Make Money Selling Things on Craigslist
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One of my favorite ways to make extra money is to sell the excess from around my home. With fast growing kids, changing styles, and new life phases, it seems I always have an abundance of items that are no longer being used. The first place I look to sell these items is on Craigslist. In my opinion, unless you have something very valuable (that is shippable) Craigslist is the way to go.
There are no fees with Craigslist, meaning all the money you make is yours. You get to set your price. There is no gambling as to whether you will make any money. You set the price you want and hope it sells. If you list an item for auction on EBay there are a couple of bad scenarios that can happen. The price does not get bid high enough for you to make any money after the fees, or it doesn't sell at all and you are still out the fees (meaning you just lost money). No worries when selling on Craigslist - if it doesn't sell you are only out your time.
I have found that some things work better than others. Grouping like items together will help them sell better and more quickly. Do you have an entire wardrobe of boys 4t clothing? Rather than selling it one piece or outfit at a time, group all winter clothing together and all summer clothing together and sell it that way.
Take good pictures of the items you are selling. I believe that Craigslist will allow four photos, but I can never get more than one to load. I just say in the ad that I have more photos and to email me for them if interested. I have never had a problem selling anything by doing this, as long as I have one photo up. People can judge the condition fairly well and decide if it is worth pursuing. I know that I really dislike searching for something and not being able to see a picture of it.
Be very careful when selling on Craigslist. Sometimes strange people respond to my ads. There are a couple of ways I protect myself when selling items from my home. First, if I get even the slightest strange feeling from an initial email I just ignore the email. They do not have any of my contact information unless I reply to their email. Better to be safe than sorry in my book. Second, I will only schedule pickups when my husband is home and I make sure the person that is coming knows that my husband will be home. Third, I have the item waiting by the door, or if it is nice weather I will make an excuse to be outdoors with the item waiting on the buyer. Fourth, I keep the phone with me at all times when I am making a sale. Fifth, I only deal locally.
Unfortunately scams are running rampant on Craigslist. If someone contacts you from far away, even just another state, but especially if they are from another country just ignore them. If someone tries to pay you more than what you are asking for be very wary. I would ignore these offers too. If someone wants to have you ship the item, don't do it. These are all typically scams. They offer to pay you more for your "time", mail you a cashiers cheque (fake!) and have you ship the item. Only after you ship the item does the cashiers cheque bounce and you have created a major mess for yourself. Deal locally, in cash only and you will be fine.
If you need extra money, Craigslist is a great place to sell your unwanted items. If you haven't tried it before, it is super easy and fast. Good luck!
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This was very helpful - you gave some excellent information. Kartika
I was just thinking about trying to sell some of my things on Craigslist! You gave some great tips - thank you.
Thank you for the tips and insights, will give these tips a try. Rated your hubs, thumbs up! :)
John
Great advice. I have not used Craigslist yet (I know! hard to believe) but have used Kijiji quite a bit and the same precautions apply.
It is amazing what people will buy off Craigslist. Great hub! You have obviously put some work into it. Definite bump up! I just wrote my first hub http://hubpages.com/hub/Cancelling-Cell-Phone-Cont What do you think?
i sold my scooter on craigslist, but before i did i had 2 people try to scam me.
1. a guy tried to pay via pay pall and have it "shipped" to africa
2. some guy tried to "help" me sell my scooter and said he had helped others sell things that wern't selling
I just ignored them cause i knew they were scams, I thought i better not give them any insight to make thier scam better. So be carfull when selling on craigslist.
surely an amazing work
I was thinking about using ebay to sell things, but now I have another option. Thanks!
worth trying!
Thanks for the information about Craigslist. I tried Ebay years ago and didn't like the way it was done. May have to try Craigslists.
Its a nice content, good post. thank you.
Good information, I have sold on ebay 3 times and only one time did I acutally make any money, this has got to be a better option Thanks-You
I have been considering getting rid of all my dvds since i never watch them. Now I am more equipped with what to do. thank you for taking the time.
I have had great success with bartering on CList. One example - I had some trees cut down at our home. I offered free wood in exchange for splitting some of the wood for me. Had 5 responses in less than one day.
Great advice and welcome information. Thanks.
I've sold lots of things on craigslist, and your advice is right on! It's a great resource but you have to be very careful!
Thanks so much, I will definately look into it. I have tried ebay and its such a pain, agree completely on that.
We love craigslist! We've probably found 20% of the furnishings/accessories in our home from craigslist. In addition, we've sold a lot of items we don't use anymore, and would otherwise be collecting dust.
Thanks for sharing your tips! Knowing how to use CL to its fullest definitely makes a big difference.
Great advice, I have a little one and have been thinking about using craigs list to get rid of some old stuff and get her some new more age appropriate toys and what not :)
Marketing on craigslist is tough before, Even i hire few guys to do that but they failed. But my hopes are increasing after looking your solution on that. Will apply them.
I like this hub. Think I will look more closely at Craigslist. Maybe, there will be some local buyers for some things I have for the Holidays.
good advice!
Im gearing up for a move soon, and I am thinking of lightening up my load and selling a bunch of stuff that I rarely use in order to save up some money and make the move a bit easier.
Ill certainly be using some of your advice!
:)
Great advice, thanks for the hub
Thank you for the education! In these extraordinarily fast changing times, an old pine knot like myself needs all the help that he can get.
Pretty good way to clear clutter at home
always wanted to get down to tidying my house up
good hub there!
It's much better and cheaper than ebay!
I have been wanting to get rid of some stuff and hate to throw it out. I might try craigslist, thanks for the info.
Great Hub! craigslist is the easiest way to make money selling our things as our ad easily reaches millions of people.
I have never had too much luck with Craigslist. But then I live in a rural enough area that a 2 hour drive is required to get to the closest city I could post ads in. I will stick with E-bay for now.
Gotta Love Craigslist!!!
Good tips, Thanks
I will try Craiglist. Thanks for the info.
Cheers
We love craigs list and have several items waiting to be posted there. I guess I better get on it!!!
I love Craigslist! This was an informative hub, learned a couple things I didn't know before. Thanks!
You know, I've never thought to sell anything on Craigslist, but now I think I'm going to give it a try. Great hub!
I've never tried craigslist. ebay was always my thing. I might try craigslist now, though. No fees!
I love Craigslist for everything! Good advice on selling stuff.
~thranax~
been doing some looking on craigs list...but havent actually did anything on it yet...this bit of information will really help though...thanks so much for that...Dont really care for all the added fees that ebay does on you...advertising fee...final bid fee and if its a high dollar amount another fee..fee for pics..fee for special fonts...they like to fee the heck out of a person thats for sure...nickel and dime a person to death as i would say...well thank you again for your bit of information and good luck to all those who try the list....
I like this hub.
nice advice.
Dao Hoa says:
4 weeks ago
Thank you for sharing your experience and great advice. You are have to be extra careful now a day.