How To Buy & Sell Mid Century Modern On Craigslist For Profit - Vol. 2
This series will show you how to buy and sell Mid Century Modern Furniture and Decor on Craigslist for a profit. We use these techniques for buying and selling MCM, but the tips and tricks we will show you here can be applied to any niche.
Craigslist is a great vehicle for scanning items that people are selling too low and turn around and flip for a higher profit. The beauty about using Craigslist vs. buying from a Thrift Store or going to a Flea Market is the low cost of time and energy involved. With Craigslist you don't have to leave your house with out knowing exactly (well almost exactly) what you are going to pick up and how much profit you are going to make on it.
That being said Craigslist has become highly competitive with resellers and so below are the tips and tricks we recommend for beating your competition and getting the most out of Craigslist.
In Vol. 2 of this edition I'm going to share a few tricks with regards to buying items. If you have a certain type of item you think you can make money on, chances are a few other people have already been flipping said item for awhile. So how do we set ourselves apart from our competition?
2. Offer More Money Then The Item Is Listed For: I don't do this on every item but if there is an item I know I'll make good money for I'll offer the seller more then what they have it on for. A lot of times you'll see a really good deal and you'll call or email only to have the seller get back to you and say they have a couple people ahead of you that want to check it out or maybe they have someone coming by tomorrow to look at it. When someone comes back to me with this I usually will first try something along the lines of: "Oh man! Thats too bad it was exactly what I was looking for! I'll tell you what, since most people on Craigslist are flakes and end up wasting your time, would it be alright if I came right now to pick it up, its exactly what Ive been searching for and I won't even try to negotiate!". Most people hate selling things on Craigslist because of the weirdos and time wasters it attracts and usually just want the item out of their house. So the value you're offering them here is not wasting their time and getting the item out of their house as quick and as painless as possible. You don't have to tell them you're part of the buy and sell community and that you're going to be flipping it for a profit. Just let them know as enthusiastically as possible how much you want to buy it.
Some people are too old school for this to work and don't want to cancel on the person they already made plans with. Thats when I come back and hit them with the higher offer trick. If someone comes back to me with a no I usually hit them with something like this "I totally respect you not wanting to cancel on them but like I said I've been searching for something like this for quite some time and I'd be willing to give you x amount of dollars more (usually between $50-$100 gets them to change their mind real quick) if you let me come now and pick it up." There are some people who are too old school for even this to work on them but honestly I find that this works on about 9 out of 10 people.
I find when this works a hundred percent of the time is in the free section. Again because Mid-Century Modern furniture is so undervalued by some people it shows up a lot of time in the free section on Craigslist. Recently my wife found this amazing Danish oatmeal tweed armchair with teak legs and armrests and a beautiful matching ottoman with tapered teak legs in perfect condition for free on Craigslist. The ad was 47 minutes old. She called and asked if we could come and pick it up and the guy told her that 3 other people had already called and that someone was coming tomorrow to pick it up. She asked him if she could come right now and pick it up so he didn't have the risk of the guy flaking on him the next day and he still said no. He said he would have felt bad if he had to cancel on the other guy. She then told him its exactly what she's been looking for and liked it so much she'd be willing to give him $40 and come right this second and pick it up. The guy instantly changed his mind and let us come and grab it. My wife took pictures of it at his house before we loaded it up into our vehicle and put it on Craigslist on our way home for $340. It sold the next day before lunch. Next time someone tells you no, offer first to come now, then offer more money.
If you guys like these tutorials on how to buy and sell don't forget to subscribe to be notified of the latest content as it comes out and as always if you don't mind hitting the share button below this it would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
MCP
