Craigslist sucks!

The BBQ Pit
1

I wanted to sell a small pair of speakers, and I figured trying Craigslist would mean I didn’t have to ship them. I put an ad out, and relisted it multiple times. A number of people contacted me but ended up backing out, or offering 50% or less of what I wanted. Some people wanted to come over to my house and listen to my speakers just to figure out if they wanted them. I said yes, just with a radio in the foyer, and nobody came. After months, I got a buyer. I pulled out once because of an emergency, but then we did it. The guy shows up, and then he asks for a 20% discount when it was implied that he was paying my asksing price. I’m so disgusted I just do it to get it over with.

With Ebay I would’ve gotten more money and closed much more quickly. Shipping would be easier han fretting about what a bunch of strangers want to do in my house. I’m sure Craigslist is good for something, but apparently not for things that can be reasonably sold on Ebay.

2

Ya know, I can buy a small pair of speakers at Walmart for $10.
Just sayin’.

3

Not these. These were sort of audiophile speakers, but a decade old. I bought them on Ebay for $150, I asked for $125 (down from $150) and got $100. The customer printed out some where they sold for $100 but those probably were not in like-new condition.

Not to mention, earlier I turned down people who were offering $100, only to have this other person show up and only offer $100. Ultimately I spent really inordinate amounts of time worrying about small amounts of money when Ebay would have gotten me a good price in a week with one little trip to ship them.

4

I’ve never had any luck with craigslist. I was looking for a table (for a sewing machine) and responded to at least a dozen postings (same-day ones, not old ones) and I was told every time that someone else responded first. Then, I tried to list a computer monitor for free. I had a few people say they wanted it then never show up. I give up. People are stoopid.

5

I don’t know, I like Craigslist. I put up a housemate-wanted ad, and around 50 European supermodels expressed interest in living with me. Although, for some reason, they all claimed that they were visiting Africa at the time…and sometimes the name in the “From” column would be different from the name they’d use to introduce themselves in the body of the message…and sometimes it’d be a man’s name (usually a weird one like “James Bobby” with a nicknamey-sounding name as the surname) even though it would be a woman’s name in the message…and none of them could spell properly…

but whatever, they were all single, and pussy is pussy.

6

I’ve sold a few items on Craigslist (spare computer parts, etc), but anything expensive you try to sell will bring out the lowballers. I could probably make several hundred dollars a week, if I had the up front money, travelling around Florida and buying electronics and computers from people who list on Clist for a fraction of what they are worth.

What I’ve bought on Craigslist:
A pair of Klipsch KLF30 speakers in their original boxes and basically brand new for $400. I could have resold them immediately to a Klipsch collector for $1200 on the Klipsch website, but instead decided to keep them and build a home theater from that line of speakers.

A couple of months later, someone listed an Adcom amplifier and tuner for $400.00. The amp would normally sell for 500 or so on Ebay, and the tuner for 150, so I went to check them out. The amp was a 555MKII, and the tuner was never opened(a GTP 400). He basically wanted 300 for the amp and 100 for the tuner. One of the amps channels didnt work however, which he didnt know beforehand. I offered $150 for both, since the amp could have needed a couple hundred bucks in repairs. All it needed was a $2 fuse, and I sold the tuner to a collector for over $200

This past summer, I finally more Klipsch legacy line speakers…a seller in Tampa had a pair of KLF20s (worth around 800-1000 on ebay), a KLF C7 ($350), a pair of SB3s ($150), a B&WASW1000 sub ($250), and a Yamaha 2095 receiver (250) that he was willing to sell for $1000. I drove over, bought it all, sold the receiver and sub which I didnt need for $500.

When it was all said and done, I have a Klipsch Legacy home theater which cost me under $1000 and has an Adcom 200x2 amp. I use the SB3s as DJ monitors. I only need to find an Adcom 200x3 amp and my setup will be complete.

I also found a pair of Technics 1200M3 turntables, a Pioneer mixer, 2 sets of carts/needles, and 100 records for $500 this summer. I was offered $1000 for that setup but I kept it as my new hobby. I see stuff all the time on there that I just don’t have the spare cash or time to go get.

7

Craigslist rocks. My friend was moving out so we put a bunch of stuff on the free section. We ended up not even having to carry the heavy stuff to the curb because people who wanted it came up and carried it down the 5 floor walkup themselves.

8

So demand what you paid for your ad back. :rolleyes:

9

It’s a fantastic site when you’re buying, and a so-so site when you’re selling.

Actually, if I’m remembering correctly, we’ve only sold one item on there. We listed our spare microwave (a very nice model) for $50 – no bites. A while later we tried it again for $40, and got a call. A woman agreed to take it at that price, but when she got to our home, she asked us to drop the price $5. Because, she rationalized, she had to drive a long way to get here.

Ummm, and that’s my problem how, exactly? However, by that time I just wanted to get the damn thing out of my house, so yeah, fine, $35.

She then asked if we were selling anything else. Sitting nearby was a small end table that I had picked up at a yard sale a few days earlier for five bucks. My plan was to refinish it, but I told her “Yeah, you can have that antique table for $50”. She talked me down to $40. Pleasure doing business with you, lady.

