How to: Sell Your Appliances on Craigslist in 3 Hours
When posting items for sale on Craiglist we think that a few things are key to a quick sale: price, pictures and contact information.
- Make sure you have bright, clear photos of your items. Craigslist limits you to 4-5 pictures so be sure to maximize that space. If you can take photos of two items together in order to use another slot for a close-up shot of your awesome cooktop, go for it.
- Include measurements of your items, this will save your buyers time and you multiple e-mails or phone calls to answer questions.
- List the manufacturer, model number and any special features of your items. Be honest about any flaws that your buyers should be aware of. You could even go one step further by recommending sites like this one, that offer replacement components your particular appliances. It wastes everyone’s time to have someone come to your home to check out the microwave and then find out the door is falling off.
- We ask for cash only when selling on Craigslist. We’ve never had a bad experience with bounced checks and don’t want one. Both buyers of our appliances also asked us to hold the items overnight while they found movers to pick them up – make sure to get a deposit for this. We asked for $50 cash from each buyer before holding on to the items for them. You don’t want to turn down other potential buyers for someone who isn’t serious.
- Scope out your competition and price your items to sell! Find out what it costs to purchase your item new, then how much others on Craigslist are selling similar items for. This will give you an idea of how to price yours to move quickly. Prepare for hagglers, almost any buyer is going to ask you to go a bit lower on your price just to see if you’ll do it. I know we always do!
- Timing helps. We posted our listing at the start of the weekend so potential buyers had plenty of time to come by and check them out and find friends to help them move them to their new homes.
- Include a phone number. Our phone rang seconds after placing our listing, it will save you tons of time from trying to play e-mail tag with a buyer.
- Finally, as soon as your items sell – delete the listing. This will end the phone calls and e-mails pronto.
