By Shon Alam, Bidwedge

Like many people you may be finding all sort of ways to fill up your time as we stay at home during Covid-19.

Could any of these activities be used to make some extra cash? Let me share a few suggestions for doing just that.

Get books back in circulation

For book lovers losing any book is difficult. Be pragmatic: review your bookshelves and decide which books you’ll re-read or pass on to friends or family. If you’re honest, the rest are simply decoration and you can sell them.

Amazon is the obvious place to start. You will need to register as a seller (have your mobile, passport / driving licence and payment card ready). Ensure you can post what you are offering for sale or get everything ready for when you can. https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/sw/SSR/R2Lv2/step/SellerInformation

Alternatively, try We Buy Books (https://www.webuybooks.co.uk/sell-books-online/) or Music Magpie (https://www.musicmagpie.co.uk/sell-books).

Using creativity

If you’re planning to spend time on a craft you can get materials delivered. Whether you want to create with yarn, wood, paper or recycled materials that you have at home, if you find (or already know) that you’re creating something people will buy, there are lots of places to set yourself up as a seller. Start by checking out: Etsy.com, Shopify.co.uk, Folksy.com, Notonthehighstreet.com

Setting up a Facebook page and showing your items on Pinterest are also great, free ways to showcase your crafts.

Clearing cupboards

If you are clearing out cupboards and find items worth selling, eBay is the obvious place to go. As a seller, you need to be responsible about the sending, ensuring you adhere to social distancing at the Post Office. You can make items ‘buyer collects’ however this is best only if the person is local (avoiding unnecessary journeys) and you can hand over the item using the distancing guidelines.

Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree (https://www.gumtree.com/) are also handy. To adhere to the social distancing at the point of exchange consider whether, for example, they can pay online and then collect from a designated spot where you can leave it in advance? Remember: wash your hands before and after any exchange.

If you find vintage items VintageCashCow will buy your vintage items for cash! You put everything you want to sell in a box (during the isolation period, they are offering a free home collection service), they then value it and offer you a fair price within 48 hours.

Cash in foreign currency

Whether you’re a frequent traveller or just go abroad for an annual holiday, there’s little doubt that, when clearing drawers that you haven’t looked in for months, you will find bits and pieces of currency that were too small to change up post-trip. How can you get this exchanged easily?

At Bidwedge, you create a free account, state the amount of currency you have and they will tell you the price they will pay for your currency. If you agree, post your currency to Bidwedge and the agreed amount will be paid direct into your bank account. There are no additional fees, postage is free, and all transactions are insured.

Bidwedge’s Currency Buy Back is currently available for Euros and US Dollars and starts as low as 10Euros or $10.

www.bidwedge.com

Screen time

If you’re spending time on your PC or other devices us some of this time to make a little money.

Surveys are popular choice. Although they don’t pay that well the only resources you need are your device and your opinion. Be careful to pick legitimate sites and ones that don’t waste your time and pay very little. Try YouGov (https://yougov.co.uk/), Prolific (https://www.prolific.co/), LifePoints (www.lifepointspanel.com/) and Swagbucks (https://www.swagbucks.com/) as a starting point.

You can even earn cash just by changing your browser! Look at qmee.com.

Keeping your business afloat with technology

The uncertainty has, until recently, really affected the self-employed and freelance workers badly. Tradespeople that need to go to people’s houses have been in a rather tricky situation.

If your client has a small issue that you can talk them through on the phone with the use of video, so you can check they are doing the right thing, they can keep themselves going until you return. Try using Zoom (zoom.us) or perhaps WhatsApp. Obviously there are limitations but perhaps you can find issues for which this can work. Then you can charge a small fee for your services or use them to retain customer loyalty and confidence in your abilities.

Perhaps you can pick one suggestion to try and go from there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shon Alam is founder of Bidwedge. Bidwedge makes it easy to change your left-over cash currency back into Sterling – at great rates for even the smallest amounts. Just enter the amount, see the rate you’ll be paid, post the cash and watch the money appear in your bank account. It’s easy to do.

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