justaguy168 

When is the best day and time to post on Craigs List? I've seen a lot of postings on the internet like this one that are either general or geared towards real estate. But I haven't seen postings that are geared towards bicycles. I know that you want to post when people are looking so that your ad appears at the top of the listings.
BTW, I live in Manhattan and will be using their NYC site. Suggestons

johnnyace 

I would tend to agree with what that article says, I think it applies across the board, not just with real estate. Also keep in mind that it's good to renew your ad every 48-72 hours, so that it appears at/near the first page of listings.

miamijim

Big cities have a problem in that listinsg fall off the first page very quickly. Tampa CL gets over 200 bike listings on a Saturday. If I post at 7am it'll be off the first page by 8am. But yes, Saturdays and Sundays are the big days....

oddjob2

Half my inquiries come after 12:00 am.

bargainguy

More important than time of day is including a descriptive title and plenty of keywords, both in the title and the post. Reasoning: Lots of folks do searches on keywords. Omit them and you're omitting a lot of potential views.

I'm sure we've all seen titles something along the lines of "Great Bike!" with no mention of brand, model, size, color, etc. And then you open the post, there's one bad fuzzy pic and the only description is "In great condition, plz call xxx-xxxx."

Just like in advertising, writing good descriptive copy and taking detailed pix is the best way to go. Do both, and it doesn't really matter when you post - people will find you.

mstateglfr 

I dont think it at all matters what day you post. If you post on Tuesday, and the middle of the week is slow in your area, you can just renew the posting on Friday and itll be back at the top of the front page and waiting for views by those who plan to look at bikes on the weekend.

No harm done and no opportunity lost by listing it during a slow part of the week.

I post my bikes the day they are ready to be sold and pictures have been taken. If thats a Sunday...cool. If thats a Thursday...cool.
Its worked out every time so far because I dont think the day of the week is nearly as important as useful clear pictures and a good description of the bike and work completed.

justaguy168 

BG, what keywords would you recommend? Make, model, seat tube size, speeds, year? Remember this is a classic and vintage? Is there a way to specify keywords other than just what is in the title?

bargainguy

Besides what you mentioned:

Color, type of bike (road, mountain, hybrid), suggested height of rider ("for short riders"), frame tubing - specific ("Reynolds 531") as well as material ("steel," "aluminum"), classic/vintage, lightweight (if really lightweight, don't append to every bike), just to name a few.

I use up every character of the CL title if possible. Two reasons: To squeeze in more keywords, and let folks read right in the title whether the bike might fit them. For those not familiar with frame sizing, "for short riders" is pretty well understood, and in the post, I'll give more details: "Suggested rider height 5'2 - 5'5."

Is there a way to include keywords other than in the title? Sure, lots of folks do this at the end of the posting, in order to try to grab views outside whatever they're selling. So if they're selling an Italian road bike, they'll list every Italian manufacturer that ever existed in addition to the one they're selling. I don't do this. I keep my keywords on point.

justaguy168 

BG, good pointers.

randyjawa 

Though I rarely sell or buy from Craigslist, or Kijiji in my town, there are key words I look for...

-road bicycle(cause that is what I want, it could be BMX, Mountain Bike, etc)

-vintage(this is not the best word to use, old is better, but you do want to convey the need for something old and, in the bicycle scene, vintage is the word, but it can also drive a seller's price up - a lot)

Ten Speed(a generic name lots of guys my age used in the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties - ??? - actually, still using it today)

There are specific brands for which I search, usually off brands since everybody else is looking for the better know bikes such as Bianchi, Raleigh, Colnago, Peugeot, or better yet, PEUGEOT since they are all the famous PX10, if painted white and black.

Off brands, for me, include lesser known hand made machines, be they from Italy, France, England, Japan, Canada...

Torpado, Atala, Bottecchia, Olmo (or even Olma, a misspelled word that netted me an Olmo Grand Prix for $40.00)...

As for best day, or time of day, I dunno and I dunno know if it makes much difference. Time of year - oh ya! And right now, up until Ho Ho Ho day, it is a buyer's market on places like Ebay. Which means that now is not the best time for a seller to sell vintage bicycles and parts. That is my opinion, based on my own experience. Not sure it others have found this to be the case or not.

toavii

I don't sell much, maybe 5ish a year. But the big thing I watch for is around what time/day the volume bike flippers tend to renew their ads in the Minneapolis area. Allow them to bump up the same 50 bikes that have been 'for sale' for roughly a year and then list after that time. Sort of an inexact science but I don't want my bike intermixed with there's so people glaze over it or for them to push my listing too far off the page.

tmh657

Thank you. To the OP, If there is a word in the title or in the body of the ad that word is searchable so it is a "keyword". No need to add extra words especially if it's unrelated to what you are selling. That annoys people.

If I am searching for Dura Ace 7700 and my search brings up a rubber snake I will not be compelled to buy it. Sellers do this on ebay as well. It's called Keyword Spamming.

I like to place an ad on Friday night for the weekend crowd.