How to Craiglist/eBay/CycleTrader/Etc

[vman1313]

I have tried through out the years to sell various items on Craiglist/eBay/CycleTrader and other such websites with no luck at all. All I ever find are scammers, lowballers, and filth with the occasional genuine interested party.

Any ideas, comments, suggestions, helpful stories, or anything productively related that you think would help a NOOB sell using such websites would be appreciated.

Thanks

[xSean13]

From my experience...
- Put up as many pics and as much detail as possible, that helps weed out randoms just calling/texting then never hearing from them again.
- Scramble your number...helps minimize scams, though inevitably you'll get some.
- Don't even accept emails, the majority is spam, might even be a good idea to accept calls only & no texts to minimize the antisocial people who are likely the lowballers.
- Don't put 'obo' in the ad or anything saying you're flexible or open to offers...if you're selling something then people know there's a negotiation process. If you have extra items to go with it, then use that as leverage in negotiation.
- Make sure you only accept cash (cashier's check for expensive items like a motorcycle)

That's about all i can think of right off hand.

[vman1313]

Originally Posted by xSean13

From my experience...
- Put up as many pics and as much detail as possible, that helps weed out randoms just calling/texting then never hearing from them again.
- Scramble your number...helps minimize scams, though inevitably you'll get some.
- Don't even accept emails, the majority is spam, might even be a good idea to accept calls only & no texts to minimize the antisocial people who are likely the lowballers.
- Don't put 'obo' in the ad or anything saying you're flexible or open to offers...if you're selling something then people know there's a negotiation process. If you have extra items to go with it, then use that as leverage in negotiation.
- Make sure you only accept cash (cashier's check for expensive items like a motorcycle)

That's about all i can think of right off hand.

good stuff!

[Ben M]

Sean has some great points and I must reiterate one. I've done a lot of craigslisting, and I would say the biggest thing is to say no emails and no texts. If they are serious they will call, and if they don't really care about the item they will probably just want to email or text.

[xSean13]

Originally Posted by Ben M

Sean has some great points and I must reiterate one. I've done a lot of craigslisting, and I would say the biggest thing is to say no emails and no texts. If they are serious they will call, and if they don't really care about the item they will probably just want to email or text.

Yep, exactly. Although, I asked for texts in my ad, and I text people because I'm usually in class or at work, and I can text in both circumstances, but not make calls.

[choneofakind]

Another suggestion:

Make a quick email account (gmail, yahoo, whatever) that will only be used for the purpose of selling things on said websites. Then you can hand out the email liberally and not worry about spam. Just make sure they put something specific in the title.

[Luckydawg003]

I just bought something off craigslist tonight. Make sure to have a email or phone number to text or call and pics. Sometimes listing damage to the item helps weed people out too.

[csmith12]

The number #1 thing you need to do when doing craiglisting is use google voice to get a phone number you can control. Route it to you celly or your land line at home. And when your done, kill the number.

What can happen is.... aggregate sites will pull craigslist listing info (including your number) and put it on other websites. Which can exist many months past your sale on craigslist. ie

[csmith12]

Yea... it's free too.

[Dozer]

Reply 5jckr-3691210218@sale.craigslist.org [?] flag [?] : miscategorized prohibited spam best of Posted: 2013-03-19, 2:02PM EDT
A 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650: A Play in One Act - $4400 (North Bethesda)

A 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650

A play in one act.

Cast:

The Seller
An Anthropomorphized Craigslist
A 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650 motorcycle

Scene 1:

Setting: A generic office in a generic office building, in the middle of I-270's technology corridor.

*knocks*

*Seller opens door*

Seller: "Hi Craigslist, thanks for coming to see me. Have a seat."

Craigslist: "Glad to be here, what can I do for you?" *sits down*

Seller: "Well, Craigslist, see, I've got a problem. I've got this here motorcycle I'm trying to sell."

Craigslist: "Great, that's what I do. Why are you selling it?"

