How to Earn Some Extra Cash by Selling Your Collectibles

Collectors of all stripes occasionally need to sell items from their collection. This may be because you have duplicates, because you need the money or because you simply don’t want that particular item anymore. 

No matter the reason, you will want to go about the selling process the right way. Here are some important things to keep in mind when hoping to earn some extra cash by selling your collectibles.

Determine Its Value

After deciding you want to sell a particular item, the next step should be determining how much the item is worth. This will give you a good sense of how much you can sell it for so you won’t ask too much or too little. Ask too much money and you will be unable to sell the item. Ask too little and you will lose money on the sale.

Consider Where to Sell

Next, you will want to consider where you plan to sell this item. Presumably, you want to get top dollar for your collection, so you will want to place the item for sale where interested buyers are most likely to find it. 


To sell your coin collection, for example, you may want to go through coin collecting-specific channels to find interested buyers. Do some research and determine the best places to sell certain kinds of items.

Be Honest

You need to be honest and upfront with your buyers regarding the exact condition and type of item you are selling. A good way to do this is take detailed pictures or allow an interested party to inspect the item in person. 

Add details such as information on the exact edition, any defects and how an item has been stored. Dishonesty will only create problems for you down the road.

Ship the Item Carefully

If you have found a local buyer, you may not have to ship the item. However, in many cases you will be responsible for shipping the item to the buyer. Be sure you pack the item securely in quality packaging so it will arrive to your buyer undamaged. 

This is especially important for fragile or very valuable items. Also make sure the package is trackable and insured to protect yourself in case something goes wrong.

Thanks to the Internet, it is easier than ever before to earn some solid extra cash by selling your collectibles. Be sure to do some research ahead of time so you will know where, how and for how much you can sell your collectibles. If you do, you can find the right buyer willing to pay what those items are worth.

Think Ahead: 4 Ways to Keep Your Car Insurance Rates Low

The use of technology makes it much easier for consumers to shop and make purchases. This is true when it comes to buying items and acquiring car insurance. The internet is a valuable tool in this category. It allows you to search for affordable coverage for your vehicle. This can be done even prior to purchasing your car. The ultimate goal is to find rates that are low and budget-friendly.

There are things that responsible drivers can do to maintain their low rates. These involve the way that you drive and are aware of topics, such as traffic law assistance. The more that the average driver knows, the better equipped they are to find good coverage. Knowing the law and following it consistently is beneficial to all drivers. You will get the right insurance by conducting a bit of research.

Bargain Shop

According to Finder.com, the average driver is behind the wheel 13+K miles each year. This includes driving to work, as well as, for pleasure or vacation. Even people who drive fewer miles need to have good insurance coverage. 



Bargain shopping is a terrific way to get the rates that you want. There are many websites that provide qualified drivers with quotes for varying types of car insurance.

Drive Safely

One way to get low insurance rates and to maintain them is to be a safe driver. This considers those who have never receive driving or traffic infractions. These are just a part of the things that insurers use when approving drivers for coverage. Safety involves knowing and maintaining the law. 

The Insurance Information Institute also reports that drivers with good credit records are better able to get coverage. If you receive a traffic ticket, it’s a good idea to get traffic law assistance to see what can be done to rectify the situation and prevent damage to your insurance rates. 

Request Discounts

There is a list of things that drivers benefit from to get discounts on their car insurance. This often has to do with activities, organizations, and additional coverage. These are some potential things that could provide you with a discount:

• Course for Defensive Driving
• Academic Achievements
• Veteran Accomplishments
• Additional Insurer Policies

Increase Deductibles

It is possible to increase your deductible amounts in the pursuit of lower insurance rates for auto coverage. This simply means requesting that your insurer applies a higher deductible rate. In some instances, drivers ask for a $1K deductible, which can lead to a 40% savings in rates. The best way to accommodate this strategy is to set aside money in case you need to file a claim.

How To Get The Most Cash For Your Gold In Brisbane

It seems that gold buyers are springing up everywhere. All these gold buyers claim that they can offer you a better price than any other competitor. Common sense should tell you that this is mere marketing hype to get you to choose a specific buyer over any other. 

It is impossible for every buyer to pay top dollar. So, when you are looking for a gold buyer you should check how true their claims. This means you need to take some time to check out all the gold buyers in Brisbane. 

But before you tie yourself in knots about who Brisbanes highest paying gold buyers are, there are specific features you should be on the look out for:

A physical location

Whilst the idea of selling or buying gold from the comfort of your own home via the internet may sound convenient, be careful of business that only have an internet presence. 

