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If Ryanne and I were to live in an urban area, we wold scour the “free section” every day. I think we’d focus on fancy furniture and appliances that people are dumping because they just got moved by their company. We’d figure out storage and just resell on CL.
Does anyone do this?
Does anyone find stuff that can be sold on eBay? -
I’ve found unique collectibles that I’ve made good money on. I found a pair of art deco cat statues from the 60’s, signed by the artist. Also found a zeppelin that appeared to be made from a gourd, really big, painted really nice. It was in some guys man cave and he just wanted it gone. I think you have to look for unique items. Everyone overvalues their comics, old toys and obvious antiques because there are so many tv shows and stories about them. You have to look for the weird items that the person doesn’t realize what they have. Also cell phones and Apple computers. People get desperate for money and will sell those things cheap if there aren’t any other buyers.
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I used to buy video game lots on CL and then list the components individually on eBay for big profits until that category got overrun with other resellers and high prices. I’ve tried buying some other items but overall I find dealing with the people on CL to be a major time waster. Its very common that I’ll start negotiating on a price with a person only to have them stop communicating before we can set a time/place to meet. I’ve also had tons of people waste my time by either not showing up at the meeting place or by being super late. I’ve had it take days of messages and missed meetings before we finally meet up to do the transaction.
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This is a great point of view. I was wondering if the hassle of CL keeps it from being a solid platform to really make money on.
When I buy or sell things on CL, it’s definitely a much more labor intensive process. Lots of flaky people who are bad communicators.
But we’ve also gotten incredible deals on CL that was worth the hassle. Seems to make more sense of big expensive items rather than trying to use it as a daily place of sourcing and selling.
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I have searches set up, but also in my free time I’ll browse recently listed Craigslist items. I have never found anything for free on Craigslist worth re-selling. I do sometimes throw up a post if I’m caught up on listing offering garage clean outs and junk removal. I get paid to clean outs peoples messes and almost always find decent items worth re-selling.
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As you know I buy on CL all the time. I rarely run into a hassel, people are usually cautious and I do my best to be open about meeting in a neutral place or putting their mind at ease that I’m not a criminal. Any hassel is just part of the job.
I peruse certain categories daily, I’ve found thousands of dollars worth in the free column and of course much more than that in electronics.
There is some skill in negotiating, if it’s weird enough not to attract too many inquiries I’ll let it sit a few days before contacting if I think it’s priced to high. Only make an offer in person, assess the item and be able to read the person you’re dealing with, don’t be afraid to lowball and go from there.It helps that I can roar out of my bat cave at anytime to meet someone and since I like electronics my batmovan has tools and equipment to test these out even when meeting in a parking lot.
I have a search out for all sorts of items like clocks, stereos, clothing brands etc.
My city is about 225,000 including the surrounding areas which may make it a little easier to keep on top of all the CL listings.
The General category is a good one as that is where people dump stuff they just don’t know how to classify, I’ve found some great stuff there.
If you do search for a specific item use the search box on the front page as things are mis categorizedor grouped with other things all the time.CL is one of my main sources especially in the winter when there are no yard sales.
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My search terms are mostly brand names of vintage electronics and general things like clocks, lamps.
It takes about 5 minutes to peruse the categories so I do it 2-3 times a day, that way I’m on top of it and there aren’t too many new ones to look at. I get emails responding to my searches all the time.
One time, an old crabby guy got very upset that I would offer anything lower than what he was asking, and asked me to leave, very weird dude. I apologized and gave him what he was asking.
Usually people are expecting an offer, I’ve amazed myself sometimes with how cheap I end up with stuff but sometimes the deal is so good already I pay what they’re asking. -
When I first started selling on eBay I searched for diabetic test strips on Craigslist as well as posted for them in the Craigslist Wanted section. My local newspaper also let you post for free in the For Sale section which showed up in the paper and online versions. I got most pf my inventory that way. I no longer have a car so I that no longer works/
However, I still search the free section and I can still find items that way. Last week there was an add posted in the free section for many boxes of slides that the poster got from a friend by his apartment dumpster. I sent him an email telling him the city I lived in and that I was willing to pick them up but didn’t have a car so I could only do so if there was a bus stop near his house. A few days later I hadn’t heard form him and was going to email him to see if he still had the slides and if I could pay him to deliver him to somewhere in my city so I could pick them up and take them home in a cab. He lived about 15 miles away.
He called first and offered to drop them off at the bus/train station on his way to work that day.
In the Craigslist post he had stated that although the slides were free of charge the person who he gave them to had the responsibility to make sure they did not end up in the dump. I told him my plan was to sell them on eBay and he thought that was a great plan. He was giving them away because he realized after 6 months there was no way he had time to go through them and he was moving to a smaller apartment. So I got them 3 days ago and I was very glad he delivered them to me. They filled the space behind the 3rd seats in the minivan the taxi sent. I had told them I had a lot of boxes to transport. There were 7 boxes of various sizes, 3 at least the size of boxes that 10 reams of paper are sold in.I am now trying to figure out what scanner/light box I am going to buy so I can list them. James, the man who gave me the slides, said that the date back at least to the seventies and he could tell by the change in the Seattle skyline. I took a quick look through a few slides at the top of one box and they include a lot of forest and water (lakes and ocean) photos and some family photos. I am sure I will take me years to get through these.
