The Neuroeconomics of Reselling your House Clutter
By: Silvana Toma
Tags: Adhd, Bias, Reselling, Decluttering, Marie Kondo

The Neuroeconomics of Reselling your House Clutter

When I came back from my first trip to Japan in May 2018, I was welcomed home by my two feline friends and utter chaos. I mean…things were neatly stashed and tidily arranged, so why did the encumbered view give me a nauseating sense that I already needed another vacation?

After this warm welcome, I began the arduous process of de-cluttering my home, like many other trend-followers. At first I didn’t know where to begin: should I start in the pantry or with my clothes? Maybe I should first clean the bathroom so I can take a well-undeserved bath after.

I started with Marie Kondo’s method of tidying up and “sparking joy”, but because of my known ADHD and compulsive/impulsive behaviour, it didn’t look tidy and I wasn’t getting any joy out of it. Moreover, I wanted to take it all a step further — you know, go to the root of the clutter cause, so I don’t relapse (which I did, because that’s what happens when the process isn’t done mindfully and for the right reasons).

I’ll dive into these less fascinating details another time. The key thing is that my clutter didn’t go away for a long time. Even today, as I’m typing this all self-righteously and sh*t, there’s a pile of neatly organized “pending” items on a shelf somewhere, waiting to be re-homed, but for a price of course.

I don’t think I’m the only one who can’t get rid of her crap because of that initial investment into the item — what, you expect me to just throw away a perfectly good shirt? Donate it to “non-profit” thrift stores so it gets dumped into third-world countries under the pretext of humanitarian aid!? I spent money on it, I can’t just let it go for free! This, my friend, is a classic textbook example of the Sunk-Cost Fallacy.

Sunk-Cost Fallacy — also called the “Concorde fallacy” — happens when you use your past expenses/investment as a rationale for continuing the investment, instead of cutting your losses. It’s like crying over spilled milk.

The reason we fall prey to this bias is because we do not want to waste. But “waste” can be quite subjective; as a young adult female of immigrant background and limited entry-level income living alone, if I can get back 2$ from an item, trust me I will.

12 months ago I would have been called cheap, skimpy, tight-fisted, Scrooge etc. But as more people have suffered job loss during this capharnaüm of a year, I’ve been positively re-baptized as “frugal, careful, money smart”.

And yet I am still struggling to stay in the black at the end of the month, even with a full-time job and frugality on speed dial. This is why I got into the re-selling game early on as a university student. Yes, part of it was so I don’t feel like I am wasting something that still has a subjective and biased “value”, but the other part was that I needed to re-allocate this unused “value” to my pantry and my electric bill. The sheer enjoyment of this process allowed me to remain positive even when sales were scarce.

In the past few years of doing this consistently I’ve picked up a few insights, although I’ve still got miles of learning to go. I think sharing them here could be beneficial, especially if you are also going through tough times. I reckon there are substantial guides out there, and creating an exhaustive list of tips for all available reselling platforms isn’t realistically feasible right now, which is why the experience I am drawing from relates mainly to the platforms of Kijiji, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

Without further ado, here’s an incomplete guide to the neuroeconomics of reselling platforms and buyer/consumer behaviour.

Keep your title short.

People often don’t read past the title, so whatever you wrote in there, it had better be good. The title generally allows for a blurb no longer than half a Tweet, but you should still try to include the following: name of your item, brand, size, condition, clickbait-y attention grabbers (such as FREE whatever) as well as other gap fillers that have absolutely no purpose but we include them anyway because we believe they do.

The buyer will still only read 2 words out of it because they’ve already scrolled through 4 photos even though the price made them think “nah” before they even clicked on your ad, but they clicked anyway because they’re trying to prolong the bathroom break from the screaming hungry kids on lockdown.

This is why you have to use the tags. If the platform allows, do go the extra mile and include tags. These are literally the same concept as Instagram hashtags — it helps the algorithm to narrow down your buyer’s search but also to suggest your ad if the tags have similarities with other items in their search. These are an extension of your title, which is unfortunately limited in number of characters and scope.

