Craigs List

Leaving soon.

We love Craigs List.  Let's make that clear from the "git go."

Over the many years we've been using Craigs List (CL), we've gained an incredibly high degree of confidence in CL.  Yesterday and today are good examples of that confidence.

So, we opened up the Sunday paper.  It's almost all ads.  We love ads.  Anyway, we were reading the Sears circular and noticed Sears put all their Craftsman lawn mowers on sale.  Hum....

We bought our current lawn mower in early October 2007, shortly after we bought and moved into this house. October is NOT the right time to buy a lawn mower but we had no choice.  We needed one right then and there so we paid handsomely for a Craftsman mower...well over $200 as we recall.

Anyway, we used the mower for six full seasons: 2008 through 2013.  Each fall, we dutifully put Sta-bil fuel additive in the gas tank and then ran the engine dry.  Each spring, the engine started right up on the first pull.

This year we really  amped up our lawn with dethatching, aeration and an extra dose of really good, custom fertilizer.  You know what that means.  That means the grass is gonna grow like crazy and need a lot of extra mowing.  So, that already had us thinking about getting a new lawn mower, perhaps one more powerful that our current 7-year-old unit.

After breakfast, we headed out to Sears to take a look-see at the choices and sale prices.  We picked out a real nice lawn mower that's normally $310 on sale for $240, plus Idaho's 6% sales tax, of course.  And then we headed back towards home.

As we were driving home, Sweetie Susun asked, "So, when are you going to buy the new mower?"  And I replied, "After I sell the old one."  To which Susun replied, "Well, you know the sale is only going to last one week."

"Oh, don't worry, the old mower will be long gone well before the sale ends."

That's how much confidence I have in Craigs List.  Sometimes I wonder if I don't have too much confidence in CL.  I kinda wondered that thought yesterday.

Anyway, I dutifully put the old lawn mower on Craigs List for $60.   That's a smokin' deal.  And that's the key to selling stuff on CL--you have to make the price so attractive people fall all over themselves wanting to buy whatever it is you are selling.  But, hey, this lawn mower is 7 years old.  What's the life span of a lawn mower?  Not many more than 7 years, I betcha.  So, I figured out that if we get $60 for the old one, the new one is gonna cost less than $200 and that's also a smokin' deal for a new one with the extra features we want.

The first bite off the CL ad came in less than 30 minutes after the listing.  However, that buyer didn't follow up my reply.  This morning, I woke up and had FOUR bites on the ad, each of which sound desperate to buy the mower.

Now what?  Which of the four people gets it?  How do I make my choice on who to sell it to?  That's often the dilemma of CL.

But the moral of the story is Craigs List ROX!  We love Craigs List.  And, yes, we have supreme confidence in CL.

Since we've returned back here to Idaho, we've sold three things already.  $100 worth of tires right off the truck, $40 for a set of thrift store golf clubs and now the $60 mower.  The Hit Parade Continues.

Maybe next we will sell that old trumpet in the basement.  It's so fun.

List it and they will buy.

Coming soon.