Seller: "Whoa, now that I hear you say that, I think I spoke too fast. I'm not trying to sell, sell it."

Craigslist: *looks confused* "Huh what? What are you trying to do then, and why did you need to see me?"

Seller: "Selling implies trying to get rid of something for money. That's not what I'm doing here. I want this bike to go to the right person, for the right reasons. It's not like I'm choosing to let the bike go."

Craigslist: "huh.. well... having me here is a voluntary thing.... not sure I'm forcing you into this."

Seller: "No, I'm forcing myself. See, I'm getting older, there are going to be kids in my life soon, the traffic here... man, it's trying to kill me. It's just not right anymore. The bike knows it, I know it, it's just time."

Craigslist: "I see, so your reasons are personal, makes sense to me! Okay, let's just get right to it then, how much do you want for it?"

Seller: "$4600."

Craigslist: "HA! That's a good one!" *Laughs heartily* "You're kidding right? For a four-year-old bike?!"

Seller: *not amused* "Yup. What's wrong with that price?"

Craigslist: "Oh, let me count the ways." *continues through laughter* "It's a four year old bike and who knows whats happened to it. I know my bikes and this is not a GSXR or a R6. Might not appeal to the supersport crowd, you know. Not to mention that Kelly Blue Book has the bike at $4300 in excellent condition and the NADA Guide has the low-end average retail at $3800! You're crazy man, you know that?"

Seller: "Maybe so, but you haven't seen this bike."

Craigslist: "Well, of course I have.. it's been sitting in the corner right there." *points*

Ninja 650: "Yup, I've been here the whole time, thanks for noticing, guys."

Seller: "Okay, okay, you're right, $4600 is a bit optimistic. $4400 then."

Craigslist: "Man, I wouldn't pay that if my pants were on fire, and only GIVING YOU MONEY WOULD PUT THE FIRE OUT."

Seller: "Okay, Okay.I know you're in this for a deal, Craigslist, and I want you to have a deal. But, I'm pretty serious when I say that $4400 is a deal for this bike. I paid over $7000 for it new. I mean, seriously, look at the odometer. 2265 miles. That's it. A bike at this age would have double the mileage on average."

Craigslist: "what, you didn't ride it that much?"

Seller: "No, I couldn't ride it in the winters up in Massachusetts. And our riding season was only a few months. Just enough for a couple of hundred miles a year."

Craigslist. "and you rode it down from Massachusetts then?"

Seller: "Nope, I transported it on a trailer."

Craigslist: "So what justifies asking just slightly less than what a dealer would charge?"

Seller: "Just look at it... look at the condition... no dings, no drops, no damage. Stored safely out of the elements during winters. Always maintained, look, I have all the maintenance records right here." *pulls out multiple folders full of paper* "I looked after this bike, I loved it and cared for it, nurtured it."

Craigslist: "ummm. that's a little weird, man."

Seller: "you would be too if you lived in Massachusetts for as long as I did."

Craigslist: "okay, I see that you're serious. You know I can't give you what you're asking for it though."

Seller: "That's fine too, make me an offer then."

Craigslist: "I'll have to think on it."

Seller: *Stands* "Great. Come see me when you're ready."

Craigslist: "You bet."

*Craigslist exits"

Ninja 650: *looks hurt* "You really gonna sell me, man?"

Seller: "We'll see, motorcycle, we shall see..."
Location: North Bethesda
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
Posting ID: 3691210218 Posted: 2013-03-19, 2:02PM EDT email to a friend
Avoid scams, deal locally! Do NOT wire funds (Western Union, Moneygram). Beware cashier checks, money orders, shipping, non-local buyers/sellers. More info

[TonyKZ1]

Wow, that story is kinda neat, never seen or heard that before. I can see my bike asking me that at the end.
Tony

[StephenA]

almost made me tear up *sniffles*

[Mauchner]

I tend to buy more than sell on classifieds. I've spent thousands upon thousands on classified ads and have come to realize that you can't expect much out of them.


Put your ad up and be as honest as you can. LOTS of pictures, and never put OBO. You should put up a phone number and say phone calls only, I will not answer any emails. This completely deters low ballers and kids just bugging you with emails.

When you are on the phone tell them they are more than welcome to come take a look in person and anything else they need is on the (very detailed) ad on the internet. Don't be in a rush trying to sell online, it's something that may take a long time, or, you might get someone like me who simply asks to come see the product and brings cash with him every time.

[tfkrocks]

Huh, I didn't know so many people don't like email contact through craigslist. Honestly, phone calls give me social anxiety so I prefer to email or text exclusively whenever possible.

[vman1313]

WoW! Great stuff!! As soon as the weather turns nicer here in Georgia, I will be putting up two motorcycles up for sale on Craigist. I appreciate all the insight and feel like this thread has been beneficial to not only me but others who may want to try to sell a big ticket item.

Keep the suggestions and ideas coming AND thanks to all who have contributed.

[GSchneider]

I agree with what everyone has said with only accepting phone calls.

Another thing with craigslist is to re-post your ad after a couple of days. With people posting ads all day your ad starts go get pushed down and somewhat gets lost in the other pages. So when you get the confirmation email for your ad, there is a link that you can click to refresh and bring your ad back to the front page. It will help a lot with people seeing your ad when they do their search. When I sold my car on CL I did this every 2-3 days and I was able to sell my car in about a week.

[choneofakind]

Or you could just sell it for a fair price and it will sell within a day. When I bought mine, I emailed the owner within a couple hours of him posting it. He was excited that it was going to someone who was as in love with it as they were.

[NathanUc]

Be detailed and honest. Even if adding details that might hurt you sale (damage, issues, etc). Don't BS as the people who are interested usually know what they are doing.

Someone else mentioned but I agree: don't ask for OBO. State your price and stay firm. As long as the price is fair, someone will buy it eventually.
Don't hold the bike for anyone. Whoever brings you the money first gets the bike.

Don't allow test drives without full value in hand. It sounds a bit much, but I made a document the test driver would need to sign in order to get a test drive. If they wreck the bike for some reason, it's their word vs yours if they try to get their money back.

Download an official bill of sale from your state website.

Make a Google Voice account and give that out as a number. You can call/test for free within the US from that number.

Don't meet people at your place. Find a public open area to meet (I pick grocery store parking lots as they have cameras). If you can, bring a friend or two.

Make sure you're clear it's sold as is. Put this somewhere on the bill of sale! Even if the bike is in 100% perfect brand new condition, sell it as is. This way, if the new owner messed it up at all, they have no chance in returning it.

Don't hand over the keys until funds are verified (count the money). It's easy to make mistakes so you don't want to be the one paying for it.

Emails are fine as long as you verify they are real people. With craigslist, no matter how hard you try, you'll get spam in both email/text. Read the scam information on craiglists and REPORT ANY SCAMMERS!

[rjones91]

NEVER sell to anyone wanting to pay you via paypal and have you ship the item to Nigeria. Huge scam.

I only sell items to local buyers, cash only. As already mentioned...don't include your email as 9 times out of 10 you will begin to receive all sorts of spam messages or create another email account.

[Nemesis]

Wow! Some paranoid and extreme advices.

Originally Posted by tfkrocks

Huh, I didn't know so many people don't like email contact through craigslist. Honestly, phone calls give me social anxiety so I prefer to email or text exclusively whenever possible.

+1

Create another email address for the sole purpose of selling/buying stuff.



My observation: The main reason why I see so many people struggle selling their stuff is PRICE. Y'all, generally speaking, have it priced so high why would anyone want to buy a used product when they can buy new if they paid a little more.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with putting OBO. In fact, it attracts more buyers knowing you're willing to negotiate. If you don't like their offer then simply say, "No thank you...I'll pass" or "I'm willing to do...".

But don't be so set on your price. And pricing your item at the going value/price doesn't necessarily mean that's how much it's worth. Yes it's a good guide but that's all it is. Here's some words to consider: The value of said item is whatever someone's willing to pay for it (at that moment).

