How to Score on Craigslist

I have a love affair going on. Don’t worry…Hubs doesn’t mind much.  
I’m in love with Craigslist.
I have gotten some great deals off of Craigslist, like my $25 hutch.
Remember how I restored it? 

I’ve lost track of the number of deals I’ve scored off of Craigslist. There’s this perception that Craigs is better in some locations than others. The thing is, I’ve used Craig in several different states/cities/towns and I’ve always been able to find things I’ve wanted for a really great price.
Am I especially lucky? Nah! But I’m persistent when I am looking for something and I have a few guidelines I use when I’m shopping with Craig.
Know What you Want
When you shop on Craigs, you need to know what you want to buy. Why? Because there is SO MUCH available. If you just start looking at every category, you’d be on there for days and never find something.  Here are some things I’ve been keeping my eye out for:
From top left, they are: Antique Typewriter as seen on Let It Shine; End Table 
Redo as seen on Recaptured Charm; Antique Sewing Machine Stand Table as seen 
on My Repurposed Life; and Coffee Table Redo as seen on Junk Market Style.

Looking on my local Craigslist, take a look at what I found last night:

From top left: Antique Remington typewriter for $60; Night Stand $15; 
Antique Sewing Machine Stand $Best Offer; Coffee and End Table $50.

Amazing, right? I could easily have the items on my wish list, if I were willing to part with $125 for all but the sewing machine stand. For the stand, I’d need to make an offer, but I’ll talk about what I’d actually pay for things a little later.

Know How to Search

It’s important to understand how to search for items on Craigs, because you never know how people are going to list them. Not all furniture items are found in the Furniture section. You can find it in the General, Garage Sale, Household or some other tab. If someone is selling a car and a hutch, they may only want to do one listing which means the perfect hutch for you may be in the automotive section! Go figure.

Select Your City

I make sure I have the closest city to me selected, however, it’s surprising how often I’ll be searching in a different city. Craigslist will remember the last city you searched in. When I was living in Utah and moving to Ohio, we accidentally listed a couch for sale in the Ohio Craigslist. Trying to explain to a guy from Ohio how to find 600 East, Ten Thousand South (A Utah address system) was a pretty funny conversation!
Don’t be afraid to look at nearby listings. I live an hour north of Columbus, but because I’m down there a couple of times a month, I make sure to check their listings, too.

FruGal Tip: I’ve found KSL.com to be more popular than Craigslist in the Salt Lake City area. I you have a competitor to Craigslist in your area, these tips are likely to apply to those sites, too.

 Use the main search field first

You can see the Categories I search frequently (they’re the purple ones). Every day I look to see what’s listed in the Furniture, General, Household and Antique categories.

FruGal Tip: The Free Category is one that I’ve found does change by locations. In larger cities, you get more postings to the Free category, so it’s worth checking out. You need to be super quick and make sure all your stars are in alignment, though, because the free stuff goes fast and it’s rare to find what you want or need there.

I don’t bother with the Free category too often. I live in a town of about 50,000 people. There’s only about 5 listings a day and there’s not a lot of quality Free stuff. It’s a popular category for scammers. I’ll check it a couple of times a week, but more out of curiosity.

Use Accurate Search Terms

Try to be specific with your search terms, but not too specific. If I’m looking for a piecrust side table, I may know that’s what I want, but unless your seller knows that’s what it’s called, you may not find it by searching that specifically. 
 
If I search for a “table”, here’s what I find:

 If you are too general in your search terms, you’ll have to read through baby formula ads and man tools to know they’re not selling what you want to buy. Of the items shown above, the Nov. 24 “Quality Table – $30 (Lucas) is the only item on this list I’d actually be semi-interested in, but it’s the 9th item on the list.

Refine your Search

I don’t really want to drill down through 100 listings to find a night stand. To narrow my search, I put in “End Table” or “Side Table” in the search field. For the night stand I found that matched my inspiration piece, I didn’t find that until I searched for a “night stand.”

Filter Ads With Images
 Further refine your search by selecting the “Has Image” box. I’m not going to buy anything based upon someone’s description of it. Remember that piecrust table? I found this piecrust side table, but the person called it a “small chairside table. Also heard it called a ‘cigar or pipe table.'” This is why looking at pictures is important.

Enter Your Price Range

I don’t bother with a minimum price because such a thing doesn’t exist for me. Think about it, would you insist on paying $20 for a table? No, I won’t pay you $15, I must pay you $20! Those $15 tables are simply too low-brow for my refined palate. pfffft.

I will put in a maximum amount in the search area. I know I’m not going to pay more than $20 for any end table. I may splurge and pay $25 IF I didn’t have to refinish the table in ANY way. But I know that it’d be very rare to find what I’m looking for, in a price I’m willing to pay, AND in the exact color I’d want it in.

If I’m only going to pay $25 tops for the piece, I want to eliminate all the pricier options. I’d put a maximum of $30, thinking if something falls into that price range that I want, I’m going to try to talk the person down to my true price.

FruGal Tip: Only limit your search by price if you’re likely to get a LOT of hits for an item. 

I don’t always bother with price. For one thing, it can limit your search too much, and if people are selling multiple items, they may only list one of the prices, which may keep something you actually want from showing up in your search.

Another point to remember:  the more you refine your search, the more you’re going to eliminate some possibilities. That may be a good thing if you live in a big metropolitan area where there are thousands of items posted. If  you live in a smaller town like I do, it may be an unnecessary step.

From Top Left: Night stand to give a Liberace Treatment to like Recaptured Charm
Hutch as seen on The Life of LouLou; Currier & Ives The Old Grist Mill by Royal 
China; Dining set like Miss Mustard Seed’s.

Contact the Seller

Unless the seller gives a number to call them, I do my initial contact by email. I may a bit unusual, but I have several email addresses. Just to play it safe, I do not use the ones with my name in it when I contact sellers. I’m not comfortable in putting my personal information out there at first. There are scammers on Craigslist. It doesn’t hurt to keep things generic until you know if you’re even going to buy the item.

When I write, I ask/include the following;
1. Is the piece sold?
2. If it’s not sold, when is a good time to look at the item?
3. If it’s an electronic of some kind, I may ask for model or age or working condition.
4. For an upholstered piece, I ask if they smoke or have pets. I don’t want to buy stinky furniture.

Until I know the item is available, I leave my communication as email only. Again, no reason to give out your phone number until you’re ready to actually look at the item.

I’m hoping to find one of these some day.
 

Price Points

Don’t waste your time and your seller’s time by arranging to look at a $500 sofa, if you know you’re only going to pay $100. Even if you think the sofa is only worth 100 bucks, the seller doesn’t or he wouldn’t be asking $500 for it. It doesn’t hurt to send the seller an email and tell them you will pay $100 if they find they can’t sell it for their asking price, but don’t be surprised if you don’t hear back from them.
You can talk price in your email, but I find it more effective to hold the price discussion until you are actually in front of the seller with cash in hand. If you are squeamish about dickering, remember this: you’re a live one on the hook. If the seller is motivated to get rid of this item, they may be willing to take less than their asking price just to get rid of it. Again, be reasonable. Offering half or less is not usually going to be accepted. It never hurts to ask. All they can say is “No” so make sure you come prepared to pay the full asking price if you really want the item.

Here are my guidelines:

$5 – $50 Asking Price: Offer $5 less than Asking Price
$51 – $75: Offer $10 less than Asking Price
$76 – $150: Offer $20 less than Asking Price

Final Advice:

Never settle for this:

When what you really want is this:

Happy Craigslist Hunting!