Originally Posted: 2001-11-12 10:26 (no longer live)
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More on photos, pricing, etc.

I posted this message a few days ago and received a lot of very positive mail from would be buyers, all agreeing with my points and adding a few more. For this reason, I am repeating my posting here with the added recommendations for sellers. If you are a seller, please read this, it will help you sell your item much, much quicker than you otherwise would.

-Photos. Please include photos of all furniture items you want to sell. Include them in the ad or provide a link to the photos. We are not going to buy something we can't see, and we don't have the time to go from house to house hoping that the item for sale is what we are looking for. Don't just say that you will e-mail the photos. Most of us are not going to bother e-mailing you for them, the fact is that we don't want to give you (anonymous person that you are) our e-mail address unless we know that you are indeed selling something and it's what we want.

-Links. If you include a link to the pictures of your furniture, please make sure it works! It's amazing how many people post ads with broken links. Test it, preferably from someone else's computer, to be sure the world at large can see it! Please make sure the link goes to the picture of the furniture, and not to a photo album, we don't want to have to click around to find the item. This is particularly true if you are linking to a picture from a vendor's site. Don't tell me to go to the Pottery Barn website and search for "Chenille sofa" - provide the link to the picture!

Please make sure that the page where the pictures appears is as simple as possible and it does not include java, javascript or anything like that. People may not be able to see the page, or, worse, it may crash their browser. Believe me, someone is not going to buy your furniture if their browser crashes when they try to see it!

-Measurements. Include measurements. Buyers are usually looking for specific pieces that will fit specific areas and measurements are VERY important.

-Pricing. If you want to sell an item quickly, you have to price it right. Brand-new items (with 6 months of use or less) should be priced no higher than half the current retail price of the item. Older items or those that show wear must be priced MUCH lower than this.

People come to Craiglist to look for bargains - not to help you unload the couch that you bought before realizing it didn't match your curtains. We'll be happy to do it, of course, but only if the price is right. Nothing over 50% of the retail price is right. Think about it - furniture shops are now giving considerable discounts on furniture items and offering no-payments/no-interests for a year or more. With the economy going south, the bargains are likely to increase. And they sell brand-new stuff, in the colors the buyer wants.

So, be sensible when it comes to pricing and remember, furniture is NOT an investment.

Good luck!

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