There are horrible stories of people getting either getting paid far less than they deserve or losing their gold in the mail. Most physical buyers operating from actual brick-and-mortar establishments use the internet as an alternative. It's better to have two alternatives.

A well established gold buyer

Gold's dealers who have been in business for long understand that success hinges on the reputation they carve for themselves. A reputable gold buyer will want to offer the best price because that is the only way to get repeat customers and referrals.

Valuations based on assayed and current spot prices

When selling your gold, you should insist on a written quotation. You should also be wary of buyers who are quick to give you estimates without ever seeing the actual gold. These buyers offer low rates because they bank on the seller's need to get cash quickly. 

The buyer should also give you a written quotation. This will help you hold the buyer to his promise or words. Written quotations are also a useful tool when the time comes for you to haggle over the price. 




It helps to have a general idea of what you should be shooting for when it comes to valuing your gold. To do that, simply multiple the weight of your gold by the current spot price. 

So for instance if you have 10 ounces of 22k gold this means your gold is 91.7% pure and the dealer can only pay you for 9.17 ounces. Take that and multiply it by the current spot price. Brisbanes highest paying gold buyers should be able to offer about 95% of the spot price. 

You can even get the best price if you have a large amount of gold or if the dealer is in short supply. Other gold buyers like pawn shops offer low returns. It can sometimes be more than half the bullion content. This is why you need to shop around.

The moral of this story is that, the best way to get the most for your gold sales is to research and educate yourself about the process. Gold buyers are a dime a dozen, but they are not all the same. Proper due diligence will get you the best deal from the best dealers in Brisbane.

Letters and Emails and Calls—Oh My! How to Avoid Getting Scammed

A sweepstakes prize notification comes in the mail. Some anonymous phone call promises you a free vacation. Through an ominous sounding email, you are warned of potential prosecution for tax evasion or public humiliation for visiting an inappropriate website.

These are only but an example of the many types of fraudulent snail and emails and phone calls. This bombardment of scams preys a poem victims responding to high pressure and lack of information. Here are a few ways you can avoid the scams.

Do a Search

Often, scammers will have an email or phone number but no identity of the company or entity. This alone can signal a potential scam. Not surprisingly, the cheats do not want themselves revealed.

Type in the email address, regular mail address, or phone number into an online database or reverse search service. If the scammer has done this with other people, chances are people have talked about it online.

Include in your Google search a few words or phrases from the message. This may generate hits from government or consumer watchdogs, such as the Better Business Bureau, that contain warnings. If you’re suspicious, contact your local Better Business Bureau, state consumer protection office or the Federal Trade Commission.

Smell a Phish

Phishing refers to attempts to get your personal and financial information, such as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and credit card account numbers. Often, these scammers will mimic a legitimate company (including one with whom you have dealings) or a government agency.





The call, mail or email may contain a warning that you will face prosecution or other dire consequences unless you hand over information and pay money. Other scammers phish by claiming that they need updated information from you or that an invoice his due.

The IRS will not call you to collect on unpaid taxes. Instead, it will send you an official notice based upon items specific to your tax return or situation, which a scammer likely would not have. Credit card and other companies with whom you deal already obtained information from you when you opened the account. Contact your companies to learn their procedures for contacting you. Ignore invoices for items you have not ordered or companies you have not contacted.

Check for grammatical and spelling errors as well as for the original source of the email.

Avoid Those Who Want You to Be “Up Front”

This is not a call for you to be dishonest. It is a warning to avoid those who want you to pay in advance for particular items.

One of these types of scams inform you that you have won a prize, but you must furnish your credit card and other financial information to pay for shipping and handling. Not surprisingly, the charge appears on your card, but no prize appears at your door or mailbox. The pay up front scams often populate themselves in work-at-home for other employment schemes, promises for debt relief and mortgage assistance. Often, these “pay in advance” scammers do not have a company name or address.

Additionally, be aware that legitimate, professional agencies will never ask for payment in the form of gift cards. Scammers often ask for forms of payment that you can’t recover or cancel if you second guess them later.

Avoiding scams through the mail, email and telephone requires that you resist. That is, don’t succumb to the pressure to respond immediately. Investigate the message or claim. Consult legitimate online resources, official agencies (local, state and federal) and your own common sense. Often, no response to the message is the best approach.

Unknowingly Uninsured: 4 Uncommon Commercial Insurances

Insuring your small business is an important way to protect it. Most small business owners know the basics and understand that it’s important to protect their property and equipment as well as protect themselves from liability if something goes wrong. 

