# I will never try to sell anything on Craigslist again **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2020, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779 "2020-08-22T22:22:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/21 "2020-08-24T12:39:03Z")
We sell items on Craigslist and FB Marketplace, a few a week right now as we’re purging and rearranging the basement. The key for us is speed and efficiency; we price the items slightly below market value and don’t haggle. Yes, there are scammers and no-shows, but for the most part we’ve gotten what we’ve asked for. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/22 "2020-08-24T14:33:22Z")
I usually find new tenants on Craigslist, but both tenants I found this summer (the first one didn’t work out) I found through Zillow. This last time almost everybody who contacted me came from Zillow, and just one from Craigslist. Zillow doesn’t make for better prospects, as every contact starts with “is it still available?” I had no-shows and got ghosted, but that’s why I schedule a bunch of walk-throughs at the same time. The last thing I sold on Craigslist was a car a few years ago. I asked $3200, a guy and his kid came to look at it, they drove it around a bit, and offered me $3000, which I accepted. To me, offering $3000 on a $3200 used car seems perfectly reasonable and business like. “I like the car, will you take $3000?” Except they were very embarrassed by negotiating, “So, you see, uhm, we like the car, but my kid has only saved so much money, and it’s a bit less than what you’re asking, and uhh…” When I got the emails asking if I’d take $2000 for the car, I just replied to get back in three weeks, because maybe I would if it hadn’t sold yet. Of course nobody ever gets back. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/23 "2020-08-24T14:56:42Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > The last thing I sold on Craigslist was a car a few years ago. I asked $3200, a guy and his kid came to look at it, they drove it around a bit, and offered me $3000, which I accepted. To me, offering $3000 on a $3200 used car seems perfectly reasonable and business like. “I like the car, will you take $3000?” Except they were very embarrassed by negotiating, “So, you see, uhm, we like the car, but my kid has only saved so much money, and it’s a bit less than what you’re asking, and uhh…” While I don’t like the haggling thing. I think it’s stupid to price stuff higher because the seller will ask for a lower price (and it goes both ways, buyers ask for a lower price on the assumption that it’s priced too high on purpose), but it is part of the game. Offering $3000 on a $3200 car, I don’t have a problem with. It’s the people that offer you $1200 on a $3200 car and if they’re really being jerks, give you some stupid reason for it too (I could get a way better car for $3200 or no way that’s worth $3200 etc). That’s why I don’t even respond to them. If someone offered me $3000 in one of the initial emails, my response would probably be something along the lines of “I have someone coming to take a look at it on [two or three days out], you can have it for $3000, if you can pick it up, cash in hand, by tomorrow afternoon”. Granted, this doesn’t work if you’re in a hurry in case they call your bluff, but sometimes the sense of urgency will keep them from low balling you further. Of course, if they turn you down, you can save face by saying “No big deal, I’ll shoot you an email if the other person doesn’t take it”. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/24 "2020-08-24T15:13:19Z")
Some people don’t understand that Craig’s List is a way to get people to pay you to haul away your trash. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/25 "2020-08-24T15:45:28Z")
You can even put everything on your curb and post a picture of it to craigslist saying "All free stuff, take what you’d like, located on the 1200 block of East Jackson St\*. I’ll remove this post when everything is gone, first come first served. " But this is just if you want things gone in a hurry and for free. Suddenly it’s like Christmas in front of your house. The last time I did that, everything was gone in less than 24 hours. I even had to, twice, make new “FREE” signs because they were taking it too. \*The trick is not to give your actual address, just get them close enough to find it. Otherwise they’ll get there and ring your doorbell to ask you where everything is. If it’s gone, let them keep driving until they give up. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/26 "2020-08-24T15:54:16Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You can even put everything on your curb and post a picture of it to craigslist saying "All free stuff, take what you’d like, located on the 1200 block of East Jackson St\*. I’ll remove this post when everything is gone, first come first served. " My brother had some materials left over after a DIY house renovation and put them on the curb with a _Free_ sign. They were untouched after two days. I told him to take them in for a week, then back out with a sign _For sale - $50_ They were gone the next morning. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/27 "2020-08-24T16:03:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You can even put everything on your curb and post a picture of it to craigslist saying "All free stuff, take what you’d like, located on the 1200 block of East Jackson St\*. I’ll remove this post when everything is gone, first come first served. " There are Facebook groups called **Everything free in _Your Town name here_** where people constantly give away stuff. We do that with the stuff that it’s not worth our time collecting money for. Porch Pick Up is the easiest, but it’s sometime annoying with no shows. That seems to be more of an issue with free stuff for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/28 "2020-08-24T16:20:12Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > There are Facebook groups called **Everything free in _Your Town name here_** where people constantly give away stuff. We do that with the stuff that it’s not worth our time collecting money for. Porch Pick Up is the easiest, but it’s sometime annoying with no shows. That seems to be more of an issue with free stuff for some reason. CL has it’s free section as well. I’m sure this depends very much on your location, but at least where I am, I can put a pile of stuff out on the curb and, whether it’s in great condition or actual garbage, people will take it. I see scrappers trolling the neighborhood on a regular basis. I’m still bitter over freecycle. I couldn’t believe all the hoops I had to jump through and people I had to explain myself to just so I could join their stupid group and give away a TV (good TV too, 50" plasma, working). What a monumental waste of time and energy they were. It’s a lot nicer now with CL or FB. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/29 "2020-08-24T16:27:57Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I told him to take them in for a week, then back out with a sign _For sale - $50_ They were gone the next morning. Stolen or bought? Years ago we had something or another at our store we needed to get rid of. My grandfather said we should put a for sale sign on it and watch it get stolen within a day or two. My dad (family business) was worried that if someone burned it (whatever it was, was wood) and got sick, it could come back to haunt us, even if they did steal it. One of the nice things about having a family business, is that I have access to larger vehicles and a dumpster. If I just need things gone, I can take them to work and toss them in the dumpster. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/30 "2020-08-24T16:41:31Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Am I the only one shocked by the $1k cost of moving the stuff? Obviously I haven’t looked into it, but I’d expect something more like $100 for a day of truck rental, $200 for the time of 2 guys to spend a day doing the job, $100 for gas. Have you got more than one quote? That’s not nearly enough. We recently moved a bit more than twice the distance from NJ to VA and we priced the partial-DIY option (we rent the truck and hire people on either end to load/unload) at around $2800-3000. Gas alone would be closer to $200 (those trucks don’t go very far on a gallon). You need to hire 4 guys (2 on each end), and an absolute minimum for hiring professionals to do that kind of thing is usually $200-300 (our quotes were more like $500 on each end, but we have more stuff than the OP). You likely need to rent the truck for more than one day, and those rental trucks have a _per mile_ charge, which is usually in excess of $0.50/mile. $1000 sounds about right to me. The most important trick to selling things on craigslist is to never schedule a pickup/purchase at a time when it affects you. Just schedule people to show up when you’re going to be around doing whatever anyway. If they don’t show up, who cares. You weren’t put out at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/31 "2020-08-24T16:51:34Z")
I was thinking VA and NJ might be close enough for someone in NJ to just pick up the job. The distance is ~300 miles depending on exactly where in each state. I was thinking 2 guys arrive in the truck at 8am to load up, figure 1 hour for that, arrive at destination at 2pm, 1 hour to unload, they could be back in NJ by 8pm. $100 for 12 hours of unskilled labour is maybe a little on the low side, but not by much surely. I guess the fuel/truck side is much higher than my estimate though, maybe $1 per mile is fairer. That would total around $800. Or does the US tend not to have those kind of “man with van” small businesses? ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/32 "2020-08-24T17:01:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Some people don’t understand that Craig’s List is a way to get people to pay you to haul away your trash. So much yes. This was my favorite part about ebay, too. You mean somebody will give me money to put my trash in a box and send it across the country? Sign me up. My best ever (I think I broke even after shipping and fees) was selling a Scooby Doo shower curtain for $25 or something. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/33 "2020-08-24T17:14:02Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > $100 for 12 hours of unskilled labour is maybe a little on the low side, but not by much surely. That’s not even minimum wage in NJ. Plus, after the first 8 hours, you gotta pay time and a half, and after 12, 2x. And I don’t know if NJ has any payroll taxes, but just the federal ones are 7.65%. And they get a paid lunch break and (probably for a 12+ hour day) a paid dinner break. So assuming that they really can do this in 12 hours of work and they’re being paid the legal minimum, their cost to their employer is (8x10+4x15+1x20)x1.0765 = $172 each. But of course that’s not what _you_ pay. Because you have to pay for overhead and profit. And insurance in case they get hurt or break your stuff. I think your timetable is a little unrealistic too. You have them traveling the whole distance at an average of 60mph which is very unlikely happen. Pretty hard to drive all that way without hitting rush hour somewhere. I think each direction is more likely to take 6 or 7 hours, and it probably takes more than an hour to load and unload if they do it in a way that everything won’t be damaged after 300 miles of clunking down the freeway. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/34 "2020-08-24T17:34:17Z")
Fair comments, all - thanks. It’s just a bit too far to realistically do in a day. But I was thinking of someone self-employed doing the job rather than through a larger company, which reduces the overheads somewhat. Can certainly see where the $1,000 comes from though. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/35 "2020-08-24T17:52:58Z")
Whenever I sell something larger than a loaf of bread on Craigslist, I list the dimensions and more often than not say “Bring a van or truck and a friend to help you load it!” Things you learn after someone shows up hoping to stuff an upright freezer into a Prius… ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/36 "2020-08-24T18:05:16Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You can even put everything on your curb and post a picture of it to craigslist saying "All free stuff, take what you’d like, located on the 1200 block of East Jackson St\*. I’ll remove this post when everything is gone, first come first served. " This is one of my favorite features of my current location: we live on a busy street, so whenever we have something to get rid of, we set it at the curb and it disappears within a few hours. Very efficient. And if it’s junk, it might take a day longer, but junk men prowling in pickup trucks will eventually get to it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/37 "2020-08-24T18:26:06Z")
My city has bulk trash pickup once per week where you can put anything from TVs to dead fridges to old mattresses to furniture to uprooted trees out at the curb and tomorrow morning it just disappears into a big dump truck using a giant claw. Which neighborhoods are picked up which days of the week is well known. Every evening scrappers patrol the relevant neighborhoods and snag probably half the bulk. Which makes the city happy since they’re paying to landfill whatever’s left. Win-win solution, at least for stuff with negligible resale value. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/38 "2020-08-24T20:01:06Z")
Or they ask me if I think it will fit in a Nissan Rogue. How am I supposed to know, it’s not my car. But I looked them up, and no, a 5 ft long TV stand will not fit. At least she asked I finally was able to give away an air conditioner today. 2 other people scheduled to come by but never showed. When the guy came today I almost paid him. I don’t have the option of putting stuff on the curb. I could put it by the trash bins behind the apartment, people do that all the time. I actually got a pretty nice side table there. But I can’t do it myself. On moving day I have hired a guy from Task Rabbit - great place to find all kinds of labor - and we could do it then. But I want as much as possible done before what is aleady going to be a long day. Loading, driving 7.5 hours with a cat, and then unloading. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/39 "2020-08-24T20:12:55Z")
We’ve got lots and lots of students here, just outside of Boston. The end of the months of July and August are local Christmas 2.0 around here. There’s so much stuff on the sidewalks you can outfit a house within a few blocks. Most of the stuff is crap but we’ve scored some major finds. My best find was a high end camera tripod unopened in the original packaging. The **Everything Free** FB groups let you direct your stuff to someone potentially more worthy than a random person off the street who will resell anything good on eBay. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779/40 "2020-08-24T20:21:56Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > Or they ask me if I think it will fit in a Nissan Rogue. How am I supposed to know, it’s not my car. But I looked them up, and no, a 5 ft long TV stand will not fit. At least she asked My sister sells a lot of stuff on FB marketplace. A few years back she had dresser or something along those lines that had some considerable weight to it. She made it very clear that she would not be able to help you move it and that you will need to bring someone to help you. (My sister is a hundred pounds soaking wet and my mom, who she lives with, had just had surgery). The guy shows up and immediately asks for help moving it. Everyone in that situation was really lucky that I happened to pull up right as that whole shitshow got started. I could help him move the dresser and she didn’t have to tell him to take a hike (which she wouldn’t have had the nerve to do anyway). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-will-never-try-to-sell-anything-on-craigslist-again/918779.md?page=3)