The Shops service provides an online shop where you can,
design, manage, and sell your own branded merchandise on your website. If you
already have an audience, this is the pick for you!
For more valuable items, it could be worth going to an
auction. Jonty Hearnden, antiques expert and presenter of BBC 1's Cash in the
Attic and Sun, Sea and Bargain Spotting, says you should contact a local
auctioneer if you think an item could be valuable.
Many of us have an old mobile phone gathering dust in a
drawer somewhere, but you could easily turn it into cash , even if it is
slightly damaged. Websites such as , and will tell you how much your phone is
worth. An iPhone 3G, for example, could fetch around £130.
If you're longing for some retail therapy but can't afford
to hit the shops, why not earn a few pounds as a mystery shopper? Websites such
as employ mystery shoppers to drop in unannounced in shops and restaurants and
rate their experience.
After you send in your feedback, you'll be paid for your
time and reimbursed for any purchases you made. You could make up to £20 a day,
and get a meal or a night in a nice hotel thrown in for good measure.
If you spent years of your life being marched to piano
lessons, put the experience to good use in adulthood by advertising your
services in the local newspaper as a music teacher, says Laura Howard in her
book, 's 100 Ways to Beat the Credit Crunch.
Volunteering for medical experiments doesn't just have to
involve taking untested and risky drugs. Some clinical trials are perfectly
safe, such as sleep studies, psychological tests and taste testers. Fit and
healthy volunteers living in London willing to donate their blood for clinical
research, for example, could be paid £60 a time.
