem special. You can write nothing in the description, but a good story is more memorable, and like a salesman at JB Hi-FI, it can help with the sales process with that engagement.
4. Cross Post on Ebay (Especially If It’s free)
When selling via Gumtree you can easily cross post onto Ebay. The only catch is Ebay requires you to pay for a sale (XYZ amount). However, sometimes Ebay will let you cross-post for free. Whenever it is free, it’s a great idea to do so. See if you have any luck selling on Ebay. You may find that it is worth selling on both platforms to maximise your chances of selling your items. Using both platforms will increase your potential pool of buyers as typically people don’t use ebay and gumtree. Try both and see if you get a better result.
5. Don’t Sell Too Many Things at Once… It can get Hectic
When selling on Gumtree, put your listings online in lots of 5. This makes the calls and messages you may get in those first few days more manageable. Otherwise it can get pretty hectic with people contacting you throughout the day on various items, asking questions, organising times to view or pick up the item.
I made this mistake once, I loaded up over 10 items and I had people calling me, messaging me, all day while I was at work. My phone was constantly ringing and buzzing all day. And it was difficult to keep track of the items and the offers throughout the day. In the Work From Home age it wouldn’t be as disruptive if that is your work environment. Either way, I suggest 5 items max unless you are in a hurry to sell a heap of stuff quickly and you are prepared to man the phones and have people coming to your house all the time.
6. Don’t Put Your Phone Number on Your Advertisement
Having your mobile number on the advertisement sounds like a great idea, but it will slowly dawn on you that it is pretty disruptive. And you will get messages, WhatsApp messages, emails and calls all the time. But really, how many ways do you need to be contactable. Keep it simple and set up email only and manage everything from there. And only give out your phone number when regarding a pick up, just in case they are running late or can’t find your place. Or unless you don’t mind calls at 10PM to look at items urgently that night. Who’d a thunk that your mobile number available online would be a bad thing? cough.
7. Don’t take the First Offer on Anything
Gumtree is infamous for “low-ballers” throwing a low, stupid offer at you in case you say yes. Be polite, but reject these offers. You will also get some hard negotiators, wanting you to drop your price because of petrol costs and other various reasons. Unless you are desperate, just wait and say no if you are not in a hurry. If you don’t care, take the first bid, that’s fine. But I was always happy to wait and see if I could get more. And usually, I did. I wasn’t in a hurry to sell. And eventually, if the current price wasn’t getting any attention, I would slowly reduce the price by a little bit and start the waiting game again.
8. Drop the Price on Gumtree Only (but Never Drop the Ebay price)
If your item isn’t getting any love, it’s a good idea to drop the price a little (as mentioned above). This may get a sale across the line when using Gumtree. However, one interesting thing I found when cross-posting on eBay and Gumtree. When I dropped the price on a Gumtree listing, I forgot to drop the price on Ebay. As a result, my higher priced eBay items were still selling, while my cheaper Gumtree item weren’t. This happened a few times, and it shows that Ebay and Gumtree users are not the same people.
Basically, if you drop the price on an item, only drop the Gumtree item. if you have an ebay listing, just leave it as is.
9. Manage Your Ads at least Once a Month
Gumtree ads expire after a month. Unfortunately, Gumtree will not tell you that your ad has expired. This means you cannot see it on the site. To manage this you will need to log in at least once a month to check that your ads are active. If you are actively selling on Gumtree, you should be logging in often anyway. It’s important to check your items and make sure they have not expired.
10. Don’t Spend Any Money Selling on Gumtree
Gumtree has a feature where if you re-post an ad, you can pay money to move the ad to the top of the category for more visibility to buyers. Or you may be able to show the price has been reduced. I have used these features before and it might increase views, but I didn’t notice a difference in sales. Re-posting without spending any money is perfectly fine. And it maximises your return while sellong on Gumtree. It’s just not worth the extra cost.
How to Avoid Gumtree Scams
Gumtree scammers are a relatively new thing and they have started to receive a little bit of press lately. Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons why I removed my mobile number from the my advertisements. The scams were obvious, but they were annoying and not a great experience. Luckily, the scams can be avoided by removing your phone number from your advertisements. Once you remove your number, the issue disappears.
