Decluttering but Craigslist is not working...

[Tussiemussies]

We are decluttering and have some items that I'm sure would sell, but we are getting no responses on Craigslist. Are people just scared now to use it? Is the local paper the only medium to use?

Any ideas? Thanks...:)

[try2bfrugal]

Have you tried having a garage sale instead? Maybe with pictures of what you have to sell accompanying the Craigslist ad.

[iris lily]

I just ran a neighborhood fundraiser last summer selling donated stuff. It was wildly successful because I am a hard*ss and I priced things rock bottom.

For one thing, your stuff isn't worth what you think it is. This is the "generic" you that pretty much applies to everyone, please don't take it personally.

My sale was "wildly" successful because I moved the stuff. We got cash for most every piece o' crap and I made $4,500 for the charity. Yes, I am bragging about it because I truly believe I'm the only person who could have done it, my distain for stuff people no longer want is unique to me. I don't think "oh this is worth X" I think "how can I rid myself of this?" and perhaps get a little cash in the ridding of it.

So my advice: Look to get rid of the stuff primarily, and only secondarily look to get some money for it.

[Tussiemussies]

Hi frugal, in our town they only allow yard sales twice a year and everone has theirs then. People just drive around looking at stuff, it is somewhat funny except for the fact that you cannot have one at any other time.

We are middle-age now and just want to get rid of everything. we are going to start giving away if we don't find another way. Don't know how many people really read the classifieds any more?

Thanks frugal!:)

[Tussiemussies]

Hi Iris, yes you are definitely right, I told DH that he is asking too much money for things, but he insists on doing this as a bargaining tool. I'm not a bargainer, whenI tell someone the price that is it take it or leave it. He thinks that people like to feel that they got a deal. I'm not into playing games like that.

We are tired out from a few years of a lot of stress so I am going to try Craigslist again, maybe along with the newspaper.

Thanks Iris:)

[Tradd]

Tussie, what sort of items are you looking to get rid of?

[Tussiemussies]

Right now it's down to a very good condition GPS and a very good TiVo that records unto DVD. We had futons, corner hutch. - oak, and a nice kitchen table set but decided to donate after getting no nibbles...I know we will have more after going through more things...

[try2bfrugal]

I just ran a neighborhood fundraiser last summer selling donated stuff. It was wildly successful because I am a hard*ss and I priced things rock bottom.

For one thing, your stuff isn't worth what you think it is. This is the "generic" you that pretty much applies to everyone, please don't take it personally.

My sale was "wildly" successful because I moved the stuff. We got cash for most every piece o' crap and I made $4,500 for the charity. Yes, I am bragging about it because I truly believe I'm the only person who could have done it, my distain for stuff people no longer want is unique to me. I don't think "oh this is worth X" I think "how can I rid myself of this?" and perhaps get a little cash in the ridding of it.

So my advice: Look to get rid of the stuff primarily, and only secondarily look to get some money for it.

On the buying side it is often easier to buy things from people who are not the previous owner. Most garage sale stuff that actually sells that I see goes for around 10 cents on the dollar. Sometimes people who bought the stuff originally have a hard time parting with their possessions for that amount.

[ToomuchStuff]

Electronics can be hard to get rid of. GPS's are out of date or missing parts, typically, and Tivo's bring all kinds of questions that may not have been ad answered (does it work, will it work with digital cable, have a spot for a cable card, etc).
Furniture that doesn't move, is often too high of priced. That doesn't include issues like people looking for something new, when x is going out of style, etc. However, don't forget to post stuff at times when kids are going off to school, or if your close to a school, etc. (timing plays a part)
I wouldn't personally agree that $.10 of the dollar, because at least in furniture, most stuff is overpriced for the build quality.

CL has pretty much killed, the payed for classifieds. However, go back and see what page your stuff is on. Some sections like furniture, at least here, typically will get four or five pages of ads a day. (most people don't look past the first two, IME)

[sweetana3]

Other things to know about craigslist are:

1. Photos are pretty mandatory and good ones are critical. Even for electronics it helps to see the item(s). I sometimes judge whether to use the gas on how clear the photos are and whether they show a well arranged sale. Remember in many cities there is competition for the garage sale buyers interest and time.
2. Clear and detailed descriptions and key words for searching are critical!!! Even if it is a list of key words at the bottom of the advertisement. I cannot tell you how many times I saw "stuff" used as the only descriptive term.
3. Garage sale ads without address, time, date, contact method, etc. It would seem to be common sense but....
4. Contact info or at least response: I have gone to sales where my initial questions were answered and we could find out if the item was what we were looking for. Too many ads say "dont contact me" but they want buyers to come.
5. I am one who cannot scroll thru hundreds of listings so use the key word search. Furniture is such a category.

