How does Craigs list work

[Jay Jolliffe]

I've never used it before, so if you post something on there do you pay for the listing ? Is it like paypal & do they want a percentage of the object when it sells?

[Jim O'Dell]

No, Craig's List, for the most part, is free. There are some charges for certain types of listings, like real estate. Just be careful what you list. I would never post anything like jewelery. Jim.

[Zach England]

People find old craftsman table saws in dumpsters and advertise them as "vintage" and ask $500 for them.

Upon realizing table saw is a piece of crap you go to "personals" section and spend $500 for a "massage".

Seriously, craigslist is seedy. It used to be great, but has been overrun by the great unwashed.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I think Zach exagerates.

CL is just like newspaper classified, except it is free and online. I can't imagine how I ever lived without it - I've always found great deals on anything I'm looking for, and always quickly sold anything I wanted to get rid of.

[Jim Finn]

I think Zach exagerates.

CL is just like newspaper classified, except it is free and online. .
Exactly! I have had good luck selling there.

[Ben Franz]

Like any sales venue, the more you know about what you want, the better your chances of a successful transaction. The local (Albuquerque) CL routinely has ads from people trying to unload junk they found in an old shed or garage - sometimes for a buck or two and sometimes for astronomical prices. The last couple of years there are a lot of local contractors, cabinet shops, etc. giving up the ghost and you can find some amazing deals. Estate sales and moving sales are also excellent chances for a real gloat-worthy deal. Persistence and knowledge are key. Know what you want, how much the item sells for new and used, research what to look for in terms of condition (this forum helps a lot) and check the ads frequently. There are some automated search and notification tools available to help with this. I haven't used them but there are several threads here about them. I've had good luck with CL the last two years so I thinl it's a decent resource.

[David G Baker]

I have always had good luck with Craigslist. It has its issues but as has been written learning the how things flow on the site puts you in a better position to have good experiences buying and selling on the site. Spam has become a problem but there are ways around that as well.

[Bill LaPointe]

I have bought and sold on CL. A little more prone to scams than Ebay because it is free for most listings. I check it 4-5 times a day for bargains.

[Neal Clayton]

the main thing to note with craigslist is it's kinda meant to be local, like the local newspaper classifieds. if someone from out of state is after a non-rare item it's likely a scam, but i use it for local stuff all the time.

[John Shuk]

I think Zach exagerates.

CL is just like newspaper classified, except it is free and online. I can't imagine how I ever lived without it - I've always found great deals on anything I'm looking for, and always quickly sold anything I wanted to get rid of.
I think both of you guys are oversimplifying Craigslist.
It is not like the newspaper classifies of my youth. It is a good place to go for deals but you are going to have to use sound judgement to buy or sell.

[Jim Terrill]

Craigslist is what it is. If you see something, you have to jump right away and there is still a chance that you will get passed up by the seller. I was going to buy a band saw from someone, he said he worked until 4 every day so I said I'd be by at around 5 to get the saw and when I called at noon to make sure 5 was a good time, he told me that he had sold it that morning. At the same time, I have had people who have held items for weeks waiting for someone to come pick it up when I would have been there in 20 minutes to get it. My view- use it as a tool, nothing is yours until it's in your car, but there are good deals to be had. When replying to an ad, provide your number, your location, when you can be there and state your willingness to pay cash. I mention location because is some cases I have had sellers bring items to me, saving me the hassle of going to pick up stuff.

[John alder]

I have bought and sold many things with good luck.Good judgement is important,when selling I dont put my Email address or phone #, I post (if serious interest reply via Craigs L with a phone # and I will get back to you)That eliminates Trolls and I can search the phone # for location to eliminate a distant buyer as I'm not going to ship it.As for buying any used item "you get what you pay for" "It is what it is " John

[Zach England]

I am sure it is highly dependent on the local market. Here there is another site that saps a lot of traffic from craigslist.

[Joe Pelonio]

I am very happy with a car I bought on CL just a few weeks ago. You just have to be careful about the seller and item, like any other ads. Since it's free there are more likely to be scams but they are pretty easy to spot.

[Jim Terrill]

I have bought and sold many things with good luck.Good judgement is important,when selling I dont put my Email address or phone #, I post (if serious interest reply via Craigs L with a phone # and I will get back to you)That eliminates Trolls and I can search the phone # for location to eliminate a distant buyer as I'm not going to ship it.As for buying any used item "you get what you pay for" "It is what it is " John

Actually I hate when people do this. I have an out of state phone number based on my location because I am in college in another state. Any ads that I see that state must be local number I just pass on because it's generally not worth the hassle of proving that I am in fact a local person. Hell, I know people that I worked with who have numbers that are from far away, when they moved they wanted to keep their number, and one has been living in a different area code for over 6 years.

[Mark Patoka]

I've used it a fair number of times with no problems, mostly as a seller. If you don't put your email in the add, CL will route any email responses to you so it acts as a filter until you respond directly back to the individual. A good way to filter those questionable responses.

Depending on what I'm selling, I've gotten interested buyers within minutes or an hour responding.

[Eric DeSilva]

...I have an out of state phone number based on my location because I am in college in another state. Any ads that I see that state must be local number I just pass on because it's generally not worth the hassle of proving that I am in fact a local person.

Not to be cynical, but have you tried responding with "Just in case you are wondering, my number is out of state, but that is because I'm in college and move a lot. I am local, however."

[Greg Portland]

Seriously, craigslist is seedy. It used to be great, but has been overrun by the great unwashed.OK, I had to laugh when I saw this was posted from Salt Lake City.

