How to Use Craigslist

Blog•on March 31st, 2010•1 Comment

I often encourage my clients to use Craigslist to promote their businesses. I just had a client tell me yesterday that he got two new customers as a result of a recent ad placed on Craigslist.

The main benefits of using Craigslist are that the ads can be placed in local markets, they are free to set up, and you can have an ad up and running in under 10 minutes.

I have done the following using Craigslist:

  • Found a renter for my condo – twice (no agent commission)
  • Sold a number of items such as electronics, musical instruments, and household items
  • Obtained music gigs for my violin playing
  • Sold a number of items for other people where I have taken a commission for the sale

Here is a list of steps to get yourself up and running on Craigslist:

  1. Go to www.craigslist.org and find your city.  Click on that city.
  2. Within that page, click on “My Accounts” on the left-hand side of the screen.
  3. Sign up for an account with Craigslist (it’s free)
  4. Once you have that squared away, sign in to your new account.  You are now ready to place your first ad.
  5. Click on “Post to Classifieds” on the left-hand side of the screen.
  6. Find the appropriate Type of Posting for your product or service.
  7. Start with a catchy title for your item, then add a description.  Use a price that gives you a little room for negotiation.
  8. Add Photos under “Add / Edit Images!!!  Very important.  I’ve found that people respond better to ads with photos.  You can add up to 4 images.
  9. Click on “Continue” and fulfill the rest of the steps.
  10. Since you have created a Craigslist account, every time you sign in, you will be able to see the ads that you have currently running and the ones you have done in the past.  This also provides easy access to delete your ad once you have sold the product or service.

My recommendation is to re-post your advertisement every 6 – 10 days.  If you try to re-post under that time frame, Craigslist will try to stop you.  The newest ads show up first as people search for products or services.  Therefore, it is best to refresh your ad so it is higher up on the list.

Although Craigslist is a great tool, I must also warn you of some potential problems:

  • There are a lot of people trying to take your money on Craigslist.  If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.  For instance, if someone from the UK wants to buy your piano for twice as much as the price and ship it to the UK using FedEx, it’s not real.  As a general rule, I would stay away from international orders.
  • If you sell a product and are to meet to exchange the product for money, choose  a well-lit area with many people around.  I always recommend taking one other person along with you so that you are not alone.

A final tip – for further safety, Craigslist allows you to use an anonymous email address instead of your personal one.  Do this to avoid potential spammers.

Any questions about using Craigslist – go ahead and leave a comment to this post.