get it gone

Ok this might end up sounding like more of a rant than anything helpful but I have acquired a fresh perspective in the past 24 hours. My beau asked me to help him sell a few things on craigslist.com, and of course I agreed. I have done a lot of eBay, etc in the past and am more comfortable than he is on the PC, internet, basically most technology. He's better in the kitchen. It's a fair trade. In the end, shopping through craigslist - like eBay, thrift stores, my mom's shops (see below for another gratuitous plug) - is the ultimate in recycling. Nothing goes to waste, nothing ends up in the landfill and if you play your cards right, you get a hefty commission for selling off someone else's stuff...oh wait...maybe that's just me? Anyway, it's a good, green (and green$) thing to do.

I'd never used craigslist before but, because of our little vintage resale business I have lots of eBay experience and more than my fair share of garage and estate sales under by belt. So I'm laughing a bit because he definitely thought I was nuts when we got started documenting things for the sale. But I knew a couple of things:

1. people will buy freaking anything
2. it's nearly impossible to sell stuff without decent pictures
3. lots of details help

I know it sounds duh-intuitive but just take a gander at craigslist and see how many BAD listings there are and you'll get my meaning. So there I was, staging a photo shoot for practically every item, taking 6-10 pics of each even though you can only list 4, measuring everything to within an inch of its life. I was a online selling madwoman. He was sitting there thinking "no one is going to buy that" and I went into overdrive as everyone and their uncle started emailing me with interest. This morning I listed the last 4 items but already I have commitments for $1150 and another $650 in sales pending. So I'm feeling pretty keen on this whole craigslist thing!

I also realize that my experience here matters so I'm going to share with you just a couple things that I think made my online selling go smoothly.

• get the description line right - There's plenty of room there so include relevant details like the diameter of the table or the height of the cabinet or - gasp - brands and model numbers! You'd be pained to see how many listings start "wood table" and make you click into the listing to get more. Not super enticing. Oh and if it works, say so. I guess people sell stuff that doesn't.
• clean it - For the love of god, do not try to photograph or sell a microwave with baked on food in it. Dust off the stuff that's been in the basement, give everything a good polishing up. You'll drive good prices if it looks nice.
• take key pictures - Yes, one of the whole item. But also close up shots of details like the back or seat of a chair, the inputs on the back of the TV, the manufacturer label (as long as it's legible of course), the intricate carving work on a statue. You get the idea.
• measure! - adding exterior (and in the case of our chest freezers, interior) measurements can help a lot. I saved myself some quality patio lounging time NOT having to meet someone who wanted to make sure his home brew keg could fit inside the freezer. Between my measurements and his link to the keg specs, we determined that it wouldn't fly and I could quickly move on to the next interested party.
• be nice, respond to everyone and keep good track - The uplifting high of "someone wants to buy our junk!" throws you in a frenzy, particularly if you have multiple listings. You'll get a lot of karmic credit just for nicely replying to someone and letting them know if there's an interested party ahead of them in line, apologizing if they weren't quick enough to get the item, getting back to them when you say you will. No, there's no rating system on craigslist but take the brownie points and be grateful when you need to go back to an interested party because your "I'll take it" guy flaked out.
• and before you list, ask your people - I sold a ton of stuff to qualified, trustworthy and honest buyers: my friends. I uploaded all the pics to flickr.com, sent an email with the details and link to the pics and voila. Instant venue for selling, no listing and dorking around with strangers showing up.

There you have it.

Now if you want to see some really cool stuff that's had the hand of my mother, Queen of Clean, touch it, pop over to one of her stores and look for the booth that says "Pretty Things" at the top. It will be the one with the bright vintage household goods, old school Hawaiian shirts, fancy ladies scarves, and more.

Mall of St. Paul - Selby & Fairview
Sophie Joe's - West 7th, just outside of downtown St. Paul