Craigslist

Sometimes reading the descriptions on craigslist can be a hoot. "A really good dependable washer but has a leak "??? "Comfortable family couch" and you look at the pix and swear you would not let your flea bitten neighbors dog on it!! Or a 10-15 yr old stove for $140?

I found my electric wheelchair on CraigsList. It looked terrible, the previous owner believed that duct tape solved any problem. Because of its looks it was ultra cheap. I took it to a place that does very good upholstery and a very low price and had a nice fabric put on instead of the original vinyl. Now it looks just great.

The hardest part is coming up with key words to use in my search. I search several areas that are withing driving distance of my house.

This message was edited Jan 9, 2007 7:41 PM

Oh yea, sometimes there are items under priced.

I was able to get a solid oak trundle table for $400. The woman had never used it and kept a cloth on it. It is hand made and I looked it up. It sells for $3,000. It is worth every penny of that. Great deal.

Oh my gosh! I think there are incredible deals @ CL. Oh, for lack of cold cash I would have the most beautiful _________________________________&_______________________(you fill in the space). It is so fun to cruise thru the stuff listed.

It can be a riot! It always gets me when someone isn't selling the latest model of something, or the best condition yet they make sure you know the retail price. LOL. I have my own ads deleted plenty of times. Anyone know how many flags it takes to remove an ad?

Why would they delete your ads?

lol---one I have no idea, was a snowman craft @ christmas time, deleted twice. Another I made mistake of using asterics in my title. But I hear people flag for all sorts of reasons. Just curious how many it takes to flag.

so the crowd, not 'craig' himself, flags and then after so many you are deleted? I have never read the rules. Altho, I sold my daughters 2 tortoises on the list not knowing at the time animal sales were forbidden. I got 50+ responses before anyone deleted it.

Oh yeah you are supposed to give them away so a lot of people sneak about it and call it a "rehoming fee" lol.

Yes ANYONE can click on your ad to flag it. Craigs, unlike Dave's, doesn't hire admin to watch it. That's why it's FREE and oh how I wish they'd just govern it with one body and charge a small fee (like Dave's!) and then it wouldn't have these issues.

But for the most part I do enjoy Craig's. I didn't read the rules in detail so not sure if it mentions there how many x's it takes to flag an ad off.

how about this diaper bag...

I know!! Some of them are beyond belief. . . . .just a few stains.

ROFL....but it's PERFECT you know. LIKE NEW. Tehehehe.

I don't like how people lay their items (especially baby items/clothes) on their dirty floors to take the pics. So tacky I think. I always take pics off my dining table or countertop.

Yup, that is almost sad to see it like that. Puts a picture in your mind about the sellers.

I take pics of items ontop a tightly sheeted bed. This presents the item on a nice clean un-distracting field .

The larger things like archery equipment ,etc. is shown on the floor or stood up against a wall or tree.

Showing dirt or clutter in a picture is no way to encourage interest in your 'valuable junque' IMO

just to chime in here.....they do that on ebay too....here they are selling this expensive item and it is photoed on the floor....some of the floors look halfway decent....but i find it amazing that people put it on the floor to photo

Wow, I'm not an ebay shopper but sheesh that's surprising. Sometimes I throw down a dark towel on the bed---or this shot I took on a dining table midday but I shut the blinds and turned the lights out, then took the shot using the "nighttime" option on the digital.

I try to make it look as nice as I can, even when posting freebies.

ok...here ya go....a 500.00 hermes scarf photoed on the floor:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hermes-Silk-and-Cashmere-Scarf-S-S-07_W0QQitemZ200121265660QQihZ010QQcategoryZ45243QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

ROFL! Terrible!

But hey---least it's a CLEAN wood floor. The ads with items on tile with stained grout get me.

look at this lovely chanel jacket that you can get for a mere 2395.00 on berber carpeting.....but it has been vacuumed

http://cgi.ebay.com/CHANEL-05P-Black-White-Tweed-CARDIGAN-sweater-JACKET-34_W0QQitemZ110140688974QQihZ001QQcategoryZ63860QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

OR you can have this lovely eskandar cashmere sweater for a mere 700.00
photoed on lovely white sisal or berber carpeting....vaccuumed also

whoops here the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Eskandar-Sandal-Cashmere-Basket-Stitch-Sweater-1-650_W0QQitemZ130126666642QQihZ003QQcategoryZ63866QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

LOL Sticks. I definately see the point. Those high end items sure look funny advertized on even the best of floors!

Tir_Na_Nog- What (or the general category if you don't want to say) were you selling? You don't list a geographical area, but is there any chance you post single items in more than one geographical area or in more than one category? You are not allowed to post the same item in more than one spot on the site, even if both categories apply to the same item.

They do have an automated system that scans what you post for duplicates. If you post lots of similar items or the same item over and over because you have several, it may think that you are spamming the same item by reposting or deleting one post in order to repost to get to the top of the page.

Strange as it seems, there is a market for broken stuff on CL. I've gotten rid of some stuff (wasn't trying to make money on it or hide the fact that it was broken) and there are plenty of people who have the skills to fix things, or want parts because they already have a similar item, and are happy to have things that looked worthless or were clearly listed as broken.

and: it was in the baby section. And it was just one ad posted as Baby Toys. But if you are referring to where I've been flagged---oh it varies. I've had things flagged in several categories. Sometimes I figure due to astericks or caps which I have since elimated from my ads. No more flags since then. :) People are just VERY particular on CL.

