22 Things to Sell to Make Money Quickly

Do you need to make money fast? Then keep reading for unique and popular things to sell today for extra cash!

From a very early age, I was taught the value of money. Not only did I do chores to earn a weekly allowance, but I was also expected to save money for things I wanted to purchase. And like most kids, I wanted lots of stuff, which motivated me to come up with creative ways to make extra money.

I made money by selling lemonade; I went door-to-door trying to sell my neighbors my arts and crafts (I didn’t sell any). One time, I collected salamanders from our backyard and called around until I found a pet store that would buy them. I found aluminum cans and traded them to the recycling center for cash.

Fast forward, and not much has changed.

In college, I sold my old textbooks and CDs for cash. I sold used clothes to consignment shops. I even sold my body to science by participating in pharmaceutical research studies.

When you’re short on cash and need money fast, there are so many ways to make extra money ASAP by selling things online and in-person. 

If you need a little money, here are 22 things to sell online and in person. 

1. Antiques or Vintage Items

People are willing to pay top bucks for antiques (items at least 100 years old) and vintage items (items 40 years old). If you’ve inherited some old china, silverware, jewelry, furniture, or even vintage clothes, you can sell them for good money using a site like Etsy, Ruby Lane, or Chairish.

If you enjoy dealing in antiquities, you could turn this into a full-time side hustle by flipping antiques and vintage items from garage sales, estate sales, and flea markets.

2. Art 

If you’re a talented artist or creator, you can sell your art online using ArtPal or Artfinder. ArtPal accepts paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, handmade jewelry, and crafts, and you can sign up for free. With Artfinder, you can sell original paintings, photography, prints, sculptures, drawings, and digital art. Artists must fill out an online application for consideration, and once accepted into the program, artists earn 67% of the sales price.

For more ways to sell your art, check out this list of places to sell your arts and crafts.

3. Baby Equipment + Gear

Is your baby all grown up? Are you not having any more kids? Then sell your used baby furniture, stroller, old toys, bikes, and clothing at a Just Between Friends (JBF) sale. At JBF, you bring your items to a local sale, price them, and two weeks later, you receive your consignor’s check in the mail.

If you don’t want to go the consignment route, you can try selling your used baby equipment on Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or eBay. Each site has pros and cons, so do your research before choosing a platform. 

4. Baked Goods

I have a friend who loves to cook and bake! When the holidays roll around, she makes hot cocoa bombs, candies, and other sweet treats that she sells on Facebook to her family and friends. She takes a few photos of her baked goods, posts them on Facebook with prices, and lets people know that she is taking orders (she delivers locally and ships out of town). If you have a talent for making delicious baked goods like cakes, cookies, or pies, consider selling them for extra cash.

If you love dogs and enjoy baking, you can make and sell dog treats from home! You can easily sell these treats at your local farmer's market, take custom orders online, or start on a site like Etsy. My friend Kristin loves to spoil her pooches and started a side hustle baking and selling gourmet dog treats. If this sounds fun, check out her full interview here.

5. Beauty Products

Whether you want to be a beauty influencer, join a direct sales company, or make and sell your own beauty products, the beauty market is expected to grow to $590 billion by 2030!  

What can you sell? Pretty much anything you have a passion for, from lip gloss and hair products to skincare and makeup! Choose a niche, pick what you want to sell, and then choose your platforms: 

• Amazon Influencer Program
• TikTok Shop
• Join a Direct Sales Company
• Build Your Own Website

I have a friend who sells handcrafted soap, all-natural lip balm, and hand salve through a mix of Etsy, Shopify, and local farmers' markets. 

6. Body (Health + Science)

There are many legal ways to make money just by using your body, such as participating in clinical research trials. 

In college, I participated in many different clinical research studies. I usually participated in diary studies for investigational allergy medicine, as I have terrible seasonal allergies. But one time, I participated in an overnight study that tested ibuprofen levels in my blood, and I earned $2,000! 

If you’re interested in selling your body to science, use ClinicalTrials.gov to locate trials around the globe. Compensation will vary depending on the type of medication, the length of the study, the number of blood draws, and the number of visits. Payments are usually made by check from the clinical research organization.

Belly

While this is a HUGE commitment and undertaking, it can be very lucrative if you’re healthy, at the right age, and have the right mindset. Being a surrogate (carrying someone else’s baby for nine months) pays anywhere from $60,000 and up, plus the cost of medical bills and treatments.

Breast Milk

Sadly, many women have trouble producing enough breast milk for their baby, and they are willing to pay good money for healthy breast milk. Only The Breast is an online marketplace where moms can sell breast milk, and others can buy it. The average selling price is around $1.00 to $1.75 per ounce, which means if you can pump an extra 16 ounces per day for 30 days, you can earn between $480 and $840 a month! 

Egg Donor

Are you young and in good health? Then donating your eggs may be a viable option for you. You must be between 21 and 32, a non-smoker, drug-free, STD-free, and in good overall health. Donors can make anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000 per retrieval.

