Got used baby items? How to make money from old baby stuff

Where can I sell baby stuff?

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What do you do with used baby items? Babies get through a lot of equipment, which accumulates over time in your home. Nursery items, car seats, pushchairs, feeding equipment, toys and particularly baby clothes take up space. If your baby stuff is in good enough condition when you have finished with it, you can sell it. It takes a bit of effort, but at least you can get something back on all the items you have bought.

In this article, I will tell you how to make money from your old baby stuff, and where you can sell second hand baby items. There are hints and tips for organising, storing and pricing items to get them ready to sell, along with suggestions for other things you can do with them.

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How much can you sell used baby items for?

When selling your used baby items, the first thing to realise is that sadly you will get nowhere near as much money back as you paid for them. You have to let go of the idea that the lovely baby outfit you bought for £30 will sell for anything close to that. Even clothes in virtually brand new condition or still with tags will only sell for a relatively small fraction of the price.

When pricing things up, as a rough guide consider selling clothes at 10-15%, equipment at 25%, and toys at 20% of their original value.

If toys and equipment are brand new still in their packaging, you can charge more. Probably not much more than 50% of the original price, but this is really a judgement call. And of course it also depends on the minimum amount you are prepared to sell things for.

How much you can charge for things also depends on where you are selling them. For example, you are likely to make a bit more money from the Facebook marketplace than at your local car boot sale. And you could possibly get even more money at a baby and toddler market.

It may seem like it’s not worth doing, but if you are committed to recouping some of the money you’ve spent, you’ll be surprised how it adds up. Think of any money you make back as spending money for a holiday, day trips out, meals out, and treats for the children.

Storing used baby items to sell later

If you are planning on selling things further down the line, you need somewhere to store them. If you’re keeping them in a garage or loft, check to make sure it’s not damp. Fabric or electrical items left in damp conditions won’t be good for anything by the time you get around to selling them.

Only keep items to sell that are in good condition, and give them a clean before you put them away. Throw anything out that is stained, ripped or broken as soon as you are done with it. Or if it is still usable but not sellable, give it straight to charity. Don’t keep it or you are just making more work for yourself later on.

If you are planning on selling your baby’s clothes, it helps to be organised from the beginning as you will get through so many of them. If you randomly chuck things up in the loft in a disorganised fashion, it will take you many hours of tedious clothes sorting when the time comes to sell them.

Try to make a concerted effort to have a quick look through your baby’s clothes every three months or so. Keep a box or bag handy with the sizes written on it, and when it’s filled put it away until you are ready to sell it. If you have sentimental items you want to keep forever, put them in a separate place.

Don’t keep anything that’s covered in stains; bin it or recycle it straight away. Or if it’s just about OK, put it straight into a charity bag.

Selling second hand baby items online

There are several options for selling baby items online, which each have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Facebook marketplace

To sell on the Facebook marketplace, you need to photograph your items, write descriptions and note the price. You can state if it’s collection only or if you are willing to post. It is best to take as many clear photos as possible from different angles, and point out any imperfections.

To work out the price, have a look at what other similar items on the marketplace are selling for. Factor in how good of a condition your item is in, and how long it will take you to photograph and list it to decide if it’s worth selling.

When selling clothes, bundles work well. For example, you could put together a boys summer clothes bundle aged 12-18 months, consisting of t-shirts and shorts. Other things can be sold individually, such as pram suits and coats.

The advantage of selling on the Facebook marketplace is that there is no charge for selling. Also, you can join local selling groups, making it more likely that someone living nearby will come to your door and give you cash on collection, saving you the hassle of posting.

There are, however, some disadvantages of selling items in this way. Including:

It is a time consuming task photographing your items and writing descriptions
You’ve got to put up with strangers at your door and arrange suitable times for collection
People wasting your time asking questions you’ve already answered in your item’s description because they haven’t bothered to read it
Sometimes people will say they are coming to collect at a certain time, and won’t bother turning up
People will occasionally ask you to post, or deliver yourself, even though you’ve clearly stated collection only, which is more hassle for you
You may even have to trust people to put money through the letterbox if you’re not going to be in

Most people who genuinely want to buy your items will be easy and straightforward to deal with. But unfortunately you will get some time wasters. Selling on the marketplace can be a bit of effort and hassle, but you are likely to get more money than at a car boot sale.

Other places to sell online

There are other places you can sell online similar to the Facebook marketplace, with a few differences here and there. These include:

Vinted: As with Facebook, selling on Vinted is free. It makes money by charging the buyer and the seller keeps all the profit. The seller does however, have to package up and post the item.

eBay: When you sell baby items on eBay, you are charged a sellers fee and you will likely have to post the item. You can either sell your items at a fixed price, or put them up for auction. You could end up making more money than you hoped for.

Gumtree: It is free for sellers to list on Gumtree and there is no charge for buyer or seller. If the buyer is local you can arrange for collection at your door, or arrange postage between the two of you.

The Octopus Club: The Octopus Club is an online marketplace specifically for parents buying and selling maternity, baby and children’s items. It works by deducting fees from sold listings, and payment is by bank transfer only.