Gumtree scams are a recent thing. In 2022 I noticed that whenever I put a new ad up, within a day I would get a WhatsApp message from an interested person. This person would have a woman’s image as the WhatsApp icon, sometimes a woman with kids. They would want to buy your item, no matter how weird or specific, and insist on organising a courier to pick it up. You just need to log on and pay, and they will re-imburse you. Or they will send a dodgy https://gumtree-au.mwallet link, where you just need to log on to “withdraw the money.”
In these circumstances, I insist on speaking to them first and say “no call, no transaction”. I knew they were scammers but I was interested to see what they may say. That gumtree wallet URL was the first time I ever looked twice, and I realised the URL wasn’t the correct gumtree URL. And Gumtree wallet doesn’t actually exist.
So it is worth being aware of potential scams, and not putting your phone number on your advertisement. This will ensure the Gumtree scammers don’t have an opportunity to waste your time.
How Much Are the Gumtree Selling Fees
The fees to sell on Gumtree is zero. Is is completely free to list any item in the “for sale” section on Gumtree. So if you are selling random items from home, this is all you need. But there are optional paid categories that do cost you money and raise the exposure of your advertisement.
Gumtree Selling Etiquette
Where people on Gumtree selling items can have a bad reputation, there is some basic Gumtree Selling Etiquette to make sure that transaction is a safe and happy one for both buyer and seller.
- Always answer all questions and be nice about it
- Try to be accommodating with times to view and pick up items.
- If you verbally sell an item, and someone comes along afterwards offering more money, you shouldn’t just sell it to the highest bidder. Let the current bidder know and discuss the issue.
- If the Buyer takes the item home and it suddenly breaks or wont work, just refund the item.
- If shipping an item, bubble wrap and pack with care to ensure the goods don’t arrive damaged.
- Always leave feedback for the sale.
Really, you just want to make sure the buyer has a great experience and they get exactly what they paid for. Just be nice and helpful, and everything will work out fine.
Gumtree Vs eBay
Having used both platforms extensively and sold over $10,000 worth of items, I have to say the platforms are very similar with two real differences. The cost and the people that use the platform. These two variables also explain the perception of the platforms.
Round 1: Selling on Gumtree
For example, selling on Gumtree Australia is free to use. However a specific demographic use the platform and that demographic are bargain hunters mostly, but nice people. But you will get occasional time wasters, people will try lowball you, Scammers cruise the site and people are aware of it and google “selling on gumtree safety”. I also found Gumtree buyers would call at 10PM, or seem a little odd or asked for price reductions to allow for petrol to pick up the items.
Round 2: Selling on eBay
Now when selling on Ebay Australia, it does cost you money most of the time. But the buyers are usually very fair but I have had a few terrible experiences. One seller returned my item and was very nasty about it, playing mind games and leaving multiple nasty messages even though I accepted the return. And one time, I made an honest mistake with a double listing on Gumtree. When I explained what happened, I was abused and called “Gumtree Scum” amongst other things. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast when selling anything on the internet.
Gumtree Vs Ebay – The Winner is….
There is no clear winner when selling on eBay vs Gumtree. Both platforms are great and let you sell your unwanted stuff. The main difference and deciding factor is that selling on ebay has fees. And selling on Gumtree is easy and it is free.
Summary
I have been buying and selling on Gumtree for years. It has been a mostly positive experience and I recommend it to anyone that has unloved items in their homes. I recommend selling on Gumtree as I continue to list new items and make money. There are a couple of negative quirks when using the platform, but 99% of the time it is great and your transactions work out fine. And you can use that money to invest or right your financial wrongs as Scott Pape suggests.
Finally, If any transactions don’t go to plan, hopefully that sweet, sweet cash you make will cheer you up. And the people you meet and the sales you make always create good stories to tell your friends. Like the time I had to meet a guy at Springvale station to sell him a Street Fighter 2 joystick for XBox in the pouring rain. Or the BO machine that came from Dandenong after his shift in a factory and stunk out my lounge room. Good times….
M. Moneyman