Craigslist Frustration

[southernbohemian]

Oh, I miss the old days...

We used to live in a house with a great garage sale location - busy street, lots of neighbors - we never even put up signs and would just rake in the customers and cash.

Well, we've moved and our new place is a lot more secluded. We tried having a garage sale last year and barely got customers (with signs and advertising on Craigslist), much less made any money.

We've got a lot of stuff that DBF has been accumulating in the hopes of having another garage sale. I am not over the moon about trying to have one because I feel like it will be a lot of work, we might not make any money, and it's really hot here in Texas. But my parents are coming in 2 weeks and I need to reclaim our guest room.

So I've been listing stuff on Craigslist but I am getting so frustrated. I have them e-mail me if they are interested. Then we'll e-mail back and forth and set up a time for them to come see it. I haven't had one person show up yet - this has been happening all week. I even ask them to call or e-mail me if they aren't coming so I don't waste my time - of course, no calls. I am just getting really frustrated with the amount of really rude people out there. I sold a lot of stuff on Craigslist before we moved a couple of years ago and never, ever had this much trouble.

Anyone have any tips? Should I only deal with people over the phone? Do you just put your address on the ad and tell them first come first serve?

 

[Juliegirl1]

I've done a lot of buying and selling recently on Craig's List. You will get tons of emails but people don't really tend to call unless they are really interested. Lots of people are what I call "looky loos" - they are thinking about it but are not really serious or will try to see how much they can talk you down.

You can always edit your ad to include your phone number or take it off if you have too many responses. I don't know that I would put your address on Craig's List - there are some crazy people out there.

 

[Traveling-princess]

My frustration with CL is that 50000 people email you and try to send you a link to click.
Try having the yard sale and advertise it in the local paper.
What about getting your neighbors to have one the same day and have a block sale?

 

[3girlsfun]

I put my phone number and tell people to call or text if interested. Like PP said, most people wont call if they aren't serious.