Your Craigslist Classifieds Authority Site

After You've Been Contacted

OK, let's say you've written a perfect title and description. You added the photos and posted your item at the correct time. Now it's time to site back and wait for the responses. If you followed all the tips above, you WILL get responses.

To be fair, I like to contact the people in order of who contacted me first. The only qualifier is that I rank those responses that include a phone number as higher priority than those without. Just go down the list of responses and call them, starting with the first one received. This is because phone communication is faster than email communication, and I like to sell my items as fast as possible and get onto to the next batch.

Oh, also, the other qualifier is to first contact those willing to pay the price you posted. You will have many offers for a lower price than you are asking. But, if you followed my advice and listed a low price to begin with in your posting, you will also get responses of those willing to pay the full price you are asking. Make the latter the priority and contact them first.

Let's go over how to respond to any email/inquiries/responses you receive from a posting.

The guidelines I use in responding are:

1. Respond as fast as you can.
2. Make it VERY easy for the customer to reach you and finish the deal.

Respond as fast as you can: As soon as you get a response answer it. The time a customer has to wait before getting service is a KILLER in the retail industry, and the same rule applies here. If you cannot provide fast service to them, they will find someone else. There is plenty of competition on Craigslist so don't think they will wait for you. Respond accordingly!

Make it VERY easy for the customer to reach you and finish the deal: NOW is the time to give your phone number. I know what I said before, but now you are having a private correspondence with the prospective buyer and your phone number is safe (as long as he is not a scammer). The goal is to get him to contact you as easily and quickly as possible and the phone is the best way to do that at this point. You want him to call you. Also the phone is the most optimal way of communicating at this point because you have more control than in an email. On the phone you can set up a time and place to do the transaction and work out all the details. It can be done quickly and efficiently, without having to have any further communication. If you communicate back and forth with email, more time goes by, and remember, time is a killer. And it may take a few emails back and forth before any agreement is made about the transaction.

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