Location — yes, full address — no

In an ideal world, this is common sense. But if you are posting the ad from your smartphone, the device can fill in the blanks from your phone’s saved data. 15 years ago had I made such data-tracking claims from my Internet-less small city in Eastern Europe, I would have been called a conspiracy theorist, but today we all know that our phones are Zuckerberging us. So before you save your ad, go back and make sure it didn’t pre-fill your whole address, credit card info and search history too. Don’t want the buyer ringing your apartment doorbell at 11:00 PM for a salad spinner and asking to pay by Visa with Square, do you?

Patience is a virtue

People will still ask for your location even though you took the time to enter the postal code on the map, detailed the pick up spot in the description body of the ad AND in that small a** title then typed it on each of the pictures with that vomit-looking pink virtual paintbrush. Take a deep breath, and remember to remain professional and patient; copy paste the answer as many times as needed. And be nice upfront — for you this may be the 18th inquiry in the last 10 minutes (koodos for you if it is!), but for them you are only 1 seller.

Be honest

…about the realistic condition of the item. Seriously, don’t try to bury that sh*t under the rug like it’s kitty business. Many times the buyer will accept the item’s current condition if it’s disclosed upfront and if the price reflects said condition.

But if you lied and the item is not as described at the sale meet-up, then you’ll not only have wasted everyone’s time and potentially d*cked yourself out of a sale, but you’ll also get one hell of a review from the buyer. Good luck making your next sale once you’re rated as dishonest.

Think twice about the price.

Research has shown that the simple sense of ownership over an item causes us to over-value it. I’ll loop this idea back to the sunk-cost bias — the more we paid for an item, the more we want to get back for it.

Fret not, this is just your homo sapiens brain f*cking up your sale and I’ve got just the fix. Other variables can decrease the value of your item so in order to put a somewhat objective price on it, ask yourself: what condition is the item truly in? Did you take care of it well? How long did you realistically use it for and how did you use it? Is it clean (especially important now during a pandemic)? If not, are you willing to clean it before the sale (admittedly, you should have done this before posting it in the first place)? Is it damaged in any way? Are you pricing it higher simply because of greed or because you still value that item and are not ready to part with it? If you saw this exact item at a garage sale, how much would you be willing to pay for it? What about a thrift store? If this is still to subjective, here’s my personal rule of thumb: after factoring in all of the above, I take off another 10–15% — I call this my “bias percentage”.

Once your ad has been up for a couple of days, it’s time to make price adjustments. If you’ve gotten a few inquiries then adjust your price based on those. If you had no inquiries at all, take off another 20% — but make sure that the platform you are posting on publicizes the price decrease. We’re so basic at our human core, we can’t help it when we see a sale.

If the price decrease doesn’t work, offer a yummy incentive; free shipping works well with eBay but it might not always be cost-efficient for you, unless the item is in the higher price brackets. Do this with caution since platforms like Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji and Craigslist do not regulate shipping and your buyer can always claim they didn’t receive the item.

D*ck move but with all kinds of Nigerian prince wannabe scammers out there, a better incentive is a freebie (humans we love this sh*t). Some time ago I was reselling my entire beading/jewelry making paraphernalia — a gargantuan-sized collection if I do say so myself. Because of the high (yet well warranted in my biased opinion) pricing, I had a hard time selling it. Until I offered to include a travel-handy storage box for free. The messages began pouring in shortly and I sold everything within a day. People want value — or at least the perception of it — so make it worth their while.

A photo is worth a thousand…sales?

Look, unless you’re Mike Yamashita-sama or you’ve got IG influencer skills or whatever other hidden photography talent, the photos will look amateur. But in the resale market, photos are the most important part of your ad, even more important than your title. And the cover photo? That’s the buyer’s very first impression, so make it count. Here’s a short checklist to help with this step.

Include several photos, of all angles; put another item next to it to show the scale. You can use a banana for scale if you dissociate into your 9Gag-er alter, but I suggest a basic ruler or measuring tape. I don’t have anything against bananas, but for this endeavour requires measurement accuracy.

