Moving is an ideal time to free yourself of unwanted items and Craigslist really is a great way to do it. I frequently use Craigslist to sell items I no longer have any use for and I’ve had success with almost every sale. It’s most ideal when you have several semi-large ticket items and you want a fairly simple selling transaction.
Craigslist is easier and less time consuming than a yard sale and is more powerful and widely used than any other auction/classifieds site. This is especially true when you desire a quick local cash transaction for household items. If you have plenty of time and really big ticket items or specialty pieces eBay may be a better option.
Most importantly, if you’ve never sold anything online don’t dread the process. Craigslist is especially easy to use, partially because of its limited features and the minimal time required to open an account and post an ad.
Benefits of Craigslist
- Anonymous posting – You do not have to give anyone any personal information until you are ready to sell.
- Sell on your time – As opposed to garage sales where you need quite a bit of prep plus an entire day to devote, you just set up the ad and reply to inquiries through email or by phone at your leisure.
- Easy set up – Probably the easiest account setup for any online classifieds service.
Tips for selling on Craigslist
- Research prices of comparable items – A brief search through other Craigslist postings can give you an idea of the items for sale and there prices. Obviously if you have time you can price your item more aggressively than if you have to sell within a couple of days.
- Include pictures – If possible for the item, include any decent pics you have or take some if necessary. Any pic is almost always better than no pic.
- Describe your item well - You don’t need a sales pitch here but be sure to include make, model, year, condition, color, size, maintenance history or any other info of interest and as required.
- Tell shoppers why it’s for sale – Potential buyers are on the look out for people unloading items because they are broken or trashed so if you’re selling because of a move be sure to say so.
- You don’t need to include a phone number or email address! – Although including a phone number or personal email might get a little more response than just allowing people to reply through Craigslist’s anonymous reply process, you will almost definitely work harder as well. This is because you will be forced to work through the selling process on the potential buyer’s time as opposed to on your own, negating one of the big benefits of this method. You’ll get calls and emails from hagglers and halfway interested folks and can waste substantial amounts of time. Instead I recommend just waiting for email inquiries to come through Craigslist’s anonymous reply process and then reply to potential buyers that seem like the best fit. Remember though that when you do finally reply directly to potential buyers you will have to give up your email address, so if you’re really concerned about privacy you may want to use a secondary email account to send ad inquiry replies from to protect your primary email account information.
Hopefully this helps for those who have been hesitant to try this site. It’s a fantastic option for getting cash for items you aren’t using and don’t want to move. With Craigslist you can make money by selling your stuff while saving money by moving less all without spending a lot of time.
