I have never heard anyone say, "I love to move, its so much fun!" so I will not pretend like I am the only one who loathes this process, but between the hunt for a new place, deposits, packing, hauling, and unpacking, its been a stretch to keep anything straight. But through trial and error I have learned a few valuable tricks this time around which will hopefully come in handy in the future. As previously mentioned, this move involved a considerable amount of down sizing so we decided that selling some of our larger furniture would not only give us more space, but also help offset the cost of moving...I love this dog, but for a rescue she has been quite the investment in pet deposits!
We had everything from a kitchen table to a dog kennel to get rid of and in the end we were able to turn our junk into about $1000! Prior to this season I have hated any of my previous Craigslist experiences, refused to put on garage sales, and ultimately ended up just donating whatever needed to go. This time I was determined to make it work and here is what I learned.
Craigslist Tricks....my UN-scientific experiment.
1. Posting a Treadmill two days before New Years will guarantee a quick sale. In fact, this posting was up for only 2 days and I received about 10 offers.
2. $300 listing price is a hot number for scams. (Like I said, this is unscientific, but I started three different items for $300 and were contacted by scammers within 24 hours on all three!)
*How do you know it's a scam?
- -They ask questions about your "furniture" but aren't specific about the item.
- -They are out of town and will "send you the money and arrange for pick up shortly after"
- - The return number has an area code that is not local (this is not always the case, but is a good signal to ask more questions.)
- -They will text or e-mail immediately after you respond to their initial inquiry a long message (that they couldn't have possibly written in the time it took them to read your response and hit reply)
- -Ultimately, trust your instinct. If something seems fishy, it probably is.
3. When you are setting up a time for someone to come take a look, don't let more than a full day go by (people will change their mind or go with something else and not let you know they aren't coming.)
4. If you have multiple people interested in your item, respond to all, even if it is to just tell them that someone else is planning to take it, but you will let them know if the sale falls through...this way, if the sale does falls through you aren't starting at square one.
5. Write down the name and number of the person who is planning to come look at your item.
....funny side story- I had A LOT of interest in our refrigerator which involved several text messages, e-mails and phone calls (lots of names, which I am really bad at remembering!) We had set up a time for a women to come by, but had something come up and had to leave. I called the missed call number I thought belonged to this women to let her know and accidentally called someone else who was interest. What did the other person do, you're wondering? She pretended like she was the original women!!! I didn't put it all together until later that evening and still feel terrible for the original women who I am sure came by our empty house and was not pleased...which is likely why we never heard from her! Luckily I had already learned number 4 so we were able to sell it to someone else the next day!
6. Take multiple pictures and include a picture of anything damaged (scratches, dents, etc.) People want to know the truth and will try to lower the price when they show up if they feel you were not forthcoming.
7. Have the dimensions on hand. I personally think posting a picture will bring people in and then they can ask you for dimensions if they are interesting (its a good ice-breaker.)
8. Update your post regularly. There are new items being posted all the time which will continue to bump you to the bottom of the list, so renewing the post will ensure your add is seen by more people.
9. Decide on your bottom line. I priced everything with some bargaining in mind, but let people know what I was hoping to get out of my item. Most often people would agree with that amount. Example, I had a women send an obvious low ball offer on our washer and dryer. I told her that I was hoping to at least get $250 for both and sure enough, she could make that work!
10. Try to do the negotiating prior to seeing the people in person. If you are anything like me, I have a much harder time saying no or sticking to my guns when someone is standing in front of me with cash in hand. That also eliminates the excuse "Oh, all I have $50."
11. Let people know your expectations. Will you deliver? Do they need to pick it up? Does it have to be gone by a certain day? Are you only able to respond to messages in the evening? Is e-mail or text better for you? Are you open to offers or set on your price? etc.
12. Finally, get the Craigslist App! It is so much easier because you are able to post without having an account, take pictures with your phone while you're creating a new post, and add multiple posts with a couple of easy to follow prompts.
As for what was left...(Consignment)
As our moving day quickly approached I had unloaded almost all of the items we wanted to sell, but was still left with my HUGE Hutch and Kitchen table. I was starting to get a little anxious about having to move them or bite the bullet and donate them so I starting looking for other options. I am no stranger to wandering through consignment shops, but knew nothing about consigning so I thought I would educate myself. What I learned was that if you have good stuff, this is a no-brainer! Basically I could either go through the hassle of moving and storing these things or let someone else do the hard part. Here's how it works:
1. Bring in a picture and dimensions of your piece. The who's who of the shop will look them over, decide if your piece is a good match for the store and if they have room for it. They will want to make sure they don't have multiple similar pieces and that your furniture is in good condition.
2. Set up a drop off time. They will need to move things around and find you're items a spot...its not like clothes consignment where they put a hanger on it and a price tag and hope for the best. You're taking up valuable real estate so they want it to show well.
3. Get all the details. i.e. how long will they keep it, how much of the sale do they get, what happens if it doesn't sell, etc. The shop where I left my things is a non profit who funds the Assistance League so the percentage that they will keep is actually considered a donation which will come in handy at tax time.
4. Finally, they will work with you on how much to price the item. The ladies where I left my hutch were open to my suggestions and gave great feedback from their experience. They were also mindful of future price reductions. They work on a schedule where the price will decrease every 30 days if the item hasn't sold meaning them and I both lose more money the longer the item sits, so finding the right price from the beginning is a huge benefit.
And now I wait...(check back for the update...and hopefully the positive outcome of my adventures in furniture consignment.)
Now that we're moving past the clean out process, the plan for the furniture that was lucky enough to make the move with us, is to give some of it a little face lift while we find a happy medium between sticking with our spending fast and enjoying our home! (Remember the coffee table incident...)
