Ramish Rana
New member
Back in the early 00's and even before in the 90's eBay was the place to for selling and buying. eBay was THE place to sell anything. However, eBay is no longer the sole proprietor for consumer confidence-why?
Enter-Craigslist, Amazon, Olx and the list is growing daily.
Whereas eBay (this strictly from a seller perspective) is ideal for small items and costs Craigslist is FREE and you can post ads for things that require a truck to transport e.g. a car. Now, I don't know about you guys, the first thing that my daddy taught me about business was to be wary of all things 'FREE'. So, what do I do? I prepare to use the forum but I also educate myself in all things Craigslist like CL auto posting tools, free craigslist PVA's (Pinger App is one example) and finally I weigh my pros and cons for using the forum.
Why To Post?
-Craigslist is free, that is a huge plus (all you need is an email!)
-Craigslist allows you to set a timetable for a particular sale.
-On Craigslist you can sell LARGE items (might be time to get rid of that bike you have't ridden since college.)
-It gives you an opportunity to barter and bargain, allow you face to face interactions. Call me primitive but, I LIKE doing that. It gives me a good idea of the buyer (must be the Asian gene in me:wink
-I can take CASH ONLY if I want to.
-I don't have to pay Craigslist anything.
-With Automatic postings, you can be "ad-ready" really quick. This is ideal for large businesses like a car dealership that has 5-6 cars at a time. You can also rotate your location to cater to a larger market.
-A HUGE range of selling possibilities, from job opportunities to real estate to items (big and small). In short as long as it is legal to sell, you can sell it on Craigslist.
Why NOT to Post
Okay this was coming, (remember, my dad's philosophy?)
-You can sell only locally in most cases. Craigslist is used by billions but due to their geographical splitting (currently 450 different localities with separate postings) your ad is reaching a very small percentage of a VERY large total figure.
-People don't show, causing frustrating delays, pushing the sale timetable forward.
-People don't remove postings, or not add pictures or details till you email them-this adds an extra step in the process (ONE I really DON'T want to do).
-Pick up and transportation costs for large items.
-Meeting unknown people, this is ALWAYS a risk.
-Here comes the true price of a free forum! (drum roll, please) You have ZERO protection from scams and money recover possibilities from a fake check, for example, are slim. Sites like eBay offer protection to their customers, overall and from each other. But, with Craigslist you have to rely largely on trust and your own instinct. Sales and purchase histories are a good source for a reliability check and most transactions go smoothly but there are always a handful of cases that get swindled.
-Another issue with free postings is the constant complaints, Craigslist is quite infamous for people complaining about "advertisers breaking rules". A small toe out of line can get you marked for spam by the site.
-New businesses have trouble getting their postings to work and be taken seriously, with so much suspicion its difficult to remove the element of "surprise! you have been scammed!"
On a serious note, IT IS FREE! So there is no harm in giving it a try, Craigslist might just be what your business needs! :moil:
Enter-Craigslist, Amazon, Olx and the list is growing daily.
Whereas eBay (this strictly from a seller perspective) is ideal for small items and costs Craigslist is FREE and you can post ads for things that require a truck to transport e.g. a car. Now, I don't know about you guys, the first thing that my daddy taught me about business was to be wary of all things 'FREE'. So, what do I do? I prepare to use the forum but I also educate myself in all things Craigslist like CL auto posting tools, free craigslist PVA's (Pinger App is one example) and finally I weigh my pros and cons for using the forum.
Why To Post?
-Craigslist is free, that is a huge plus (all you need is an email!)
-Craigslist allows you to set a timetable for a particular sale.
-On Craigslist you can sell LARGE items (might be time to get rid of that bike you have't ridden since college.)
-It gives you an opportunity to barter and bargain, allow you face to face interactions. Call me primitive but, I LIKE doing that. It gives me a good idea of the buyer (must be the Asian gene in me:wink
-I can take CASH ONLY if I want to.
-I don't have to pay Craigslist anything.
-With Automatic postings, you can be "ad-ready" really quick. This is ideal for large businesses like a car dealership that has 5-6 cars at a time. You can also rotate your location to cater to a larger market.
-A HUGE range of selling possibilities, from job opportunities to real estate to items (big and small). In short as long as it is legal to sell, you can sell it on Craigslist.
Why NOT to Post
Okay this was coming, (remember, my dad's philosophy?)
-You can sell only locally in most cases. Craigslist is used by billions but due to their geographical splitting (currently 450 different localities with separate postings) your ad is reaching a very small percentage of a VERY large total figure.
-People don't show, causing frustrating delays, pushing the sale timetable forward.
-People don't remove postings, or not add pictures or details till you email them-this adds an extra step in the process (ONE I really DON'T want to do).
-Pick up and transportation costs for large items.
-Meeting unknown people, this is ALWAYS a risk.
-Here comes the true price of a free forum! (drum roll, please) You have ZERO protection from scams and money recover possibilities from a fake check, for example, are slim. Sites like eBay offer protection to their customers, overall and from each other. But, with Craigslist you have to rely largely on trust and your own instinct. Sales and purchase histories are a good source for a reliability check and most transactions go smoothly but there are always a handful of cases that get swindled.
-Another issue with free postings is the constant complaints, Craigslist is quite infamous for people complaining about "advertisers breaking rules". A small toe out of line can get you marked for spam by the site.
-New businesses have trouble getting their postings to work and be taken seriously, with so much suspicion its difficult to remove the element of "surprise! you have been scammed!"
On a serious note, IT IS FREE! So there is no harm in giving it a try, Craigslist might just be what your business needs! :moil: