Landing free items on Craigslist

I just picked up a free 40 inch Sony Bravia 1080p lcd TV (pictured at the right) that needs fixing.   How in the world did I get the TV when there were 90 other responders in the first 35 minutes?  (the guy counted)

I was the first to respond.  Usually whoever responds first naturally gets the goods.  That might seem obvious, but for those of you willing to try other techniques, they usually don’t work. (Bribing the person, using bold print, feeding them a sob story about how your kids don’t have food or clothing etc)  Being the first to respond takes some understanding of how Craigslist works.

Get the Send from Gmail google chrome extension.  
(Get it here)
Once you’ve opened the page for the item, there is a reply email address link under the title of the item.  When you click on that email address, this program opens up a window in Gmail with all the necessary information filled in, the email address, the title of the post, even a link to the post. (which is handy when you get an email back 2 hours later, and you’ve emailed 40 other people about items)  All you need to do is write something like, “I would love to have _____, thanks!”  I can respond to a listing in about 3 seconds total.

Know when the new items are added
For most sections, it’s in just under 10 minutes.  Craigslist prints the time in military time at the moment they refresh the section. So it will say something like this:  [ Wed, 05 Oct 15:27:02 ].  That means that around 15:37:00 it will refresh with all the items that have been added in the past 10 minutes.  When it’s getting close to this time, refresh your screen until the new items have appeared.  Quickly scan the new items and pick the item most valuable, I mean that you need most.  Quickly read or just email them as quickly as possible saying that you would love the item.  You can always email them back telling them you changed your mind or are unable to come over.

That will be good enough for most of you.  For others, you need to know that you can possibly get at the data a little sooner by going to the individual sub sections under the free section.  The free section is broken up into multiple local regions in your area, especially if you are in a large city.  They all update at different times.  Having one or all of these regions open in other windows can give you an extra jump on all and assure first place in line.  There is more to be written on this but it gets complicated and involves all the different feeds, how to pull them etc.

What to write
Don’t just leave the email blank.   Some people will mistake your response for an automated computer response.  Personalize it.  Mention the specific item and allow your enthusiasm and appreciation to bubble out.  “I would love to have this TV!”  I usually end it in exclamation marks to show my enthusiasm.

You got a response saying you were the first to respond, now what?
Email back as quickly as possible telling them one of two things.  Tell them you can come right over to pick it up and ask for their address.  Or, if you can’t come right over, there is still a possibility to salvage your find.  Ask them when a good time to pick the item up is.  Putting the ball in their court is huge.  It communicates that you are flexible and wonder when it would work best for them.  Then, when they respond, hope they give you the option to pick it up when you are able to.  Get their address and tell them you will see them at a specific time.  The best way to lose an item that you scored is to tell them you can’t pick it up until such and such time.  Their next response is going to be sorry someone already came and picked it up.  I would know, I’ve archived dozens of such responses.  Put the ball in their court!

I’ve used the above techniques to get free televisions, washers and dryers, freezers, refrigerator’s, thousands of dollars in scrap metal, and just about anything else you can imagine.  Let me know if the tips above help you out, and better yet, share what you scored!