As the cost of food and energy rises and the unemployment numbers grow, more people are selling their personal belongings to raise cash. Items for sale on Craigslist have risen 70 per cent since last July, and the ads run are sounding more desperate.
The marketplace is being flooded with second hand items ranging from used TV's and VCR's to grandmothers heirloom china. Ads with headlines that read like a Greek tragedy urge buyers to make an offer. The number of gas powered items like used cars, boats, jet skis and RV's is huge, and growing. With prices expected to top $4.00 a gallon, folks just can't afford the cost of such luxuries anymore.
Christine Hadley, a 53-year-old registered nurse admits she used to be "a clotheshorse," blowing money on pricey Dooney & Bourke handbags and designer clothes. Things are different now. Her live-in boyfriend left last year, and she is having trouble finding a job.
Her mounting pile of unpaid bills has thus far forced her to sell more than 80 items, including the handbags, which went for more than $1,000 on a site called AuctionPal.com. Now, except for some artwork and threadbare furniture, her house is looking sparse.
"I need the money for essentials — to pay my bills and to eat," Hadley said.
The flood of second hand items into the marketplace is causing the cash they render to fall. TV's and VCR's are bringing only $30 to $40 dollars. Furniture, which is huge in areas hardest hit by the housing crisis, is abundant and the prices are cheap.
Secondhand merchandise is selling for 25 to 35 percent below what it commanded a year ago, estimated Brian Riley, senior analyst at research firm The TowerGroup. That number is expected to drop further as the economy continues to falter.
The trend is having an effect on secondhand stores like the Salvation Army which accepts donations of used clothing and household items to sell to the needy. Donations are down over 20% since January. Those in the disappearing middle class are no longer giving their items away, instead selling them for the much needed cash.
"This is not about downsizing. It's about needing gas money," said Nancy Baughman, founder of eBizAuctions, an online auction service she runs out of her garage in Raleigh, N.C. One former affluent customer is now unemployed and had to unload Hermes leather jackets and Versace jeans and silk shirts.
Earlier in the decade people were able to tap into their home equity to make ends meet. The economy seemed to be booming and everyone was busily consuming, consuming and consuming. Now it as though the lights have turned off and everyone has gone home. All that is left of the "good times" seems to be that closet full of expensive purses, the garage full of big boy toys and the custom upholstered furniture, all of which seem pointless now.
In Alabama, Bateman-Lee only got $30 for her TV and $45 for her DVD player at a local flea market. She doesn't have too much left to sell, but she's going back to "sort through more things."
Her $30 water bill is due this week.
