Find Free Stuff to Sell on Ebay, Poshmark or Facebook

If you want to make extra money from home, but don’t have money to start a business there are so many free items you can find to sell! When I started my ebay business several years ago, I literally started on $0. I used my first tip (below) and just kept reinvesting the money I made until I was making enough to take some for myself.

There are so many opporunities to find free times to sell. You can sell items on Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, Mercari, etc. depending on what you find. All it takes is a little bit of work hunting for free items to sell.

Here are some tips for finding free stuff to sell online (or locally!)

Declutter your home

The best and easiest way to find free stuff is by decluttering your own house. Unless you’re a minimalist or don’t have a lot of stuff, I’m betting you can find at least a handful of things you don’t want that you could sell.

Don’t forget to check your closet, the hallways closets, storage areas, etc. Have boxes in your garage and don’t even remember what’s in them? Take a peek! You obviously don’t need those items if you’ve forgotten about them.

Related: How I started my ebay business with no money

Craigslist Free section

Craigslist has a free section. Depending on your location there might not be much there, but if you have nice areas within close proximity there may be some good stuff that people just want to get rid of without the hassle.

The free stuff does tend to go fast, so checking several times a day ups your chances of being able to score something.

Facebook Marketplace

People are already on Facebook so Facebook Marketplace is an easy place for people to list stuff for free. Try even searching “free” in the search bar to see if anything comes up.

Nextdoor App

If you don’t have the Nextdoor App I recommend getting it! You have to verify your address with the app so that it knows you really live within the neighborhood you say you do and then it connects you with people close by.

There is a free section in the app where you can check for people giving stuff away. Since only the people in close proximity to where you live can see your posts, there’s a better chance of you scoring that free item.

Friends & Family

Don’t be shy to let friends and family know that you’re happy to pick up stuff they don’t want. I’ve made a good amount of money doing this because most of my friends and family don’t want to deal with selling anything so they’re just happy to get rid of stuff.

You could even do a shout out saying you’ll come pick up stuff and donate what you don’t take. It sounds kind of weird, but you’re really doing them a favor if you’re saving them a trip to drop stuff off. Most people don’t want to take the time!

Garage sale leftovers

Saturdays and Sundays are good days to drive around after yard sales are over and see if people leave stuff out. I often even see a “free” pile during a lot of yard sales. By the end of the day a lot of people don’t want to bring the stuff in so they’ll often just leave it out for free.

A lot of this stuff might not be worth selling online or individually, but it might be worth collecting yard sale leftovers to add to your own yard sale!

Related post: How we made over $1,000 at our yard sale

Curb alerts

People leave stuff outside on their curb for free all the time! A friend of ours found a kids powerwheels that just needed a new battery recently and we’ve picked up furniture in the past as well.

Dumpsters

I can’t even tell you how much stores get rid of! I haven’t been dumpster diving in years, I’ve only tried a couple of times. But I know people who do and they find plenty of free stuff to sell!

The kind of dumpster diving we tend to do is when there’s a dumpster in front of a house. We like to peek in and see what they’re throwing away. We’ve picked up perfectly good bikes this way.

Free samples

Companies give out free samples all the time! There are even websites where you can sign up for free samples to be sent to you. I know make up companies like Sephora often include a couple of samples.

Samples may not be worth a lot on their own, but if you save samples within certain categories and lot them up I bet you could make a few bucks. Here’s a website I found that might help you find free samples.

Giveaways + contests

If you have time, but no money try entering giveaways! Some are simple to enter, but there are some that take a little more effort and I think those are the ones that are worth it because a lot of people won’t do it if it isn’t a quick 2 second push of a button.

Giveaway Junkie is a website that lists giveaways!

Get creative!

Try to think up ways to turn free items or certain opportunities into something you can sell. See an ad from someone who wants a tree hauled off? Could you chop it up and sell it as firewood?

Check your trash

Maybe not your actual trash can, but stuff people will throw away.

• Coupons (here is ebay’s policy on selling coupons)
• Empty perfume bottles
• toilet paper and paper towel rolls that people use for crafts
• broken items like electronics for parts
• rewards like boxtops for education (usually found on cereal boxes) or coke rewards (found on coke products)

Check your garden

Do you have a pine tree? You can sell pinecones! Do you have chickens? People will pay for feathers. Do you have a veggie garden? Dry out some seeds and see if you can sell them. Did you now you can grow new succulent plants from leaves or cut pieces? Succulents are in right now so if you have one or two you could grow a few new plants and sell them.

Taking some time to look around online or while you’re driving around can score you some pretty good stuff to sell. Just simply being aware and ready to find these opportunities will up your chances of finding stuff! Next time you pass a dumpster or a yard sale I bet you’ll at least slow down a bit to check!