Hair

Do you have long hair? Are you ready for a change? Then, sell your hair using HairSellon.com. You’ll need at least 10 inches of healthy hair, but you can make anywhere from $100 to $1,000, possibly more, by selling your long locks.

Plasma

Are you a healthy individual? Then donate your plasma at BioLife Plasma Services. Your first visit will take about two hours for donation screening, a medical check, and retrieval. After you complete the process, you’ll be paid via a prepaid Mastercard. Donors can donate twice a week, and subsequent visits take only one hour. Call your local chapter for compensation rates.

7. Books

Over the years, I've sold a fair amount of books, especially when I was in college. With books, you can sell online or in person at your local bookseller, like Half Price Books. 

The platform I'm most familiar with is BooksRun. To get started, download their app, create an account, enter the book’s ISBN, and get a quote. For each book you scan, you'll tell them the condition of the book, and they'll quote you a purchase rate. 

Once you have $10 in books, box them up and send them in with the pre-paid shipping label. Once they receive the books, you’ll be paid by check or PayPal. In my experience, college textbooks earn you the highest rates, but if you have some rare books, you may be able to cash in! 

8. Car

If you moved to a big city and you no longer need your vehicle, consider selling it for some quick cash! Smartphone apps and sites like CarMax and CARFAX make selling your car a snap! 

But don’t stop there; you can also get cash for RVs, boats, motorcycles, and mopeds! 

If you don’t want to get rid of your automobile, you can always use a peer-to-peer rental marketplace like Turo to rent your car for cash while you’re not using it. According to Turo’s website, you can earn an average of $10,489 annually just by renting your car out. 

9. CDs, DVDs, and Video Games

If you have used CDs, DVDs, and video games that you no longer use, consider selling them on World of Books. With this platform, you can use their website or their mobile app. Just enter your item’s barcode on the site to get an instant quote. Once you have the minimum trade value, box them up and send them in using a pre-paid shipping label. Once World of Books receives your items, they will send your payment via direct deposit, check, or PayPal. 

10. Clothes

I have sold a ton of clothing, shoes, and handbags over the years, both in person and on online marketplaces.

Depending on how much you have to sell and how much each item is worth, it can be better to sell individually than to use a bulk selling platform like thredUP or a local consignment store. 

With thredUP, you send in your items, and they list them on consignment, and you'll earn a very small percentage of what your item is worth. 

With Poshmark, you list, sell, and ship off your items, but you make much more money than you would on thredUP. This is what I currently use. 

For a massive list of platforms for selling clothing, check out this article.

If you have a specialty item like a wedding dress, check out SellMyWeddingDress.org or StillWhite.com. Listing fees range from $19.95 to $29.95. Neither site charges commission fees. List your wedding items, prom dress, wedding dress, or wedding gown to many potential buyers. 

11. Content

Content creation has blown up, and if you enjoy creating, whether it's written, audio, or visual, there is a platform where you can create content for others to consume! 

As a content creator, you can sell content to brands for UGC, work on brand deals, or monetize through affiliate marketing and by selling your own products. 

To get started, pick a niche: art, food, books, movies and entertainment, green living, career, business, finance, travel, lifestyle, or fashion. 

Once you've nailed what you'll create content around, choose which platform or mix of platforms you want to use. 

For instance, I have a WordPress blog and Kit as my newsletter, but I also create content for TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. If you're just getting started, focus on 1 or 2, and from there you can expand. 

Then comes the fun part: start creating content. As you grow your audience, you can start monetizing through creator funds, ads, affiliate marketing, selling merch, and so much more! 

Check out this article to learn more about selling your content online! 

12. Digital Products

Another creative way to sell online is by creating digital products like printables, SVG files, ebooks, online courses, music, newsletters, patterns, templates, recipes, and more! 

If you're skilled with graphic design software, you're in a great place. If not, you can use a platform like Canva, Replit, or even Claude to create graphics, PDFs, templates, and more. 

You can sell your digital products in many places, such as your own website or a digital shop like Stan Store, Etsy, Patternbank, Creative Market, or Bandcamp.

If you want to start a membership or newsletter subscription, you can use a free platform like Substack or Patreon. With these sites, you get started for free, and once you start selling memberships, they take a small portion of your sales. 

Check out this in-depth article for more information on selling digital products! 

13. Electronics

From my experience, electronics are one of the easiest things to sell. Whether you have old smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, smartwatches, headphones, gaming equipment, or even graphing calculators, you can unload these quickly. 

My favorite sites for selling electronics are Facebook swap groups, Craigslist, and Poshmark. However, if you're upgrading your device, you can likely sell your old device back to the original store, like Apple, Verizon, or AT&T, and get a steep discount on your new product. 

Online stores like SellCell let you browse top buyback companies through their website. Just find the device you're selling, answer a few simple questions, and they will give you instant quotes from different buyback companies. Browse the offers, choose the one you like, and ship it off. Each buyback company has different payment methods, so do your due diligence before choosing a buyer. 

14. Free Time

If you have some spare time, why not sell it and do some odd tasks for other people? 

With the gig economy, it's never been easier to make money in your downtime. With the DoorDash and Instacart apps, you can sell your time by delivering food and groceries.

