How to Sell Effectively on Craigslist

Craigslist is a website that enables a very fluid local marketplace. There’s a demand for almost anything and therefore it’s a good place to sell almost anything that you want to get rid of. One of the key benefits to craigslist is that it is free to post a for sale ad. It is also free to upload one or more photos to help potential buyers understand what you are selling. This leads to the optimal strategy for selling on craigslist. Because there is no listing fee or transaction cost, you can employ a strategy where you post multiple times in order to get the best price. This strategy of course is best for people who have the time to wait for the best price instead of people who need cash today.

First, start out by searching craigslist and other sites to get a sense for the value of your item. Keep in mind that value is what someone else will pay and not simply however valuable you think something is.

That said, your best strategy is to start out by offering the item for much more than you think it is worth. You will probably get some emails saying that the price is too high, or offering a much lower value. You can safely ignore these for now. What you want is the one person who is willing to pay that much. If they contact you, try to make the sale at that price or a small discount. If no one contacts you, repost the ad for a lower price. Do this until it sells. This way, you can try to sell at a higher price first if possible. If when you first post a item you get more than 5 emails about it, you are probably pricing too low: Remember that you only need one person to buy it.