Selling Furniture on Craig's List

My husband and I often have differences of opinion, but one thing (of a few) we did agree on; our old living room furniture was just too big. We dealt with this fact for almost 3 years because I just couldn't let my beautiful sofa, chair and a half with ottoman, and two tables go. My attachment to this furniture was really twofold. One, it was relatively expensive and two, it was the first complete living room set I've ever purchased; so adult the way it all matched! After 7 good years, I finally felt as though I would give selling it on Craig's List a try since it was still in really good shape.

I guess my initial feeling was it probably wouldn't sell, therefore I wouldn't have to part with it just yet. If you don't get immediate interest in your posting, it tends to get lost deeper and deeper into the site and often can be found on the 7th page of any search in less then a week! To cut to the chase here, I posted my listing on a Monday evening at 9 pm and by Wednesday 5:30 pm, two days later, had a check in hand . It was a bittersweet success. So this morning at 8 am, they came to pick up the furniture.

Exactly how I managed to sell the furniture so quickly and only for 10% less than my asking price, I'm not so sure. Could be simple luck. I will share with you, however, the process I went through since I think there were certain details I paid attention to that others who also had posted furniture did not.

1. You have to post a picture! Listings without pictures often get skipped over. If the person selling something can't take the time to show you what they are offering, the perception is that it's probably not worth the money being asked. And nobody wants to waste time and effort figuring out of something is really worth it, unless they have reason to believe it is.

2. I cleaned up the furniture, dusted the tables, fluffed up the cushions/pillows etc. Make sure your furniture looks the best it possibly can.

3. Clean the area around the furniture so your pictures almost look like they are from a brochure. If your Chair or Sofa has clutter on or around it or it looks messy and sloppy, the perception might be that your house is not clean, so why would your furniture be any different? Buying anything used, for me, is always about the ratio of cost and value. In other words, it needs to cost at least 40-50% less than buying new, but look pretty much brand new. This is why I took the extra effort to really stage my furniture. Plus I took many shots and picked out the best ones.

4. When taking the pictures, I tried to make sure the lighting again was favorable and also gave an accurate representation of the color/texture.

5. If what you are trying to sell has something unique about it, make sure the photos capture that detail. For example, my tables had delicate wood carving, so I made sure it was very visible. Also, the feet of the sofa and chairs were very distinctive, so I captured just that aspect for one photo.

6. Before I created my listing, I searched for existing furniture listings to see what I was competing with and how they worded either their title or text/description inside.

7. After identifying my asking price was very reasonable given the competition, I created the listing making sure my title was specific and included the brand name of the furniture, as this too was a selling point for anyone familiar with the brand.

8. Lastly, and this is probably a matter of your comfort level with privacy, I included my cell phone number in the listing. There is much more immediate gratification knowing all the questions an interested person may have can be answered in one quick phone call versus some sterile back and forth email string that may take 3 days to conclusion.

So honestly, it easily could have been luck or maybe taking a little extra time with the items above makes a difference. Either way - my living room is empty and I get to buy new furniture that hopefully both my husband and I like!


Below are the actual pictures used in my listing.

Weathering the storm(s)

I've been hunkered down now for over a month weathering both winter and financial storms, but I thought I would peek my head out for a brief moment to share what I've been doing and see if anyone else has been following a winter/economic survival plan.

On the weather front, we've made some significant strides towards handling winter. We installed all new windows to upgrade our home into 21st century standards. No more plastic shrink wrap to put up and pull down. Not only is this a huge improvement cosmetically, but we are already noticing some significant cost savings over our old drafty windows. Secondly, we have gotten our home insulated recently.
Some other common ideas we've implemented for our home involve the use of a programmable thermostat. Settings allow for temperature thresholds for certain time periods. They are flexible enough to recognize separate weekend settings too.

On the financial storm front, it seems as though this has already been going on for quite a while and my initial rationing and preparations need an overhaul for what now seems to be a worsening and prolonged situation.

Despite all the news announcing corporate layoffs (big and small), financial bailouts, credit card crunches and general rising unemployment, I'm pleased to say I am still employed full time. Perhaps I am lucky, or perhaps I'm on borrowed time; we'll see.

Either way, cost cutting is being deployed by not only businesses but by households as well. Here are some of the cost cutting measures I have either done already or will be doing in the immediate future:

1. Look at your "nice to have" monthly fixed expenses:

• Re-financed my home to take advantage of significantly lower rate
  
• I've bundled my home phone, internet and television services to one provider for an overall reduced rate
  
• Trimming down the number of paid for channels or reducing internet speed packages
  
• Trimming down Cell phone packages to lower minutes per month, or use of family plans
  

2. Look at ways to reduce necessary monthly fixed expenses:

• Turn your heat down when not at home or layer clothing
  
• Shorter showers to save on hot water heating costs
• Turn lights out when leaving rooms
  
• Turn off surge protector power-strips that are connected to computer equipment or entertainment units when not in use
• Grocery store
• buy in bulk
• Try wholesale clubs for staple items like toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc.
  
• clipping coupons
• buying items when on sale and planning meals around those ingredients rather then meals dictating your shopping
• use the grocery store loyalty cards - the savings can be significant and some offer gas discounts on top of grocery bill savings
• Recycle more versus throwing things away to reduce the frequency of garbage pick ups or take your trash to the transfer station yourself.

3. Evaluate all non-essential expenses:

• Dining out
• Try inviting guests over for dinner, cooking meals at home in general often costs less, especially where cocktails or wine is involved. If the offer is reciprocated, you'll still have evenings out for half the cost
• Perhaps your dog doesn't need to go to doggy day care everyday
• Try every other day or every two days
  
• Take your dog for walks and get the benefit of exercise while you're at it!
• Go for a hike versus go to the movies

4. Other cost cutting ideas:

• Learn to sew and mend clothes with missing buttons, fixing hems, etc.
• Sell any items that are taking up space in attics, basements, garages
• Stay-cations, look for smaller scale vacations or getaways that are more local to avoid high travel costs
• luxury items can wait

There are plenty more out there, so feel free to comment and add on!