Photograph your item in daylight. Wouldn’t be inconvenient for the buyer to show up and the item isn’t the colour they thought it was, just because of the photo quality? Save yourself the trouble and take the photos around 11:00 AM next to the window.

Unless you’ve got beautiful hardwood floors, put the clothes you are selling on a hanger or on the table. I cringe a little when I see clothing on the floor; of course I’ll wash it before wearing, but you never know how it might snag or damage while it’s sitting there. My cats’ hair goes everywhere, but I try not to include with the item for sale (unless the buyer specifically asks for it — no judgement, I respect all fetiches).

Include photos of the damage, if any (review point about Honesty and Price)

Metrics and don’t lie, even if people do.

It’s a good idea to keep an eye on these things, especially if you want to thrift flip full time. How did that porcelain china ad do? How many views did it get and which platform did you end up selling it on? After how many days did you sell it? If you’re becoming a heavy hitter in the reselling game, check out Google Trends.

If people are searching for polymer clay earrings then it’s time to get that Fimo out of storage and put it up for sale. Facebook Marketplace offers small insights too on your homepage, but although it’s a good starting place, it’s not as exhaustive as Google Trends. Another tip is to use tags, if you can (see point #1 — Title)

Accommodate the buyer

People fly on their own time so the more flexible you are, the higher the chance of you making the sale. If your buyer lives far, offer to meet them halfway; if they can only pay by e-transfer, accept that if you can; if they can only pick up the item at a certain time, try to make that work. I don’t have a car and if I have to buy large items sometimes the seller agrees to bring the item to me for a little extra $. A lot is possible with good communication and fair negotiation.

Admit defeat if what you are selling is simply junk.

I’ll keep this one short and sweet — yes I’m talking about that pair of ripped-up Vans from your high school days that smell like a bouquet of tulips. Some things just can’t be sold; the sooner you accept this and dispose of your junk as ethically as possible (recycling, donate for scraps/education etc, reuse, throw away) the sooner you can move on.

Do some good instead

The benefit of a good-hearted donation far outweighs the cost of $5.00 less in your pocket. Although thrift stores are swamped with donations, their prices aren’t decreasing to match an overflowing inventory; and unfortunately some people still can’t afford a $3.99 shirt at Salvation Army.

With low temperatures approaching, that pair of yellow rubber boots that’s been sitting in your garage since Motorola Razr was a thing, can be given to someone in need. Doing some good reminds us to be human, so let’s try to do more of what keeps us grounded so that our community as a whole can see the light at the end of the pandemic.

To those of you who treated this tirade like an academic journal and read the intro, headlines and then skipped to the end, here’s the resume.

2.5 years later into this Re-Selling my House Clutter & Chill game, I’m less anxious and I have more time on my hands (since there’s not so much sh*t laying around to take care of) — time which I am putting to good use in other ways. Minimalist gurus say that decluttering is not the goal, it’s gaining clarity on the truly important things once the clutter is gone. Decision fatigue is real and it’s affecting many of us, even leading to burn-out in severe cases (been there, done that).

When we are overwhelmed by clutter, we make poor decisions or worse, we make no decisions at all. We forget our passions and aspirations. We allow the vital wants and desires of the adult child in us to be silenced and weighed down by the daily mundane of superficial needs.

I’ve decreased the clutter of physical things, toxic people and unnecessary activities; and with more free time, the adult kiddo in me has come out and started writing again, picked up rock climbing and woodworking.

I’m not saying that the only way to reach somewhat of an Earth-bound Nirvana in this lifetime is to sell all your belongings and move to a self-sufficient mini container home off the grid (although it’s certainly something I personally dream of). I simply wish to plant the seed of this idea: what would you do with an extra 1–2 hours per week? What about 1–2 hours per day? Heck, even 30 minutes. Would you savour this time wisely or scroll it away on TikTok? Don’t worry, I also chose the latter — that sh*t’s hella fun.