Brits made £3.5 billion selling second-hand last year

People in the UK raised more than £3.5 billion in the last 12 months by selling their unwanted items, research by budgeting account provider thinkmoney has found.

More than two thirds of UK adults (67%) have sold something second-hand. They estimate that they have raised an average of £106.15 each in the last 12 months alone.

Of those, almost one in five (18%) said they had raised between £101 and £250, and 4% said they had made £500 getting rid of things they didn't need.

38% of people selling second-hand were selling unwanted CDs and DVDs. 35% sold books, while 28% sold clothes and 26% sold their old mobile phone. Another 26% sold unwanted gifts.

Online auctions

The most popular way to sell used goods is online auction websites such as eBay, with 61% selling this way. Other popular methods include car boot sales (42%), small ads in local papers (19%), on Amazon (15%) and through mobile phone recycling websites (15%).

The best things in life are free

Everyone likes a freebie - and it seems that most of us are happy to give away some of our unwanted items free of charge. The most popular items given away include books (61%), clothes (59%), CDs/DVDs (43%), unwanted gifts (39%) and toys (39%).

73% of people those who have given things away for free have given things to charity shops, 60% to friends and family, and 13% have used websites such as Freecycle.

Carried out by Opinium Research, with an online survey of 2,014 UK adults between 14th and 17th December 2012. Results weighted to nationally representative criteria. Figures have been extrapolated based on a population estimate of 49,969,000 (ONS 2010 population projections).

For more information, visit thinkmoney.co.uk.