Do you all use Craiglist to sell things? It is sort of a big garage sale on the web. I tried it for the first time and sold a riding mower in less than 24 hours at full asking price. It was easy to use. You can upload up to 4 photos. I emphasized on the ad that it was cash only and they had to pick it up. I had several responses within hours.
One of the nice features is that you can “anonymize” your posts so you get emails forwarded to your regular email address. No one sees your real email address until you reply to them. I would never include a phone number or a real email address in the post.
If we end up moving (we are trying to sell our house and move in a bit to shorten commutes and downsize a little) I may use it again to sell our piano and a refrigerator.
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: craigslist, garage sale
You motivated me. I’ve been procrastinating for some time now. I have a riding mower in almost working condition and a canoe for sale. I just put them on Craigs list and will see what happens.
I tried to buy a cellphone for my son a year or so ago, the one I tried to get was already gone. I also contacted some people who said they wanted a canoe and had no luck. Several years ago, I posted some ladies’ formal dresses on EBay and got ZERO hits. So my history on these types sites is pretty lousy.
Good luck! Perhaps eBay has the ability to only use local folks but I’m not aware of it. That’s where Craigslist may have it beat. And I’m still hassling with Paypal over a fraudulent dealer on eBay from 8 mos. ago. Dealing in person with cash eliminates those issues.
I’ve used carigslist to find a job, and we use it all the time at my current employment to post job openings.
I’ve never bought or sold anything there, though I have used another local online classified before.
It seems like Ebay does have an option to search for only local sellers, but I’ve never used that either.
Craigslist is awesome. Just a quick tip to everyone – I use it a lot to give away things that I don’t need anymore, but may be useful to other. There’s a free section, but I’ve found that it’s better to put things up for $2 or $5, not free. If you say it’s free, you will get some crazy people showing up to see what else you have (usually to pawn off, or re-sell). People who want what you have will still come by for couple of bucks, and then I usually give it to them for free anyway.
Good point about “free,” Ryan. Sometimes things are more appreciated if they have a nominal charge.
Having said that I was thrilled to have something “stolen” from my trash last week. I had an aerator that went with my lawn tractor. It didn’t work well at all, so no use in selling it. But it was a beastly metal thing with lots of huge spikes. I was afraid the garbage men wouldn’t take it.
I was very happy to see that someone came by and took it before the trash guys came!
I’m about to do the same thing with a power washer that is broken. Should I try to sell it cheaply or just hope someone “steals” it?
I may be more paranoid than most but I never put my address or phone number up on Craigslist. Here are my two tips:
1) Always leave an email address, not a phone #. This way when you sell you can avoid further inquiry calls by simply not responding to any additional emails (or responding that the item is sold).
2) Never have them come to your residence to see or buy the item. Meet them at a public place to consummate the sale.
Just my two cents.
One of the nice features is that you can “anonymize” it so you get emails fwd’d to your regular email address. But no one sees your real email address until you reply to them. I would never include a phone number or a real email address in the post.
Neil – we should all plan to move to San Diego…
Huh? I must have missed something . . .
We put a piano on Craigslist several months ago and have yet to get one offer.
I received two different emails within about an hour of posting the two items. One didn’t mention the item, just asked me to call. Given the email address, it seems like a porn call (I deleted the email). The second seems reasonable. I’ll call tomorrow.
As mentioned craigslist has an email anonymizer. That gives me the option to just ignore requests like the one mentioned above.
As for meeting in a public place, kinda hard to do with a riding mower and large canoe. I’ll make sure there are lots of people who know what’s going on though.
They just caught a serial killer about 60 miles from here. He attacked a town about 40 miles away. I know people who live there and the whole town was very scared.
I bought a mattress of Craigslist when I was living in DC. I was working for free at a think tank, had no money, and didn’t want to sleep on a floor for two months.
Since it’s illegal in DC to buy or sell a used mattress, I went into Maryland to get it. I think that the guy further ensured his legal compliance by giving it away (i.e. not a sale). I emailed him and told him that would throw in a box of cookies if he would pretty please promise it to me and not to someone else.
Everything worked out well. I went over to his house, strapped it to my roof rack, gave him some Soft Batch cookies, and drove off back to my place.
Whoa illegal to sell a used mattress?
What?
Well, since D.C. solved all their other problems (public schools hitting on all cylinders, low crime rates, etc.) it only makes sense that they’d move on to solving the controversial used mattress topic.
Don’t forget illegal gun ownership.
ROFL to Neil. Oh, that’s good.
Timely considering our discussion here:
Craigslist robberies on rise in Philly
I got a job (with the federal government no less) on Craigslist.
An apartment, a car, several pieces of furniture and baby accessories.
I’ve sold a couch and a few other sundries not immediately coming to mind.
I enjoy Craiglist for it’s direct connection of buyers and sellers with the trust of personal meeting and cash transactions.
It is illegal to sell a used mattress in Indiana too. It is all also illegal to advertise a used mattress. People advertise a complete bed. A complete bed is understood to include a mattress which the seller is willing to give away to the purchaser of the bed.
OK, I’m really not a Craigslist shill, but I just sold a pressure washer that didn’t even work for $35. The engine worked but it wouldn’t spray. Hopefully it was a win-win. The buyer seemed to think he could make it work. I was ready to throw it away.
Neil, thanks for this post. It prompted me to get off the dime and list my riding mower (which has been broke for about 3 years) and canoe. Because of schedules, it took me about a week to get the mower sold, but it went to a buyer who emailed me 15 minutes after posting my ad. I had a total of 5 inquiries (including the buyer).
I have a person coming to look at the canoe in about an hour.
Canoe sold to the first person to looked at it. I made about $675 in under an hour. What else can I sell?
Nice work!
Update: I sold an edger today for $120 (I listed it at $135). Hopefully the piano, refrigerator, washer/dryer and spa will go as quickly when I list them!