With the kind of lamp habit we've been nursing over here, craigslist is indispensable. It not only helps to feed the addiction but when we're ready to move on we can get it sold on craigslist too. That being said there are some do's and don't of how to put together a listing and some things that will help get your item sold more quickly:
Since we also put together the scavenger posts for Apartment Therapy and regularly cruise CL for our job with the interior designer there are some simple things you can do to make your listing better.
• Take a decent picture. You'd be surprised to see how many people will post an expensive item and then have the worst blurry cell phone photo you've ever seen. Daylight is best so if you can put the item outside (in the shade, not the direct sun) or have a nice light part of your apartment take the pictures there. Take a shot of the whole item and a detail shot of anything relevant.
• Name it correctly. When titling your listing, you want to be specific and clear. Please avoid using the term 'modern' if it isn't. If it's mid century write that. Please don't write 'great sofa!!!!!!!!!!!!' that doesn't tell the buyer anything and any amount of superfluous exclamation points will only make your listing seem more dubious.
• Keep the description short. No one cares to read the biography of your piece (maybe unless you're explaining the authenticity but even then, keep it simple, we're not on craigslist to read novels). 5 sentences max that explain the dimensions, the condition the item is in, the color maybe and how old it is. We make most decisions based on the picture, so don't spend too long on this.
• Use a nice large picture. When you put together the posting, craigslist offers to upload your photos for you. Don't be fooled, they will look crap and small. Instead use a free site like tinypic to upload your shots and have them resized to 640x480 pixels. They'll generate code for you to copy and paste into the body of your listing. This will look awesome.
• Add keywords. When people do searches craigslist scans the body of all the items posted. So if you're selling an eames fiberglass chair, you probably called it that in the title. But in the body you can add a list of key words like: 60's, mid century, shell chair, charles and ray eames, modernica (cause they make the reproductions), vintage, etc. Also if you're selling a bunch of stuff you can use the same keyword in each one. For example I could have LJ2009 be the keyword and let people know in the body of the posting. Then if they search that keyword, all of my listings will come up.
• Price it correctly: Craigslist is notorious for having inflated price points and most people are willing to negotiate a little. That being said, if you have an old pottery barn chair that was in 5 years ago and that your dog has been living on in the meantime, price it accordingly. If your mid century credenza is listed for $900 and there are other similar ones for $400 then you're not going to sell yours quickly.
What other tips are there for craigslist postings?
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Oh how I wish everyone followed these rules!
Always post a picture with the ad. I lose interest if there's no picture or the person selling the item requests that you e-mail for pictures. Is it really not worth the small bit of extra effort to include the pictures with the ad to start with?
Thank you!!! Some of the photos people post on there look like funhouse garbage dumps.
Absolutely. I can't agree enough about the picture. So many times, I search for a keyword like "china cabinet," and find a listing that says something like, "I have a china cabinet for sale for $100," but has no photo. I'm not going to drive 30 minutes on the off chance that it's not hideous - a simple picture could either convince me to buy, or convince me not to waste your time.
Watch your spelling. Offers for "dinning tables" and "wrot iron chairs" suggest that the seller is either careless or clueless, and makes anything else they write about the item slightly suspect.
I hate when people post something like, "perfect for a NYC apartment!" Please, how about you just measure it and let ME decide if it's perfect for my apartment?
I have a couple of things listed for sale right now and have tried so hard to follow these rules, but I am only getting responses from scammers... ("I am interested in yr item but am verry bisy so I will send my agent with a money order...") Sigh.
But I have had very good Craigslist experiences in the past, so I am staying positive. I hope people take these tips to heart.
Yes, please post a picture. A good one. Take all of your crap off the piece first so we can really see it. And include as much of the piece in the photo as possible, if not all of it. I can't tell you how many photos I've seen of one corner of a desk. There was even one listing where someone had covered up the desk with a sheet. How is that helpful? And what are you hiding?
The keyword thing is already overdone. I don't think we need to encourage more of it. Some people are putting in every mid century designer known to man, along with another 50 or so "key" words.
definitely post pictures- I'm not arranging to pick up furniture that I haven't seen. and I'm not emailing you to ask for a picture when I can just move onto the next listing that has a photo.
for furniture, PLEASE for the love of god provide measurements! I have a small space, I need to know if something will fit. I don't want to fall in love only to discover the table is the size of my bed and therefore not an appropriate choice.
delete your listing once your item is sold. if you don't delete it, then don't send hostile responses to people who ask if the item is available about how it sold days ago- we aren't mind readers!
yes to all of the above (save for the spelling comment - English is not everyone's first language, for one reason). I'd add: CL is NOT EBAY! no "best offer" situations.
