Going once, going twice

I made my first Craigslist sale tonight! Where has this site been my whole life?

On Sunday afternoon, my Eye Candy and I cleaned out our storage locker in the basement. We had become that couple in our condo building - the ones with the stuff stuffed into the storage locker so high that you couldn't open the door or see into it. But after only 90 minutes of shuffling about, we had taken everything out of the unit, sorted what we still needed (well, not all of the items are needed by both of us as my camping/hunting days are non-existent), and piled up items for donation. But then I decided to see what "stuff" I could resell on Craigslist.

Within an hour of my posts going up my inbox was full and tonight, my first transaction occurred. Just as planned, a woman arrived at 6:30 pm sharp to pick up the beige umbrella that came with our patio set but was never used (having replaced it with a fun blue one). She paid me $15 for it. Score! I also have appointments set for this weekend to sell a few other miscellaneous items so my fingers are crossed that the transactions all go through. As for the cash, I'm putting it into our couple Mad Money envelope that we can use together on a rainy day.

Here are some of my suggestions for a successful (and safe) posting on Craigslist:

1. Include pictures no matter how wonderful your adjectives are.
2. Measure! Include dimensions. It will avoid pointless back & forth emails.
3. Date! State when you got the item and it's current state (brand new, gently used, clunker)
4. Explain why you are getting rid of the item. I find this helps to give credibility to the current quality of the piece.
5. State "pick-up only". You don't need the hassle of driving around town.
6. Don't leave your phone number on the posting. You don't need creepies calling you in the middle of the night to ask if you're fridge is running.
7. Correspond by e-mail. If the person seems strange via e-mail, stop correspondence. It may be judgmental, but if I get the heebie-jeebies just e-mailing you, then I really don't want you to know where I live.
8. Arrange a time for pick-up that has daylight involved. 6:30 pm was the perfect time for my transaction as 2 of my neighbours were in the condo foyer picking up their mail. (They also asked if my Eye Candy knew that I was selling what appeared to be his items....)
9. Be ready with the item and have cash ready in case you need to give them change for a $20, $50, etc depending on your sale price. If it turns out that the purchaser is a little off their rockers even though they were normal via email, you'll want them out of your space immediately.
10. By that token, don't invite the purchaser into you home under any circumstances. Have the item ready on your porch so you simply have to open the door and hand it to them. If it is too heavy to carry yourself, arrange for pick-up on Saturday morning when your beefy boyfriend or cute handyman neighbour or sporty girlfriends are available to help you.  

*Rosie*