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How to Make It on Craigslist

blog.priceonomics.com

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Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#51

Post by redthrowaway »

gerggerg wrote: post #38

I really dig his attitude and sense of accomplishment. Who'd a known a pawn shop with free pickup would be so successful.

I wonder if it would be possible to scale the business. If you wrote a script that could flag potentially lucrative items for manual review, you would likely be able to cut out much of the searching, allowing you to target CLs in multiple cities. If he's making $38/hr in one city, he could hire someone for $18/hr in another to drive around and pick up / drop off items and pocket the $20 difference.

I'd be interested to see how well this would work out.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#52

Post by unreal37 »

A nice story. This guy found his inner "hustler" - hustler in the positive sense.

I sell a lot of items on craigslist, and I have no problem with the idea that someone bought it from me to resell it because I underpriced it. Hell, if someone threw what I gave them in the garbage, they can do that too. I no longer want the item, I got what $ I asked for it, and I'm out of the equation.

The only thing I'd have a problem with is if someone contacted me with a sad story about being broke, student, unemployed, sick child, or something, and asking for a discount. And I find out later they lied. That's where the ethical line is for me.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#53

Post by thinkdevcode »

awj wrote: post #48
thinkdevcode wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's rephrase your statement: "Paying back on things you've already purchased with someone elses money is not everyone's highest priority" Now we take this statement and multiply it by 34 million, and we have the reason why America's total US consumer debt is 2.43 trillion. I dont mean to nitpick, but I get really annoyed when people do extravagant things when they can't afford it.

> I dont mean to nitpick, but I get really annoyed when people do extravagant things when they can't afford it. Everyone does. Good luck getting people to settle on your definitions of "extravagant" and "afford."

Your absolutely correct that we all have different perceptions of "extravagance"

I think a vacation to hawaii from portland for a family of four while still in debt is clearly extravagant, and unaffordable. But's thats just my opinion, and I dont expect you, or anyone else, to share it.

Debt shouldn't be seen as ok to have but I think that is sadly how most Americans view it now.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#55

Post by jccc »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #50
jccc wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real estate agents and the like bring an awful lot of time, skill, experience and special knowledge to their problem domains that their clients don't have. What does someone like this Craigslist middleman contribute? Do buyers and sellers go to this man the way people go to real estate agents for their services? What would Craigslist buyers and sellers think of what he does if they knew about it? Respectfully, I thin…

> What would Craigslist buyers and sellers think of what he does if they knew about it? Respectfully, I think they would strongly prefer he weren't interfering. Having tried to buy things on Craigslist, nice, clear photos are amazing - it saves me the trouble of shlepping somewhere, looking at the clearly mis-represented item, sighing, and shlepping back home. As far as the sellers, what exactly are they losing? They…

Who hired this guy for his "services?" The buyers or the sellers? Someone at Craigslist?

If he's in the business of helping people buy and sell things on Craigslist then he should go to prospective buyers and sellers on that basis. And if he did, he would not make the kind of profit he's making.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#56

Post by chc »

thinkdevcode wrote: post #39
chc wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing a variable that equals "Having zero debt at all times is not everyone's highest priority".

Let's rephrase your statement: "Paying back on things you've already purchased with someone elses money is not everyone's highest priority" Now we take this statement and multiply it by 34 million, and we have the reason why America's total US consumer debt is 2.43 trillion. I dont mean to nitpick, but I get really annoyed when people do extravagant things when they can't afford it.

Why should it be your highest priority? As long as you're not in over your head and are paying it off on schedule, all you lose is a little future money to interest payments. If what you get by not paying it off faster is sufficiently valuable to you, it might very well be a good bargain.

I mean, do you really think that as soon as you buy a house (which pretty much anyone not absurdly rich — and many who are — will take on debt to do), you must immediately neglect your family and pursue money at all costs? That hardly seems like a tenable position. People who have grave problems with debt have those problems not because debt is inherently a grave problem, but because they took on debt they couldn't handle.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#57

Post by georgieporgie »

jccc wrote: post #33
tocomment wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, he is delivering them, and taking old appliances away when he delivers them. There is a lot of value in that. He is also adding "liquidity" to the "market" by immediately buying new listings, and holding them for a few days until the right buyer comes along. Without someone like him the seller would have to wait several days to find the right buyer.

I doubt very much that sellers would appreciate this liquidity "service" if it were spelled out for them. They would feel cheated, as would the buyers.

Given how many utter flakes I've experienced when selling (or even giving away!) stuff on Craigslist, I think liquidity here actually has tremendous value.

And unlike modern stock trading, not all Craigslist listings are created equally. He seems to be doing the dirty work that sellers don't want to bother with. Besides, everyone knows that if you want get paid a reasonable value, you put something on eBay, but that's too much hassle for these sellers.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#58

Post by JWLong »

thinkdevcode wrote: post #39
chc wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing a variable that equals "Having zero debt at all times is not everyone's highest priority".

Let's rephrase your statement: "Paying back on things you've already purchased with someone elses money is not everyone's highest priority" Now we take this statement and multiply it by 34 million, and we have the reason why America's total US consumer debt is 2.43 trillion. I dont mean to nitpick, but I get really annoyed when people do extravagant things when they can't afford it.

It might not be the most logical thing to do, but it's not like it's necessarily an immoral thing to do (as "Let's rephrase your statement: 'Paying back on things you've already purchased...'" implies).

It's one thing if the money is borrowed from a friend or family member (as a charity or with extremely below market interest rates). But the 2.43 trillion dollars of debt that you cite is almost entirely with institutions which make a profit off of debt. [not bashing creditors]

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#59

Post by josephjrobison »

thinkdevcode wrote: post #14

> I started the year with almost nothing and ended with a used van, a new utility trailer, less debt, fully paid bills and money left to take the family to Hawaii. > less debt > family to hawaii Something does not compute here.

Maybe he was given the trip to Hawaii for free or got it at an amazing deal, plus he said he's doing deals in Hawaii on vacation so he'll probably have a good portion of the trip paid of from his working vacation. Plus you can't measure the boost in happiness and a new perspective of the world that this trip to Hawaii will have on his business.

He might see ideas and get new perspectives on things while on vacation in a new land that he otherwise would not get while at home in work only mentality.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#60

Post by jdhzzz »

jccc wrote: post #32
pavel_lishin wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not extremenly different from panhandling. I want to say you're wrong, but I'm not even sure how you reached this conclusion. > It's definitely abusive of the Craigslist community. How so?

I think the point is that Craigslist itself is supposed to connect buyers and sellers, and he's inserting himself aggressively between them for profit, adding no real value.

As the previous poster observed this is essentially what Goldman-Sachs (and any other investment banker) does. When I squint and ignore scale, I can't see the difference between the two businesses.
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