Yes it is possible to sell your home on Gumtree or eBay. In fact, more and more people are deciding to do so! While selling a property may be a far cry from flogging an old lawnmower, it’s actually remarkably easy to do and could yield some brilliant results!
Listing your property on these sites is also a great way to avoid getting an expensive estate agent involved, and it suits people who prefer to feel more in control of their sale.
Read on to find out how you can sell your house on Gumtree or eBay and everything you need to be aware of.
How to Sell a House on Gumtree or eBay
The good news is that websites like Gumtree and eBay are set up with ease-of-use as a top priority for buyers and sellers. It’s very easy to set up a property ad on either of these sites; you simply click through the steps, filling out forms and answering questions as you go. However, you will need to remember these three important steps:
- Work out how much your house is worth and what you want to sell it for. Follow our top tips for carrying out an independent valuation for your property, or involve an estate agent at this stage.
- Write a detailed and informative property description. Remember, honesty and transparency are key!
- Take some high-quality photographs that show your property in the best way.
The biggest advantage of selling a house on Gumtree or eBay is that you will avoid the high costs associated with estate agents. But there are still some minor costs to consider.
Gumtree Fees
It’s free to post a property ad on Gumtree, but if you want to give your house the best chance of being sold, there are other fees you might want to consider.
First of all, you can pay Gumtree to show your ad as a ‘featured ad’ on the results pages. The price depends on how long you wish to promote your ad for. You can also pay for a special ad package called a ‘Spotlight Feature’, which puts your ad on the Gumtree home page. Another option is to pay for an ‘urgent’ label which appears on your property listing and increases your chance of making a sale.
It’s important to remember that on Gumtree, property ads are only live for 60 days. If 60 days pass and you haven’t found a buyer, your ad will become inactive if you don’t take action. To keep your ad live, you can pay for a ‘bump’ which refreshes your ad for another 60 days.
eBay Fees
When you list your property on eBay, you will need to pay a one-off fee of £35. If you find a buyer, PayPal will take a much larger cut of 3.4% plus a £0.20 fee. So, if you list your house at £200,000 and someone buys it, you will take home £193,164.80 having paid £6,835.20 in fees.
Similar to Gumtree, you can also pay to boost your ad performance on eBay. The difference is that you will only be charged for this service if your house actually sells.
Advantages of Selling a House on Gumtree or eBay
More and more people are turning to websites like Gumtree and eBay to sell property, and there are numerous reasons why.
- You might save money since you won’t be dealing with an estate agent.
- You might find a buyer quickly, especially if you pay for extra advertising support.
- You may feel more in control over your house sale and less dependent on others.
- It’s free to list an ad on Gumtree and only costs £35 to do so on eBay.
- Both sites have huge reach, with millions of monthly users.
- Ads are classified, meaning bids cannot be accepted. Unless you decide to reduce your asking price, you can expect to achieve it.
Disadvantages of Selling a House on Gumtree or eBay
As with any method of selling a house, there are disadvantages to using Gumtree or eBay.
- For a higher chance of success, you will need to spend money on advertising support.
- Advertisements expire after a period of time, and you will need to pay to reinstate them.
- You may not save that much money compared to using an estate agent, especially if you use eBay. Estate agents typically charge up to 3.5% of your final sale price for their services – that isn’t much different.
- You will need to do all the leg work yourself, including setting an asking price, writing a description and taking photos.
- You cannot avoid legal and conveyancing fees. You will still need to finance this part of the process.
If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to sell your home and you want to do it fast, consider selling to a fast house buyer like Zoom, a company that will buy your property for cash.
Unlike Gumtree or eBay, a company like ours is a guaranteed buyer and the sale can even go ahead in as little as 7 days. What’s more, when you sell a house to us, we won’t charge you a penny. Plus we’ll organise and finance the legal process too!
Call our friendly team today on 0333 880 4362 to find out more, or submit an enquiry using our online form.