Sometimes you have to price it lower than the going price if you want it moved/sold.

[xSean13]

@Alex

Perhaps sticky this or add it as a "DIY?"

[vman1313]

Originally Posted by xSean13

@Alex

Perhaps sticky this or add it as a "DIY?"

I was thinking same thing...lots of good stuff shared here!

[Alex]

What type of sticky would it be? It's not appropriate for General, it's not a tech topic, and it doesn't help our marketplace area. I'm not sure it merits permanent screen space here, but I'm open to ideas if I'm missing something. It's not that it's not a useful thread, but a search here for craigslist or ebay will pull it up.

[milhouse]

Here's my experience:

Craigslist:

- Be very detailed about your item, the more detail the better, the more pictures the better. Nothing is more annoying than an ad that has little or no description or pictures and then says "don't waste my time" or "it's perfect". A thorough description of the item's pros and cons goes a long way towards minimizing annoying questions.

- I prefer to use an email dedicated for my CL/Ebay stuff. Nobody calling during dinner, voicemails, etc. Answer at your own pace and discretion. Much easier to deal with spam email than spam phone calls/texts

- I've had more success with putting OBO. What's the worst that can happen? They lowball you and you say, "No, thanks". Listing just a price may reduce the amount of people contacting you.

- As others have said, NEVER NEVER hold anything for anyone. First with cash takes it, always. Nothing worse than holding something for someone who is lagging while others are willing to buy now.

- Cash only. No Paypal, no money order, just cash.

- Don't be a jerk. So many people list stuff and spend half the ad bitching and moaning about spam and lowballers and act like you owe them something when you contact them. Craigslist karma is real, be nice and you'll find nice people to buy your stuff.


Ebay:

- I'm a huge fan of the set price option, you can set your price and post the item until it sells. I think the listing fee is usually around $0.50. They also allow the option of letting buyers make an offer, which you can then accept or refuse.

- Paypal payment only, and require payment immediately after purchase. I've had experiences where kids will hit "Buy Now" and then you never hear from them again. Very annoying.

- I think Ebay fees are set to increase soon, so I'll probably stop selling stuff on there. The fees were high as it was.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by xSean13

From my experience...
- Put up as many pics and as much detail as possible, that helps weed out randoms just calling/texting then never hearing from them again....

I always get ghosted when I put up as much detail as possible.

[Lychee]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Or you could just sell it for a fair price and it will sell within a day. When I bought mine, I emailed the owner within a couple hours of him posting it. He was excited that it was going to someone who was as in love with it as they were.

Here is the key. Post a fair price!

[NealWright]

I'm going to assume that since you're listing all those places, and are annoyed with no buyers ... you're price is too high!

If you want top dollar, don't even bother with any of those! ... and don't be discouraged over months of no offers. There's a reason why many people don't bother with private sales.

Here some tips though, I've sold multiple cars on Craigslist, and numerous items on Ebay with this.

1. Always take MANY pictures, with a good description. I spend over an hour to set up a good listing ... but I've always come out ahead.

2. Ebay listings start Sunday night at 4PM PST ... Couldn't care less about the actual starting time, but I am concerned about catching the Sunday end-of-auction crowd, in all time zones.

3. Craigslist listings start Friday night at 6PM local time ... Trying to snag the prowlers Friday night, or first thing Saturday.

4. Make your listing stand out in the search. With so many Ebay listings anymore, you don't want to be on page 101.

5. If it's a highly sought after, desirable item ... put it on Ebay. $1 NO RESERVE. You're looking to snag watchers and bidders. All my auctions start this way, and I always get more than I thought I could ask.

6. Craigslist is free ... But, you're going to have to put up with scams and junk mail. Ebay is very pricey ... I plan on paying out 10% on each listing, so I better be able to get that much more, than just listing a lower price on Craigslist.

Anyhow ... tired tonight. There's lots more, but I can't give everything away.
Thanks, Neal