Selling used baby items offline

As convenient as online selling is, you don’t have to sell your used baby items in this way. You may prefer to take all your stuff somewhere and sell it in person, such as at a car boot sale or baby market.

Car boot sales

Used baby items can sometimes sell well at car boot sales because it costs so much to buy everything a baby needs from new. Set your prices a little bit higher than you are willing to accept, so as to allow for the usual haggling. People like to think they are walking away with a bargain.

Things are likely to sell more cheaply at car boot sales than on the Facebook marketplace and other online selling sites. For example baby clothes will typically sell for around 20p – 50p each. But you could get rid of most of your baby stuff quite quickly and be done with it, and you don’t have the hassle of photographing your items and writing descriptions.

Make sure everything you display is clean and priced up clearly with a white sticky label. For baby clothes, you can either price things up individually – 20p, 50p, £1 etc or bundle them together, for example 3 babygros for £1. Or depending on what you’ve got and how much effort you are prepared to go to, you could just have a sign saying ‘all items 50p each’.

You can either put clothes in tubs organised according to size so people can rummage through, or just dump them all together on your table. Baby clothes are so small and won’t sell for much. It’s probably not worth putting them on hangers on a rail. But if you have a few particularly nice branded items, you might want to display them separately and at a higher price.

You will have to pay for your pitch at a boot sale (starting from around £10 for a car), so keep this in mind before you decide if it’s worth it. If you have lots of other things to sell aside from baby items it may prove to be a great way of getting rid of stuff. The other downside is it will likely be a very early start. Perhaps do a summer boot sale when it won’t be so painful getting up at the crack of dawn! Try to think of it as a fun way to haggle with the locals and make some cash.

Baby and toddler markets

Unlike car boot sales, people who visit baby markets are only there to look at baby stuff, not anything else. And they are often there ready to buy, not just for a casual look around to pass the time. Therefore if you have a lot of good quality baby items and equipment to sell you could do very well out of it. If you are selling clothes, you’re more likely to make sales if you sell them in bundles.

As with car boot sales, display your items neatly with the price clearly displayed. Price things a little higher than what you are hoping to get for them. Haggling goes on at these markets too! Also take into account the cost of a display table. You can expect to pay the venue around £12 when you book your spot.

Search for baby and toddler markets, nearly new sales and pre-loved sales in your local area.

Mamas & Papas pre-loved pushchair trade-in service

When you are done with your pushchair, you can trade it in at Mamas & Papas, who will refurbish it and recycle the parts. This ensures your pre-loved pushchair won’t end up in landfill. It will be resold and continue its life.

In return for trading in your pushchair, you will receive a voucher to spend in the Mamas & Papas store. The value of the voucher you receive depends on the model of your pushchair. You can also trade in your carrycot if is eligible.

Cash for clothes collection service

Another option is to use a cash for clothes collection service, such as Quick Cash for Clothes. Somebody will come and collect your unwanted clothes and give you £5 per 10 kg of clothing in return. You won’t get anywhere near as much as if you sell the items yourself. But it is a quick, convenient way of getting rid of everything at once for a few quid.

H&M offer a similar service. Their garment collecting programme recycles your unwanted clothes and rewards you for it. Simply take your old clothes to the cash desk, and you will receive a thank you voucher to use towards your next H&M purchase.

Donating baby stuff to charity

There is one more option. Maybe you just don’t have the time to sort all of your used baby items out. Or the prospect of it is too overwhelming. When you are accumulating more and more stuff on a daily basis, it can be very distressing. Perhaps the aggravation of trying to sell it all just isn’t worth it to you.

You can get rid of your used baby items very easily, by giving it all away for free. At first this may seem like a soul destroying idea because all you can think of is how much money you spent on it. But it can be a liberating experience. All that unwanted clutter will be gone and out of the way once and for all, and you will soon forget about it all.

It may motivate you to give things away if you think about how much that cluttered space costs you each month. Whether you have a mortgage or if you are renting, you are paying to use that space. Consider how much space you’re going to get back once the clutter is gone. What useful things could you do with it that have more value to you?

You can pass things on directly to someone you know who is having a baby, or give them to charity. For example, did you know that just like food banks, there are ‘baby banks’ all over the UK that supply good quality unwanted baby items to families in need? Check out The Baby Bank or pick another charity of your choice, such as Oxfam, to donate to.

Some charities will even collect from your door, such as Anglo Doorstep Collections. You can also take advantage of door step collection bags when they are posted through your letterbox. You can even just leave things outside your house with a sign saying ‘free’ if you want to!

If you are mobile, you can deliver your old baby stuff to charity shops in person. Use clothing banks in supermarket car parks.

If you still really cannot bear to part with things, set yourself a time limit to sell them. If they are not gone by your target date, give them away. Or perhaps just sell larger things like pushchairs and nursery items, and give away the clothes.

Summary of what to do with used baby items

To summarise, you have the choice to sell your used baby items online or offline. Or you can give them to charity. You may wish to use a combination of the following:

Facebook marketplace
Vinted
eBay
Gumtree
The Octopus Club
Car boot sale
Baby markets
Mamas & Papas pushchair trade-in
Cash for clothes collection
Donate to charity

You may also be interested in the following articles about baby stuff:

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