Goodplans

How to sell successfully on Craigslist

Now that we know "what not to do" when selling on Craigslist, here are a few "to do" ideas.

First, use a keyword in all your ads, so buyers can use the list's search engine to see all your ads on one page. My listings all have the keyword "sandford and sister" in the ad, so they can be easily found.

To utilize the search engine and find my current ads, click here, then enter my keywords "sanford and sister" without the quotation marks, and you should pull up three ads.

Second, use a clean, clear picture.

Third, price your items reasonably.

And last, don't be too wordy!

Although I just started using Craigslist a couple of months ago, I've already realized a profit from it. I began by getting familiar with ads, their wording and the Tulsa market. I spent a little time every day looking at the ads in several categories in which I have an interest.

Once I felt comfortable writing an ad, which is a little different than writing an auction for eBay, I jumped right in and placed my first listing, which was for Glade Plug-Ins which I had acquired during that great Kroger/Reasor's $4 catalina promotion back in the fall of 2008. I got paid to purchase the items since I used coupons and rolled my catalinas, so the items didn't cost me any OOP in the first place.

The problem is, I'm allergic to those silly things, so I ended up with scores of them but couldn't use them. I gave them away at Bunco, at my homeschool meetings, to friends, and still I had about 30 odd units, refills and nite lights here at the house, sitting in a box.

This past Monday, I listed 8 or 9 units as a lot for one price, $20. My listing sold in 45 minutes. Did you catch that? If you count the time it took to take the picture and type the ad, which was about 15 minutes of work, that means I made the equivalent of $80 and hour!

Oh, yeah! That's how I roll...

Then, to top it off, when I met the buyer, I told her I had another lot for sale, and she bought that one on the spot for $20 more. $40 for just a little bit of work. Not too bad! So I tithed, and the rest is in the debt snowball. How easy was that?