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Any successful Craigslist sells?

Any successful Craigslist sells?
« on: June 16, 2013, 08:35:33 PM »
I live in a small town of about 27,000 people, that are near many small towns near as well with a fairly good amount of people. I've had absolutely no luck at all selling on Craigslist. I've tried to sell many electronic items, sporting goods and house wear items, and have had NO LUCK! A few months ago I tried to advertise my car, a 2008 Dodge Avenger that was mint condition but had no success even advertising that. I'm curious if anyone has had really good luck, or bad luck like me.

Offline MovieMan

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2013, 09:59:32 PM »
I live in a small town of about 27,000 people, that are near many small towns near as well with a fairly good amount of people.  I'm curious if anyone has had really good luck, or bad luck like me.

You may have answered your own question. Look at the total population you are addressing. Is it 50,000 or 150,000?

The more possible buyers the bettery your chances would be I think.  How long have you been trying to sell on clist?
If only for a few months or even 6 months to a year, you have to consider: time of year, employment in the area, the items you're selling, the prices you are selling at, etc, etc.

I have been selling on clist for 10 years and I can tell you that there are up and down times of the year and even of the decade!

Right now it is DOWN for me, though I have had two big ($300 plus) sales in the last two months but aside from that just a couple of $40 or so sales on and off for the last 4 months.

Offline Alias300

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2013, 10:46:17 AM »
I do the majority of my selling thru contacts, rest thru craigslist.
I'd say 75% of what I list sells.   Of that, 50% sells within 72hours. Rest can be up to a couple months.
I often have to hold/relist items. Designer Sunglasses don't sell we'll in November but hold till July and they will.  I have some brand new cross country skii's I'm not even going to try to list untill winter rolls around.  Timing is important in both making a sell and price.

(Might add car sales are the same.  People buy trucks and all-wheel-drive in colder months. Your Avenger might sell easier coming into summer)

On moviemans point, I'm lucky.  Within a 20 minute drive I have a population of about a million people.
Demographics include a multitude of some extremly rich areas. High employment. A major university.  High population of outdoorsy people, techy community, foodies....

How far off and how big is the closest big city to you?




Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2013, 01:06:37 PM »
Craigslist is really hit and miss for me. If something does not sell right away I usually drop it to a consignment store or take it to flea. Then again, just the other day I had a listing up for a 60" rear projector tv. I had been relisting for 3 weeks and didn't even have a price, I just said make an offer. I was expecting to get $20 if anything at my next garage sale because the days of selling non flat screens around here are long gone. 3 weeks of nothing then I got offered $100. Moral is, sometimes you just have to wait for the right person to see it.

Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2013, 01:10:55 PM »
Around here, Craigslist dies off completely between May-July. I live in Raliegh/Durham, 3 major colleges and about 40 smaller schools all letting out for summer means that the graduating college kids are giving away their stuff for free. Great for a craigslist picker who has storage until late August when the crowds come back in with new Freshmen, but bad for storage auctioners.

Outside of those 3 months, really more like 2.5 months, Craigslist is great!

Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2013, 02:38:12 AM »
I live in Washington DC. Many of the workers here have government jobs so I get Craigslist sells in 2 week cycles. One week will suck and one week I will sell everything posted in a matter of hours. We have a million people here and I may only get 4 to 10 calls on upgraded laptops and cell phones.

You live in a small town sales are going to be slow.

I have sold some things through Ebay Classifieds in the past. Try that and maybe Facebook Marketplace.

Also you can try having a Garage Sell.

If you have large lots of merchandise from storage you can call a local auctioneer that will sell, catalog and store your items. If it's more on the junky side of merchandise you can still use an auctioneer look through Bidopia to find a local auctioneer.

I hope that helps you a little.

Offline MovieMan

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2013, 07:06:02 AM »
No reply from the original poster in the weeks since he first posted. Guess he is busy taking calls on his cList items.

Anyway, you are welcome for the input you have received from people who have had a variety of experiences with cList.


Offline Alias300

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2013, 03:44:04 PM »
I haven't sold anything in two-ish weeks on CL.

I don't have much posted.  I'm in the buying cycle.  Spending a lot of time picking.
While I do pick and sell the same time on a limited bases I find it hard to find time to do both at the same time effectively.   Plus a lot of my items need work.  Spending a lot of time refurbishing.

Besides that, I also have some unique items.  Things like high end copper cookware.  Not just anyone wants or needs a $200 sauté pan.   Or the Air tools, but not ratchets and impact wrenches, easy sells.  Have metal crimpers and punch for patching in panels to weld.  Pretty limited market. Might have to ebay

I didn't even post anything this week.   With the 4th, family stuff, bbq's and people out of town.....why bother.

Offline rulesforrebels

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2013, 01:55:17 PM »
i had a successsful craigslist sell. girl responded to my ad and came to buy a flat screen tv. cool girl, very pretty, of course i tried to strike up a convo. she wound up sstaying for a beer and to smoke a  :-X, started joking about crazy people on craigslist, then convo turned to casual encounter section. wound up making a sale and getting a  :-X cant beat that. going to grab drinks with her this weekend again lol

Offline Travis

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2013, 05:47:12 PM »
I'm really glad you got to the point quickly. It was starting out like letter to Penthouse. For future reference, this is a family friendly site.  ;)

Offline UncleBuck

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2013, 09:24:44 PM »
It's nearly impossible to give away bars of gold on CL. People blow my mind.

Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2013, 07:10:34 AM »
about once a month I post an ad on CL  "I'll sell your stuff on Ebay / Craigslist".... basically it gets me consignments, they give product, I do listings, pay fees and the split is usually 50/50...3 weeks ago I get a call from an owner of a 400 room motel, he's renovated 300 of the rooms so far... the old furnishings are stashed floor to ceiling wall to wall in about 40 rooms... 20 CL listings ( beds,TV's,bureaus,mirrors,etc.) and 2 yard sales later  ... about 30 hours invested so far... I've got about 40% of the stuff gone, although the "split" aint 50/50 I'm making a killing...plus he's given me 2 empty rooms to place & sell my storage items out of... life is good.

Offline MovieMan

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #12 on: July 31, 2013, 08:54:03 AM »
It's nearly impossible to give away bars of gold on CL. People blow my mind.

Yep, sometimes cList is as dead as a doornail. Weeks can go by with no sale. Other times they come quickly.

Here's my accounting of Craigslist sales for July:




Offline MovieMan

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Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2013, 09:03:55 AM »
...I've got about 40% of the stuff gone, although the "split" aint 50/50 I'm making a killing...plus he's given me 2 empty rooms to place & sell my storage items out of... life is good.

Sounds like a winner !  More big stuff than I would want to handle, but can't argue with the "green" !  ;D


Re: Any successful Craigslist sells?
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2013, 05:44:33 PM »
Nice going, Movieman... $33.00 & a few hours time invested to score $480.00 that's terrific!... note to self "keep an eye out for respironic machine"  ;D


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