How to Sell Items on Craigslist

Ready to make some extra cash and get rid of that imported beer can collection? This article will show you the best way to position your formerly priceless possessions to sell on Craigslist. Read on!

EditSteps

EditSample For Sale Ad

Sample Craigslist For Sale Ad

EditSelling Items on Craigslist

Go to Craigslist.org. After all, if you don’t go there, you’re not going to have a lot of luck selling on Craigslist!
Choose the state where you live. On the right side of the page, there is a list of big cites that may reflect your region. If you don't see your city there, at the bottom of the list are links to fine-tune your location.
- Click on the link that says US States.
- You can go right to your city by entering yourcityname.craigslist.org. For our examples, we’ll use Portland as our city, and enter "portland.craigslist.org."
Click on the post to classifieds button. It's on the left side, under the Craigslist logotype. That will bring you to a page that says: '"What type of posting is this?"' It gives you a list of posting types:
Click the for sale button, will bring you to another category page. It features a list of about 100 categories. You can choose one. Click on the category that is most appropriate for what you're selling. If you don't know what category your item belongs in, click on the category general for sale.
- Since this is Portland, we'll list bicycle - by owner.
- When you click on that, you'll be asked to narrow down your location.
Enter the posting information. This is the title and copy and other information potential buyers will see when they are searching for what you're selling. These fields are as follows:
- Posting Title: This is what people will see as the heading in their search results.
- Price: Obviously, how much you're selling the item for.
- Specific location: Enter your county, part of town, or other general information. Do not enter your address!
- Reply to: Put your email address here. You can choose to either display it as is, or to make it anonymous so that your name is not attached to it. This is good to do, especially if you have a unique last name and are selling something valuable. No need to advertise to the world that you're selling a van Gogh that hasn't seen the light of day in 50 years.
- Posting Description. This where you do your selling. Make it interesting, make it catchy. If you don't know what or how to write sales copy, take a look at a catalog or newspaper ad you might have, and see how they do it. If it works for them, it'll work for you!
  - Be truthful here. If there are flaws that damage the value of the item, or there's a piece missing, or that your ex will be knocking on the door of whoever buys it—let them know in advance. It may not help you sell, but it will help you avoid getting a reputation as an unreliable seller.
- Check "ok for others to contact you..." if it's fine with you to get unsolicited emails from strangers.
- Check your form. The fields in green must be filled in.
Submit pictures of what you're selling. This is listed as optional, but if you want to sell something, do yourself and your potential buyer a favor, and fill as many picture slots as you can with high-resolution pictures that are as good as you can possibly make them. You want people to be excited about what you're selling.
- When you're done loading in images, click the Done with images button.
- Craigslist only allows 8 medium quality images. Particularly if you are selling something fairly detailed (like a house or car) or something in really good condition, you should consider linking to an image host where you can post more high quality images. Buyers love images and it helps your ad stand out. Some free hosts to consider are Photobucket, Listhd, and Classpic. Craigslist frowns on embedding external images, but don't care about linking (text link) to other pages (with images).
Check your listing for accuracy. You want to make sure your listing will get the attention it deserves.
- If your listing needs changes, click on the Edit Text or Edit Images buttons, and make any changes necessary.
Click on the Continue button. When you're satisfied your ad is ready for prim time, click the Continue button at the bottom of the page. If you have an account on Craigslist, your ad will be posted on Craigslist within 15 minutes. If you do not have an account, you will be sent a notification email that you must respond to for your posting to become active.
That's it! You're just made an ad on Craigslist!

EditVideo

EditTips

Your ad will expire 45 days after you post it, but you may renew it at any time.
You do not have to put contact information in your ad. Most people can contact you through Craigslist, but some people can't, so you might consider it. As mentioned earlier, though, don't make it easy for unscrupulous people to know you're selling something valuable, and where you're located. All they need to do is see one social media post saying "Having a great time in Cancun!" to know you're not at home.
Keep this in mind as you're creating your ad: you want the people reading your ad to be more interested in buying than you are in selling.

EditWarnings

Keep this in mind as you're creating your ad: you want the people reading your ad to be more interested in buying than you are in selling.
You do not have to put contact information in your ad. Most people can contact you through Craigslist, but some people can't, so you might consider it. As mentioned earlier, though, don't make it easy for unscrupulous people to know you're selling something valuable, and where you're located. All they need to do is see one social media post saying "Having a great time in Cancun!" to know you're not at home.
Your ad will expire 45 days after you post it, but you may renew it at any time.

EditThings You'll Need

A computer
An item to sell
An email address
A camera

EditRelated wikiHows

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Sell-Items-on-Craigslist

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