Selling tools and stuff

[Donald]

I live on the east coast. In the past I have sold tools and OPE and boat parts on CL. But not many hits these days. Have people moved on from CL to Facebook Marketplace? Something else?

I remember putting ads in paper rags such as Pennysaver and WantAdDigest. Then those had online versions.

As a seller I would prefer CL. But need to list where the buyers are.

 

[atikovi]

You list on every available outlet. Craigslist, Facebook, Ebay, etc.

 

[spasm3]

Unless you don't want to deal with shipping, you could list them here on the site.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I have had excellent results with Facebook marketplace. Sold my Corvette overnight the same day and the buyer picked it up the next day with a cashiers check. Went to the bank to make sure it was legit. The trick is to price things to sell and not try to squeeze every last dollar out of your items.

 

[I<3oil]

CL hasn't been relevant for years now. Most people are doing FB marketplace now.

 

[cptbarkey]

Used to always list on CL too. I dual listed cars the past year or so on CL and FB Marketplace. FB Marketplace won out by a long shot. You have to weed out the tire kickers and obvious spam accounts just like CL, but I would say its the better place today.

My tactic and answer to "will you take xyz" is always "you are welcome to make an offer in person."

 

[BMW Dom]

Craigslist is pretty much dead

FB marketplace is where most of the stuff is, but there are many scams / scammers on there

If they are expensive tools, like SnapOn, selling on here might be a good option. Some members have an expensive taste

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

FB Marketplace is the best, most-used outlet.

What you have to do is price your stuff correctly, you have to say, yes, you have to type this - "I will not answer any "is this available" messages, I will not answer scammers. Scammers need not even respond."

99% of the idiots/scammers will get filtered out through that single message alone. If you put that in your ad, you can 100% ignore the "is this still available" messages. I ignore and block them.

It's fairly easy to filter out the bad from the good if you have a brain, some common sense and street smarts. It's fairly easy to sell stuff. I can tell you that if it doesn't sell within a month, at dirt cheap pricing, nobody really wants it. Right now, I have a used once (like ONE night) Kelty 3-person tent on Marketplace for 6+ weeks. I've gotten two hits on it, they never get back to me after answering their questions. I've got it knocked down to $30. This is every bit $125 tent new. It is nice, clean, high quality.

Most stuff.... I sell within a week. Cars? I clean them up, describe them well, take great pics and price them to where I have 2-4 people fighting over them. I usually sell cars within 4-6 hours.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Right now, I have a used once (like ONE night) Kelty 3-person tent on Marketplace for 6+ weeks. I've gotten two hits on it, they never get back to me after answering their questions. I've got it knocked down to $30. This is every bit $125 tent new. It is nice, clean, high quality.

PM details on tent if willing to ship to zip code 11755. My son uses my Big Agnes 3 person from when he was in Boy Scouts and we camped everywhere. It's getting old and seen a lot of use.

I post on CL and FB marketplace. I also search on both. I found that FB has almost turned into an ebay with nationwide sellers looking to ship also. If I sell anything locally I normally try to meet them at my firehouse just down the road. I tell them it is for their safety and mine as it's public, on camera from many angles and often a PD doing tour switches. I've had people cancel (said no longer interseted in item) when I gave those conditions and it wasn't even very expensive stuff.

 

[eljefino]

FBM

Real cheap stuff I leave in the bed of my truck and tell the buyers if they like it they can put money in the cab if I'm not home. Saves the hassle. There are also socially anxious types who might abort coming over because (I don't know why) but will come and transact with my "cash cab".

If you think leaving junk outside and unguarded is crazy, well, what's your junk doing for you now, not helping you, being in the way, and not making you money?

 

[J Dubbs]

One time I was selling a very nice Hayabusa, and was willing to trade for a sporty convertible... this guy called me and we talked a bit, he said he had a Porsche Boxster he wanted to trade. He said come on over and check it out, he had to work late but the keys were in the mailbox, take it for a spin and see what you think

Now I consider myself a pretty upstanding guy, and my bike was beyond immaculate, but except for the phone call, we'd never met in person, he just talked to me and saw the pictures of the bike on CL. I was surprised and honored that he would trust me like that. Even my wife was a little skeptical lol.

So we went on over, grabbed the keys, and took it for a respectful spin. It was a nice little car overall, but it was making the famous balancer shaft bearing noises that the late 90's/early 2000 self destructing Porsche engines had a class action lawsuit over... so it was a no go for me.

That was many years ago, but gives you a bit of an idea of the kind of area I live in (although like everywhere, it's changed since then). Who would leave the keys to their Porsche in the mailbox for a complete stranger to test drive when you're not home lol. He picked the right guy to trust.... but I wouldn't have done it