Ask Me Almost Anything
Feel free to ask questions in the comment section below and I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.
What kind of transportation do you use?
Currently I tow a 5×8 utility trailer with a nice ramp on it behind our Toyota Sienna. I did this so we could consolidate vehicles and save money. Plus they get good gas mileage, are able to store certain items inside the van etc
Currently I tow a 5×8 utility trailer with a nice ramp on it behind our Toyota Sienna. I did this so we could consolidate vehicles and save money. Plus they get good gas mileage, are able to store certain items inside the van etc
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How do you manage to get big items if it’s just you doing the pick-ups?
I’ve got a utility dolly. The one I use isn’t an appliance dolly, it’s a little shorter. I’m fairly strong so I’m able to prevent appliances from tipping over side to side without the use of straps. I don’t necessarily recommend that for everyone. Appliance dolly’s with the straps are a good safe guard (but they are huge, heavy things to bring around with you everywhere) I’ve also got a 4 wheel furniture cart that I can put underneath abnormally large items like 6 ft long chest freezers, big pieces of furniture etc if the owner isn’t able to help me out.
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Where do you store your stuff and do you have a big backlog of items?
In our garage and under a covered patio in our backyard. I’m planning on building a nice shop soon. Currently I have a good backlog of items. That’s a good thing though. The more items you have, the more that will sell each day. It’s better to have too many than not enough. I’ve had plenty of days this past year where I didn’t have anything to sell.
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Do you turn the items around quickly and do you sell via any websites other than craigslist?
I would guess that the average turn around time would be a day or two at the most. Many items resell the same day. Some less desirable items, like an old yellow clothes dryer, might take 3 days. I will sell certain electronic items, clothing, shoes and other smaller items back on eBay when it makes the most financial sense. You take a decent hit in eBay and paypal fees so often times it’s better to just sell on Craigslist if it’s a very expensive item. Like a $200 laptop, you will probably lose $15-$20 selling that on ebay. Sell it for $200 on Craigslist and you’ve made an extra $20.
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I am interested in buying and reselling handbags on Craigslist. Do you have any suggestions to guarantee authenticity?
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I used to work for a bank. When they were training us to detect counterfeit money, we were told that the easiest way to detect counterfeit money was to handle real money. I think that can be true with a lot of other products that get counterfeited whether it’s handbags or sunglasses or watches.
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Another safe-guard would be to purchase the items at the person’s house. Does the house match the item? Do they have a family? A dog, some kids? The more normal they seem to be the less likely it’s a criminal trying to sell fake goods. In general, someone selling fake goods isn’t going to want everyone to know where they live. If they won’t allow you to come to their house, and you kind of get a weird feeling about it, trust your gut and walk away. I’ve walked away from a lot of deals. The ones that I had a bad feeling about, for one reason or another, always ended up being a big headache.
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Don’t just look for items to buy, but look at the people and situations you are buying from. They tend to reveal all you will need to know about an item when you are trying to decide whether to purchase or not.
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Another safe-guard would be to purchase the items at the person’s house. Does the house match the item? Do they have a family? A dog, some kids? The more normal they seem to be the less likely it’s a criminal trying to sell fake goods. In general, someone selling fake goods isn’t going to want everyone to know where they live. If they won’t allow you to come to their house, and you kind of get a weird feeling about it, trust your gut and walk away. I’ve walked away from a lot of deals. The ones that I had a bad feeling about, for one reason or another, always ended up being a big headache.
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Don’t just look for items to buy, but look at the people and situations you are buying from. They tend to reveal all you will need to know about an item when you are trying to decide whether to purchase or not.
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How much of your time (percentage-wise) do you spend:
1. Looking online for items to buy? Maybe 40%
2. Driving around picking stuff up? Probably 50%
3. Listing the item on Craigslist? About 5%
4. Selling / negotiating / dealing with customers? About 5% These are approximate guesses.
2. Driving around picking stuff up? Probably 50%
3. Listing the item on Craigslist? About 5%
4. Selling / negotiating / dealing with customers? About 5% These are approximate guesses.
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What do you estimate your hourly income is, both during the first month you started a serious effort on Craigslist, and today?
What do you estimate your hourly income is, both during the first month you started a serious effort on Craigslist, and today?
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Hmm, I was able to pay all the bills for our family of 6 when we started and it was tight. About a year later now, bills are still all paid and there’s a good chunk leftover. Things are going pretty well. Over time, as I’ve gotten much better, I buy less items and have been making more money. It’s kind of like a contractor who just builds one expensive home instead of 6 inexpensive ones. I’ve got 4 kids and a wife who I spend time with, and I take at least a day off a week. If I was single doing this, I would be working 100 hour weeks and making a mountain of money. It’s just not worth it once you have a family. I’ve got a guy that works for me now as well, so that helps.
Hmm, I was able to pay all the bills for our family of 6 when we started and it was tight. About a year later now, bills are still all paid and there’s a good chunk leftover. Things are going pretty well. Over time, as I’ve gotten much better, I buy less items and have been making more money. It’s kind of like a contractor who just builds one expensive home instead of 6 inexpensive ones. I’ve got 4 kids and a wife who I spend time with, and I take at least a day off a week. If I was single doing this, I would be working 100 hour weeks and making a mountain of money. It’s just not worth it once you have a family. I’ve got a guy that works for me now as well, so that helps.
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On Ebay, I can set an alert to email me when someone lists something I’m looking for. How do I do that on Craigslist?
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Go to the specific section of the item you are looking for, say computers. Once there, search for what you are looking for, say laptop. Hit search. Then on the next page, go to the bottom right hand side of the page and there will be an orange RSS link. Click that link to add this particular search to your RSS feed. Each time a “laptop” or “Samsung laptop” or whatever you searched for, comes up, it will be sent to your RSS feed reader. The only downfall to this, like Michael said in his response to the GRS post, the RSS feed doesn’t update as quickly as the web page feeds. RSS feeds for free items for example are a waste of time. RSS feeds are great for slightly slower moving items, or items that have less demand.
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What techniques do you use to spot deals quickly? Do you find that most sellers are available to have you pick things up that day?
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This will also get it’s own post. I have lots of windows open at the top of my browser. The pages upload in somewhat regular intervals. Like Appliances-general should update every 10 minutes or so. Then there are all the sub regions of each category, usually different county’s around a big city. Those all have slightly different refresh schedules and you just have to watch the ones you are interested in individually. This is most important for free items, as there are hundreds of people, at least in my area that are sitting at their computers trying to get free items. I got a few free items this past week where the people told me how many other responses they got. 92 other emails in 45 minutes, and many people know not even to bother emailing if the item has been up for more than a minute or two.
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This is less important for other categories with lower demand. Free section items are the hardest, cars are probably number two as there are hundreds of dealers competing against each other for the next used car that gets posted. I’ll write a post on that soon as well. Electronics and computers have a lot of guys doing it full time as well as appliances.
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You need to have google chrome and download the send from Gmail extension. This enables you to simply click on the Reply to: email address within the add and a Gmail window will open up immediately will all the posting’s information already pre-filled in. All you need to do is type that you want the item and can come right away etc.
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In my area, I know a lot of people can’t sell immediately because they’re at work/going to work/aren’t physically co-located with the item.
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If the item just got posted, I would guess at least 75% of the time the seller would allow you to come right away. If you can’t come right away, how you handle it is very important. You need to put the ball in THEIR court. Ask them when a good time for THEM would be for you to come pick it up. They will then throw out a few times and you pick the best one or suggest a time slightly later. If you just start by telling them you can’t come get it until after you get off work, because of the flake epidemic, many sellers will just ask you to call back when you are able to come. I’ve learned this over hundreds and hundreds times setting up appointments.
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If the seller is at work, then nail down a time like 15 minutes or so after they are to be home. Do whatever you can to nail down that time or again you might lose the item. Sometimes there’s no way around it. If 4 hours goes by between when you set up a time to come look at an item, that’s 4 hours for someone else to try and undercut you by offering over asking price. That’s happened to me over a dozen times this past year and there’s really not much you can do about that.
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I’ve been thinking about trying to do this with Video Games, both old and new, as this is something I know a lot about. Do you have any idea if Video Games on craigslist can be obtained cheaply enough to turn a profit, or if it’s also worth reselling them back on craigslist as opposed to somewhere else?
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You can obtain and turn a profit on just about anything that is sold on Craigslist. However, certain items are more difficult than others. For example, I tend to stay away from Apple products. On Ebay the selling of Apple products is so popular that the prices are basically fixed. It’s very easy for people to find out how much their particular item is selling for if it’s sold often on Ebay.
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Just give it a try. You will know exactly how much you will get for the video game before you even buy them. Once you know how much something sells on ebay, try to get more for it on Craigslist, plus you will save on all the ebay fees etc. If your going to do it, start now as the closer to Christmas you get the more people are going to be buying the games. (and selling to get Christmas $)
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Could you go more in depth on talking down prices/haggling with craigslist sellers? I think that might even deserve its own post.
