If you’ve been consigning used toilet rolls to the recycling bin, it might be time for a rethink. Unbelievably, Martin Lewis‘ MoneySavingExpert, suggests you can actually turn this trash into treasure by selling these on eBay – along with a few more unexpected items.
From wine corks priced at a mere 7p each, to newspaper supplements fetching up to £50, MSE reveals that numerous thrifty Brits are already selling their discarded items in large bundles and as individual products online. Empty perfume bottles commanding up to £150, shirt buttons for £4.66 and even empty toilet roll tubes for 5p are among the purchases people are reportedly making.
Albeit odd, MSE maintains that this method can indeed work. “Jam jars are also popular – you’ll likely get the most money for matching sets of posh jars, eg, Bonne Maman, but we’ve seen assorted bundles of bog-standard jars selling too,” they explained.
“Most of these items are sold in bulk, eg, 50 toilet roll tubes for £5, so it might take you a while to collect enough to sell – and you’ll need somewhere to store them.”
In addition to conducting its own research on the marketplace, MSE has received similar feedback from those who’ve tried and tested it. One reader of MSE even reported that someone messaged her asking to buy a single perfume bottle lid, rather than the entire product.
In 2021, another savvy eBay seller managed to accumulate over £2,500 by auctioning off empty crisp packets from the 1980s, according to a previous MSE report. Initially considering recycling them, she opted to sell them when she realised their value.
Her vintage Hula Hoops and Skips packets fetched between £10 and £30 each, but a single packet of Sky Divers crisps astonishingly sold for £173. At the time, she said: “Sometimes you get the same buyers bidding each week – but a lot of the time it’s different people.”
If you’re keen to give trash-selling a try, MSE claims that eBay, Gumtree, Preloved and Facebook Marketplace are among the best platforms to do so. Each of these will allow you to sell second-hand products, but MSE encourages you to do this only if the items are in ‘decent condition’.
Although there’s no guarantee it will work and it may take months to see your products sold, MSE claims there are undoubtedly many successes. Over the past three months, they’ve seen 8,400 football programme bundles sell on eBay, with prices ranging from £3.95 to £49.99 per item.
Another notable success includes around 350 coat hanger bundles sold, with prices per item varying from 36p to £4.
Money blogger Skint Dad has also shed some light on this phenomenon, especially in regards to used toilet rolls. In 2019, he wrote: “One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure certainly rings true here as people love using these little tubes for arts and crafts, for planting seeds and even to make their own Christmas crackers.
“The toilet roll tubes do sell as well. Not all of them and not at first but they do sell. The sale average price for the middle of a toilet roll is about £7 (including postage) for around 50 rolls.”
What do you think? Let us know what you think in the comment section below