So when I was talking to them, we shared ideas about the most common ways that people sell their stuff. Generally speaking, the ways people do it are:

• flea market – we have a great one in North River which is very busy and people unload a lot of items.
• garage/yard sale – very common this time of year – generally get the least amount of value for your items.. but it’s gone.
• online – UsedPEI/Kijiji/eBay – these types of online classifieds are extremely popular and free (eBay has some seller fees)
• print classifieds – generally for cars and bigger ticket items, I find that this is getting less and less popular as more folks look for deals online.

I haven’t done a garage sale in quite some time, and I can’t remember the last time I actually participated in a flea market. However, I think it’s getting to that point – but I also think that there should be a natural progression in order to get the most ‘bang for your buck’. For the items which are say.. more than $30, I would go online and try to sell it. Stuff like Wii, ps3, computer parts,  In fact even if it wasn’t but it was uncommon or something people would use, I’d still post it on both UsedPEI and Kijiji to see if you could get them sold. If you can’t get them sold that route – gather up your stuff, and head to the flea market. There are people just aching to look over a ‘noob’ stuff at the flea market. If all else fails – garage sale.. and if you can’t ‘give’ it away at that point..junk it.

The reason that I’m writing this today is that I came home yesterday and decided I wanted to sell some Wii items – so I posted our Wii Fit online for $75 (I purchased it used for $100 2 years ago).. I sold it within minutes (using UsedPEI and Kijiji) for full price. Sweet!

Anyhow that quick transaction pretty much convinced me it’s time to purge things – and try to recover some money from them if possible. There really isn’t much point to having something that you use maybe once a year sitting around gathering dust. Especially when you could use that money for other more important things – like paying off the debt you likely used to get it to begin with!

Doesn’t that look slick?? If you don’t already know (and you should!!) but usedpei is pretty much the same as kijiji.ca in that they are both very popular online classifieds for local buying and selling.

It’s also a great way to promote items, advertise for job openings, advertise your own unique skills.. I swear if you look hard enough – you can buy everything from the sports car you let get away, some old GIJOE’s, or get yourself a  universal life insurance quote.

It’s free, very easy to use, and now a lot nicer to look at.. enjoy people!

I’m getting off topic a bit – but what I wanted to point across is that I’m seriously fighting the urge to purchase something. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? I guess it does!! It’s just that I have had a few select items on my radar which are most certainly wants and not needs. #1 on the list.. an iPhone – as my blackberry is getting older, I’m finding it slower and less reliable for me – I do like the look of the 9700 Blackberries as well, but if I had the choice I think I’d go with the iPhone… problem is.. it’s over $600 to purchase and they never go on sale.. boo.

The other item on my list was something that I had before, and sold. A netbook. They are just coming down so much in price that I think it would be extremely handy to have around the house – I find lately we’ve been using Liz’s laptop in the kitchen, downstairs watching TV, all kinds of places in which a netbook would likely be the easier option. That and the fact that Shoppers had them on sale for $90 if you used 75,000 optimum points.. I don’t have that many by a long shot, but I do almost have 40,000 saved up… not bad for a guy whom usually doesn’t shop there.

And of course now I come across a buy.com flyer that has a full Dell laptop on sale for $299! With the dollar as close as it is right now, when I head to Boston next month I may have to come back with some of these sale items, that’s a great deal!

FOCUS LEN! FOCUS!!

Ok, I don’t need any of these things.. and why I’m trying so hard to fight the urge is that I still owe for things I already purchased!! Even though I’ve paid off over 51% of my debt since last year – I still have a ways to go and I want to make sure that I don’t fall of the wagon here.

I came up with an idea which made sense to me yesterday which may help. If I want to purchase one of these items.. I can’t purchase them with money that I have earmarked for debt-repayment. So, what that means to me – if I want that iPhone.. I better save up $600 by selling something, working somewhere extra, or somehow creating extra money so that my plan to get debt-free remains in tact. As much as I feel guilty about buying the Roomba (and am still very excited about it arriving), I purchased it out of extra money which I had and have already paid off – it didn’t come out of my monthly debt repayment, so that’s a good purchase as far as I’m concerned.

Don’t ask me how I’ll ever be able to get over $600 for an iPhone 3gs though.. oh well.

I went online to kijiji and usedpei to see if there was anyone around here selling them, and sure enough there were some – but none with great seats which we’d want of course – so I ended up posting a ‘WANTED’ ad – you can see it on kijiji here.

Anyhow, so I did get some responses.. but none were very successful until I get this one from a Kristin Theriault <ktheriault2@gmail.com>.

Anyhow it wasn’t 30 minutes later she popped me up a message on gmail asking if I was interested… and here’s the conversation we had:

(4:43:20 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com Hi you there
(4:43:38 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com I am.. hmm.. do I know you?
(4:43:55 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com im selling the guns and roses tickets for moncton
(4:43:59 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com oh! ha!
(4:44:16 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com yeah they are only 3 rows from the stage
(4:44:26 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com what section?
(4:45:16 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com section 35
(4:46:59 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com oh cool.. what are you asking for them? are they seats or ?
(4:47:29 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com they are seats and we are asking 175 for both
(4:48:04 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com That sounds good.. I’ll take them for sure.. I’m in PEI though, you read that right?
(4:48:26 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com no must have missed that part would courier work for you?
(4:48:53 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com sure, but how do we arrange payment?
(4:49:10 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com Hi do you have online banking payment can be made that way
(4:49:53 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com as the banks are closed now
(4:50:14 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com are you right in Moncton?
(4:51:17 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com we are actually outside of moncton do you know where woodstock is
(4:52:06 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com I do actually.. give me a sec, I have a friend whom drives over and back every weekend..
(4:52:24 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com ok well looking to sell asap
(4:53:39 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com I definitely understand that.. do you have pictures of the tickets or anything? (so that I know you’re not someone just looking to rip me off
(4:54:25 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com I mean.. I certainly am who I say I am.. I have a website (www.lencurrie.com) I’m on facebook and I have a photography business, as well as work for Aliant… do you know anyone that works for Aliant perchance?
(4:54:27 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com well i can assure you im not out to rip anyone off here my husband works for the rcmp aswell and i was willing to give you his banking information as im working until 12 midnight
(4:55:07 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com no sorry i dont know anyone at aliant seriously will give sin numbers anything else
(4:55:47 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com lol.. SIN numbers aren’t much help to me unfortunately.. but I can pay you via email money transfer ASAP.. hmm.. if you send courier.. do you get a tracking number?
(4:56:05 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com Hi yes you do get a tracking number
(4:56:24 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com i will just need your name and address
(4:56:47 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com What’s your phone number? Mine is 902-626-5513..
(4:57:38 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com 506-273-7645
(4:57:45 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com thats my house number
(4:58:03 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com one sec I’m just going to confirm with my girlfriend here..
(4:58:17 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com ok well let me know
(4:58:23 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com I really appreciate you getting a hold of me.. one sec.
(4:58:31 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com no problem
(5:03:16 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com did you get in contact with your friend?
(5:04:29 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com lol.. one sec.. she’s at work.. has to call me back
(5:05:07 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com ok no problem just message me here
(5:05:27 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com umm.. your number is ‘not in service’?
(5:06:12 PM) ktheriault2@gmail.com oh hold on let me double check might have gave the wrong number i can give you the number for my work
(5:06:20 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com no that’s ok..
(5:06:25 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com you can sell them to someone else
(5:07:05 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com I don’t deal well with people that are a) in a rush to sell and b) give me false information.
(5:07:09 PM) lencurrie@gmail.com Good luck

*almost immediately, she signed off…

So needless to say I’m pretty darn happy I didn’t decide to impulse send them the money… truthfully if they had a Facebook account, I would likely would have believed them.. I mean, at least I would have had some pictures.. some interaction, etc..etc..

So BE CAREFUL out there!!! My search for good tickets continues!

Me being one of them.

While looking up information on the packages and such, I decided that I’d go to my local online classifieds to see if anyone was selling any online… this is when I came across the following ad:

Charlottetown UsedPEI Ad

The email came from someone called Roza and the email was (rozaazura@gmail.com)

Hi,

Have only black available right now.We offer local pickup in Chambly (about a hour away from Montreal) and shipping. You can pay cash with local pickup (there is a atm machine around the corner from me) and with shipping we use interac email transfer. Everybody in canada can do it as long as you have online banking. Please let me know something a.s.a.p because have about 35 mails to answer and only 3 phones left.  O and shipping is standard delivery, express would be between 5-8$ extra depending from where you are.

Best Regards, Roza

Immediately I thought this was a scam, but a clever one. They know that I’m from PEI and not local, so they offer local pickup knowing that I’m not going to take advantage of it. So I emailed back asking how I knew he or she was legit, I noticed that when I did a lookup on their email address (quick google search), it came up as Charlottetown, PE.. I didn’t think the search was accurate, however wanted to play dumb.

