We’ve always been pretty good at getting rid of unwanted stuff – moving house six times in five years does that to you. When we made the big move from Birmingham to North Wales last October, we got rid of all the baby toys, equipment and clothes. There were at least 15 black sacks of stuff donated to charity shops and several more taken to the tip.

We aren’t planning on moving anytime soon but I realised the other day that it was time for a declutter. We have a playroom absolutely full of toys and a loft which is becoming fuller and fuller by the day. With Christmas coming up, we could do with space for all the new stuff they are undoubtedly going to get, and to be honest, the cash would be pretty useful as well.

I’ve always sold stuff on Gumtree or local Facebook groups, but I was getting sick of waiting for people to come and collect stuff and them not turning up, or of the chancers who would offer 20% of the asking price. I’ve always bought lots of stuff off eBay but never sold anything on there – I thought it looked a bit complicated.

How wrong was I? It’s so simple!

Using the handy app makes listing items a simple four-step process:

• SNAP IT – take a photo of the items you are selling. Think about the lighting and the angle of the photo to really show off your items.
• WRITE IT – use keywords to describe your item. Make sure it has all of the important information and most importantly, be honest.
• PRICE IT – You can either choose the ‘buy it now’ option or the traditional auction style option. With either, you can set the minimum price that you are prepared to let it go for.
• POST IT – choose how you want the buyer to receive your items. Do you want them to collect? Do you want to post it?

We started off our eBay selling journey with a bundle of Happyland toys, a jacket and a pair of trainers. The Happyland bundle has been listed as collection only due the size and weight, with the other two being posted via Royal Mail when they sell.

At the moment, with a few more days to go, all three of the items have watchers on. I’m not expecting many bids until the last few hours, but if they don’t sell, eBay will automatically relist them once more for me. The app is really handy because I can see if there are any bids or any questions (someone asked me if I could post the trainers to Hungary!). Once the items have been sold, eBay will do most of the work of getting the payment (through PayPal) sorted, remind me to post and even calculate and print out postage labels.

It’s been a much, much easier process than I thought it would, and when we next have a sort out, eBay is going to be our go-to place for helping us to create space, give old items a new lease of life and give us a bit of extra cash.

*I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity. I have received a voucher as a token of thanks for this post.