How to sell your yarn stash
If you have been thinking about whittling down your yarn stash, this is the perfect time of year to do it. September and October are big months for the knitting community, which rouses from its summer torpor and starts thinking about knitting in earnest. This also makes it a great time for you to clear out some room in your stash tubs for the new stuff you want to buy!
There are a lot of different ways you can sell your stash, both online and off. The first question you have to ask yourself is, how much trouble are you willing to go through? And how much money is your yarn really worth?
With very few exceptions, the value of a skein of yarn will not increase over time. Buyers will expect you to knock a few bucks off the price to account for the fact that the yarn is second-hand. This isn't a big problem if you have a lot of expensive yarn to sell. But if you want to sell a lot of big-name acrylic yarns that are sold at Walmart or big box craft stores, it's a different story.
If you have a lot of low-quality yarn you won't be able to resell for much money, then your best strategy is to pile it all into a single lot sale and sell it on Craigslist. Price it at between 50 cents and a dollar a skein and get it all sold in a single whack.
You may be tempted to try and sell your yarn on eBay. I strongly advise against doing this UNLESS you are already an experienced eBay seller. As an experienced eBay seller I can tell you, it is extremely complicated and involves a lot of fees. Selling your yarn on eBay is almost guaranteed to be more trouble than it's worth.
Ravelry also has several groups dedicated to selling yarn. The biggest is ISO and Destash of Yarn, with over 16,250 members. Be sure to read the rules and guidelines before posting your yarn for sale.
Image courtesy Flickr/mharvey.nyc