Contrary to what we heard, which were tales of queues and an inability to find anything remotely worth even a penny, the 1p sale was “so well recieved” last time that it’s been bought back in the run-up to Christmas.

And of course, it’s all about giving the customer a great deal, and not about M&S getting rid of a load of stock it couldn’t sell and generating a bit of exposure and footfall before Christmas.

We’d love to hear from you if you were able to get something good for 1p in the last sale, or whether you’ll be trying again this time.

M&S 1p Sale Returns was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

There are tonnes of ways to make a little extra money on the side, in the past we’ve looked at turning your hobby into a source of income, which is a great way to start earning doing something you enjoy.

Another common way of earning is to sell your old stuff on eBay and other auction sites (and don’t forget you can recycle your mobile for cash, sell your old gold and also get money for your old CDs), but it’s difficult to keep this going once you’ve sold the majority of your best stuff.

If you have something to sell that’s more sustainable than flogging your hard-earned belongings, such as a craft that you could potentially sell, or you’re a budding photographer selling stock photography shots, or even you have a particular niche product that you can buy and sell at a profit, then an online store could be the way to go.

There are a lot of options out there, from those that require very little setup to full eCommerce solutions to accomodate thousands of products.

If you’re after a simple store to get you going before committing to anything which will take more work (and probably more cost), then there are a few option open to you:

• Paypal – many people will be familiar with Paypal for paying for stuff online, but you can use them to setup a very simple store, with Paypal looking after the credit card payments. It might not be pretty, but it works. Read setup your own store using Paypal (via Lifehacker).
• eBay store – with eBay you don’t have to list items individually and in the standard template, you can customize your shop to your own look and feel. Read how to setup an eBay store and the more in depth guide from PCPro.
• For selling crafts, try out Etsy.

Using one of these will give you some experience of selling and should give you an idea of whether it is something you can and would want to continue with. If you eventually want a more sophisticated store, there are plenty of these available, but they will take more technical knowledge and time to setup and run, but will give you more flexibility and control over your store.

If you’ve ever setup your own online store, let us know your experiences in the comments below.

photo credit: Little Yiye

Make Money With Your Own Online Store was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

A new cashback site has launched which promises to combine social shopping, member picture and video purchase review uploads, retailer promo videos, voucher codes and cash back on purchases – all on one website.

Sosocher.com (no, we couldn’t pronounce it either, although apparently it’s an acronym for Savvy Online SOcial SHoppER) boasts a selection of 2,000 stores to shop from, including the likes of Thomson holidays, HMV and Debenhams, across 40 different categories. Current deals include:

• £50 cash back with E.On when you switch Energy Suppliers
• 6.5% cash back when you book an activity day with Red Letter Days
• 2.5% cash back at Bhs

Here are some of Sosocher’s key features:

Cash Back – users simply join for free and receive cash back on every purchase they make which is paid into their PayPal account.

Member Video and Picture Uploads –members have the facility to upload picture and video reviews of their purchase alongside their written review. All too often online consumers make regretful purchases based on what they thought a product would do or how it would look based on retailer advertising. Having the facility to watch a video review by someone who has actually bought and used the product proves an invaluable resource when it comes to making an online purchasing decision.

Today’s Hot Offers –highlights special offers that retailers have such as 70% Off Sales and Buy One Get One Free deals “many of which consumers may not be aware of” simply by searching via a Search Engine. With many of the Hot Offers combining Voucher and Discount Codes from free delivery to additional discounts, this coupled with cash back that members receive would go on to show huge cost savings.

What The? – this section shows products and services that you might not be aware of such as Diamond Encrusted iPhones or the underwater MP3 player.

Hmmm… not too sure about that last point, but it’s worth signing up to Sosocher to get the cashback on any retailers that aren’t available on other cashback sites.

Still not sure about how it works? Here’s a video to explain:

Sosocher.com: Social Shopping & Cashback was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

A couple of months ago we reported that Intuit, makers of Quicken and Quicken Online, were buying finance aggregator Mint for $170million.

We speculated at the time that one of the tools was likely to have to disappear (why would Intuit buy a competitor and continue to run both tools?), and thought the most likely outcome would be that Quicken Online would disappear .

Well, this was a correct assumption Mint have announced that Quicken Online will be discontinued in 6 to 9 months, with Quicken Online users having their data moved over to Mint.

For long term Quicken users this will probably be a little annoying, having to learn a new tool, but figures suggests that “only” 100,000 users will be affected by this – despite having approximately 1.5million people signed up, just 100,000 of them use the site each month. Mint has about 700,000 regular users.

Current Mint users should benefit from a few added bits of functionality taken from Quicken.

photo credit: zolierdos

Quicken Online Shutting Next Year was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

It would appear that dodgy gold buyers aren’t confined to the U.K., with a report in the U.S. looking at how much the “cash for gold” companies offer compared with other buyers:

The cash-for-gold companies paid 11 to 29 percent of the day’s market price for gold; the other venues, about 35 to 70 percent.

It’s no surprise that we’ve experienced similar problems over this side of the pond, as a lot of the companies that have popped up are actually based in the U.S. (with Money4Gold being one example), with much of your gold eventually being sent to the U.S. to be melted down.

Lifehacker suggests using this calculator to get an idea of the value of your gold – remember, when you’re selling gold in this way, it’s done purely on its quality and weight, not on how old it might be or how it looks.

photo credit: BullionVault

Sell Your Gold Without Getting Ripped Off was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

Orange is joining the swelling ranks of companies offering to give you money for your old mobile phone.