Odd, it appears your email address is from Ch’town, PE..

How do I know you’re legit?

And recieved another reply quickly:

Hi Len,

China, no way? I’m from Chambly, is about a hour away from Montreal. The phones i get are also not from china get them from a guy in Vancouver. Sold over 30 phones the last 2 weeks. And about payment i asked for interac you can only use this within Canada, outside from this i listed very clear in the ad I DO NOT SHIP OUTSIDE CANADA. No way how i can proof to you that i’m legit, could do 50% upfront and 50% after delivery? Risk for me to because i only make 55$ profit on every phone.

Best,

Roza

Now I’m starting to really think they are a scam, so I sent the following email back to them:

Umm.. Charlottetown, PE.. as in Prince Edward Island.. Canada?

How about a few pictures of you and your stock? Facebook pages? Web sites? And realize that the 1/2 and 1/2 deal doesn’t exactly set my mind at ease.

How about the supply company? Or name? I don’t know.. anything other than your word which, not to be rude.. but on the internet doesn’t mean anything.

Thanks,

Len

PS: What about paypal? At least it offers buyer protection..

To which they finally replied:

Hi,

Just leave it have 35 emails even local but offer between 500 and 525, With shipping it doesn’t really matter anyways. Will sell local.

Best,

Roza

I didn’t get any response from them again.. but I did send the following to them:

You say you’re a commercial seller but have no information to pass on?

Good luck with your scamming.

Now I was going to just leave it at that, and I did report the ad to the UsedPei ‘report this’ feature they supply at the bottom of every listing, however I wanted to see if they listed in Montreal.. and guess what? They do, I found the ad on UsedMontreal and decided that I’d use another email address of mine to write and see what they said as in this ad they have it listed they have references.

UsedMontreal Ad

Hi there.
Interested in the iphone 3gs.
Can you pass on the refences you speak of?
What is your address for pickup?
Nervous about buying something online. Do you accept Paypal?
Is $550 the best price you can give?

To which I recieved the following:

Hi,

No paypal, is good for buyers but no seller protection. Cost me 1200 in the last 10 months. The references yes sure, will give you 2 from people that got there phone this week or last week. Check up on me make a lots of $ on the side but a honest business.

Best,

Jonas

Robert Sieter

montrea1@aol.com

Roza.azura

Roza.azura@gmail.com

You can see the last ‘reference’ they list eh? The same person that emailed me the first time!! I’ve reported both ads, however as of this writing they are still online.

I will hand it to them though, the scam is a good one.. considering that there is likely plenty of people whom are looking for new iPhones both for Christmas and due to the new Bell/Telus HSPA network, so the market is there. The Interac Online is an immediate payment processor and would put money immediately into one of their bank accounts without every revealing whom it was sent to.. all they’d have to do is run down to the bank machine and they’d have their money… so the funding gateway is there, and their ads are good… they offer things that don’t exist.. and use each other as references.

I just sincerely hope and pray no one sends money to these crooks.

Hmm.. is that a plus? I really don’t know.. seems that if I find something that I want in Alberton, it may be hard to get it on a timely basis.. however I suppose the fact that it’s pretty much the same as UsedPei.com now in that it covers the entire Island, it may not be a bad thing..

They’ve done it all across Canada actually..

“You might have noticed some changes in the Kijiji city sites recently. This page is designed to help you understand why things have changed and what has changed. It is also for us to collect feedback on what you think of the changes.

First of all – The why… We made these changes because we listened to you, the Kijiji community. Although we previously covered all major Canadian cities, we heard from users like you that they wanted Kijiji in their home towns and areas as well. In order to make sure that we were serving every Canadian, we have expanded Kijiji to cover all of Canada, making us the only truly Canadian online classifieds site.

Now, the what… We’ve expanded Kijiji to cover over 140 different cities and regions in Canada. We’ve done this several ways: First, we’ve expanded some cities to cover a larger region with more cities. We’ve also grouped certain cities together to form a larger region. (If this happened to your Kijiji site, please keep in mind that you can still search in a smaller region by using the Location links on the left hand side). And finally, we’ve launched new cities in areas that previously did not have a Kijiji site.”

Well that’s all fine and good for me, it really doesn’t matter I don’t think, perhaps it opens up ads to a broader audience? Who knows.

While we’re at it.. check out my latest two ads.. 1. Goalie Pads for Beer , and 2. Fenced in Area for Beagles wanted!