How to Sell on Craigslist

Unless you’ve been under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of Craigslist. Craigslist is a large classified website. You can sell your stuff on their site. If someone is interested, they’ll email you. You don’t have to worry about doing an auction. Next, you agree on a price, find a place to meet, and exchange the item. With Craigslist, nothing is shipped. This is a great site to sell things on.

In this post, I’ll review how to sell on Craigslist. If you’re not using that platform, you should start today. It’s a great place to make extra money. Let’s start with a few reasons you should be on there.

Free

Craigslist is a free online marketplace. With many online platforms, you have to pay some listing fee or final value fee. With Craigslist being free, that’s a big deal. It allows you to make more money.

No Limit

As far as I know, there’s no limit on how many items you can list there. I currently have 24 items listed. At one point, I had over 40. I will say that when it comes to crossposting, I don’t list every item on every site. I only list certain things. I have over 240 things in my eBay store. It would take me a few days to post them on Craigslist. Also, when you start selling, you know that some items only sell on some platforms. What sells on eBay may not always sell on Craigslist. You’ll better understand what to sell on each platform as you sell more items.

You can sell collectibles, used items, unwanted items, gadgets, clothes, and more.

Large Items

Another thing I like about selling on Craigslist is that it’s arguably the best platform to sell large items. Since you meet with your potential buyer in person, there are no shipping fees to worry about. When it comes to large items, that is huge. Some of the larger items I’ve sold on Craigslist are a car, a mini-refrigerator, and a set of drinking glasses. For me, Craigslist is my number one choice when it comes to selling bigger items.

Traffic

Craigslist gets a lot of traffic. Everyone isn’t on Craigslist to buy things, but many people are. Posting some of your items on the site gives them a chance to be seen by more potential buyers. That eventually will mean more money.

Here are other things to know if you are wondering how to sell on Craigslist.

When someone is interested in an item online, they will contact you. The default setting is email. In your listing, you can update the contact info and let people know if it’s ok for you to call or text you. I initially communicated back and forth via email. Once I know the buyer is serious, I send them my number. I don’t give out my number earlier because I don’t want strangers playing on my phone.

If you can, accept cash for your transactions. I receive cash for about 95% of my transactions. For the others, I’ve been paid via PayPal or Cash App. As we become more cashless as a society, I’ll probably get more PayPal and Cash App transactions. If someone offers to pay with a money order or cashier’s check, decline the transaction. That’s one of the oldest scams in the book. Unfortunately, money orders and cashier checks can be counterfeited pretty easily. For the average person, it may be hard to tell if the check is real or fake. Before you get scammed, inform your potential buyer that you don’t accept money orders. I’d only accept a cashier’s check if I go to the bank with the buyer and see the transaction happen with my own eyes.

Next, I’m going to show you how to list an item.

The first thing that you need to do is create an account. It’s free and takes less than five minutes to do so.

Once your account is made, go to create a posting.

Choose the location that fits. That means choosing the nearest city to you.

The next page will ask you what type of posting you’re doing. You’ll click on the one that says for sale by owner.

You’ll then see a line that says, please choose a category. There are several to choose from. In a lot of cases, I select “general for sale.”

You add the title, price, zip code, and description on the next page. Here’s an example of a listing that I’ve done. I copied everything from the eBay listing.

You also have the chance to update the contact and location info. I leave both of those sections blank.

The next page shows you the zip code area.

Now it’s time to add photos. With each listing on Craigslist, you can add up to 24 images. Make sure they are nice and clear.

Now it’s time to review the listing. If everything looks good (spelling, grammar), publish it. Once the item is live, people will have the chance to contact you and buy it.

Be Honest

When you’re selling on Craigslist, be honest. If it’s old or has something wrong with it, include that info in the listing. If someone wants your item, they’ll still buy it.

Meet in a Safe Place

When you are meeting with someone, always choose a safe location. I typically meet people in store parking lots or police store locations. I know that some people allow buyers to come to their homes to pick up items, especially if they are large. If you decide to do this, make sure someone is home with you. You always want to be safe when you’re selling on Craigslist.

Trust Your Gut

Finally, trust your gut. If you’re communicating with a potential buyer and something seems off, stop communicating. There are scammers and people that are up to no good out there. If your gut is telling you to ignore a buyer’s message, do it,

As you can see, it’s not that hard if you want to sell on Craigslist. Follow the above steps, and you can have your first item live quickly.

Do you sell on Craigslist?

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