PCS’ing with the Millers: Selling Big-Ticket Items
We sold them ALL!
This story is one in a series that follows the progression of my latest PCS. In an effort to show the complexity, frustrations and joys of PCS’ing, I’m baring all in this series to help other military spouses (even if it’s just one!) take on their next PCS with confidence. This is the thirtieth installment of an ongoing saga — to get caught up, click here.
We did it! We sold my Mazda, my husband’s Jeep, and our washer and dryer. I cannot properly convey the immense sense of relief I feel now that we’ve sold all three of those big-ticket items. And the best part is we didn’t take a huge financial hit on any of them. That money is now in the bank and we can put it toward “new” vehicles in Japan and other PCS incidentals.
This was my first experience selling a car privately as well as a large appliance in a very defined timeline. When we began the process, I really had no idea where to begin and I was nervous about being able to get all four items sold in time for our departure.
Luckily for me, my husband is cool as a cucumber and knew without a doubt that our items would definitely sell by the time we had to leave. I learned a lot during this process and I want to share with you some of the strategies we used as well as some of the platforms we used to sell our items.
Tips for Selling
Before we dive into the different platforms, here are a couple tips for selling big-ticket items during a PCS:
- Start early! You’re working on a very limited timeline. And once you’re gone, there’s usually no coming back without great expense and hassle. To figure out your selling timeline determine when your spouse has to report in. Then figure out what day you have to actually leave from your duty station. From there, work backward one to one and a half months to determine when you should start selling your items. Depending on the item and the season, you may need to give yourself more time.
- Realistically price your items. When it comes to selling a car, Kelly Blue Book (KBB) and the like are going to be your go-to sources for determining the value of you car. Be honest about the condition of your car and set a price based on the estimated value from KBB as well as your own knowledge of the vehicle. For other items, like appliances, look up how much similar items are selling for in various places (in-store, craigslist, on Facebook, etc.) and determine your price from there. Be realistic about the condition of your items and their age — both of these factors will have a major impact on how you price your items.
- Know your bottom price. After you determine how much you want to sell your items for, make a decision on how low you’re willing to let them go for. This is thebottom line amount that you don’t want to go below without getting a fair value for your item.
- Prep your items for selling. Privately-owned cars that sell have excellent pictures to go with them. So take a Saturday to clean your cars, either yourself or professionally. Make sure to vacuum and wipe down all of the interior surfaces. Then immediately photograph the car in good lighting from a variety of angles, including interior shots and a photo of the odometer. Be careful to leave out any pictures that have your house numbers in the background (if you photograph it at your home) as well as your license plates.
For other items, take the time to give them a good scrubbing. Fingerprints, stains, dirt and mold should be removed before you photograph them. And just like with cars, take photos from a variety of angles, including interior shots. - Gather the item’s paperwork. As you prepare to sell your items, make sure you have all the necessary paperwork related to that item in one place so you can easily hand it over to the buyer. For cars especially, make sure you have the title and service work records in a file you can hand over to the new owners. This is a HUGE factor for buyers when buying a car and can more or break a deal.
- Determine your item’s selling description. Before you go to sell your items, determine what you want to say about them. Below is what I wrote for our washer and dryer set:
2015 Maytag washer and dryer in great condition. $600 for the set. No issues, no repairs made to either unit — we’re selling them because we’re moving to Japan and cannot take them with us. Selling them only as a set. You must be able to pick them up. Available on June 24th. Cash only.
In our case, we needed our washer and dryer through June 24th, so I made sure to specify that in the listing. I also made sure to let the buyers know that they had to find a way to come get the units, as we didn’t have a way of transporting them ourselves. While this listing is a little stilted, it’s short and to the point and includes the information buyers need to know. If they want to know more, they will reach out.
Now that you’ve got tips on how prep your items for selling, below are my experiences with the following ways to sell big-ticket items.
letgo
letgo is trendy and new and the app is pretty convenient to use right on your phone. That being said, I’ve never had any luck with selling items on letgo. I had five people reach out to me about our washer and dryer and not a single one of them ever responded after that initial interaction.
Craigslist
Craigslist can seem sketchy and you definitely have to be careful when using it. But I’ve made several successful purchases through Craigslist in the past and know that it’s not all scammers on the platform.
I got the most hits for our washer and dryer off of Craigslist. I was in serious talks with one guy, but it didn’t pan out because his offers were too low. We did also get a very scammy email that definitely seemed legit at a very brief first pass:
Needless to say I didn’t respond to this person. I also got a couple people who reached out but didn’t end up responding back. Craigslist can work, but in our case this time, it didn’t.