Yes! Why do people feel the need to dictate where/how the item should be used? If it's a desk, leave it at that! Why say "great desk for student"? I don't get it.
This article should be requisite reading for all craigslist posters.
If you live in a major metropolitan area, please post your general neighborhood or location. Putting something like, say, "Los Angeles" or -- my favorite -- "near Los Angeles" does not tell me how far I'll have to drive to pick up your precious Billy bookcases.
Yes, please price it correctly, as opposed to "make offer." My offer won't seem nearly so insulting to you if I know what you are expecting in the first place (because I won't make one if I'm not looking to spend close to what you are looking to get).
Oh, i have one! Please post your picture right side up. Nobody wants to crane their neck to one side to see what the item looks like!
Dimensions are crucial!
Without that info, I don't I know that an item will fit in my space - so why should I bother making a trip to come see it?
How about keeping the rants about potential scammers to yourself? "I will ONLY REPLY to responses with PHONE NUMBERS due to the large NUMBER OF SCAMMERS!!!" If you want a phone number just ask for one. There's no reason to be all paranoid about it. Oh, and don't use all caps - besides being hard to read it makes you look like a loon.
I run a site for the Twin Cities that looks for Craiglist finds so I'm on there every day. While I love love love the madness of it all I really wish people would follow the tips you've posted. Nice job!
Yes for the love of all that is good please please put dimensions of what you are selling. And I couldn't agree with heatherette more, please put the neighborhood the item is located.
Also put in the right pictures.
Meaning - I've seen plenty of ads where it says table for sale, then the pic(s) are of a bed. Or a chair for sale, then it's a pic of a dog.
http://www.donkeehouse.com
kjb- agreed about the scammer notes.
Similarly, if people have expressed interest in your item in the past and flaked out on you, that's too bad and I understand your frustration. People can be jerks. Go rant to your friends and family about it all you like. But for the sake of your sale, try to keep the bitterness out of your listing. I once saw an angry listing from somebody who had just gotten stood up by a potential buyer and was threatening to throw his/her item in a landfill if nobody else claimed it because he/she was sick of being jerked around. I'm not going to buy something from someone who's clearly ticked off from the get-go. And there are other options besides the county dump, but that's beside the point.
I don't even bother looking at listings that don't provide a picture.
i also agree with people putting in too many keywords. if i'm looking for something specific, and you put that word in your listing, but it has nothing to do with what i'm searching for, you're wasting my time!
How about a post about how to respond to CL postings?! It's one thing to price an item accordingly, but when you're selling something for say, $100 and you get an inquiry asking if you'll take $20, GTFO! I hate those emails.
I sold a cloth Klippan sofa on Craigs for $325. What worked for me was lots of extras (I threw in two sets of pillows and the black cover), staged photos (not a pic of the couch on the lawn, but in a clean room with complementary items all around) and lots of info. I probably could have asked more, people kept calling for like a month, until finally I had to figure out how to delete the listing.
Wish selling a wedding dress was this easy.
Cool, I'm posting some stuff today, so this is helpful.
Great article!
What drives me crazy is when people ask for 90% of the original cost of their used IKEA furniture. IKEA is great for what it is, but it is not meant to last forever, so what makes people think it is worth so much used? Trying to recoup their labor maybe? :) I wonder if they actually sell that stuff.
It bothers me when every post is titled "Shabby Chic". Every item cannot be shabby chic. When I search for something on Craigslist, I filter out listings that do not have pictures. I am not going to buy something unless I see a decent picture of it. It would be helpful if people give their correct location so that I can arrange for picking up the item.
Here is another tip. When providing photos, please do no include a picture of you cat on the couch or a picture of your child sitting at a dining table for sale.
Although the poster may think the child or pet is cute, for most people it is a turn off.
Please just post pictures of the item and not a picture of the item and your whole family sitting around the dinner table.
tangential, but i wish the CL interface was more like ebay in which there would be a thumbnail picture next to each ad's description. would make searching things so much easier. the [pic] tag does help, but a thumbnail would be better.
... and the incessant posters of otherwise crap stuff... like these guys: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/fud/1333740262.html
essentially these are shady businesses using CL for free ads. i wish CL would police this better in the spam/overpost way.
No picture? No sale.
so true about misspelling of "wrought iron." "rod iron" and "rot iron" are my favs
mmwitzke - you beat me to it. i was going to say exactly that! i was searching for a queen size bed and this was a problem for me!
