The Secret to a Successful Craigslist Business. You can make a living from selling on Craigslist. In fact you can really start building your fortune. I use Craigslit for ads to drive traffic to my online stores but my brother uses it to target a direct need.
My brother sells on eBay and Amazon on and off and has a website with his own merchant account. However, he was experiencing too many damage claims due to damage his items sustained while in en route to the customer. My brother as his customer is not a patient person. He was easily fed-up and decided to target only the local market in Southern California, while only offering a few listings on eBay and Amazon. He was looking to have total control of inventory (eliminating Drop Ship) and most importantly eliminating the Carrier. This allowed him absolute control from listing to opening the item in the customers presence.
Now, because he is only using a portion of his savings, he sells directly from home. In fact, has has no bedroom, its become his warehouse. He is saving enough money to eventually open his own location and hire help. He list only what he has in-hand. And if needed he will drive to the manufacturers the same day to re-stock. Living in Los Angeles is to his benefit being that many manufacturers are in City of Industry.
The secret to his success:
He lists every morning on Craigslist (no software used-Craigslit will drop you like a Hot Potato)
Does not direct traffic to his site. He wants the customer to contact him directly and will let his charming personality take over. Seriously, not one customer can get off the phone without him closing a deal. All sales are cash, he calculates a small profit includes tax and will offer Free Delivery within reasonable distance. Once he arrives for the delivery if a customer ask for inside delivery or assembly he will ask that they offer him a tip of their choice. Usually, the tip is enough to cover a full tank.
Now, my brother has several things going for him. He knows the furniture industry, has a cargo van and the strength of football player and the charm that any sales person would love to have. Because the market is fickle; he has not quit his day job as a stock boy at a local toy store. He is the best employee they have had, dedicated during his hours of work, but will not accept a full-time position there. All because he has a vision of where he is headed and a plan on how to get there.
His day job allows him to pay for his rent and gas but his Craigslist business allows him to cover all other expenses while allowing him to save and have extra pocket money. Not bad for a guy in his twenties.
Remember it all starts with an idea. It may come frustrations, necessity or simply from the ether. Take that idea and create a plan. Soon you will have developed your own Secret to Success…….
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Good story and a great example of true entrepreneurial spirit. I wish your brother much luck and success! Sounds like he is willing to work hard for it, too!
CL can be very useful. It’s still one of the most popular advertising sites on the web. I have used it with much success as well.
The secret to become successful in life is to be positive all the time.I believe in a sayings that the winner never quits and the quitter never wins. We are the one mad our destiny. God give us a freewill to choose between right and wrong.more power to your site God bless
those are some great tips, i think you just have to give it some effort and be true to customers and it’ll come.
internet has changed everything .just be commited to yourself and you can be successful
A good and useful post, which shows how things are done in real life online and offline. Nowadays people are busy and attention span on the Internet is short. Therefore it is nice that there is available free software, which makes it easy to perform searches on Craigslist.
Craiglist is really powerful and money generating
anyway, I haven’t tried selling in Craiglist but buying yes and I wonder how they do that.
Thanks for inspiring story
Craigslist is an amazing tool, it has just stared to make me money, recommenended for all.
I use Craigslist for EVERYTHING its the best thing on the internet , business and personal use it doesnt matter.
Craiglist sure is very useful nowadays. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one.
Wow.. sounds very interesting. I’m going to consider Craiglist from now on… Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this great tool…. After reading this blog and their examples I definitely use Craiglist.
I’ve tried to post a advertisement in Craiglist before and my problem is that I don’t have a phone number to verify. Is there another way to verify my business besides from phone number?
Very inspiring story. Like many people, I also have lots of plans which are yet to be materialized and I am glad I am slowly heading there. After careful considerations, I quit my job last month to focus on my plans… I would like to work at home and be my own boss… I am currently searching for all the opportunities in the internet that will make that possible. Good luck for me!
For those reading this article “Craigslist” is a centralized network of online communities that include online classified advertisements. This is a fantastic opportunity for those starting in business or the home second hand dealer, to get their product out their without it costing a fortune in advertising.
It all depends on google ?
Sounds great, interesting for people that want to sell, or are looking to sell things. Thanks for sharing with us
Is there any other way to look for a job other than the Newspaper, Craigslist, going business to business?
Hey, Video games are getting more realistic all the time. The graphics of modern video games are absolutely stunning.
I think what makes Craigslist special is not the buying and selling – it’s the community tools like Missed Connections (a service that allows you to post something like “You were the girl in the blue hat at the 16th and Mission bart station.”). Believe it or not, it makes for interesting reading, and these types of features make craigslist an every day site – not just a site that you go to when you need to buy or sell something. So unparalleled community, below (traditional) market prices for things like apartment listing, dating, job posting, and a fanatical user base that is encouraged by the non-commercial feel.And now that they have built the community, they can do anything they want.
We have just started a website like Craigslist in Hungary. So now I am really testing, how to make a living from Craigslist.
This is awesome, I will definitely refer Craigslist with my friends and the people I know. I really think its another good way of earning money.
Yeah this is a very good post. It speaks of a person’s confidence and his hard work. “Rome was not built in a day” this story reminds me of that proverb. Yes… this is a story of true entrepreneurial spirit. I really like his commitment and customer service mentality. Wish your brother good luck! may god bless him.
Everything starts with an idea.
It is in the follow through that most ideas fail.
Found everything i needed on craigslist at some point. It really is an invaluable service. For the serious advertisers that like to track their online marketing on craigslist and other classified listing networks, search google for CraigslistAdTracker. Adding more value to craigslist.