Thursday, May 8, 2014

Craigslist-ing

How are you?  Feeling neglected?  Well, I hope this feels like a virtual hug!  In an effort to pay off our debt, Zach and I have begun selling stuff.  Top of the list was our couch (don’t worry, we are getting Zach’s grandma’s couch).  Mama is having a garage sale next month, but we hear if you have big stuff you should use Craigslist.  Mostly, we didn’t want to move big stuff to Mama’s house.  We also listed Turner’s baby swing.  She hasn’t met the weight limit, but she’s a little too close to wiggling out of it for comfort.  (Note: We were always close to her when she was in it.  No need to worry that she goes unsupervised!)  She is also just a hair away from meeting the weight limit.  (Have you ever seen a swing set’s legs pull up when the person on it swings too high?  It was a little like that.)
Both pieces are in great shape.  We bought our couch just before we got married 2 ½ years ago, and we were OCD about keeping it clean.  We asked about half what we paid for it (it is used after all).  We made sure it was looking good, and snapped its portrait.  I cannot stress how important it is to post a picture of whatever you’re selling.  I don’t even look at listings without pictures.  For some reason, I instantly think something must be wrong with the item.  So, load up your listing!  Our couch was still advertised on the manufacturer’s website, so Zach just paraphrased their description.  We used our own photo, though. I hate when people post a picture from the store’s website.  I want to see what the actual thing I’m buying looks like!

The swing looks almost brand new and has a lot of features, so I posted a few pictures.  Even though it is still for sale in retail stores, I didn’t use the product description.  I just said a few points that I really liked.  Keep those short and sweet.  No one wants to read a book about your old stuff.  As for pricing, I found a similar model for sale, and based mine off that one.  The other one didn’t have all its parts and was a little more worn, so I went higher.  After all, it was purchased less than a year ago.  We just have a super-fast grower!  
Well, we got very few hits on either listing.  I chalk it up to two things: 1. we posted on Sunday (read: MISTAKE!)  I find people usually hit up Craigslist during the week, probably at work.  We should’ve posted Monday morning, I think.  2. We priced too high.  People are looking for cheap stuff on Craigslist.  I can tell you that we would have bought our couch in a heartbeat if we were on the other side and furnishing our place.  We tried to find a couch second hand before we were married, but no dice.  Next time we will try attaching a “willing to negotiate” disclaimer.
I promise this story has a happy ending.  At the time of this post, both are sold! How, you ask?  Enter Facebook and word-of-mouth.  Zach and I shared the couch post on Facebook, and we had a response about a minute later.  Boom! Sold! (We actually got a response to the Craigslist post on Wednesday night, but too bad, sucka!)  As for the swing, I told a coworker that has a new granddaughter, and sold!  The moral of the story:  reach as many people as possible when trying to sell.  You never know who needs what!

Up Next: Preparing for a garage sale…