I’ve been using Craigslist quite a bit to sell off a whole bunch of my stuff, from books, computers, bookshelves, hard drives, clocks, bags, etc. The people around me are always amazed that I am able to get rid of things, at a pretty reasonable price.
If it’s an electronic, go check out Worth Monkey. Type in the item (the more specific you can be, the better) and it will tell you what the average price the item is selling for depending on how good of a condition it’s in. The site links with other selling sites so that you can see what other people are selling the same or similar items for.
First, before setting up a free Craigslist account, make an email account from either Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail which is separate from the email address that you usually use. I usually like to be anonymous online, so if you have your full name in your email address, it might be a good idea to get something generic or random. You will also get some spam, so to avoid all that, get another email address! It’s simple and free.
Next, take pretty good photos of your items. A good photo makes a huge difference in whether people email you or not. Especially if it’s not a popular item. Give a good description, though you will get people that emails you for answers that you’ve already posted. Be patient. Anyways, email quickly as possible to emails, as people tend to lose interest in items pretty fast – at least that’s what I’ve found so far. And don’t get discouraged if the person you email back doesn’t reply. You will, unfortunately, get a lot of those. Even if you go to the point of setting up the day, time and location, they may bail at the last minute with a excuse that they are sick or something. Remember to renew your posting in 2 weeks so that it pops back up to the top of the list. Otherwise, no one will ever find you again after a day or two. Keep renewing until you have a buyer! Don’t give up.
Pick a good time and location for pickup – preferably in public, daytime (or early evening) and somewhere close to where you live. As mentioned earlier, some people don’t show up, so you don’t want to spend 30 minutes commuting somewhere and be stood up. Sometimes, it’s a good idea to let someone else know that you’re going to be selling stuff to a stranger.
Happy selling!