Depending on the type of business you own, however, you may need to go beyond the basics and seek out more unconventional coverage.

Tattoo and Piercing Insurance

Tattoos and piercing make fairly permanent changes to the body and can come with the risk of infection and other complications. As such, it’s wise for tattoo artists to purchase special insurance that covers all tattoo and body piercing work, no matter where it is on the body. 

Check your policy carefully, making sure it extends coverage to guest artists and that your protection goes with you to any festivals or exhibits you work.

Day Spa Insurance

Like tattoo parlors, day spas should carry special insurance. It’s important for spa owners to protect themselves from malpractice and abusive or unlawful acts committed by employees. Your policy should contain special provisions if you travel to clients’ homes or businesses for massage work. 




Most medispa insurance policies cover you and your employees. Specially for If you have massage therapists working with you as independent contractors, make sure your insurance covers them if they are under insured or uninsured.

War and Political Risk Insurance

If your small business relies on foreign product producers or customers, war and political risk insurance is a good idea. Unfortunately, wars, coups and acts of terrorism can greatly disrupt people’s personal lives and businesses. 

If these disruptions impact people and businesses that you rely on, you may feel the effects of instability despite being miles away. If you do business in countries known for political volatility, look into political risk insurance.

Ready for Anything Insurance

Many people dismiss stories of alien abductions, UFO landings and the coming zombie apocalypse as pure myth. Others view these possibilities as very real, and insurance companies have taken notice. Some offer insurance policies that protect against business disruption caused by zombies and aliens. 

One insurance agent even states that he’s sold alien abduction insurance and had to pay a claim. While you’re business probably doesn’t need this type of insurance unless you’re located in Roswell, it’s still fun to know these policies (and the truth) are out there.

When you speak to your insurance agent about protecting your small enterprise, make sure you’re getting all the coverage you need. Tell your agent about any unusual practices in your business so he can help make sure you’re protected, even when a strange or unconventional situation arise.

What Are the Qualities of a Good Chartered Accountant?

Leading or working in a CA firm is a common career choice for a majority of chartered accountants in India, according to ICAI. They also say that around 50% of associate and fellow CAs are currently practising full-time or part-time.

The primary goal of every such practising CA is to bring in more clients and to expand their business. Now, CAs cannot advertise and solicit customers as the ICAI bars it. Hence, this can become an obstacle in this case.

One of the only ways a CA firm can reach to more clients is via word-of-mouth marketing from the existing ones. This is only possible when they are satisfied with the service.

You need to portray all the essential qualities of an accountant if you seek to run your own firm in the future and provide a satisfactory service to your clientele.

If you do have such aspirations, here are some of the qualities that you need to have:

Communication Skills

There are various technical jargon associated in the field of accounting, auditing, and taxation. Clients who don’t have much comprehension of these fields may not know such terms.

Hence, effective communication from your end is of utmost importance. You have to adapt to their comprehension as per the mode of communication.

Not only clients, but you also need to be adept at communication to interact with your seniors, juniors, and partners.

Organisational Skills

One of the essential qualities of an accountant is to organise not only physical items but also the intangible ones. From stacks of papers to multiple spreadsheets, you have to organise all of these as part and parcel of your daily functions.




Having superb organisational skills will help you get access to urgent requirements rapidly and manage your work more efficiently.

Professionalism

Any breach of contract and divergence from the code of conduct laid down by the ICAI can lead to a temporary or permanent removal of the CoP. The organisation lists all such members found guilty under their schedules.

Hence, maintaining robust professionalism and ethics is another one of the qualities of an accountant. You must not accept information as it is presented and always question them.

Team leading skills

CAs working in a firm lead a team of accountants who will collectively function on the project. Any discrepancy or conflict within them can hamper the project productivity.

You have to ensure that such situations don’t arise by leading your team in a coordinated way. Such skills are one of the top qualities that an ideal chartered accountant must have.

Accountability

Taking responsibility is a critical role of a CA that you need to have. You must take account for your mistakes and learn from them. Also, you need to make sure that the same doesn’t arise anymore. Lastly, put every contingency in place to avoid any errors from occurring.

These qualities will surely help you expand your practice and bring in more clients. Taking help of a CA loan in such cases can provide you with the funds to relocate to bigger premises, purchase respective equipment, etc.

NBFCs like Bajaj Finserv provide Business Loans for Chartered Accountants that can help you with the same. They can disburse loans within 24 hours of approval and against minimal documentation.

Make sure to start developing these essential qualities of an accountant during your CA articleship. Selecting the right firm will help you with the same. Gather as much experience over time to open up your own and prosper.