You know I bought some baby clothes---my fault for not asking condition---but picture looked cute. Got them home (always throw them first in a wash with stain remover). Got them out to look them over...yeah, missing buttons, broken zipper on jacket, some stains (that didn't come out). I was really surprised someone would sell in this condition without disclosing. I try to be as honest as possible so I took out what few items I could use, reposted it for what I paid, with a DETAILED list of each item and what condition problem it may have had. I had it sold that same week for my price. I just wonder how others sleep at night when they don't disclose it.

Another purchase was toys---arranged for meeting at a pickup spot---(clue?!) and I got them home and realized they reeked of cigarettes. Not a problem if you are a smoker. But I sure didn't want to give them to my daughter. I threw out most of the lot that I couldn't clean to my satisfaction.

I am now more into shopping online (new) for the best price and find Amazon is pretty good on big ticket items! I've still not checked ebay. I worry even more than on CL with that---can't hold, smell, touch item but you are paying X for it. I'd really hate to be disappointed then...but it seems to work for many.

I still enjoy selling on CL but don't buy much there anymore.

You do know that there is a "free items" section don't you? You might start looking there for other types of items. It seems to work fairly well and I've had mostly success getting rid of things. People have no need to mislead if it's going out the door free. You can get rid of absolutely anything, and many of the items are in good condition if you are looking for things.

Oh yeah, I know there's a free section. There is also freecycle to use. I find I am able to sell most items though, even with a defect, as long as I disclose it I don't feel badly.

I posted our old (35 yrs)dishwasher in the "free" section and within an hour a local junk man called and p/u the next AM. So broken and old have a market but it is the broken and old that is being sold as 'premium' that gets my eyes rolling.

lol, so true!

guess i can give away our broke garage door opener!

How about this one from the other day? "Pamper yourself" She was selling used cosmetics. EEEEwwwww!

EEEEEwwwwww x 300! That's why I like gardening; dirt dirt does not bother me but people dirt. . .EEEEEwwwwwwww!

I felt bad about a lady who was selling alcohol test strips for breastmilk to see if you have alcohol in your milk! Said she bought them online $30 a box and then decided not to BF--wanted to sell for $20 a box. I thought, who invented those and who would need to use them? I don't know....weird I thought.

Always gets me when they say: paid XXXX, selling for less XX. I look up the item and it almost never is retailing for what they say. One lady was selling an item you can buy all day long for $65 new, online or store, said she paid over $100 and was asking $50! I emailed her, I couldn't resist asking WHERE did she buy it for that price, they don't go for that. She asked if I'd want it for $30 then (the typical Craigs price for the item). LOL. Didn't want it, already bought one.

Or when they say their item is TOP OF THE LINE....one lady selling a stroller said it was the "cadillac" of strollers, or so they "tell me at the mall" and I emailed to ask if this "cadillac" had a special feature common to 1/2 of this style stroller (and a desired feature) and she said NO and I was thinking....some cadillac! ROFL!

You find the most aggitated ads in the "pets" section....people asking for free vet care or free pets....people selling pets for high adoption fees, etc.

I think the idea behind Craig's is so smart but wonder why it isn't run better, why isn't there any admin? How does it pay for it's site with no subsript fees or ads? There must be a better way!

It works quite well considering that it's free and most people don't pay. I've never had any administrative problems with it.

He does charge for certain types of listings by commercial providers of real estate, and for job listings. And the staff isn't very large. He's turned down very large offers to sell it.

Oh that's cool you are familiar with the owner and the site!

No, I've not had any admin problems, but with as mad as some get with their postings it would be nice if they HAD administration. :) That's what I meant. But to have something like that it would require a subscriber fee, much like this site. I wish they did have someone to look over it.

I don't know him personally. He has been profiled several times, including 60 Minutes. It was actually pretty interesting. I don't think there are more than 20 people working there.

I was just looking through their "farms and gardens" section and found this. Now, you cannot beat free. http://slo.craigslist.org/grd/360443019.html

They do have some nice stuff free. I've given some things away and I gather from the responses I got that in addition to regular people looking for items, there is a subculture of people who do nothing all day but respond to ads in the free section and will take anything regardless of what the item is. I guess they are reselling at flea markets or online.

There are plenty of odd people, but overall it works well if you know what to avoid.

I'm getting ready to rid myself of Boucous of stuff and have learned loads here. I will be aproaching Craigslist myself.
Thanks,
Sidney

sugarweed-

I think the best tip if you are getting rid of stuff is to let the listing sit a little while and gather a group of responses (around here that could mean about half an hour to an hour depending on the item to get about 10 responses to start) and then read the responses and choose from them rather than giving preference based on speed of response.

Don't delete the ad until the item is out the door, but you don't have to respond to everyone.

Look for polite responses in complete sentences. Skip anyone who uses "text message speak:" and don't give your phone no or address to anyone until you have nailed down a pickup time.

Know that some people respond to many ads and then don't show because they just pick the best items at the end of the day, so hold out on your address until you have had a couple of contacts with the person and confirmed that they are coming. State in your ad that you won't reschedule. And don't give your phone no if you can avoid it. Start your listings with smaller items so you can get used to the system.

Don't respond to people who just say "Is this still available?" because they are wasting your time. Ask for a proposed pickup time in the ad and respond to people who have an actual plan to come get the item.

I also think it's a good idea to have the item ready and waiting in a place where they don't come into your home. Like the lawn at an arranged time. Just for safety reasons.


This message was edited Jun 27, 2007 7:02 PM