Your Craigslist Classifieds Authority Site

3. Get Good at Bargaining! Many Sellers Overprice Their Items!

Most people overprice their items on Craiglist, so don't get discouraged when looking for good deals on Craigslist because keep in mind you can almost always haggle with the seller to get the price down. Haggling is quite easy if you get good at it because many people in this world are pushovers.

I see far too many items on Craigslist posted for too high a price. It bothers me as I mentioned before because I think they are shooting themselves in the foot because many Craigslist browsers are skipping over their postings because of the high price tag. But if you realize that most things are overpriced, you know that you can haggle with the seller to get the price down to a price you would be interested in paying.

So if you find an item you want, always contact the seller regardless of the price he/she posted. Include in your message the price you are willing to pay for the item. It won't hurt to try! And you will be surprised how many response you'll get where the seller is willing to negotiate.

I find the best way to haggle is to keep it real. I'm sure there a thousand ways to do it and many salesman will probably not agree with my method but it works for me. By keeping it real, I like to counter a sellers price with the exact price that I want to pay. I don't try to go too low because you break reality with the seller and it usually upsets him. An upset seller will not be willing to work with you as much as a seller who knows you are trying to get him down to a fair price. And since the decision is completely up to him about what price to sell it for, I feel it is better to stay on his good side.

To find out what a fair market price is for an item – go to Ebay.com. Make sure the “Completed Auctions” box is checked (I think the “completed auctions” box is in the “advanced search” section now), and do a search for that item. See how much the item is going for for the completed auctions. Once you see the price it is selling for you have a guideline for which to set your asking price. Obviously make it lower than the going rate, but still try to keep it real. (Note: Make sure you are using the “Completed Auctions” option or you will not be getting a true value.)

How to search multiple cities at one time - Use Craig's Helper

Unfortunately Craigslist does not allow you to do a search for multiple cities at once. In fact they frown on it because it opens the door to mass scamming or spamming. But for us honest sellers and buyers it would be very nice to search multiple cities at a time. Is there a way to do this? Yes. There is a site called Craig's Helper that does this. (www.craigshelper.com). With Craig's Helper, you can choose what cities you want to search and do a mass search for an item. All the results come up on a single page which is quite convenient. I almost always use Craig's Helper to search for items. I choose my city and immediate surrounding areas and search that way. Since I live in the Philadelphia area, there are about 6 or 7 other areas on Craigslist within driving distance that I like to search as well as Philly.

Try Craig's Helper here: www.craigshelper.com

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