Oh, the fine old Craigslist!
A website where you can buy and sell things, even cars, and houses, find hook-ups, get into anonymous feuds with your neighbors, post mad classified ads, find free stuff… The list can go on and on. Which other related pages can all of these things be done on?
If there’s one question that I get asked a lot, then it’s “How do you sell craigslist stuff? “
I’m a major supporter of making money online using craigslist. It’s one of the best ways to raise revenue, reduce operating costs and boost efficiency.
At first, it seems straightforward but when using craigslist, there are a few key steps that most people miss. I’ve discovered the keys and tricks for achieving craigslist mastery by trial and error. At first, I was a complete craigslist mess, but I became a craigslist pro after I learned how to work the system to my advantage.
I created this digital guide to show you exactly how to get up and running on craigslist because I have received so many questions about this subject.
You will have all the resources you need to make frequent craigslist users look like amateurs once you have read the guide. This is the Greatest Craigslist Guide in the Entire World, quite literally.
If you are looking to buy and sell online for a simple and satisfying “in,” there’s no better option than Craigslist. Much simpler than eBay, Craigslist provides the sharp-eyed shopper with more regionally appropriate listings, and as a student with an uncompromising taste in good (and often expensive) architecture, Craigslist was one of the few opportunities I had to furnish my apartment.
I have built a keen sense of how to buy and sell from Craigslist through a lot of trial and error and I share some of my experiences and tips below.
What Craigslist is best for:
While Craigslist is very egalitarian when it comes to offering various classified categories, the market has shifted rapidly to favor particular items. Craigslist, for example, is perfect for furniture, materials, and technology but less so for decorative items.
And even less so for such items as books and shoes. If you’re searching for the latter, online shopping destinations are preferable to eBay, Etsy or Amazon. If you want to find all other sites like Craigslist there are still many options.
Location Matters:
Depending on your location, the stock will shift very quickly— Craigslist’s core structure is similar to the blog model, where the newest classified posts are at the top and older posts are pushed down.
Checking can often deliver great results because the best deals will come and go in hours. If you are looking to make a heavy purchase (or are searching for a very specific piece), I recommend that you set up a daily routine at least 3 times a day (morning, noon, night) to review all the new listings.
Patience is something of a virtue.
Personally, I love Craigslist because of all the ways it provides to make/save money (like the hundreds of Craigslist gigs). I’ve also recently shared a post on how Craigslist can make money.
But while CL is the largest classified site out there, it isn’t the only game in town. There are lots of alternatives on Craigslist out there. In certain categories, some may be as good or even better than CL.
Craigslist is a great service but if you deal with people you aren’t meeting face to face you endanger getting scammed.
Craigslist is a great asset for selling things, finding apartments, locating services and meeting people. Most of the time transactions go evenly and both sellers and buyers are satisfied with the Craigslist experience.
What to Sell:
The obvious first step is to determine what to sell. As I said earlier, some things on Craigslist do better than others. I always choose to sell my tech and furniture on Craigslist but, via eBay, I tend to make more money on clothes and books.
Craigslist is a perfect way to sell a dumpster-find or even turn a profit on an object you bought there. You will find things very badly several times. The item would look much better after a good cleaning and may command a higher price once listed. I’ve literally made hundreds of dollars by restoring and reselling trashed furniture or low-price pieces days later.
Creation of a Virtual Garage Sale:
When you intend to list multiple items, a second tip worth mentioning is advisable: add a list of other items at the end of each item page. I saw people using that approach when they sold off their entire apartment before they left. It was a very helpful way of centralizing all the data together and giving customers the ability to review certain products that they may be interested in buying from you.
