Since I love to find great deals, I love to declutter my own home, and I’m always looking for ways to make additional income, it should be no surprise that I’m a little bit obsessed with buying and selling things on Craigslist!
Over the past 3 or 4 years I’ve furnished the better parts of 2 homes with Craigslist finds, I’ve sold thousands of dollars of stuff (most of which I got for free or very inexpensively), and we even sold our house in 3 days on Craigslist. It was a great source of extra income when I was first starting up my business, and now it’s just a fun hobby that I do whenever I have the time.
Since I’ve mentioned my love of Craigslist several times on my blog, I get lots and LOTS of questions from readers asking for the best tips and advice to sell their own items. So last summer, I ran a mini “Craigslist 101 Series” and talked about the ins-and-outs of buying and selling on Cragislist.
That series created even more questions… the main one being:
How can I sell my items as quickly as possible?
I got emails from people who had been trying to sell specific items for weeks and months. They said they were following my tips, re-posting the items, lowering the price, etc. but their items just weren’t selling.
Obviously, there are 101 reasons why something might not sell {poor quality, something no one wants or needs, damaged, in a remote location, etc.} but since I sell almost everything I post on Craigslist within the first 48 hours, I figured there had to be something I was doing that helped me to sell things quickly.
After thinking about this for a while, I came up with three things
1. Set a reasonable price.
I can not stress this enough. It doesn’t matter if your item is brand new, still in the box, never been used — it’s still NOT new from the store so you’re NOT going to get full price for it. In fact, if you really want to get rid of it quickly, you won’t even get close to full price for it.
Just last week, I sold a brand new Kitchen Aid mixer (the Pro series) for a friend. It was a $350 mixer that had never been used. They got it as a gift, didn’t want it, but couldn’t return it. She told me that she wanted at least $200 for it… and within 12 hours, I had the mixer sold and she had cash in her pocket!
Sure, we maybe could have gotten $250 or even $275 for it if we were willing to wait several weeks and repost it again and again — but is it really worth all the extra time and effort for $50… especially since she didn’t pay anything for this mixer and wanted cash instead?
The NUMBER ONE way to assure that your items sell quickly is to keep your prices reasonable. Think of what you would pay for the item at a garage sale, ask yourself if the item you are selling is in high demand, search Ebay and other Craigslist ads to see what similar items are being sold for, and then set your price accordingly.
Also, I almost always say “or best offer” so the buyer knows that I’m ready to negotiate if he/she has a better offer. So for example, when I posted the Kitchen Aid mixer, I said “We’re asking $250 or best offer”. The buyer offered me $200 and said he could be to my house in 15 minutes. I said SOLD!
2. Provide an adequate description.
There is absolutely nothing more annoying (at least for me) than clicking on a Craiglist ad that looks promising, only to see a small blurry picture with the text:
“Table for sale. $100.”
Hello, what kind of table? What brand name? What are the dimensions? Where did you purchase it from? What type of condition is it in? Are the chairs included or not? Does it have any expandable leaves? Can you provide more than one, tiny, blurry picture? Anything else you can tell me that would make me want to buy this table?
Whenever you list something on Craigslist, be as descriptive as you possibly can. Provide the size and/or measurements of every item you’re selling. Provide at least 2 photos {I almost always include 4 photos}. List any defects or damages up-front. Disclose where you purchased it from, when you purchased it, or if you got it used from someone else. Include an Amazon.com link to the product or the website URL for the company you purchased it from.
The more information you give, the less emails you’ll get with 50 questions later. Plus, I guarantee you’ll sell the items much faster!
Here is the exact text I posted for the Kitchen Aid Mix Master (I also included 4 photos)…
I have a brand new, KitchenAid Pro 500 Bowl Lift Stand Mixer that I am selling for a friend. She got it as a wedding gift this summer and doesn’t need it. She is unable to return it and would rather have the cash… so we’re selling it for a deal!
It is the metallic (silver) color and has the dough hook, whisk, and paddle attachments.
It sells for $359 (or more) in stores and on Amazon.com – We are asking $250 or best offer.
Here is a bit more information:
- Powerful Motor and Metal Gears
- Commercial-Style Motor Protection
- Electronic Speed Sensor
- Professional Bowl-Lift Design
- All-Metal Construction
- 5-Quart Stainless Steel Wide Bowl
- 67-Point Planetary Mixing Action
- 10-Speed Control
- Multipurpose Hinged Attachment Hub
Here are the measurements:
- Height = 16.5 in (41.9 cm)
- Width = 11.3 in (28.7 cm)
- Depth = 14.6 in (37.1 cm)
- Cord Length = 50.8 in (129.0 cm)
- Net Weight = 25.0 lbs (11.3 kg)
- Motor Wattage = 325 watts
You can get more product information about this specific mixer here: http://webapps.easy2.com/cm_mvc/GenericIndex?page_id=36149281&buyhide=1
Cash only, no holds, and I will remove this listing immediately after the item is sold.
Thanks for looking — this is a gorgeous piece and would look great in any kitchen!
So as you can see, I provided a TON of information about this mixer to make it really easy for potential buyers to decide if it’s what they wanted or not. It only took me about 15 minutes to put this information together, but it probably saved me over an hour of responding to emails asking me a bunch of questions.
3. Sell it to the first person with cash.
Sometimes I feel bad when I tell a buyer that I won’t hold an item for them — but I’ve just been let down too many times in the past so unless I know the buyer personally, I will not hold anything.
If a buyer says they can’t get to my house until tomorrow, then I simply reply by saying, “I do not hold items, but if you’d like to contact me before you’re ready to come tomorrow, I’ll tell you if it’s still available or not.”
If they tell me they can be to my house in 45 minutes, I will usually “hold” the item for 75 minutes just in case they are running a little late. However, if they don’t show up after that time, I will reply to the next person in my list of emails.
If I have a bunch of emails from people interested in my items, I quickly scan through them and respond to whoever says they can come the soonest. My main priority is selling my items ASAP and since I don’t know any of these people, I don’t feel the need to be “loyal” and respond to the first person who emailed me — especially since they might not be able to pick it up for a few days.
When I posted the Kitchen Aid Mixer (late Friday night), I got a handful of emails in the first couple hours — but after I read that one person lived in my same town and could come first thing Saturday morning, I emailed him back first. He showed up just before 9:00am with cash in hand and it was a done deal. No messing around with all the other emails, no “holding” the mixer until someone got off work; I had the cash and the mixer was gone.
These three tips are things I’ve been doing since I first started selling on Craigslist, and based on the speed I sell things, I’d say they work 
So if you’re having trouble selling your items on Craigslist, I’d suggest lowering the price, providing more description and more photos, and selling it to the first person who arrives with cash!