Selling out

Creative Commons photo by Flickr user (nutmeg)

Hard up for cash while you’re waiting for that Google AdSence check to come? No luck getting into a medical study for topical ringworm medication?

There might be more alternatives than you think.

Wisebread has a list of Six Weird Things People Sell for Cash and weird is right.

Unfortunately, the scarcity principle comes into play here too. I would gladly sell all of my chicken poop or false teeth, if I had any to begin with.

I also don’t have any (creepy) Princess Diana dolls or simple machines I’m willing to put on the block. But as long as the “world’s oldest profession” is in a slump, why not try one of the world’s newest and dip a toe into the murky online classified pool of  Craigslist?

The breadth and affordability of stuff I can find on there  never ceases to amaze me. I’ve yet to sell anything of my own, but I got a solid deal on a bicycle a couple of months ago and I’m in the process of using it to search for an affordable sublet in D.C.

Before the Internet, how easily could you have found someone with whom you could barter an area rug for bar-tending services, or a someone to rent your collection of sombreros?

Like any good market, it’s bringing the buyers and sellers together to discover prices. And that means we all get what we want. Plus cash for our sombreros.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Chicago, Commoncents, Recessioncents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.