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I completed another Craigslist sale today.   I was surprised to learn in the past that not everyone knows what Craigslist is, so I'm here to give the inside scoop.

Craigslist is a free online classified service that allows people to buy sell or exchange pretty much anything, like an online garage sale.   You are probably thinking "oh, junk, you mean" or "hey isnt that eBay?" and in both cases you would be mostly right.   However, Craigslist's interface is shall we say, a little more austere than eBay's (honestly, what do you want, it's free after all), the sales are all organized geographically (no shipping), it's not auction based (you have the option to haggle like you are buying a handmade rug in Morocco).   Further, in addition to selling junk out of your basement or garage, you can also find jobs, dates, or even sell your whole junky house. 

The most important thing to know about Craigslist is "speed counts".   You will find that a sales posting will get a flood of traffic in the hour after it is posted (if its a "good" item) and then virtually nothing the rest of the seven day posting cycle.   True Craigslist fanatics (not me) are insane about constantly checking recent posting to scoop up the best stuff (there are truly still treasures to be found unlike eBay which these days feels like Amazon.com).   Many buyers don't bother searching through the older ads, assuming the good stuff would be gone.   Sometimes Craigslist brings people together, such as when I received a call from an old friend out of the blue who said "did you just post your DOG out on Craigslist???" (I did, she was a bad dog).

As a seller, I used to make the mistake of playing school marm and trying to be very fair to everyone.   I'd keep the order of the emails I'd receive and give the person a while to decide before moving to the next person.   That is a stupid rooky mistake.   You will hear from all sorts of cornflakes when you post something on Craigslist.   The way to play it is, the first one to make legitimate arrangements to come get the item wins.   Preferably the same day.   If you wait a day or two to see if someone truly wants it and comes to get it, everyone else in your orderly line will have already moved on and bought an alternate item.    Also, in the name of safety I never give out my name, address or phone until the lucky hyper "I'll come get it right now" winner talks to my husband so they know I've got a man around.  It's so Gone With The Wind of me.

Will you get rich selling things on Craigslist?  Probably not.  But can you pocket $100 and save yourself a trip to Goodwill on an old clothes dryer or a desk from college that you can't imagine why you dragged from house to house?  Absolutely!