It’s almost YARD SALE SEASON in the QC, but there’s no reason to leave the comfort of your home or even your sofa to spring clean and sell unwanted items.
Social media, mainly Facebook, means we have plenty of options to purge overflowing closets, cabinets, and toy chests. Local online buy/sell/trade groups on Facebook now offer community members a way to peruse and post home items, kids toys, clothes, and more without the hassle of a traditional yard sale. In essence, you could have your facebook friends and neighbors pay you to haul away your clutter. Hallelujah, spring cleaners of the Queen City! Spring cleaning doesn’t have to be all about cleaning either. I like to employ the 3 out, 1 in rule and allow myself one new item for every 3 I sell, donate, or trash.
We prowled the internet for the best local buy/sell/trade groups and not only found some great groups, but also great items available in these groups. With some groups having membership numbers in the thousands and tens of thousands, you’re sure to find the right buyer for your products… and maybe a little something to add to your home as a shopper too.
Lilly Pulitzer Trade & Resell in Charlotte
I love my Lilly, but sometimes she wears out her welcome in my closet. This group allows you to connect with fellow Lilly Pulitzer clothing fans. Check out this super cute Alia Cover Up I found!
Re-Lilly offers a similar service with different items, like this to DIE for shift at half the retail price.
The Charlotte Garage Sale group on Facebook does a great job of laying ground rules and explaining online buy/sell/trade etiquette and is a great place to start as a newbie to this community. For example, Admin Diane Esposito explains that ISO means “in search of” and posting the word “bump” on your item after a few days of activity is a way to promote it to new, fresh eyes.
This and many other groups are closed, so you will need to request to join and be approved before you can start shopping. Here are some of the biggest and best:
- Â South Charlotte Garage Sale,
- SW Charlotte Area Buy/Sell/Trade,
- Charlotte, Fort Mill, Lake Wylie Buy/Sell/Free,
- Charlotte, NC Buy Sell & Trade,
- Upscale Yard Sale,
- Charlotte Meck NC & Surrounding Areas Everyday Online Yardsale,
- The Yard Sale: Charlotte,
- Charlotte, NC Online Garage Sales
For our Ballantyne readers, Ballantyne Bargains is a great place to find gently used items for your home, closet, and more. This group is also segmented into Ballantyne Bargains 4 Kidz and Ballantyne Bargains 4 Teenz to help you wade through your options in an organized way. Ballantyne/Waxhaw Sales and NEW Ballantyne Bargains also offer neighbor-to-neighbor buying in the Ballantyne area.
Rules are different from group to group, so check with you group’s Admin if you have a specific question before you sell or buy. In general, most groups adhere to a similar set of rules and guidelines to protect members from things as serious as fraud all the way down to simple annoyances. To make sure that you’ve crossed your T’s and dotted your I’s in the world of online buy/sell/trade, follow these tips:
- Self-promotion is frowned upon and you will most likely be warned that this is not appropriate group behavior or even worse could be removed from a group. Remember that people are here for a quick and easy way to sell or buy resell items.
- Always remove and item after it has been sold. Nothing is more frustrating then to have your heart set on something only to discover it’s no longer available- don’t do that to your potential customers!
- Most groups prefer (and some require) that you list a price for your item, rather than asking interested group members to make an offer.
- ISO means “in search of,” so that poster is not a seller but, rather, a buyer.
- If your item has gone stale, you can post the word “bump” in the comments of your post to get fresh eyes on it. Try to limit your bumps, though. Some groups have specific guidelines for how often you can bump.
Have you shopped or sold with a Facebook Buy/Sell group in the Charlotte area? Tell us about your favorite finds in the comments section at the bottom of this post.  Happy buying, selling, and trading, Scoop readers!