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I will write a post on talking down prices soon. The easiest way to talk down prices is to send an email asking a few questions about the item and then make an offer. Let them know you can come right away.
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Over the phone is the next way. If it’s not worth it to buy an item unless the price is dropped, then you just let them know what you are willing to pay. It’s best to talk with them for a little bit about the item, it’s history. Then ask if there is anything wrong with the item. Follow that up with your offer. It can be awkward, theres almost no way around that. Be confident with your offer.
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One thing you need to remember. If it’s a really good deal, it’s going to soon be gone. If you are talking to someone on the phone about their item, just assume that if you don’t set up a time right then to check it out, someone else will within a minute or so. So remember that when you are trying to get the price down on an already good deal or very high demand item.
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For instance, what is the ratio of free stuff and stuff you buy from craigslist?
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My rule is try to stay busy. If I’m not buying something, then I will try to pick something up for free. I watch multiple sections at once as well as the free section. Sometimes I’ll have days when it’s just free items that keep coming up. Other days it’s a mix of both. As time has gone on, I have learned the value of hundreds and hundreds of items. This makes it pretty easy when deciding which items are worth my time.
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What categories should you steer clear from?
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The ones you don’t know very well. The one item I’ve lost money on this past year was a small stack of old baseball cards a kid sold me. I haven’t dabbled in baseball cards for years, so when he posted the ad, I looked up the value for all the cards in that year. Then when we met up, all the cards were four years newer than what he had told me over the phone. I talked him down to reduce my risk. Then gambled as I hadn’t looked up any cards from that year. Got home and found out the entire set of 660 cards for that year was selling for less than what I had paid for about 100 cards. I had been lied to, but I had chosen to still take a risk. I kept calling him until he took his cards back and gave me a mini sd card and an Ipod nano. I still lost $30 on the deal. That’s a cheap lesson learned. Stick with what you know and with what you can clearly research. Control your risks as much as possible.
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When you’re looking at free stuff, it seems your best chance of success is to be able to pick up the item immediately, but that would prevent you from responding to later ads in this manner. How do you handle this?
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I use lots of discernment. Sometimes you are able to postpone some pickups a while, but it’s always risky. I’ve had free items given to me that had 92 email responses by the time I picked up the item…45 minutes after it had been posted. Whenever you don’t go pick something up immediately, you are risking losing the item. There is almost no way around that.
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As far as missing out on items, that’s been something I’ve been working on addressing for months. One way is getting a tablet computer with a 3g card to take along with you while you are driving. I use the Samsung Galaxy tab 7inch. It’s incredible. I always have a few windows pulled up and look at the newest listings when I’m stopped, pulled over etc. Also, you need to be able to respond to emails while you are driving around. When someone responds while you are out, often times you only have 10-15 minutes before they will move onto the next person.
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Another way is to not leave your office/house or wherever you are working from. I have someone who works for me part-time picking things up. Spotting the deals and responding quickly enough via email or phone is most of the battle. Everything else (the pickup, item inspection, cleaning, pictures, selling and delivery) can be systematized and controlled for the most part, through training someone else.
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I’ve never shopped on Craig’sList. Is it worth it to ask the seller to text you a picture before driving out?
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For me it depends on the distance to their house. If they live close, I usually don’t bother asking for a picture. The further away they live, the more questions I will ask before I pull the trigger and drive to their house. If I still don’t have a good feeling after a number of questions, usually a picture isn’t going to help. Trust your gut feeling. Try not to get into situations where you are desperate for an item, or where you have to have it today. That’s when mistakes are made that you end up regretting. Be patient. In general, an item posted without pictures is not a good sign.
October 18, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Hey Ryan,
I’ve done a very small amount of craigslist reselling but want to get into it more. I know you specialize in appliances and could probably offer the best advice on those, however I only have a small car and am worried about not being able to transport large items. Are there any smaller categories of items that you’ve seen success with? I am pretty knowledgable about electronics – cameras, computers, etc. Anything you’d recommend going after or staying away from? I know TV’s are a tough one, but I was thinking something like a video game system might be a good item to resell. Thanks!
October 18, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I have two questions:
1. I’ve been thinking about trying to do this with Video Games, both old and new, as this is something I know a lot about. Do you have any idea if Video Games on craigslist can be obtained cheaply enough to turn a profit, or if it’s also worth reselling them back on craigslist as opposed to somewhere else?
2. Could you go more in depth on talking down prices/haggling with craigslist sellers? I think that might even deserve its own post.