Under their “Recycle and Reward” scheme, you can take your old mobile phone into any of Orange’s UK stores and they’ll take it off your hands to get it recycled, sending you a cheque for it a week later.

And it’s not only mobile phones, you can also take in old laptops and MP3 players, with Orange estimating there is £450million worth of old gadgets lying around in the U.K..

Recycling mobiles has become big business, and if you’re looking to make a little bit of cash this way, it’s worth checking out a few of the online sites for the best price before going to your local Orange shop. A good place to start is CellZone, which compares the prices across a range of old phone buyers. At least this will give you an idea of what your phone is worth in the recycling market, there’s no indication yet what sort of rates Orange will be paying (and there’s nothing that I can find about the scheme on the Orange website, as yet).

Via Techradar

photo credit: www.butkaj.com

Orange Jump On Phone Recycling Bandwagon was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

Even at the best of times, running a restaurant is a tricky business, and many fail to remain open longer than a year or two. And when times are bed, even more restaurants are likely to be struggling as many of us stay at home to save money during the recession.

If you are lucky enough to go out for a nice meal, MoneyMagpie has a few tips to avoid their sneaky tricks to get you to spend more money.

The article looks at many ways in which restaurants try to get the most money out of their customers, such as drinks; most of us know that buying wine in restaurants is just a way for them to line their pockets, but it’s usually more cost effective to buy it by the bottle rather than the glass (that’s not an excuse to get blotto, it’s good to share!).

Set menus are also cunningly put together to make us think we’re getting a good deal, when that may not be the case:

Generally speaking, if you were to order the cheapest items on the set menu, you will be charged more than if you were to order the items individually from the normal menu – typically around £1.50 more. But most of the dishes on the set menu will offer you good value for money – you just need to be sure that you pick them!

You’ll also find some information on getting the best tables at the cheapest deals. So enjoy your work’s Christmas meals (if you’re lucky enough to still have a job!), but keep an eye open for all of these restaurant tricks.

photo credit: battlecreekcvb

Don’t Lose Money To These Restaurant Tricks was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

Bitterwallet are running their annual “Worst Company In Britain” anti-competition, and are looking for nominations:

There’s countless reasons why you might nominate a company – rotten customer service, cack-headed pricing, shoddy packaging or delivery… maybe you just don’t like their logo. Whoever it is who has got your goat, let us know (preferably telling us why as well) and we’ll cull the nominations down to a more manageable list shortly. Then, the voting will commence.

Last year’s winner was Setanta, and look what happened to them.

One obvious nomination would go to Money4Gold (150 comments and counting on that post), but it looks like Orange, Virgin Media and nPower are already receiving quite a few nominations, and Royal Mail are trying their hardest for a late entry, with more strikes planned for the end of the week/start of next week.

So get on over to BitterWallet and vote for your worst company of the year.

Vote For The “Worst Company In Britain” was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

You may not be aware that the current reduced rate of VAT (Value Added Tax) will return to 17.5% from 15% on 1st January 2010.

This could have an impact on some of your regular bills, such as your mobile phone bill, which, if they include VAT, will have been charged at a reduced rate since last December. Whilst it’s only a small change in percentage terms, it’s worth remembering there will be this change, in case you’re wondering why your payments suddenly increase.

Although the VAT rate does return to 17.5% at midnight on 31st December, there’s some good news for the revellers out celebrating New Year on that night.

Pubs, restaurants and clubs won’t have to change their prices at midnight, so drinkers will get a few extra hours of booze at the old VAT rate. 6 hours in fact, as these establishments will be allowed to change their prices from 6am on New Years day. So raise your glasses to the Chancellor for that – “Cheers, Darling”.

photo credit: Aihara_lt

VAT Returning To 17.5%, Delayed For Drinkers was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

If you’re one of the many Brits without a will (65% of adults, I believe), then November gives you a good chance to get a basic, cheap will written by a solicitor, thanks to Will Aid.

Why should you write a will?

Well, there are a few reasons, not all financial:

• You decide what happens to your money (”estate”). Without a will, who knows how your estate will be divided, and who will end up with what?
• If you have kids, you can specify who is to look after them on your death, if they’re under the age of 18. Although you may assume they’ll be looked after by any remaining family, that is not always the case, so specifying guardians in the will will make sure your wishes are met.
• Reduce your Inheritance Tax bill. IHT could take a whopping 40% off the value of your estate if it exceeds the IHT threshold, currently £325,000.

Throughout November, charities such as Help The Aged, Save The Children and the British Red Cross are set to benefit from donations made to solicitors for drawing up these wills, with suggested donations of £75 for a single will, £110 for a joint will.

Also, with Will Aid you can register your Will for free with the Certainty National Wills Register (usual cost £28.75 per Will) during November’s campaign. The wills register helps to keep a record of where you will is stored, should it be lost.

Whilst wills are available for a similar price, if not cheaper from online will writers (as well as those packs DIY packs you can pick up in WHSmiths), there’s nothing like having the services of a qualified professional on hand to help you out. It’s probably worth mentioning that if your will requirements are particularly complex, the solicitor might charge more than the suggested donations, so try to get a idea of any further costs when you first speak to the solicitor.

It’s also worth checking whether the solicitor intends to add themselves as executors of the will – which will cost you money (or at least, your estate) when you die, and can be avoided if you have friends or families as executors. Indeed, some will writers will offer very cheap wills on the basis that they will write themselves as executors and take a percentage of your estate on your death.

Go to the Will Aid website and enter your postcode to check out the participating solicitors in your area.

photo credit: raindog

Solicitors Offering Cheap Wills During November was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.