Selling Stuff on Ebay VS Craigslist

[JoeWras]

CL free stuff is great for getting free labor.

Ha! And tryan is the reason I don't buy anything from CL either.

I don't "get" CL or Ebay. Neither are in my comfort zone. Our neighbor sold a few cars on CL. Some of the whackos that came by looking at it scare the <something> out of me. But my neighbor always managed to sell the cars. And he's older than me. Have to hand it to the guy.

 

[David1961]

I have bought a number of items from EBay, Amazon, and CL, with all good results. Have never listed anything, though. As a buyer, one advantage of CL is I can come and look at the item before I buy.

If there is something I want to just get rid of (for free), I use Freecycle. Have been happy with that as well.

 

[travelover]

When ever I need something a little out of the main stream, I look on eBay first. For example I needed a new belt for my brush chipper. $25 at local lawnmower shop, $13 on eBay - same identical belt. Honda / NGK spark plug - $4.88 at Home Depot, $2.50 on eBay. Ditto on RV stuff, which has a huge markup.

 

[Fishingmn]

As for Craigslist - The main negative was people setting up with him to come and look at the furniture then just never showing.

I use CL a lot for finding tenants for my rental properties.

To avoid no shows my process is to have them call me or me call them 1-2 hours before the showing. I tell them if we don't connect on the phone to confirm I won't be there. It's a 40 minute drive to some of my rentals so it has made a world of difference in getting people to show up.

 

[ronin]

I've sold surfboards twice on CL. The first one I drove out to meet the guy as he seemed a bit sketchy. He haggled and finally settled at the lower end of my range (I kept it relatively high because he turned out to be a surfboard flipper and was pretty disingenuous through the whole process).

Second time was to a young kid who had his father bring him a long way to my home. No haggle, full price, no problems and he was so excited that I got a kick out of the whole thing. Worked out well, totally different than the first time.

Best thing about it is that it made room in my storage racks for 2 new boards!

 

[VaCollector]

eBay fees recently increased AGAIN and changed so that they (and their wholly owned Paypal) get a much larger piece of the transaction on more expensive items now. I know that most folks do not sell really expensive items, but for those that do ~ before April 1st (or so) the total eBay fees to sell a $2000 item was $83.40...it is NOW $140.00 to sell the SAME item!

Having said that, with my 14 years experience buying and selling on the interweb, with the exception of selling a used car, I have yet to find another selling or buying arena that provides more bang for the buck! Millions of prospective buyers at your fingertips still make them my choice for selling...and while I also buy there, I have to admit that I do not consider it to be the cheapest place for curmudgeons to buy "everything"...

As others have touted, Craigslist is another great place to buy and sell and with the fee free model that they use, it does present different challenges to selling and there are questions that any seller should ask themselves BEFORE listing anything for sale:

How do you want to be contacted? Using your personal email address may open you up to receiving spam from those that would just harvest your address...adding a phone number could do the same thing....so if you don't like spam email and phone solicitors, you might want to limit contact thru Craigslist.

Do you want people coming to your home? While the item that you have for sale is more than likely located there, do you want to invite strangers into your home? Of course, if the item is large (furniture, car) you may have little choice, but if possible, a public parking lot (of YOUR choice) nearby seems to be a safe alternative.

I actually just sold my 10 year old Toyota Sienna this week on Craigslist....did my research to determine value, put it on CL at 6:30 AM Monday...got my 1st email by 7 AM and had it sold by 5 PM the same day for my full asking price.

I also buy and sell daily on eBay and after the market downturn in 2008, have used the activity to help facilitate and sustain my ER.

 

[sengsational]

I tried to buy a car once off Craig's List...never found one where the buyer was motivated. My theory: since it's free to list, none of them were in a hurry to sell and priced on the high side. I went to some other sites where you pay by the week to list your car, and every one I looked at was priced better and had more motivated sellers.

 

[utrecht]

The Craigslist robber that I mentioned hit again last night. The 10th robbery that we know of. He talked a guy into meeting him at an apartment complex in a very bad area at midnight. We've had a good idea for about a week who the bad guy was based on cell phone records, but the last victim couldn't pick him out of a line-up. This victim did so hopefully he will be in custody soon.

 

[photoguy]

The fees on ebay/paypal are getting large enough to be annoying. But it is still the biggest market around and I've managed to sell many items likely for more than I would have otherwise. In fact, I've sold some items for more than I paid for them new.

 

[tryan]

I use CL a lot for finding tenants for my rental properties.

To avoid no shows my process is to have them call me or me call them 1-2 hours before the showing. I tell them if we don't connect on the phone to confirm I won't be there. It's a 40 minute drive to some of my rentals so it has made a world of difference in getting people to show up.

In my CL rental listing I'll list an Open House for 2 hours on a weekend or evening. Then tell them to call only if the open house time doesn't work. If they call, a second open house is scheduled for thier chosen time (all future calls are notified of the second open house). 2 open houses and the unit usually fills ... NO private showings ... too many no-show experiances.

Creates a bit of the mob-scene initially (which helps motivate the serious lookers) ... but with a 2 hour window the crowd thins.