October 18, 2011 at 5:19 pm
What techniques do you use to spot deals quickly? Do you find that most sellers are available to have you pick things up that day? In my area, I know a lot of people can’t sell immediately because they’re at work/going to work/aren’t physically co-located with the item.
October 18, 2011 at 7:12 pm
On Ebay, I can set an alert to email me when someone lists something I’m looking for. How do I do that on Craigslist?
October 19, 2011 at 5:11 pm
How much of your time (percentage-wise) do you spend:
1. Looking online for items to buy?
2. Driving around picking stuff up?
3. Listing the item on Craigslist?
4. Selling / negotiating / dealing with customers?
What do you estimate your hourly income is, both during the first month you started a serious effort on Craigslist, and today?
Thanks!
October 21, 2011 at 2:20 am
Ryan,
I am interested in buying and reselling handbags on Craigslist. Do you have any suggestions to guarantee authenticity?
ChristyG
October 22, 2011 at 7:01 am
Are you able to keep an employee busy full time?
October 24, 2011 at 11:26 am
Great blog, thanks for sharing all your insights. I have questions about the operational aspects, like what kind of transport do you use, how do you manage to get big items if it’s just you doing the pick-ups, where do you store your stuff, do you have a big backlog of items or do you turn them around quickly, do you sell via any websites other than craigslist?
October 24, 2011 at 7:32 pm
that toad looks like he won’t budge on the price
February 14, 2012 at 12:20 am
Question….I’m not selling anything on Craigslist. I posted an add asking for work or cash. What can I expect. This was my last resort to get money in hand to pay Mortgage,bills,food etc. I have looked for work for the past 3 years.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
This is not a scam, I’m desperate!!!!!!!
February 14, 2012 at 11:59 pm
I’m not sure what kind of response you will get. I haven’t posted ads like that before, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you got some sort of response. I would recommend hitting up the Gig section and refreshing it every 10 minutes, and be ready to reply or call on the ads that get listed. You have to be quick. Same for the free section, one nice free item is worth a days work, or more! Focus there as well and pick off a handful of free items, clean them up and resell them. You gotta hustle, but doors of opportunity will open to you if you try hard enough.
February 27, 2012 at 8:33 am
Ryan, I’ve been reselling part time for about 1 year now making 400-500 per week. If I made the jump to 40 hours full time, how much can I expect to earn? Also, do you do any Ebay arbitrage?
Thanks,
Paul
April 2, 2012 at 2:51 am
I think it depends on the items you are buying/selling. For each given category, there are only a certain number items that you can flip for a good profit each day. Depends on the market your in. If you branch out into more categories, the sky is the limit. I had weeks where I made over $1,400 in profit. I’ve also had really bad weeks. Certain times of the year are better than others, like summer for example. I still see lots of room for growth. The key is knowing everything there is to know about a market.
I will sell smaller items that sell for significantly more money on eBay, or where the demand on eBay is a lot higher. I don’t do it a lot though. I will probably write a post on that soon. Thanks for your note!
March 24, 2012 at 4:52 am
Ryan,
I read over your entire website and you sound like you are in the exact situation I am in. I have employed all of your tips and advice and also have discovered a few of my own. You seem to be a little bit bolder than I am however in the sense that you like to go to the peoples home. I live in an area with a lot of shady individuals and would DEFINITELY not want to show up at their house when they know I have at least 200 dollars for an electronic device. If it is an electronic item like an iPhone I usually require the box the item came in that way it is almost impossible that it would be stolen that way. I have two questions for you, do you ever feel like you are putting yourself or family members in harms way? Like do you ever allow your wife to meet people to sell stuff or have her meet someone to buy something. Also I made pretty good money on craigslist/ebay/amazon last year buying and selling anything from baseball cards I got for free to expensive cars. My question is what do you tell people when they ask you what you do for a living? Buying and selling things on craigslist? I have been asked this question quite a few times but I also have a part time job and am a full time student so that is usually my answer. I feel like if I treated this like a business I could make GOOD money doing it. Have you ever checked about tax laws and the legality of buying and selling things on craigslist not for a few bucks on the side but an entire family supporting salary? I am very interested in this, to bad you don’t live closer!
April 6, 2012 at 10:51 pm
I live in Maine and would like to be able to scan the entire US for items I want including Model T Ford parts and neon items. How do I go about scanning all locales without clicking on every state in the US? Please advise and Thank you! Larry in Maine
April 7, 2012 at 6:50 am
The best way to do that is actually to go to google.com. Type in…..”model t parts craigslist”
This will search every craigslist in the country all at once. You can also set up an RSS feed for that exact search on google so that you will be notified automatically when one comes up for sale. Hope that helps!