[flowerseverywhere]

we posted about a dozen things that sold on Craigslist earlier this year.
get a dummy e-mail address, you will get scammers who are "offshore" or "overseas" and want your pay pal or bank account number they can deposit in your account and have their shipping agent contact you. Even if you put local in cash deal only.
Can you deliver? we got rid of several big items - we have a truck and a friend has a trailer, although specify how far you will go and if it is further, how much you would charge. We had someone contact us from over 500 miles wanting us to deliver a $400 item.

If you list an article for say $50 and it doesn't sell in a few days, drop the price five or ten dollars, and so on.

I agree about the pricing. We sold some good items for half, or a third of their price, some for much less. You can check to see if there are similar items and what they sold for.

Ebay and Craigslist are swamped with items. I had an antique sewing machine, when I checked there were several dozen almost like it on ebay and several dozen more on craigslist, some for as little as $10 within 25 miles. I ended up donating it.

[Miss Cellane]

If you aren't getting anyone asking about your stuff, it is priced too high. Check Craigslist for a week or two for the type of items that you want to sell, and see what other people are pricing them at. And see which ads stay up for weeks, and which ones disappear in a day or two because the item has sold. Also check Ebay "sold items" to see what similar things are actually selling for there. Don't just check current auctions--that will show the price people want to sell their stuff for, not what it actually goes for.

To sell on Craigslist, you need to forget all about what the item cost new. You need to think to yourself, "Now, what would I pay for a 3 year old GPS?" Then reduce that figure by half and try that. If no nibbles, reduce by half again.

If your DH insists on pricing things high to allow for bargaining, then make sure to add "or BO," for "or best offer" to each listing.

But really, if the goal is to get rid of the stuff, price it low and someone will buy it. If you aren't getting hits, it's because it is priced too high. Your DH doesn't seem to want to get rid of these things; he seems to want to make money off them. The two goals are conflicting.

[artist]

We just sold a bunch of my son's music equiptment on Craigslist two weeks ago. Got about $340 total over three separate sales. It does work. Make sure your listing has photos. Photos make a huge difference. Also make sure your item is listed in the best category listing for what it is, to allow for search engines to find it. Be specific too. If it's a name brand item, list it as such. People looking for very specific items will type in the name and model number into the search box to narrow down the search field.

Good luck.

[fidgiegirl]

Re: pricing online, we have found it's better to just post your lowest price and then be firm. You have to attract the people to contact you and a lot are scared of bargaining, so they simply move on to a listing that's priced lower.

[fidgiegirl]

Also, and this sounds stupid maybe, but I am much more likely to deal with an ad that's got correct spelling, punctuation, and includes all the details. We have found that at least in our responses, the ones that are written well consistently work out, while the one worders or text-speak or poorly written ones only do less than sometimes. So put your best face out. That said, include everything that's necessary to say but no more. People are text-averse.

[Jilly]

When I recently had to get rid of nearly everything I put ads on Craigslist for only the big furniture pieces , including detailed descriptions, and great photos. Responses were quick, large and from creeps.

I pulled the ads, but when I rummaged the rest just before I sold the house, I advertised everywhere that was cheap and free, including Craigslist. When people came to the sale I asked many of them how they found us many referenced Craigslist, some saw my great signs, but some said on-line sites of which I had never heard.

Apparently, there are sites that mine rummage /yard /garage sales from Craigslist. So, posting there will help beyond just that listing.

I also knew that I needed to get rid of as many things as possible so that I would not have to use any more energy and resources than necessary, so I priced only just a few big items and advertised as the "Mostly 50¢ Rummage Sale."

So many people came that there were lines of people everywhere. People came back multiple times. One guy came back the first day and then brought his mother and mother-in-law the next day.

There were all the usual rummage sale complications, like theft, crude bargain hunters, and those who go to these things just to have some social contact. One woman came both days, stayed for hours and I sat her down and gave her coffee and snacks and lunch. In the weeks following she came over just to "see how I was doing. " Very, very sweet.

[Float On]

I've heard that lately it helps if you can list as coming form a 'bed-bug free home'. Furniture, mattresses, clothing are all easily infested.

We've had great success with craigslist but my husband can't be around when I'm selling things. He is one of those like Iris described that thinks his stuff is worth more than the day he bought it. I wouldn't of sold anything if he'd had anything to do with it.