With TaskRabbit, you can perform one-off tasks like standing in line for concert tickets. You can also sign up with IVueit and check out items in person for people who cannot be there.

If working behind a computer is more your thing, you can sell your time doing virtual assistant work with Byron, transcription work with Rev, or random tasks, like playing games and taking surveys with Swagbucks. 

The great thing about these apps and sites is that you can log in and do work whenever you have free time, working as much or as little as you need.

15. Furniture

Furniture is another easy thing to sell for cash! Over the years, I've sold sofas, dining room tables and chairs, dressers, beds, and cribs. I typically use Facebook groups or Craigslist to sell furniture, since shipping larger items is quite an undertaking. 

With furniture, you can ask the buyer to pick up the item directly from your home. I know some people who own trucks and will charge an additional fee to deliver the item directly to the customer. 

Another option for furniture is selling to local consignment stores, but again, they take a large chunk of your profits. 

16. Gift Cards

Have you ever received a gift card for a store that you don’t shop at or that’s not close to your home? If you have some gift cards collecting dust in a drawer, sell them online to a site like CardCash.

With these gift card selling platforms, you enter the retailer and the gift card's value, and they'll give you an instant quote. If you accept the trade-in value, you'll get your cash via PayPal direct deposit or check. I've used CardCash before and never had any issues, but some people report issues on Trustpilot. Read the reviews here, and decide for yourself. 

17. Handmade Crafts

Do you make gorgeous jewelry, candles, pottery, knitted blankets, vinyl stickers, or holiday decorations? Then, sell your handmade items, vintage goods, or craft supplies on Etsy. 

It only costs $0.20 to list a product on Etsy for four months (or until it sells). Once your item sells, Etsy collects a 3.5% transaction fee on the sale price. 

One of the nice things about Etsy is its built-in audience of shoppers, so as long as you know a little about Etsy SEO and add the right keywords to your description, it can be an easy, quick way to generate some cash. 

Of course, Etsy isn't the only platform you can use to sell your handmade things; check out this massive list for Etsy alternatives. 

18. Jewelry

I mentioned jewelry above under clothing, but if you have expensive real gold, diamond, or platinum jewelry, you'll want to sell it somewhere that knows how to appraise your items so that you can get the most bang for your buck. Local jewelry stores are a great option, or you can use a platform like Worthy. 

Worthy has a 4.5-star rating on Trustpilot, but I have not used them personally. So, do your research before sending off your precious jewels and gems.

For more tips and additional sites for selling your jewelry, check out this post.

19. Opinion

Do you enjoy sharing your thoughts and opinions with others? Then, make some money by participating in market research groups. Just sign up with one of these platforms and wait to be invited to focus group opportunities. These gigs are usually an hour long and pay anywhere from $50 to $150 an hour!

You can also share your opinion by taking surveys online using platforms like:

• Branded Surveys
• Opinion Outpost
• Survey Junkie
• User Interviews
• Respondent

For each survey you take, you earn cash or points you can use to buy gift cards from major retailers or cash out via Visa or PayPal. Some of these companies have smartphone apps, so you can do surveys whenever you have a free moment.

20. Photographs and Videos

If you have a knack for taking gorgeous photos or videos, you can sell them online to a stock photo site like Dreamstime. Just upload your pictures and wait for your images to sell. You’ll receive 25% to 50% of each sale. For more places to sell your photos, check out this MASSIVE list of sites you can sell on.

You can also try selling your photos and videos using the smartphone app Foap. Download the application to your smartphone and upload your photos. Once your image receives five positive ratings from other Foap users, your photo will be published for sale. You will earn $5 each time someone purchases your photo. Payments are made via PayPal when the user requests a cashout.

21. Plants

If you have a green thumb, you can make money selling fresh herbs, plants, and vegetables from your garden. My assistant, Aimee, grows aquatic plants for aquariums and sells them on Craigslist. All she did was place a $5 ad on Craigslist, and she sold $800 in just 30 days! She details her process here.

22. Sporting Goods

We know how much sporting equipment can cost, so if you have some you're no longer using, consider selling it. If you live near a Play It Again Sports, you can bring in your equipment, and they’ll evaluate it on the spot and make you an offer right then and there.

Of course, you can also use sites like Craigslist, VarageSale, Facebook Marketplace, or even eBay. 

Earn Money Selling Things Online and In Person

There are so many ways to make money fast, just by selling stuff you already have.

If you have a lot of gadgets that you’re ready to purge, you can have a garage sale. While you’ll quickly get rid of old items this way, people who attend garage sales tend to be budget shoppers, so you may not make as much money going this route.

The same goes for pawn shops and consignment stores; you can sell quickly, but because they need to make a profit, your items will fetch a much lower price.

Personally, I like using Craigslist, Poshmark, and Facebook Marketplace to sell things, as I can make the most money selling individual items. The downside is that you’re responsible for taking photographs, creating your listing, replying to queries, and meeting people in person, which can take a little time. Weigh the pros and cons of each platform to see which one is right for you.