Craigslist: 5 Selling Tips. How We Made $40 On A 2 Year Old Set Of Bookshelves

The Deal Messiah is preparing to move from one castle to another in a few months. In preparation, he is systematically selling off miscellaneous items via Craigslist. By doing this ahead of time, he can command top dollar for what he is selling, and avoid getting himself into a "fire sale" situation.

We had a little scare this morning, our new puppy didn't feel good, and once he went #2, we discovered what the problem was. He had eaten an entire piece of our floor rug, therefore it had to go. We're moving anyways in about 6 weeks. So why not.

In the process, we decided to go ahead and pack up all of our volumes of fine literature, and sell off our bookshelves. Mrs. Messiah snapped these up at Target at a "back to school" clearance event for $9.99 a pop. They're two years old, and not in the greatest shape, but I said let's try to sell them on Craigslist.

At 1:35 pm, I posted the following on Craigslist:



At 2:02 pm, I had my first buyer call me, and said she was very interested and would like to come see the bookshelves.

How was I so successful you ask?

1. Price it right (typically 50% of retail) $75 ask on a $150 set of shelves
2. List your phone number only, if comfortable doing so. This eliminates the dozen people that will email you if "its still available" or lowballers. Only serious buyers will pick up the phone and call.
3. Note in the post: If you're reading this, it's still available
4. Cash buyers only, always specify this, and never take a check
5. If people try to negotiate, always tell them you have others interested, and that you don't feel comfortable dropping your drawers yet.

Anyways, our buyer showed up about 2 hours later with a pickup truck, and we graciously helped her load the bookshelves into it. With $75 cash in hand, we know have plenty of coin to blow on Valentines Day Dinner.