CRAIGS LIST - BRILLIANT OR SCHIZOPHRENIC?

I recently decided to use social networking and specifically Craigs List to try to sell some furniture.  The friends I talked to about doing this all encouraged me to use Craigs List as they were very successful in selling their items in this way without making the nightly news or becoming the picture on a milk carton. 

I began by doing my homework and researched current like listings  for comparison pricing.  It really is amazing what people are selling these days....the following are actual items I took from today's list:

1.  Dog house - $150 - must have been built by Donald Trump


2.  Queen bed mattress and boxsprings - $25 - its obviously a dogs life.


3.  Cool Bob Marley Lamp/guitar stand - $5 - how cool can it be for five dollars?


4.  Empty baby food jars...what the heck?


5.  29 food items - $8 ...guess you could fill the empty baby food jars with this mystery .34cent food


6.  Perfect brownie pan - $15 - if it's so perfect why sell it?


7.  Shower curtain bright - $3 - gonna cost more than three bucks to drive over and get it - guaranteed.


8.  Mini boombox - $8 - this is a oxymoron right?


9.  Yard sale - $2  - could be a great deal if the yard includes a house.


and finally:

10.  Award Winning Handyman - no price - some wife is MAD!

People will sell anything.

I took my pictures and uploaded them into my laptop (a job that nearly ended my Craigs List experiment).  The next step was to write an eyecatching listing and determine the price.  I'm not sure how clever you can be when selling a 33 year old bedroom set, but I did my best.

The next day I was so excited when I saw in my spam account a reply for "SOLID OAK 5 PIECE BEDROOM SET".  The inquiry went something like this:

I am very interested in your set.  Please to have check sent if you give name, address, and phone.  Please to take advert off craigslist.  I am deaf please don't try call.  Will send my men to pick up. 

At first  I thought "oh this poor deaf person"  and second I thought I am being punked.  I called my son to confer and he said " delete it right away it is a scam". 

Second response was almost as bad, but high in the ick factor, when it said "when do you use it"?

Those two aside I finally got some real inquiries and one actual visit.

As of this date, I have not sold anything but have learned some valuable lessons.  One is you have to post your items 2 to 3 times per day and under different categories so your posts don't get lost after 30 minutes in the barrage of posts that come after yours.  It is amazing that after virtually five minutes your post is down the list by over 100.  Each time you repost in the same day, you have to change the wording so that Craig (of Craigs List) doesn't block your new post for trying to keep your item at the top of the list.  This is simply gamemanship and a challenge.  I now don't care if I actually sell anything  - the game has changed to keeping my item(s) at the top of the list.

To those of you thinking about Craigslist...do your homework, pray for guidance and safety and above all keep your expectations low.