Also, this time around we didn’t have to use Craigslist to sell our car. Usually cars go very fast on Craigslist (although you have to be extra careful of scammers and creeps) and this was going to be our last-ditch effort if the card hadn’t sold by the second week of July.
Facebook Groups vs. Facebook Marketplace
Per the recommendation of a friend, I joined one of the local military yard sale Facebook groups. It took me a week to get approved (not ideal) and I immediately posted my items. I had no success, not even a single bite, on selling in the yard sale page. Others may have had wild success with this method, but I did not.
That being said, I can’t count Facebook out altogether. It was during my second repost to the yard sale group that I decided to also post the washer and dryer in the Facebook Marketplace just for kicks. This feature launched a year or two back and displays items for sale based on your location.
Within a week of updating the post and putting it into Marketplace I had three serious inquiries. All of them responded back to me through a messenger message that was tied to the listing. I agreed on a price with one buyer and set up a time the following day to have her come pick the units up. The day of pick up she didn’t show. I called her and she had some random excuse about how she bought another set and she tried to get in touch with me (which wasn’t true). That was a real bummer.
But, not 24 hours later, I had another person reach out. Again I made a deal with her through messenger and this time the buyer actually showed up! It was an Army family who just PCS’ed to the area and needed to get a washer and dryer ASAP. We helped load the items in the rental truck they brought, they handed over cash and we were set. The craziest part of this deal? She knew Amy Shick (a former teammate here at MILLIE) through Facebook as their husbands would be working together here at Fort Bragg! It’s a small, small military!
I was impressed with the ease of use with Facebook Marketplace and that it actually worked! I could even rate the buyer afterwards (I gave her the smiley-face option) to help improve the overall Marketplace experience. If you need to sell an appliance, definitely don’t count out Facebook Marketplace.
CarGurus
My husband elected to use CarGurus to sell our Jeep this time instead of his go-to Craigslist. He chose it primarily because it seemed way more legit than Craigslist. We got quite a few inquiries off of CarGurus for the Jeep, but like letgo, only one out of the lot ended up actually responding to us.
And the one guy who did respond to us actually ended up being the buyer. All communications were handled directly in the app until we decided to meet up and we took to texting.
The way CarGurus lists the car with all the information you need to know as a buyer is fantastic. It’s clean and thorough and adds some piece of mind when you’re looking for a car. And it makes it easier for you, as the seller, since all the information they could possibly want about the car is right in the listing. I would definitely recommend giving this option a go if you have a car to sell before hitting up Craigslist.
Personal Networks
While all of the above tools were helpful with selling our cars, there’s no denying the power of working your personal network. In the case of my Mazda, my husband happened to be at the right place at the right time at work. One of his co-workers mentioned in passing that he was looking for a car for his teenage daughter. My husband mentioned our two vehicles and the co-worker was immediately interested in the Mazda.
Within two weeks we set up a time for them to see and test drive the car. And we struck a very fair deal: We gave them a better price for the car and they’re letting us keep the car until we leave in mid-July. If we sold the Mazda right then and there, we were going to have to get a rental car for the duration of our time at Fort Bragg and that was going to cost us A LOT of money. This is the type of deal that can only be struck when you’re working within your network. (BTW, we’re incredibly grateful for these friends!)
I also had a friend who was seriously interested in the Jeep when I brought it up after she asked how my PCS was going. She couldn’t meet me at the price we were asking for, but she said if we were getting down to the wire and needed to sell it, she would be happy to take it off my hands then. This was a great offer from her because it was a last-resort option if we still hadn’t sold the Jeep by mind-July. Again, this is the type of deal you’re likely to find within your networks.
While I’m not a proponent of pushing your items on people, there’s something to be said about choosing your moments and offering a solution to the needs of people in your network.
That about sums up my experience selling a big-ticket item during a PCS. There are, of course, many other ways to go about skinning this rabbit. But, I wanted to share with you some of my experiences and tips to help you get started in case you’re a first-time seller like me! Good luck with your next sell!
MILLIE is an online community and digital marketplace that connects members of the military and their families with specialized knowledge and trusted resource providers to remove the stress and anxiety of PCS’ing. Check out MILLIE’s Installation and Neighborhood Guides, our network of Veteran and military spouse Realtors, and Scout, our on-demand task service composed of military spouses.
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