Craigslist Expertise 101

For those of you who have gotten into the Craigslist craze, none of this will come as much of a shock. First of all I suggest you don’t get frustrated. Take it from one whose frustration level requires just a slight deviation from the norm to cause outbursts of a magnitude exceeded by few earthquakes. It was so frustrating that I actually quit trying to get connected and get a few items listed.

After a week of brooding about my lack of competence, I gave it one more try. This time I took great care with each step of the process, and it worked. I still think I did it correctly the first time (naturally). The reason for my thinking this way is a result of my going to the ‘customer comment’ section of Craigslist. There were numerous people who claimed they followed the process, but none of their items posted. The answer was the same in each case. I was advised to wait 45 minutes and attempt to re-post the items. Obviously, a lot of people had the same problem I did.

So Craigslist is a great and free way to advertise items. Thusfar I’ve sold five items, with six items that haven’t sold. I still have over ten items I haven’t posted yet. I like to do them in batches of five or six.

I’ve discovered what I consider a rather wierd phenomana or social commentary that I wasn’t expecting. One of the first items I listed with a picture (I always post a photo and complete description) was a three piece wicker furniture set. This included two chairs with cushions and a coffee table. I priced the three pieces at $30. The next morning, thirteen people said they were interested or actually wanted to know when they could pick it up. Great! I responded via e mail to each of these people. I told them what my phone number was and suggested they call me when they were ready to come over so that I could let them know if I still had it. I sat back expecting to spend the next hour fielding phone calls. Do you know that NONE of these people called or e mailed me anymore. I did sell the wicker to one of the guys who did some painting for us.

This scenario repeated itself with the treadmill I had for sale. As of this morning there were ten people who expressed interest. I responded to all ten as I always do. NONE of these people ever re-contacted me. I did sell the treadmill today. The guy who bought it e mailed me late this morning and was here by noon to pick it up.

I guess I’m basing my reaction to these people on my own, and I thought most people’s, method of Craigslist searching and buying.
If I see an item I want, and the price is right, I would contact the person selling it and arrange to come take a look at it. Oh no. This apparently isn’t the modus operendi of your typical Craigslist shopper. I don’t get it. I’m thinking of doing a study on the twenty five potential buyers that I’ve encountered. I frankly don’t get it.

My next adventure will be putting our house on Craigslist. I figure I’ll have 500 respondents, none of whom will ever come to look at it. I’ve written my experience with Craigslist for any of you that may want to take a crack at posting some of your items. Don’t get frustrated, and don’t get too excited when twenty people SEEM to be buyers. They’re just lonely people who need some hi-tech social interaction. They aren’t into hi-touch. They prefer the hidden environment of their computer.

Good luck.

jim