It’s easy and free to post listings for stuff you want to
sell or stuff you want to get rid of but don’t want to toss into the landfill
or schlep to the thrift store.
You may think that nobody’s going to be interested in your
past treasures but you know what they say about treasures. One man drove 15 miles to buy $4.oo's
worth of plastic hangers from me that I bought at Target that he could have bought at a Target near
him for $6.oo.
And dast night I posted a listing for some packaged miso soup
mix and some seasoned seaweed snacks that I bought without realizing that they have
fish products in them, which I don’t eat and nobody else in this house will
eat. I had opened the selling packaging so I couldn’t take them back to the
store and wasting good food is the worst feeling ever, especially after having
visited places, like India, where there are starving people everywhere. But the food packaging was still
sealed so last night at about 10 pm I thought I would offer it up on
Craigslist.org for free and now, 12 hours later, the sweetest Japanese lady just came to
pick them up. She was so cute, very happy to get the food and she insisted on
giving me a hug!
Which brings me to my other favorite thing about
Craigslist.org: I have met the
nicest, most interesting people.
The man who bought the hangers was super eccentric and fun. The woman whose Pampered Chef
deviled-egg-filling squirter broke the day before her Independence Day party
came to bough ours and helped me find a job. Another man who came to buy something, I can’t remember
what, told me about where I could find a specific kind of yoga class that I had
been searching for, so it's like a social networking thing, too.
Some tips on how to have Craigslist.org success:
- Always post a photo. Consider including something in the shot to show scale, like a person if the item is big or a penny or dollar bill or cat if the item is smaller.
- Always include details like dimensions, weights, or sizes in your listing.
- Always be honest about the condition of the item you are offering – if it’s scary, say so. That doesn’t mean that you won’t sell it, people are adventurous, but you will definitely not sell it if you fib. (Same goes for Personal Ads, but we’ll talk about that in another post).
- Be careful with strangers, make sure you talk to them on the phone to get a feeling for them before you give out your address or choose to meet them at an outside location.
- Follow up on inquiries right away. People act on impulse and if you wait to get back to them, they often change their minds.
- Tell them to bring the exact amounts of the selling price in cash.
- Have fun with your ad! Make it mind-catching. I posted a “moving to India” sale and got as many inquiries about as I did about the stuff I was selling and sold a bunch of my stuff.
I can’t tell you how much $$$ I’ve made getting rid of
stuff I didn’t want any way and how much fun I've had doing it on Craigslist.org.
Happy posting! Let me know how you do...
Rachel
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