I just make my listings "first come, first serve". The first person to arrive with cash in hand gets the item.

[Jay Jolliffe]

This is an answer I got from my ad on craigs list. Sounds like a scam to me:How stupid do they think people are.

Thanks for your mail I would like to make an outright
purchase immediately so i would want you withdraw the advert from the web.
Regarding the payment, I will pay you with a certified check in U.S dollars
so pls let me have the following informations so that the payment can
be made to you :
1.Your full name to be on the check.
2.Your physical address.
3.Your postal code
4.Your mobile phone number (For easier communication).
Kindly get me the above requested information as soon as
possible.Concerning the shipment,it is my regular shipper that will
come for the pick up as soon as you recieve your money in hands.
Thanks in Advance.

[Dan Mages]

I have used Craigslist a few times lately to solicit labor.

In the first case, my wife and I were looking for a photographer for our baby girl. We got 40 responses from independent photographers, professionals, and a student or two. We even got an offer from a person new to the business who wanted to expand her portfolio for a free shoot and a CD of the pictures. You can't argue with free!

Due to a severely sprained wrist, I am restricted from lawn duty, so I put an ad out on Craigslist and found a couple of college kids looking to make (beer) money. For $10 an hour, it was a good deal.

And finally, my PT Cruiser has a blown head gasket. It would cost me $1300 to have it repaired at a professional shop, which would not be cost effective. Well, I found a retired mechanic who fixes cars for friends, family and neighbors and will fix the PT for $250 plus parts and any machine shop costs.

Yes, there is a seedy end to it, but isn't that the case anywhere you look?

Dan

[Myk Rian]

I've never used it before, so if you post something on there do you pay for the listing ? Is it like paypal & do they want a percentage of the object when it sells?

Free want ads. That's all it is.
Try here if you want a specific item.
www.craiglook.com

[Jim Terrill]

Not to be cynical, but have you tried responding with "Just in case you are wondering, my number is out of state, but that is because I'm in college and move a lot. I am local, however."

Yep, and the response I got was "Sorry, locals only, no non-local numbers". Like some sort of distorted protectionism.

[Craig Summers]

I've never used it before, so if you post something on there do you pay for the listing ? Is it like paypal & do they want a percentage of the object when it sells?

as others said, for most stuff you pay Zero to list it.
Most people expect cash at time of sale, a few may take paypal.

They only charge a listing fee for some professional/business services, and real estate rentals (apartments) in a few major US markets. This covers thier expenses, and some rich guy named Craig runs it.

You might also try using searchtempest.com to make wide area searches by keyword or description. That allows you to set a geographic mileage of your search, but it's roughly how the crow flies from your zipcode to the city groups in CL. Spelling errors/odd terms are the achilles heel of this process.

FWIW, I'm not sure if the 1099K form (and others) will eventually become part of the CL system, but for now the sales tax or income tax issue is up to the responsible parties.

[Fred Voorhees]

CraigsList is fine. In fact, just an hour or two ago, I sold something off of it to a guy......old, but very clean cat carrier that we no longer had a need for. CraigsList is a great way to get rid of stuff that is no longer needed, but could easily be used by someone else. Even a caveman could do it.

[Jerome Hanby]

I think you have to force yourself to be a little cold blooded when you use Craigslist.

If you are buying, you have to be ready to cut the heart out of anyone else interested in the item. Show up quick, make any excuse, just get there before anyone else can and have cash in hand.

If you are selling, first one with cash in hand gets the item. Too many people and too many problems to hold something just because someone says they will show up.

I drove to Nashville after my Unisaw, talked to the seller several times from my car on the drive up from Birmingham, and still had another wannabe buyer show up while I was loading the saw.

[Rich Engelhardt]

- Go to HF and buy something.
- Use it - abuse it even - very hard.
- When you're done with it, toss it aside and let it collect as much rust and dust as possible.
- When a suitable amount of time has passed, (you'll know exactly when that is because your spouse will deliver the "Either that thing goes or I do" ultimatum....) drag it's rusty/dusty carcass out and take a couple of low quality pictures of it with your cell phone.

now comes the good part....

- Find a similar name brand item on Amazon and jot down the suggested list price.
- list your HF item and price it 5% off the suggested list price of the name brand item and list it as *like new* or *slightly used*.
- If you're too lazy to snap a pic with your cell phone, then go to HF's site and copy/paste the picture of the item you're selling - - also -ignore the sale price listed at the HF site since that's not what you paid for it.


Method 2...
- Wait until you need something.
- Go out and buy it and pay full price for it.
- When you're done with it and have determined that you paid too much for it, list it on CL for 5% off.
- Ignore the fact that your item is still priced 15% above what a new one sells for at the borg or Amazon.

Method 3...
- Is it over a year old?
- That makes it a classic.
- Mark the price up accordingly on your valuable antique or collectable.

Method 4...
- Upgrade your present item, which was well cared for but used a lot.
- Clean all the dust off it - since you cared for it a lot when you used it, there isn't any rust and the dust is minimal.
- Price both used examples of what you have and similar name brand items. Also look at the prices on similar low quality items, since you understand that you're in the bargin buyers realm when you sell on CL.
- List the item at what you determine to be a fair price, but, keep in mind that whatever that price is it's going to be negotiable to some extent.

- Get ready for a flood of scams that you have to sort through, and the parade of people offering to take it off your hands and haul it away if you pay them a few bucks to do it.....



P.S. Can you tell I consider CL to be on the same level as "Reality TV"? ;)