Another approach is to use ebay....

Hi Gordon,

Another option to avoid having people come around to your place is to use ebay.... I'm selling on ebay regularly nowadays, and I'm having a good time doing it. :)

If you decide to do it regularly, you can then join a service like www.auctionworks.com to automate much of the process (and free up some of your time).

Anyhow, this is another alternative way to "chattel" without having to have strangers come to your house.... Plus, your market is not limited to your locality, but your market is really the world! I'm here in Australia, but I've sold stuff to customers in the USA and to the UK through ebay....

By the way, certain regions have certain unique items which are hard to get in other places. These are often great items for ebay, since people who REALLY want those items yet can't get them where they are living, will bid higher in order to obtain them. If there are quite unique items in your area, which are hard to get in many other places, then selling on ebay is a good way to go....

For example, I've seen one guy in Las Vegas who seems to only sell memorabilia he gets from Las Vegas hotels and casinos. You can probably think of unique items from your area that are hard to get elsewhere, which others might want (even if it is a niche market)....

Another interesting area is clothing. A lot of people are successfully selling clothing on ebay (both new and second-hand).... If you know something about clothing, this could be a good area to go into. (Unfortunately, I don't know a thing about clothing, but I've noticed all the successful and seemingly profitable clothing auctions on ebay, since I'm regularly hunting around for new opportunities....)

- Dien Rice