10

You say this as if it’s an unusual or unreasonable request. If I’m buying something used from a Craigslist or similar online classified ad, you’re damn right I’m going to want to see it work. Ebay and/or Paypal protects me if you try to sell me crap that doesn’t work; Craigslist does not.

11

Well, that’s the thing with craigslist - it’s more like a Turkish bazaar than a Best Buy. Prices aren’t firm, even if you say they are, because the buyer knows that the ultimate decisionmaker with regards to price is YOU. If I could deal directly with the price-setting guy at Best Buy, I’d try to get him to knock a few dollars off as well.

Anyways - I’ve had good luck selling through craigslist. First of all, you have to realize that many buyers are flaky. They’re looking at competing goods or getting cold feet or things come up - whatever. You’ll get emails from people you’ll never hear from again, you’ll set up meets that never happen. You have to realize that’s just part of doing business through craigslist.

From there, I can suggest a few possible approaches: The first is to advertise your stuff as “FIRM PRICE” - although, like I said, they’ll probably still haggle with you. The second is to price your item a little higher - and hope you get a buyer who will come “talk you down.” Finally, you can just be very clear in all your communications that “You’ve got TONS of people calling and emailing you about this item - but you just want it gone. Thus, the first person to show up and pay the asking price gets it. And you’re not going to take a lower price when these other buyers will pay the full price.” (Note: there don’t have to be actual other buyers).

Anyways - I’ve had good luck turning my clutter into money with craigslist, and I think you can succeed in selling on craigslist. You just have to realize it’s a whole different animal than ebay - much less streamlined, much less smooth.

Oh - and to the OP - for things like older, audiophile speakers? ebay will expose you to a much greater audience for those types of things. Anything that’s highly specialized? ebay. Anything that’s heavy as shit and you just want it gone? craigslist.

12

I never sold or bought goods on craigs but when I was dating I met lots of women that way. Although I ended up meeting the love of my life elsewhere, I love craigslist.

13

I told people I could use a radio by the door to show that they function, but that’s it. I got some emails that sounded like the people wanted to come over just to see if they wanted these model speakers in the first place. I’d have to have them set up right and invite a bunch of strangers into my living room for that.

14

I’m going to be selling my pickup this summer, and I’m just dreading it because I’m going to have to use Craigslist.

Not sure how I’m going to ship it to Nigeria…

15

Meh.

I love craigslist, me.

I unloaded tons of accreted crap before my last move - happy to be rid of it.

I know I could have gotten much more for my books if I had taken the time to e-bay them or whatnot, individually - but I was just happy to avoid moving them. Other stuff that I figured was practically valueless, I actually got some decent cash for.

But yeah, some real specimens come out of the woodwork. I listed a full component stereo system - amp, speakers, cassette (heh) deck, 5-disc CD changer (which skipped a bit but probably only needed the optics cleaned) for $15.

One guy called me about five times, at first suspicious: “Why is it so cheap?” I repeated all the explanation that was in the ad - that I was moving, that it was ten years old, that the CD player skipped and probably needed a bit of compressed air, and that I basically don’t want to move it.

He wants me to hold it for a week for him, and gets upset when I tell him that the point of the exercise is for me to get rid of the thing quickly.

Another guy came by twice to look at an ugly old '70s chair that I’d listed for free, with a long spiel about how he was collecting furniture to lput on a container to ship down to south america for poor people - alternating with “This is a really nice chair, it matches my couch.” Kept calling about the best time to come by, but never quite managed to get it into a vehicle, though. :dubious: A whole week, before someone else took it away.

But this is my favourite craigslist story.

(When the people I decided to give it to finally showed up, they were several hours late, we were in bed, and they were over-the-top freaks of the First Water. It was pefect.)

16

When my ex moved to Salt Lake City recently, she put an ad in Craigslist for a nanny; i.e., she wanted to hire someone to watch our kids. Within a day or two, she had four dozen e-mails (many of them virtually identical) from Nigerian scammers offering her exorbitant amounts of money to watch their (presumably fictional) kids, and how they “earnestly awaited” her “urgent reply.”

Good to know those assholes don’t read any better than they write. :rolleyes:

17

I’m a happy Craigslister. I sold my POS junker car in about two weeks. The money saved on advertising alone made it worth the wait!

18

I also like Craigs List. Although the only things I have ever used it for is to get rid of an old refrigerator and riding lawn mover in need of some repair I wanted out of my garage. The first two people that offered to buy each item showed up that day and carted them away. In reference to the lawn mower, I had to go out and could not wait for the buyer. I wrote a note to leave the agreed upon $50.00 in between the screen door and the front door and lo and behold, the money was there upon my return.

19

Then in the future try audiogon. They specialize in that sort of auction:

20

I’ve found Craigslist to be great, I’ve sold an ancient sofa for $50 and a nice bedframe and headboard for $200, both of which were my asking price and I was contacted in less than 24 hours of posting the ad.

On this end, I’ve had nothing but dead silence from the dating section of craigslist. I haven’t a single email in reply to anything I’ve sent out. Maybe I need to try and compose Shakespearian sonnets or something… :frowning: