Over the weekend I purchased some patio furniture from Craigslist. It was a nice 7-piece set that sells in the stores for over 1k (I paid 1/4 of that). I found a couple that was moving because of a job, and they were getting rid of a lot of their stuff – patio furniture included (no pool where they were going I guess). The set was not even a year old and is in perfect condition. This is one of the many reasons I love Craigslist, but at the same time while looking through ALL of the ads I was also reminded me of reasons why I hate it sometimes. This experience is the reasons for this post – I want to teach you how to never sell anything on Craigslist. To do that, I will give some specific examples of what not to do. Hopefully, we can get a little reverse psychology going here and by learning what not to do on Craigslist you will actually pick up on everything you NEED to do to get your products to sell.
The reason I headed over to Craigslist in the first place:
My wife and I were looking at patio furniture from Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Pool Stores, Outdoor furniture stores etc. and the average price of anything we liked was starting at $1800.00. In am not going to spend that kind of money for furniture that is going to be sitting in the Arizona sun.
Here we go:
How to never sell on Craigslist method #1: Don’t include any pictures of the products you are selling. Not including any photos of your products is going to be quickest way to get me to move on. If you are looking for patio furniture and come across an ad like this (see picture below) are you gonna call them, or keep moving on? I promise you I will move on everytime, especially when they are asking 2k for patio furniture without even sharing pictures.
How to never sell on Craigslist method #2: If you look at the above screenshot you will see they offered pictures upon request. WTF? I have to request pictures??? I am lazy and don’t want another step to see if your patio furniture is what I am looking for. Making me request for pictures? HUGE FAIL idiots. I will move right onto the next one with pictures thank you very much! Check out the screen shot below and you wil see on the main listings page how to never get me to look at your listing – it says right on it if there is a picture or not “pic”. I always skip the ones that don’t include pictures. One arrow is pointing at at listing with pictures, and one is listed without. Again, a great way to keep people moving right on by is to not include pictures.
How to never sell on Craigslist method #3: List your products in the wrong category. If you check out the picture below you will see a listing for a 22″ LCD Monitor listed with patio furniture. Hello? Need I say more – stupid spammers. It’s not even related.
How to never sell on Craigslist method #4: This one is a personal pet peeve of mine. If you do double or triple listings in a row of your products – I will always skip because its just flat out annoying (besides spamming)
How to never sell on Craigslist method #5: This is another pet peeve – if you ARE going to include images, make sure you are not including images that look like they were taken from my kids play digital camera. This is a huge fail and you still can’t even get a good idea what the furniture looks like!
Finally
There are other methods that annoy me such as crappy descriptions that look like they were written from someone who you would noramally talk to in another country to get your computer fixed. ( I will always move on). I also hate when a company is listing items and they TRY to make it look like a personal listing until you get to the actual posting (again, moving on). These are just a few of many of the obvious things that will never get your products sold on Craigslist. if you can figure out what I am getting at with this post, you will understand what you need to do to sell your products faster and easier on Craigslist. Do you guys have any other methods that annoy you? If so, feel free to let us all know about them so we can make Craigslist a much better place for buying and selling.
Thanks for article Mat, you hit the nail on the head. We need more “what NOT to do” articles about Craigslist.
Best Regards,
Richard
http://allofcraigs.com
Just before I got married I had a contract to an apartment that I needed to get rid of. So I went to Craigslist, put up some pictures, and wrote a decent ad. I was fairly comprehensive about what was in the apartment, how the neighbors were, and any potential problems.
I had 15 phone calls that day!
My brother is now in the same place doing the same thing; however, he listed it on Craigslist without pictures and much detail. As you can probably imagine, it still hasn’t sold.
What you say is true! 🙂
Trevor @ Financial Nuts last blog post..The Wealth Of Nations & Division Of Labor: What Adam Smith Can Teach Us About Our Career
“Making me request for pictures? HUGE FAIL idiots.” Lol dude this crap is so true, I actually check the mark on the top of the search that is to only display listings with pictures cause I don’t even want to see them if they don’t have a pic. Also definitely hate it when the pictures are crappy that is a huge fail or when they put a picture they copied and pasted off some website of the product when it was brand new. Take your freakin digital camera (i know you have one everyone does, or freakin borrow one) and post a quality pic, of your product, and post it with your listing – it takes two seconds!
@Trevor @ Financial Nut
Just goes to show you that my rant is valid! Thanks for commenting!
@Vinyl Fencing
I could not have said it better myself. I think it all just comes down to people being lazy..
Great post on what not to do! I definitely share this with clients who are looking to make things happen on CL.
Thanks Mat!
Nate Mollers last blog post..3 Must-Follows if Youre a True Online Marketer
@Nate Moller
Thanks Nate – I know you know the power of CL if its worked right!
I’m glad someone put down on paper what I’ve been so annoyed at for a while now. I also utilize Craigslist, and I am always questionable and alert to those bad deals out there. Not only can you get taken advantage of financial, you can also get hurt. Thanks for the post, very good advice!!
Kaila | @cliquekailas last blog post..cliquekaila: Plz Vote [digg] http://is.gd/snKh and comment (?) 😀
@Kaila | @cliquekaila
Glad I could help! hehe – thanks for coming by and commenting!
There should always be some sort of strategy to selling anything online. Craigslist is no exception.
Nick Stamouliss last blog post..Is There A Minimum Amount Of Content That Should Appear On Your Web Page?
@Nick Stamoulis
I could not agree more! Thanks for dropping by and commenting here!
Great post, it’s too funny how some things should seem and be so obvious, but they are often times so overlooked. LOL
Good post, Mat.
It looks very useful and I believe many of my readers will be interested in it. Do you mind if I put a link to your article on my blog http://craiglook.wordpress.com ?
Great post! I am on craigslist all the time looking for better deals on all kinds of items (recently bought a truck and a laptop) and if people would read this post, or even spend some time searching for something, life on craigslist would improve so much!
Thanks,
Keith
.-= Aluminum Fence Products´s last blog ..Expert Home Improvement Advice =-.
The things you listed here are a wise thing to do on any website, not only on Craiglist. I sell lots of stuff online and I always put a good description, good quality pictures and good reviews 😀 Usually I sell all the things in a few days.
Agreed!! Well said. NO pic, No click. 🙂
Yea I agree. If i dont see a picture on next to the link, 90% of the time I’m not going to even click it. Im looking for something I can visualize. Great post
One of my favorites is: Be very vague in your description. And I am not talking about the tile, I am talking about the actual listing. Such as “Gas Stove; works good.” Really? Are you that lazy? Is it a GE, Fridgedaire, Whirlpool . . . what model, any more info at all??
I actually like ads with no pictures or bad pictures and even worse descriptions. it is all about patience with idiots. Nobody gets in your way and buys any possible deal.
May I add sellers that don’t disclose the price up front or list it at $1 to get attention? I skip them every time.