[mschrisgo2]

My brother cleaned out his garage and set stuff out on the driveway, as a place to stage it. Then he started taking pictures and posting to craigslist, and of course got tired of that tedious job before he was done. No response, anyway. By the next weekend he was disgusted with the mess in the driveway, and and decided to try freecycling the big stuff. He listed 4 items on freecycle and got a HUGE response. When people came to pick up their freecyle items, they saw the rest of the stuff in the driveway. He got lots of questions along the lines of "Hey, how much do you want for that?" and he'd answer, "Oh, 10 bucks," or 20 or 5- and people paid him over $400 for stuff he had decided to take to the dump!

People like to get a bargain. Displayed stuff sells. People get tired of sifting through craigslist ads; people get tired of writing them. Value is in the eye of the viewer.

He's had 4 very successful driveway sales now. Success: measured in amount of stuff gone (Tons!), dollars recaptured (now over $2000), effort spent (time to cull, then write 3-5 freecyle ads, invite most reasonable people to come and pick up). Interesting strategy, huh?

I think part of the success formula was that he had large things to get rid of- beds, desks, dishwasher, so the people picking up all brought friends to help, i.e. at least double the people to view his other stuff.

[iris lily]

My brother cleaned out his garage and set stuff out on the driveway, as a place to stage it. Then he started taking pictures and posting to craigslist, and of course got tired of that tedious job before he was done. No response, anyway. By the next weekend he was disgusted with the mess in the driveway, and and decided to try freecycling the big stuff. He listed 4 items on freecycle and got a HUGE response. When people came to pick up their freecyle items, they saw the rest of the stuff in the driveway. He got lots of questions along the lines of "Hey, how much do you want for that?" and he'd answer, "Oh, 10 bucks," or 20 or 5- and people paid him over $400 for stuff he had decided to take to the dump!

People like to get a bargain. Displayed stuff sells. People get tired of sifting through craigslist ads; people get tired of writing them. Value is in the eye of the viewer.

He's had 4 very successful driveway sales now. Success: measured in amount of stuff gone (Tons!), dollars recaptured (now over $2000), effort spent (time to cull, then write 3-5 freecyle ads, invite most reasonable people to come and pick up). Interesting strategy, huh?

I think part of the success formula was that he had large things to get rid of- beds, desks, dishwasher, so the people picking up all brought friends to help, i.e. at least double the people to view his other stuff.

Brilliant!

[rose]

I had good luck with Craigslist recently. I sold my furniture, pictures, barbeque, mattress, collectible teapots on Craigslist in August. Everything I listed sold except one antique hutch (and I understand the price of antiques are down and I wasn't willing to go to half of what I paid for it) and one chair covered in mauve which is so OLD even tho it was a nice chair. I was amazed at how fast things went. Everyone that called showed up. It was a good experience putting my junk back out into the universe with people that wanted it. Pricing may be the answer. I was more in the mode of getting rid of it than making much.

[Tussiemussies]

Thank you very much for all your replies. I really think after reading your posts that most of it was just priced too high. We made a decision to donate to a church where I know a lot of people can use these items. We just don't seem to have the energy for a yard sale, and as I mentioned they are only allowed twice a year. Thanks for your help! Christine:)

[fidgiegirl]

Sounds like a wonderful decision. Now you have decluttered not only your junk but your schedule from having to deal with the weirdos and wackos on CL! Sometimes they are worth dealing with but it's nice not to have to :)

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks Kelli, so true about not having to watch for scams on Craig's list, we did have one person try that with us. That was the only response we got! LOL

[Spoony]

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[Tussiemussies]

I'm selling tons of stuff on Craigslist. I usually sell everything posted within a month (or two if the item is less popular). I try to make the subject line very interesting. Instead of "Brown couch," I write, "Beautiful brown leather modern XYZ brand couch in great condition! Half Price!" I also check out what other like items are selling for (both on Craigslist and eBay) and price accordingly. I use eBay for smaller, easy to ship items and start all of my auctions at $0.99. Ebay is a pretty efficient market, so the items usually sell for a realistic amount. I'm trying to get rid of things, so I try to be happy even if something sells for less than what I think it should sell for. The same goes for Craigslist, I try to price items so that they are out of my house in a reasonable timeframe.

Here's an article on selling on Craigslist: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/eug/957568595.html. Interestingly, this fellow believes in putting his phone number in his ads, whereas, I never do. Perhaps I'll try it.

Thank you for this information, if I decide to sell in the future, I will use your advice!S