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It is most definitely harder without a car but that hasn’t stopped me from trying. I almost didn’t reply to the posting about the slides since I knew there were too many for me to pick up by bus. I am glad I did reply though.
I have missed on a lot of great free stuff or low cost items listed on Craigslist since I don’t have a car If all goes well I should have one by the end of the year.
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I’m temporarily working in a very urban area, so I scan craigslist for items. Today, on my lunch break, I picked up 2 sets of 6’x 5′ x 2′ freestanding metal shelves new in the box for FREE. Planning to store tubs of inventory on them. So today craigslist didn’t give me something to sell but it did give me something very useful.
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Jay, I want to reassure you that, at least in the Atlanta “urban” area, the CL free stuff has pretty much dried up over the last couple of years, for reasons I can only guess (Nextdoor? Freecycle?). While I used to regularly get (or miss out on) lots of good CL free stuff, lately it’s almost exclusively the stuff that people don’t want to haul to the dump: disgusting couches, chairs, cabinets, mattresses, firewood, dirt (I know, cut firewood is a good scavenge–just not for resale). Almost nothing I’d ever want to own, much less try to sell. I can get more good free stuff than I can use or store right on the curb, it’s just not getting posted on CL.
I do buy & sell on CL. A few years back when I was getting ready to replace my HVAC system, I bought a used furnace on CL, but before I installed it I scavenged one from the side of the road and resold the first one on CL for a $100 profit.
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Just browsing this to see how Craigslist is fairing in other parts of the country.
I’ll echo Luftmentsh here, that and the fact that I’m 30+ miles from the hub of it makes it not even worth checking most days, although I still do.
…and I see so many posting free furniture and things around here I would have thrown out years ago wanting a verifiable story of “need” and hardship before they’re willing to give it away. Ugh.
I find 10x more stuff, in better shape, more than I can use or sell sometimes at the curb on trash days. I’m just one person with a very small house, so I can get totally overwhelmed with it fast if I’m not careful, usually then I’ll pick through it and set the rest out by the road next to the mailbox with a big free sign on it…it normally disappears like magic in less than an hour since I’m next to a main highway.
I’ve caught a couple of pickers and their kids literally doing a happy dance out by the mailbox a couple of times looking out the window to see if things were gone. Way cool.
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Items I’ve found on CL include 4 sweaters @ $4 each which turned out to be Coogi when I clicked on the post. The title was “sweaters” with no photo. Air pistols, NIB for $10 ea which sold well and quickly. They were listed in the wrong category, poor title, no photo. And I purchased NIB Barbies and NIB shoes from someone who accepted a low offer I was almost ashamed to make because she “liked me”. The Barbies have sold well. The shoes not so much. I do not check CL regularly because it’s time consuming. I looked in the “Free” section once out of curiosity, but it looked like junk and I just never checked again. My best experience with CL was posting in the “Wanted” section on behalf of an elderly man taking care of a g’dau who was 3. They had to walk everywhere, heat, rain, snow, because they had no car. I was his social worker at the time and someone on CL donated him a car, which is certainly off topic here, but was wonderful.
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Curious if Steve still has good luck on CL with finding the kinds of stuff he sells, since the original posts were back in 2016?
I used to heavily monitor most sections of the local CL, but gave it up when it never really yielded much. I’ve bought a couple good items, but generally CL seems to be full of resellers rather than individuals. Similar to what others have posted, the free stuff is largely actual junk.
That’s a good idea about the free mags though, Sigilini. That seems like something that may pop up somewhat regularly, and something not a lot of people would want.
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In my area it has been small pickings on the Free CL section these days. I got a lot of really amazing stuff last year but lately not so much. I do scavenge on CL for shipping supplies like peanuts and boxes.
As far as mags go, I had really great luck with bicycle riding mags and Lowrider mags but everything else has been SLOW and not profitable at all.
I have tried the FB market place, let go and offer up but so far it is a lot of people trying to make a buck like I am. Of course there are fields like electronics that I know nothing about so I would not know a good deal if it bit me.
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A couple years ago scammers completely destroyed craigslist here. I had alerts set up for a couple searches that would turn up great finds. Then one morning I woke up to HUNDREDS of alert emails. Scammers were keyword spamming like crazy.
Craigslist became completely un-usable after that and I abandoned it completely. Around this same time the facebook groups were really starting to pick up steam as well. -
I’ve gotten great things on CL for free in the past. Two beautiful wood ball and claw foot jewelry display cases! For free! I still have them. I may be selling them this summer. I don’t need them. I have only had a few flake out where they never communicated back, but I guess that is par for the course. And just this past week someone flaked on me on free stuff, so there’s that. Unfortunately, CL is no longer the goldmine it once was. My neighbors and I used to scour the free section during the summers and then get together to show each other what we scored. It was fun!
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The mention of garage clearouts reminded me of a possible business idea. A few years back there was a big drive by the UK government to get the attics of houses lagged with fibreglass insulation. A lot of houses had so much junk stored in the attic that it was impossible to lay the matting. Some drawbacks- stuff in the attic is usually covered with dust and grit, there’s usually no flooring so you have to step on the rafters, and the access hatch is often small and high up. I suppose in the US you also have to contend with rabid squirrels, raccoons and hoboes 🙂
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