Should I give my children money when I sell their things?

A question about : Should I give my children money when I sell their things?

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

As a parent I often sell on games, electronics and toys that the children have stopped using. In particular, after each Christmas I have a cull to make space for all their new stuff. Should I give them the money that I raise or should I keep it?

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Best answers:

• Assuming you don't actually need the money yourself, my thought is this: you're selling their stuff so the proceeds should be theirs.
  Having said that, they don't have room for more toys, and I guess they're not likely to spend their windfall sensibly, so I'd suggest putting the money into savings accounts for them to benefit from at a later date.
• When I've sold clothes belonging to my two, I've put the money towards new clothes for them. If I sold their old toys I'd probably do the same, put it towards birthday or Christmas presents.
  Jx
• Depends on how you feel about it I suppose, plus what you spend on them and what you save for them.
  We save regularly for our kids and if they need something, we buy it and don't dip into their savings, so I have no problem in keeping money back from selling their old stuff.
  I tend to keep stuff until they are genuinely no longer interested, by which time they've probably had twice the value again in new stuff.
• Taking your kids toys, then selling them.
  Well I guess there is a fine line between moneysaving and being mean.
• I assume you're mostly the one who buys the kids new toys, so it strikes me that if you give the money back to the kids you're robbing Peter to pay Paul.
  Buy new toys with some of the money each time?
• About 14 years ago I sold a huge crate of Lego that my sons (then 15 & 13) no longer wanted. I received around Ј120 for it, which I split 3 ways with the boys which DS1 then used to buy PS games and DS2 put towards a new guitar.
  So yes, I gave them a share of the money, but they were teenagers at the time and we did keep the big Lego Technic Space Shuttle, which DS1 still has.
• If you're trying to SAVE money, no.
  It's likely you bought the items for the kids, so you're just claiming some of that back. Yes, you gave it as a gift but that's not the point.
  If someone else gave it to them as a gift, then it's up to you. I would still keep the money but be less frugal when it comes to treats.
• You mean they haven't already bagged the money? As soon as my kids move on from a toy they're badgering me to put it on eBay and for them to get the cash! It's a non-discussion in our household - I've bought them a present so it and the subsequent funds when they sell it are theirs. Seems reasonable to me.
• we have a rule in our house if i buy it for them for xmas or bday's the money is theirs, if not i.e clothes or school etc then i use that for future stuff they need if you saw you sister or mother in law selling something you gave them you wouldn't ask them for the money back so why your kids.
• they are the child's toys, they get the money but in a savings account. However when they next want a toy you tell them they have the money from selling....and let them use it.
  Letting them have the money is an incentive to dispose of items they don't need.
• I have done this before. I've overbought on things for xmas then discovered that they haven't used them at all. For instance I bought a leap pad well before my son could actually use it, I ended up selling it as he never actually used it and didn't give him the money.
  But for toys he has genuinely used and I've managed to sell on then I've made sure he gets the money. Although very little sells for very much on ebay now anyway to warrant bothering to list them.
  We've given a lot of his stuff to our friends' children or dropped them off at the charity shop at the end of our street.
  Even if you keep the money yourself they'll still end up with it eventually in some way, but if I went on a clearing mission then my son would get the money in his savings.
• No........
• It depends on the nature in which they were given. If you’re selling items given to them as gifts then the money is rightly theirs, although I think it is fair if you use the cash to buy them other items. Clothes etc I would not see it as immoral to retain the cash, I imagine that you will spend the cash (plus lots more) on your children anyway in the future one way or another.
• My DD is 15 so we've reached the end of toys now, but I had absolutely no problem at all selling stuff she no longer used and keeping the money, as directly or indirectly it went back on her anyway, and it may have meant us affording a holiday or something else she would have enjoyed much more than the money.
  Most of the stuff would have gathered dust by the time it was sold.
  I do not feel one little bit guilty. Be it to help with petrol to pick up her friends, bus money for a trip into town, or tickets to the cinema, its much better than her spending the money on tat like false nails and plastic.
  She now has pocket money and buys her own clothes unless its winter coats, boots, school stuff etc. if she doesn't look after that, grows out of it, or generally leaves it lying around, I tell her I will sell that too. If she wants to make the effort to help me put it on ebay, then she can keep the money.
• i dont think my 3 or 5 year old would invest that money wisely. best i spend it on beer and fags.
• I kept the money from selling outgrown clothes but let them keep the proceeds from toys etc. DS1 (always the entrepreneur!) kept his stuff in pristine condition along with the boxes, whereas his younger brother stripped stuff down to its individual components then lost or trampled on bits! Letting them have the money from anything which was sold seemed a fair way to encourage looking after their things (oddly ineffective with DS2 though )
  Selling family items such as Duplo, toy kitchen, play house etc meant the money either went towards another jointly owned item, or split between the 3 of them.
• you could Piggybank the money for future toy spends. I don't actually keep the (very small) amount separate, but I make a note he has a 'toy credit' for when needed. And toy spend is across the year, none of this "only at Christmas".
• Yes I really think do think so. Ethically the items are theirs, no matter who gave it to them.
  LO is still a little young to properly understand, but we use it to try to instil the value of money, saving, and ownership.
  DD has a piggy bank anything little goes in there, if it is a big amount we use it to buy her something else. (She will often help chose).
  This has really helped us teach her (and come to peace with) that her old things have to be sold and that by doing so that can get her new toys.
  Even more so, as she was born in December, by the summer most of her things are too small or simple, so she can have more appropriate things without spending more.
• Of course you should! those toys belong to your children. You could put the money into savings accounts for them, they can then save for large purchases.