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I have bought furniture on Craigslist. Definitely be sure to include picture(s) and dimensions as mentioned so that person can tell ahead of time if it will fit.
I agree about random people coming to your house. Then wasting your time by trying to negotiate because, "oh I didn't know it had dust on it, well in that case..." or the endless emails and questions for people who aren't going to buy it in the first place.
Try to find a neighborhood yard sale you can crash, maybe a friends neighborhood if not yours, bring your stuff there, set up, and sell.
We posted a living room and dining room set recently. Mostly scammers replied. A few potential buyers, but no one came to look.
We are going to donate it, called Helping Hand Mission, and they are coming to pick it up this week.
I've sold a bedroom set on Craigslist without much trouble.... I was firm on the price, and the buyer I went with actually gave me what I asked without attempting to lower the price. My husband was home when he came by to see the furniture, as well (I wouldn't have felt comfortable otherwise).
All these are very good suggestions from some obviously seasoned craiglisters.
1. Put a good price to sell it and let people know you are firm and not to waste your time. If you have a market value or higher be prepared to wait a long time, or never sell it at all. Craigslist are looking for deals and most people overprice their stuff which is why it sits there so long.
2. Describe the item being critical of every little thing. Take pictures of damaged areas.
3. Show good pictures of the item. List deminsions as well. That will screen out a lot of emails.
4. Have them respond with a phone number that you can call to contact them so that if you get an email of a buyer you want to deal with you can call and not email. Sometimes on certain items like cars I will say put "Mustang for sale" in the subject box so that automatic responders from spammers are weeded out. This doesn't always work because people don't read everything there most of the time. So make it short and sweet.
5. Have the stuff in the garage or outside for safety. Sometimes you can meet in a parking lot of a grocery store or something but most of the time the item isn't worth it or I don't want to chance them not showing so I don't do that option anymore.
We've sold a lot of furniture on Craigslist, and it's great and relatively easy. The spammers are the biggest hassle, that and "no shows" who set a time but never arrive. I tend to prefer to have the furniture out in the garage for showings....and it's not that hard to screen serious shoppers from bored people looking to talk. But there are a lot of used furniture resale stores in this area, and they tend to be some of the earliest responders to nicer furniture, usually with a lowball offer.
Dimensions and photos (multiple views) are so important. And take the time to turn the photo so it's not "sideways". I'm not a bird, I can't turn my head to see a sideways picture (although I keep trying, but my devices turn sideways when I turn them sideways!).
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