Lockdown Britons find cash in the attic

LOCKDOWN has sparked a boom in ‘cash-in-the-attic’ clearouts, with Britons increasingly selling their clutter online.

The trend was spotted by the boss of delivery giant Yodel, who has reported a surge in business coming through internet marketplaces such as eBay.

More time spent at home combined with the financial pressures of Covid have prompted people to clear out their unwanted belongings, according to Yodel chief executive Mike Hancox. He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘A lot of people have had financial challenges through the pandemic, so recycling goods into cash has been a requirement for some people.

‘Also, people have gained their commuting time, or perhaps been furloughed, and had the time to find things and polish them up.

‘They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and people have found it’s quite easy to sell what they found.’

He also credited TV shows such as BBC One’s The Repair Shop for driving viewers to empty out their attics or garages. ‘People are taking old items, repairing and selling them as hobbies,’ he said.

His firm launched a service, Yodel Direct, to meet demand, allowing internet sellers to drop parcels at a local store.

Hancox, also a director of the online marketplace Fruugo.com, said some householders had also started selling homemade items during lockdown.

The number of active accounts on craft website Etsy doubled in 2020, according to Money.co.uk, while Facebook Marketplace recently surpassed a billion users.

Research by eBay suggests the average family could be sitting on £1,236 worth of unwanted clutter. Power drills, old golf clubs, running shoes and fishing rods are among the most popular marketplace items.

The rise in ‘consumer to consumer’ shopping contributed to Yodel handling 190 million parcels last year – a 30 per cent increase on the year before – and recording an annual profit for the first time.

Hancox predicted the trend for online selling would continue: ‘People are more conscious about their impact on the environment and throwing clothes away, so that’s definitely here to stay,’ he said.