 

[John Galt III]

I've read some reports of a new problem happening with Ebay, which is that the Buyer pays for an item, receives item, and then claims he never received it, and Ebay removes money from Seller's account to "refund" buyer, thereby ripping off Seller. There must be a way to avoid this, as a Seller, no? Return receipt requested? Some sort of tracking? Anyone else read about this happening on Ebay? Thanks

 

[jetpack]

I'll have to say I like CL a lot for most items. haven't had any big problems.. items that are too cheap to ebay and ship.. or too big. I live in a pretty safe area though.

Iphones I sell on ebay.. I've tried on CL, but a lot more shady people are buying or selling iphones.

 

[easysurfer]

Just sold four things on ebay last week. Did have to prod a couple of folks for payment. But all paid up, without a problem.

Never tried CL, but too many scary stories keep me away from trying there.

 

[braumeister]

Buyer pays for an item, receives item, and then claims he never received it

I've sold a lot of things on eBay over many years, and I never shipped anything without delivery confirmation. USPS has a minimal fee for this and it is well worth your while. The postal carrier scans the barcode on the package when he places it in the mailbox, so you can verify the time it was actually delivered. There is no way for the recipient to claim non-delivery.

 

[photoguy]

I sell on ebay regularly and occasionally on Craig's list . The only items that go on Craig's list are things too large to ship

+1

We've sold hundred of items on ebay and craigslist and we far prefer to sell via ebay. As Moemg notes, the only things we put on craigslist are things that are too big to ship.

On ebay we sold stuff ranging from collectibles (old movie posters) to 1k+ lenses and computers. The fees are high (maybe 15% - I forget exactly) but generally worth it because ebay is the biggest marketplace. Rare/niche items will sell eventually (e.g. we sold an old hex wrench for an apple II computer for $15, out of print korean language drama dvd series for $3-400, etc.). Items in-demand will fetch a fair market price and be gone in one week (personally I feel the price achieved by many auctions is higher than it should be for used items).

We haven't had any major problems with buyers but I think the key here is to only ship to verified addresses, only sell to US buyers, ship with confirmed delivery, and document any possible defect of the item.

Craigslist is problematic because it takes a lot of your time to move items (dealing with possible buyers) and the market for niche items is very small to non-existent. To sell on CL people will show up at your house (unless you arrange to meet them somewhere which may not be possible for large items), they often flake out regarding times, or decide not to go ahead with the purchase. When we were selling stuff on CL we moved it into the garage so they wouldn't have to enter the house. You may also have to haggle with buyers.

 

[Walt34]

It's been a long time since I bought anything off ebay but never any issues with it. Once the seller was Home Depot getting rid of lawn sprinklers in the fall - $40 sprinklers for ~$8. I bought two of them.

The only thing I bought off CL was a high-end Nikon flash unit (SB-900). Met the guy in a shopping center parking lot, lots of cameras around and mentioned that in the E-mail. I think he was more comfortable with it that way too.

I wasn't too concerned because he was familiar with the operation of the flash (there is a learning curve to it for off-camera use) and what accessories came with it and listed them. Some dirtbag selling a pretend or stolen one wouldn't be that detailed.

Oh, and his punctuation/grammar was all correct as well. That always ads to credibility. I'm astonished at the lack of literacy in some of these ads.

 

[John Galt III]

I've sold a lot of things on eBay over many years, and I never shipped anything without delivery confirmation. USPS has a minimal fee for this and it is well worth your while. The postal carrier scans the barcode on the package when he places it in the mailbox, so you can verify the time it was actually delivered. There is no way for the recipient to claim non-delivery.

Thank you!

 

[Tom52]

I use CL to sell unwanted items. I run about 20 ads for items for sale each week. Never had a bad experience with people coming into my home. Selling on CL you don't mess with shipping anything or worrying about loss or damage in transit. Cash is nice too. My experience is if someone is willing to make the trip to my house they are going to buy. They know before they come what my final price is and I describe the condition accurately so there are no disappointments.

Only problem with CL is sometimes it takes a long time to find a buyer. Coverage is not as good as ebay.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Using CL now to try to sell some used auto parts. Offering low, low prices. No one's interested!!! Not enough exposure, maybe.

Many online enthusiast forums have their own for sale/wanted section. I just sold a pair of BMW mudflaps in day or two to another BMW forum participant.

There's probably a forum out there for every specialized interest. Like this one, for instance.

 

[travelover]

Many online enthusiast forums have their own for sale/wanted section. I just sold a pair of BMW mudflaps in day or two to another BMW forum participant. .........

It is all about shipping costs. Mudflaps - no problem. An exhaust system

 

[Chuckanut]

I have sold used stuff on Amazon. It worked pretty well.


Sent from somewhere in the world with whatever device I can get my hands on.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

It is all about shipping costs. Mudflaps - no problem. An exhaust system

Very true.

 

[tryan]

Broke my skiis ... found a great pair on ebay from a town 50 minutes away. Contacted the owner thru ebay's site. Then we txt'd back'n forth to arrange so I could see them. Met him at his work. Paid him cash ... He skipped ALL the fees.