Local Alternatives to Paid Classified Ads

Why pay for traditional print classified ads or pay eBay's fees when you can post and sell your items immediately for free online? Here are my favorites.

Craigslist
I've had great success selling items on Craigslist (and buying items as well). Beware of spammers though. If you choose to allow potential buyers to email you, make sure you require them to include a certain phrase in the subject line (i.e. WASHER/DRYER INQUIRY). If you receive an email from Craigslist that does NOT have that subject line, don't even bother opening it. It's best to include a phone number and invite potential buyers to either call or text you. When including a phone number, don't write it out, but mix it up a little so spiders and bots can't harvest it for telemarketing or scamming purposes.... (example: instead of 555-1212, write it out like: five five five.. 1 two 1 two.. or something like that.)
Craigslist
Craigslist
The Man Cave Resale Group
This is one of several Facebook Groups setup to help locals buy/sell merchandise. This one is geared more toward manly items like boats, firearms, vehicles, etc. Please be sure to read the guidelines before posting. The admins do a good job of making sure the rules are enforced which makes it better for everyone. You will find yourself checking this site daily because with over 6500 members new items are being added all the time. It's become the first place I go when logging into Facebook now.
Facebook
Facebook
Electronics Resale Group
This Facebook group is ran by the same people who run the Man Cave. While not as popular as it's partner group, it's steadily growing. Here you can post all of your electronic items. Phones, radios, speakers, amps, etc, etc. Like the Man Cave, the rules are strictly enforced so be sure to read them before posting.
Facebook
Facebook

TIPS FOR SELLING ONLINE

Include pictures - I won't even look at an ad that doesn't have a picture with it. Make sure your pictures aren't blurry or too small. If there is damage to the item, show a picture of that too.

Include a detailed description - Tell people exactly what they're buying. The good and the bad. If there's a tear in a boat seat, let people know about that. There's nothing worse than driving out to the middle of nowhere to look at an item that has been misrepresented. Also, be sure to include the make and model number. You can't give too many details.

Know what your item is worth - I know the value of the items I'm specifically looking for before I even start searching. If I see a particular poster that's constantly posting items for twice what they're worth then I will eventually just ignore that persons' posts all together. It's not about how much you have in an item, it's about what others would be willing to pay for it. (To get an idea of how much an item is worth, go to Ebay and search for the item. Then select "show completed listings only". Pick the first 10 sold and average out the final selling price. That's about what you can expect to get for your item (or pay for it). My starting price would be the highest of the 10. If I'm buying, my opening bid is going to be somewhere around the lowest price of the 10. That leaves you room to negotiate.)

Give people multiple ways to contact you - I hate calling people. If the only option to contact you is to call you, I won't even attempt to purchase the item you have for sale. When you tell people CALLS ONLY, you are seriously limiting the number of potential buyers for your item.

Last but not least (and this is just a pet peeve of mine), please take the time to read over your ad and make sure you have everything spelled correctly and you have used "sale" and "sell" properly. Every time I see an ad that says "for sell" or "I am trying to sale a boat", it makes me cringe.

Of course, there are other online classified ads sites, but I've had little to no success using them. Maybe you have. Tell us below what sites you use or any other "best practice" guidelines for posting your items that I may have missed.

Filed Under: Classified Ads

Categories: Lifestyles