How to make easy money on craigslist – for true “hustlers”!

Making money on craigslist is actually alot easier than you think. Obviously, the site is filled with spammers, advertisers and affiliate programs that are going to be flagged and removed before you know it. However, If you’re able to copy and paste relatively fast (easy) and can do some basic ebay research, you should be able to pull in a few hundred dollars a week in your spare time without violating craigslist terms of service.

This method is pretty guaranteed and constant and it really takes advantage of the weekend warrior who needs cash for a night out on town or to pay that past due bill and prevent their cell phone or other utility from being shut off.  As long as you don’t mind being cussed out a few times and you’re willing to play the numbers game (for now we will call it “1/10′) you shouldn’t have a problem finding some ebay profitable items for sale.

Many of the cities on craigslist are up and coming but if you happen to live in a populated and heavy user posting city then you already have it made!

1. Step 1 – Find a category you’re familiar with or that’s popular on both ebay and craigslist. For me, I usually choose electronics or computers. Getting even more specific, the big money makers I’ve found have been in laptops, desktops, cell phones and other gadget like devices. This has to be worth your time so don’t go to the clothes section and plan on making any money (worth your time) selling an old leather jacket or a heavy oak coffee table.
2. Step 2 – Go into the category and point your cursor to the search tab and type in something like “laptops”. This will bring up all the laptops in the category and if you’re lucky, you should see pages of post that only a few hours or days old.
3. Step 3 – Start  copy and pasting model numbers and have an extra tab open and research what the items are going for on ebay. Clicking on “completed” auctions and sorting by highest price should give you a good starting point. As you scroll down, you’ll see red (unsuccessful) and green (items that sold) completed listings. When you get towards a more constant green section, you know about the average selling price the item goes for. Go into these auctions and make sure the specifics are nearly identical to what’s being offered on craiglist. If their model hard drive is 80gb you probably wont get as much money as a 200gb hard drive, but might still have the same model number.
4. Step 4 – Regardless of the craiglist post asking cost, offer them a few hundred bucks less than the ebay sales price to where you know you would have a good chance of selling the item with ease. You wont want to sit on a $800 laptop for 2 weeks only to make $100, so make sure your margin is worth your time. Remember the numbers game I mentioned above – “1/10″ chances you’ll find a winner and a craiglist poster who is willing to part with the item so you can profit.

It’s really that easy, but you might encounter a few more obstacles from the seller but that’s pretty easy to get around. Craiglist users will usually list the item for a little under what they paid for it and are 9/10 willing to take a bit less than their asking price. Most do not take into consideration the depreciation of value int their item. Their laptop might of cost them $1200 a year ago, but its only worth $700 now. Finding the price that they’re willing to sell it at is your next step! …or should I say, convincing them that’s their price is too high might work even better!

Ill use an example I used a few months ago. The craigslist ad was for a Dell Inspirion D420 laptop. Mint condition and came with all the extras and even a 3 year next day service warranty. His asking price was $800. After researching ebay, I saw a few going for $800, but then my wallet would be empty. Most of them were going for $600-$750. I quickly sent him a message telling him I would give him $350 and could meet him immediately and drive to him. Left my contact info and waited.

A few hours later, he wrote back saying he paid $1200 for it and had to get $700. I knew he was playing hard ball with me so I went to ebay, typed in the model number and sorted in completed auctions by “lowest price”. The lowest sales price moved for $300 by some guy who had obviously listed it too low on BIN. His laptop didn’t last long and sold in the first day.

I copied this auction listing title and sent it back to him showing that the item sold for much less and he wrote back telling me he could sell it on ebay and get $700 but didn’t want to go through the hassle and needed money for a trip he was taking that weekend. He agreed to meet and the laptop was mine for $325 (he talked me up, but I was able to get him to drive to my place and saved me some gas).

Take advantage of the following points and you can make some extra cash:

• Users are willing to part ways for under ebay value for cash-in-hand that day!
• Some don’t know how to sell or even research on ebay so they have no idea of the true value.
• You can easily convince someone their asking price is too high if you’re polite about it.
• 1/10 will say no, not respond or call you names that they would never say to your face. Be persistent! Sometimes I would makes offers on 30 laptops before I got a response but if you’re in a popular city you’ll have more than enough post to whack a stick at everyday.
• Craiglist has low competition so users asking prices are high. The high asking price post get few to no response so someone will usually respond and bring their price down.
• Use completed auctions that sold low to prove your point and use your ebay listing skills to get more.
• If they say no or your offer is to low, in a nice way leave them a final response telling them you can only offer “X” amount and to re-contact you if no one else purchased. Some will write back later that day of the following week after they’ve burned through their pay check and know they have a buyer who was willing to pay cash right away.

To be honest with you, whenever I needed some cash I was probably 90% successful in finding an item I could make $75-$200 on and only takes 1-3 hours total time from listings to driving once they’ve responded back. Since craigslist is local, you cant make a living off of it but it’s easy money. I felt bad sometimes haggling people down but in the end they got their cash and I was able to flip it so in my eyes we both were satisfied.

Bulk Wholesale Lots – The CD/DVD category was GREAT for me on more than one occasion. People will list their entire collection of CD’s and DVD and other items and offer them at LOW prices. Follow the steps above and you’ll have lots of items to sell even if you’re only able to make a few bucks on each one.

The big money makers in this category I found were LP’s and Records. I was able to get about 700 records for $200 from two different individuals. They were old timers who had large collections and just wanted to make room and the other had them at his ex-wives house and had to get them out of her garage. I was even able to buy a few other items from him with the extra cash I had on me. I picked through the records, found a few gems and made my investment back on 5/700 items. (And I swear to the big man upstairs their was a bag of some illegal substance that had been sitting in the record for decades. Ironically enough it was a Led Zepplin album.) I sold the others that would sell on ebay and then re-posted the rest back on craigslist and made a few hundred bucks more selling them to someone who actually had a collection.

Buy on Ebay – Sell on Craigslist - Like I said before, craiglist users over price their items and ebay is defiantly a buyers market where users typically want items 25%-50% off retail. Head to the “wanted” section and see what people are looking for or find some electronics for sale and see what peoples asking prices are. If I was unsure, I would send them a message asking if the item was available. If they said no, it sold in the first day …chances are you could sell another one on craiglist and make a few bucks.  I bought a few bulk lots of bluetooth headsets on ebay for $15 and easily sold them for $30. Sure it took an hour to sell each one meeting them locally but when all was said and done they were gone in 2 weeks and made a few hundred bucks. I even offered the last bit of them as a lot and someone bought them all for a decent profit.

Use the differences in price on ebay and craigslist to your advantage. If it sells high on craiglist and low on ebay, well you have a lead.

Free Section - Every city has a “For Free” section. Most of these items are yardsale left overs or people who are moving in or out and just want the stuff gone. Picking up a few items and re-listing them on craiglist worked a few times but you have to act fast or someone else will beat you to it.  Alot of times they’ll be heavy bulkier items that you cant sell on ebay like refrigerators, microwaves, leather couches or furniture. You might find someone you can use or know someone who’s in the need an be able to make a few dollars. You can’t go wrong with free items!

Try a few of these ideas out and get a feel for the city and listers in your local area. You’re sure to find a deal somewhere that has a re-sell margin. Make sure it’s worth your time, gas and safety.  The deals wont fall in your lap but a few persuasive emails and you’re half way there!

Always agree to meet in a public parking lot like wal-mart or wafflehouse (yes many of my deals were made at the local Waffle Heezy…a hash brown covered and topped with the profits was always a tradition!).

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