Make Money From Old Magazines On eBay and Etsy

Yes, you can make money from old magazines! Old and not so old magazines can be sold complete or cut apart 

Do you have old magazines lying around the house that you no longer have the room to store? Don’t be so quick to throw them away. You can make money from old magazines if you know how to market them. Old magazines are among the "free things to sell on ebay" I blogged about last week.
Many people assume a magazine only has value if it's very old. Nothing could be further from the truth. People value magazines for their information. If you have a magazine with information about a particular product, hobby, person or a magazine article that solves a very specific problem, people will gladly pay money for it. People also value magazines for their photos. Magazines depicting rare photos of particular celebrities, leaders, criminals or other persons of interest, particularly if those photos are not common, can be in high demand.

Here are some ways you can make money from old magazines (not just old, even recent issues will do!):

 

1. Flip through your magazines and find articles containing information on how to do a hobby related project. This should be information that's not easily found elsewhere. You can sell the article along with the complete magazine on one of the auctions sites such as Ebay.. It's important that you list the article under the appropriate Ebay category for best results. If you're selling an article on building a ceramics kiln, list it under crafts followed by one of the ceramics categories. Don't list it under the magazine category as this is too general. Other articles that can be sold using this technique are rare articles on particular types of collectibles which can be found in such magazines as Antiques Magazine.

2. Look for magazines with cover photos of popular celebrities. If the celebrity generates interest or is controversial in some capacity, this makes the magazine even more marketable. Surprisingly enough, it's often the lesser known celebrities that garner the bids on Ebay since there are fewer magazine covers featuring their photos. If in doubt regarding the marketability of a particular magazine, you can do an Ebay search using the celebrity name and see how quickly items relating to that particular celebrity sell. Again, Ebay is the best place to sell magazines with celebrity cover photos. If there's an inside photo spread of the celebrity, be sure to mention this in your description.

3. Look for older issues of popular magazines, particularly the first few issues produced. Those issues tend to be less common since fewer were produced. They're also in greater demand because fewer people have them since the magazine wasn't as well known at the time of initial publication. Of particular interest are early issues of niche publications on specific hobbies or collectibles, especially if the magazine is out of print. Some of these issues can bring very high prices on Ebay.

4. Another way to profit from older magazines is to look for old ads for watches, cars, beer, coca cola and other items people deem worth of collecting. Carefully, remove the ads from the magazine and sell them to collectors who can frame and display them as art. You can sell just the ad or you can frame the ad yourself and sell it as a completed work of art. It's easy to do research on Ebay to see what sells and what doesn't. 


5. If you have large groups of a particular publication, for example a years worth of Martha Stewart Living magazine, you can sell the magazines as a set. Often, magazines that won't sell well individually can be sold in groups of three of more issues.

6. If a magazine has a cover created by a famous person, the magazine can be sold on the merit of its cover. For example, a magazine with a Norman Rockwell or Maxwell Parrish cover may be in great demand with collectors.

7. If all else fails or if you don't have time to put your magazines up on auction, you can display them at your next yard sale and sell them for 25 cents each. You'll be surprised at how quickly those quarters can add up.
Now you know there are many ways to make money from old magazines. Be on the look out for interesting magazines at the next yard sale you attend. It may be the start of a whole new business for you.

8 Free Things to Sell online

Making money from selling items on eBay doesn't always require outlaying a bunch of money. The thought of having to fork out a couple of hundred dollars to buy inventory, list it and then hope that someone will come along and pay more for it than what you did can be daunting, particularly for anyone who is just wanting to ‘test the waters’. Fortunately there are some things that sell well, are readily available and don’t cost a cent!

1. Beach glass, pottery shards, rocks and sea shells.
If you are fortunate to live close enough to the ocean, love to wander along the beach and find little treasures and don’t mind getting a little sand between your toes, then you are in the perfect position to not only have fun but make a little money from your seaside excursions. The beach is often a great source of beautiful pieces of sea glass that has been smoothed by the salt water, broken pieces of pottery and gorgeous shells. Jewelry makers, crafters and artists are always seeking these treasures to create beautiful art pieces. Collectors of the more unusual pieces you may find will be pleased to purchase them from you online.

2. Magazines
Yes, magazines! These are often easily located in recycle bins and on street curbs, waiting for the recycling truck to come by and pick them up. Provided they are on the curb you may take them. Just make sure that they are still in good clean, dry condition. Magazines are often given away on the likes of CraigsList also. The magazines to look out for are the likes of teen magazines, craft magazines and magazines that are published about a niche or specialist topic, because these are often not available outside of the USA and there is a potential international market for them. It is not worth your time or energy however, to collect the more common magazines such as Time, People etc. More about selling magazine online here: Make Money From Old Magazines On eBay

3. Beer Coasters (beer mats).
These are highly collectible, and the more difficult they are for someone to come by the better they sell. Even the more common ones can sell well, though they are best bundled into a lot to sell. Coasters from little-known, independent breweries, boutique breweries and the like can fetch a good price. Best of all these are easily obtained from your local friendly bar and / or restaurant.

4. Matchbooks.
Thought matchbooks were a thing of the past? Not so! People still collect them and are keen to add new ones so wherever you go be sure to pick them up. Sell them in small lots. This is another item that is valued by international buyers.

5. Stamps from mail you receive.
Whether it be mail received at home or at the office, the stamps have the potential to be a good money maker, particularly if you find uncancelled stamps. Once in a while you will find that a stamp fails to go through the cancelling machine and these are good to sell on eBay as either “mint ungummed” or “used uncancelled” (check out some of the recent sales here). People buy them to put on their own mail and you don’t even have to go to the bother of removing them from the letters. For cancelled stamps, just cut around the stamp leaving a margin of paper, put them aside and once you have collected a good number of them they can be sold by weight: “1 pound on paper USA stamp mixture” (example here).

6. Empty toilet rolls
I am sure you are sitting there questioning my sanity on this one, but let me assure you that empty toilet rolls DO sell on eBay. Crafters love them, and although it might take you a good while to collect enough to be worth selling, there is money to be made from something that would ordinarily be tossed into the recycling bin.

7. Used buttons
How often have you tossed a torn button-up shirt into the trash and not given it another thought? There is money to be made in used buttons, particularly if they are old and / or unusual. Next time you go through your wardrobe and decide that it is time to toss out some items, provided they are not fit to be donated to a charitable organization, take a minute to snip those buttons off. Make sure the buttons are not broken, scratched or chipped. While not a huge money maker, used buttons do sell and are one of the easiest and cheapest items to ship.

8. Box Tops for Education
If you no longer have school-age children, or your school does not collect Box Tops for Education, there is a market for these on eBay too. Check for them on the likes of cereal boxes etc. Again, it may take you a while to accumulate enough to warrant putting them on eBay, but considering you are just throwing the empty packaging in the recycle bin, it takes very little effort to snip out the Box Top logo and put it aside.
These are just a few ideas to get you thinking of things that someone else would be willing to pay money for on eBay. Take the time to explore some of the more unusual items that sell on eBay. One of the best places to start researching is in the crafting section. You may be surprised by some of the items that sell. Start looking at some of the items that you might think have absolutely no use to you and see if there is a market for them on eBay. If you can make a few dollars from those items, then why not give it a go?