Foo - craig's list vs ebay

I have about 20k dollars worth of mowing equiptment and a jeep to sell. I know nothing about ebay or craigs list. I mentioned what it was because I cant mail it. I dont want to learn the expensive way. has anyone on here sold stuff online? What was your experience?

clist is poorman's ebay and expect a lot more trouble getting rid of stuff on it as there are hagglers, low ballers and just people who don't read the description properly.


ebay offers some protection, but honestly, with the new management they have, clist is way better for local and heavy stuff.

craigslist. Unless u want to lose 6% of your 20k to ebay

when you type up the listing, be sure to use price is 'firm' or 'negotiable' and no 'low ballers'

ebay offers some protection, but honestly, with the new management they have, clist is way better for local and heavy stuff.

+1 . Don't even think about ebay for that stuff unless you specify local pickup only....even then, some moron will bid to win and then claim they didn't realize you wouldn't ship it. Don't ask me how I know:notamused:

I think the ebay/paypal fees, while exorbitant, are mitigated by the higher price you'll typically get there vs/ CL, but boxing and shipping big/heavy stuff is a tremendous PITA. I used to do it all the time on ebay with gtr and bass amps - it's like shipping refrigerators...I lucked out often because local people bought and picked up in person. This was doubtless due as much as anything to people not bidding as high from far away because the shipping costs are also very expensive when size/weight of item goes up.

Bottom line, unless you have something really desirable you image people will fall all over themselves trying to out bid each other for (my amps were fairly collectible) stick w/CL. People will pay less on ebay because they are factoring in $50-100 for shipping into the total cost.

My advice is pick a fair price to list and be negotiable. I'd be willing to take a little less, esp. now that the economy is slow. Just my 2 cents.

oh, and you can put up a classified in the newspaper.
from personal experiance, the classifieds in newspapers are WAAAAAAAAAY more pleasant than dealing with clist jerks :p

you also get a lot of spam crap responses w/ CL

for the type of stuff u r selling u might also try local bulletin boards - I used to sell stuff like that with cards I posted in the entrance of the local supermarket.

you also get a lot of spam crap responses w/ CL

for the type of stuff u r selling u might also try local bulletin boards - I used to sell stuff like that with cards I posted in the entrance of the local supermarket.

I think I will try this first. I just thought things had changed a lot since last time I sold something. Thanks everyone.

Craigslist.

Why? Craigslist makes it a LOT easier to post items, and you can establish contact with buyers immediately. There are some low-ballers, but if you are stern about the price, then you will find people willing to pay in full. I have almost every time (except once).

eBay has protection, but a lot of those benefits can be had by using PayPal...and I don't really like the auction format; there hasn't been a time where it has saved me significant amounts of money. There's also the potential to overpay if the auction goes out of hand. No bueno.

Alternative Solution: Classifieds. I would think that the people that contact you through there are a LOT more direct with what they want, and a lot more willing to conduct serious business.

Good luck!

I think I will try this first. I just thought things had changed a lot since last time I sold something. Thanks everyone.

Yeah- you can't go too wrong with the free methods.

CL's advantage is it is pretty easy to post and the listings expire rapidly, so if your regret listing it for whatever reason(s) it won't last forever.

Good luck with the sale!:)

I have learned that you get a sh******** load of spam! I mean a lot if you post more than a few listings. When you make an account put in a seperate e-mail you don't care about, then in the listing put if you have any questions or offers please e-mail me at this ...@...com
That way you don't get as much spam.

Also cl is nice because when you make your listings you can use html coding.
Google html codes if you have no clue and take 20 minutes to read up on it. By copying and pasting a few codes you can make a really nice and legit listing that you can save and use for every listing. Host your photos at photobucket or something and you can have 100 pictures as big as you want, with different colors and sizes and fonts of text.