Well... I confess that I have thrown my border collie into photos now and again to give scale to the picture. (Ain't no way I'm putting myself in a picture for scale!) Measurements aren't the same as a visual cue for "sizing" a piece like a bureau, that could be tiny or gigantic.
I would love to write the "How to Respond to Craigslist Ads" thing, but honestly, I've had mostly good experiences when I've sold stuff. People sometimes say they'll set up a time and then don't... but in general, I don't get many flaky people.
The only bad experiences I've when I've been giving stuff away for free.
Scary example: I had bought a cute little vintage kitchen cabinet at a yard sale, intending to paint it, etc.. Never got around to it after a year or two, so I posted on CL that I'd give it to the first person who showed up at my door. (I think it was raining the day I was cleaning my basement, so I couldn't just put it out by the curb.)
This woman e-mailed me, saying, "My friend from Arlington is driving up to get that. Could you hold it for her?" Now, I live about 45 minutes north of there. I replied that I would give the cabinet to the first person who showed up. Turned out that a nice, local woman, showed up about 5 minutes after I posted the listing. She was delighted to get the piece.
An hour later, the Arlington woman showed up and came to the door. I explained that the cabinet had already been taken. The woman proceeded to YELL AT ME about how I hadn't made it clear that I was giving the cabinet to the first comer, and how she had driven for an hour. I apologized and said, "Well, it's already taken," and she kept yelling at me.
I don't know if she thought I could make it magically reappear, or if I just needed to be scolded loud and clear for giving something away for free to someone who needed it. I had to more or less shut the door in her face (and lock it out of fear).
Oy.
jayjay5 - my favorite offender of the pet/child in photo was someone who put up a photo of their sofa with a Great Dane lounging on it and then said in the description, "Pet free household."
I love Craigslist!
it drives me crazy when people keyword "mid-century" and the piece is the furthest thing from it. soooo annoying! do they think that they'll attract my attention and then by some stroke of luck, i'll be won over by its hideousness?
oooh, you know what else is really annoying? when people don't put a price at all! next!
I definitely agree with the suggestion someone else included in a comment to turn the pictures rightside up! Why the hell would you post your picture sideways? Every computer at least comes with a Paint program that will let you rotate a picture. You don't need to have expensive picture-editing software. Although if you haven't taken a well-lit photo of the item in an environment where it's not cluttered up by a million other things, turning it rightside up won't help you much.
And ditto on the dimensions. Why don't you think people need to know what size the item is? What good is your listing if you're not including that information? I've browsed CraigsList plenty but have never bought anything because most of the time there are no pictures of what I'm looking for or no dimensions. I'm considering selling some things on CraigsList soon and you can bet that when I do there will be well-lit, upright pictures and dimensions of everything I'm selling, plus good info on my location (the neighborhood).
Take the junk off the furniture before taking a picture of it.
A 20 yr old piece of furniture is not vintage.
It's chest of drawers....not chester drawers!
Anything that's used can technically be called vintage. I'm more annoyed when I see someone list a piece that was made fairly recently (past few decades) as an antique. And it's usually butt-ugly too.
i always see motel like furniture under mid-century modern, ug
redneckmodern -- for thumbnail picks there are some great sites that do just that for Craigslist. Check out www.mywisebunny.com (aka clhack.com), all states are listed and you can view thumbnails of all categories. I've experienced some flakiness with the site at times, but it's really amazing when it works so keep trying.
No photo
No price
No interest
And please...no one will want to sublet an apartment when the photos appear with unmade beds, toilet seats in the up position, and crooked mini-blinds. What are they thinking???
how about when people put $1 in the price field for something a piece they are trying to sell for hundreds! Come on!
1) photos (nice large size .... 600-800 pixels width)
2) price
3) measurements
4) exact color (photos can be deceiving)
5) show any defects on your pictures
6) subway stop (if in NYC)
And never say:
1) "my (our) loss is your gain"
Well, I doubt it!
2) "price non negotiable" or "price firm"
It makes you sound like a... you know
If there is no photo, I never call.
If I want a whopping $50 for that Billy bookcase, I always say "$70 or best offer." That way, people negotiate it down, to the price you wanted anyway. Works like a charm.
Set up a separate email for craigslist postings, if you don't want to reveal your real email address.
I just saved a little white square in paint that I upload with ads that I put coded images in, so if someone checks the pics only box, it still registers as having a picture.
@Albino_Mag - HATE when people do that. So now I have clicked on the ad and read the description but will still not buy it because (1) THERE IS NO PICTURE and (2) the poster is deceitful. (3) and my time has been wasted